by Samuel Heu
We celebrate this year the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther posting his 95 Theses, which is commonly accepted as the start of the Protestant Reformation.The principles of the Reformation are no less significant because centuries have passed. They capture the heart of the gospel Alliance messengers proclaim around the world.
The doctrine of sola gratia, or by “grace alone,” according to the Reformers during the 16th century, flowed from their basic understanding of the nature of the Fall, grace, and predestination. The Reformers taught that since man is fundamentally corrupt and sinful, grace is absolutely necessary for salvation.
As a response to the semi-Pelagius teachings of the time (that man and God cooperate to achieve man’s salvation), the Reformers wanted to emphasize that man cannot merit salvation or earn God’s favor by somehow cooperating with God’s grace. Rather, salvation is by grace alone.
Not only is salvation not based upon merit, it is neither based upon God’s foreknowledge of faith but again on God’s grace alone. Salvation from start to finish is an act of God’s sovereign grace.
Good People
Our culture greatly shapes our worldview. In the West, we have been shaped by our postmodern, secular, and syncretistic society. The Western church today believes with the rest of the world that all people are essentially good. As such, we are capable of saving ourselves.
Many people, and even some within the church, believe that their entrance into the Kingdom of God will be based upon whether the good works they accomplished while still alive outweigh the bad. Thus the saying, “All good people go to heaven.”
Many today believe that Christianity is not the only means by which we can approach a holy God. Instead, they believe all religions somehow lead to the same place. If all people are essentially good and capable of earning salvation and if all religions ultimately provide hope of salvation, then why send missionaries?
From Start to Finish
In contrast, the Apostle Paul teaches in Romans 3:10–12 and Ephesians 2:1–10 that since the Fall, there is no one righteous and all are dead in their transgressions and sins. The state of being dead is not merely being unconscious and needing resuscitation but also being lifeless and needing resurrection.
Spiritually dead, no one can save themselves nor can they cooperate with God’s grace to save themselves. It is only by grace and grace alone that sinful fallen human beings can be saved and be made alive.
Salvation from start to finish being an act of God’s sovereign grace is one of the greatest impetuses for missions. We can rest assured that at the end of the day, there will be a great multitude standing before the throne of God from every nation, tribe, people, and language (Revelation 7:9) not because of how faithful and effective we were in evangelizing but because of our reliance upon the Holy Spirit and His power to convict people of sin.
Our Greatest Need
If we hold true to the doctrine of sola gratia, we must recommit ourselves to preaching justification by grace alone through faith alone on the basis of Christ alone and repent of sermons and messages that are moralistic, therapeutic, and deistic in nature. The Western church is enamored with the health, wealth, prosperity gospel and have forgotten that God has entrusted us with the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:16–21).
Our greatest need is to be saved from sins and to be reconciled to God. We have been entrusted with this message, and wherever we find ourselves, whether here or on the other side of the globe, the message remains the same: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9).
Samuel Heu is youth director of the C&MA Hmong District in Thornton, Colorado.