Do we Contribute to our Salvation?

I. Introduction

A man is drowning. He has very little strength left to stay above the water. He knows he is doomed to die. Then someone reaches out a hand to him, offering to pull him up and out of the water. But he must first swim a few meters to reach the hand. He has a choice; to use the last of his strength to reach the hand, to take hold of the hand and be saved, or to sink beneath the waves and die. Did he contribute to his salvation by swimming to the hand and taking the hand in order to be saved? 

In theological terms there are those who teach monergism and others synergism. Monergism states that a person plays no part in their salvation, whereas synergism states that we must respond to God’s offer of salvation, we must play our part.

Monergists, such as Calvinists and free-grace adherents, have a favorite passage from Ephesians 2:8-9, which reads:

‘For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not of yourselves, it is a gift from God – not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)’

Calvinists claim that because we are all totally depraved from conception, that we can neither desire God, seek Him, or exercise faith in any way unless He first regenerates us. In other words, a person has to be born again before they can exercise faith, even though no person can be born again without exercising faith. Such is the foolishness of Calvinism and explained in my video series on Calvinism.

Free-grace adherents claim that if we tell people they must seek God, turn from sin, repent, confess our sins, ask forgiveness or surrender our wills to God, that this is all ‘works-based salvation’. If you state that you were convicted of sin, turned from sin in repentance and surrendered your life to Christ they say you are boasting that you saved yourself. In reality, they are simply admitting they have never allowed the Holy Spirit to convict them of sin. In the 40 plus years I have been preaching the gospel, I have never met a person who, having seen themselves as a hopeless sinner through conviction, then boasted of being a sinner who saved themselves.

On the contrary…conviction of sin brings a form of self-loathing and an admission that we are hopelessly enslaved to our flesh natures. True conviction produces true humility and total reliance on the sacrifice of Christ. Please watch my video entitled ‘No Conviction, No Godly Sorrow, No Love’ which refutes this absurd free-grace theology.

II. What is meant by ‘works’?

So, firstly, what is Paul referring to when he speaks of boasting of works? The answer should be very obvious. In general terms, this is a person who thinks that the standard of their life-style qualifies them for eternal life. This is a person who refuses to see their sin as God sees it, a person who usually compares themselves with other people and not with the perfection of Christ.

The parable of the Pharisee and tax-collector in Luke 18:9-14 is a classic example of Jesus’ teaching on this issue. It begins with the words, ‘to those who were confident of their own self-righteousness, and looked down on everyone else, he told this parable’. The Pharisee compares himself with others, robbers, evildoers and adulterers, and the tax collector. He brags of fasting and paying his tithes. The tax collector, under conviction, looks to the ground and states, ‘God have mercy on me, a sinner’. Jesus finishes the parable by stating that those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted, and justified.

It should also be obvious that the Pharisee is referring to works of the law to justify his self-righteous boasting. What he failed to see, through being blinded by pride, is that God’s law reveals God’s standard and no human being can ever meet God’s standard. Many times Paul uses the phrase ‘works of the law’ and states categorically that no person can be justified by works of the law (Galatians 2:16, Romans 3:20). 

However, works of the law and acts of faith are not the same thing! The former is about trusting in our deluded self-righteousness, and the latter about acting on the promises of God. Hebrews 11 gives us a long list of people who acted by faith. Some of them lived before the law was given, but all of them were justified by acting in faith for ‘without action faith is dead’. 

III. What is Biblical Faith?

There is only one criteria for salvation from Genesis to Revelation, namely, faith. However, many professing Christians seem to have no idea what faith actually is. Atheists define faith as a belief in something or someone without evidence or proof and some Christians buy into this stupidity. Biblical faith always has two components, firstly evidence, which comes through various means including conviction, revelation and personal encounter, and secondly, action which confirms that we trust God for our unknown future. In short, if we act without conviction, evidence or revelation, we are acting in presumption, not faith, and likewise, if we do not act in trusting God after conviction, evidence or revelation, there is no faith, just a dead ‘belief’. Please watch my video entitled ‘What is Biblical Faith?’ on this channel.

Many Christians shy away from the letter of James because they think he was teaching a form of works-based salvation. However, when James writes about faith and works, he is not speaking of works of the law. The word translated by some versions as ‘works’ in James simply means actions and newer versions of the NIV and others have dropped the work ‘works’ because of the confusion it has caused.

Consider James’ words:

‘19 You believe there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that – and shudder. 20 You foolish person, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless. 21 Was not our father Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that his faith and actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 

23 And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. 24 You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone. (James 2:20-24)’

Please note the following.

1. James is making a distinction between believing in God and acting on that belief unto salvation. It is for this reason that in verse 19 he states, ‘you believe there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that and tremble’. Faith is both a noun and a verb. Any fool can believe (noun) that God exists, or even that Christ died on the cross and resurrected from the dead, these are simply facts. But when James speaks of Abraham, he uses the verb form of faith, that Abraham acted on his belief, trusting God.

2. James points to what Abraham did when he offered Isaac, the patriarch acted in faith. James then says that Abraham’s belief (noun) and actions were working together and his faith was complete by what he did. In other words, without his actions, Abraham’s belief was dead and he would not be considered righteous or justified.

3. One cannot twist James words to be speaking of works of the law because Abraham lived 400 years before the law was given.

So now we come to our question: Do we contribute to our salvation? I used this word contribute deliberately because Calvinists and free-grace teachers like to use it to condemn those of us who teach that a person must play a part in obeying God’s commands people to seek Him, to turn from sin, repent, humbly ask forgiveness and surrender to Christ.

Consider Hebrews 11:6.

‘And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must first believe that he exists and that he rewards those who diligently seek him.’

This verse sounds very similar to James stating, ‘you believe there is one God: Good, even the demons believe that and shudder’ and then James goes on to say that faith without deeds is deed. In this verse we are told that a person must first believe that God exists, and then that God rewards those who diligently or earnestly seek Him. Tell me…what reward is being spoken of here? The next 33 verses in Hebrews are about all of those who acted in faith and were justified by their active faith. There is only one reward being promised here and that is eternal life, justification by faith. That reward is promised to those who ‘diligently seek’, the same message about Gentiles in Romans 2:7.

Is the diligent seeker contributing to their salvation? A better question would be, ‘is there any salvation for those who merely believe in God but do not earnestly seek Him?’ The answer is this: One person believes in God and wants nothing to do with Him, the other acts in faith, believes His promise, seeks with all their heart, and receives the reward of eternal life. If there is no action on our part, then this belief is a dead belief and the person will remain dead in their sin. This is the case with every form of biblical faith; it always requires action on our part.

Let me ask this: When the woman reached out and touched the hem of Jesus’ cloak, did she contribute to her healing? When the Centurion asked Jesus to heal his servant did he contribute to the healing? When the sinful woman wept on Jesus feet in deep repentance, did she contribute to her being forgiven? I could give dozens of examples from Scripture of such people. Were these people completely passive as the Calvinists claim in the Westminster Confessions, or did they ‘just believe’ and do nothing as free-gracers claim as all that is required for salvation?

I would answer as James answers: You foolish person…do you want evidence that faith/belief without deeds/action is useless, is dead?

So…do we contribute to our salvation? The answer is a definitive NO, a resounding NO. The word contribute implies that there is something good in us that can sway God to save us, but prior to salvation we are slaves to sin and slaves cannot free themselves. Only the perfect blood of Christ can meet God’s standard of perfection, therefore, even sacrificing our own life would be useless to attain atonement for sin. 

And this is the paradox that foolish people cannot grasp. We are commanded to seek God, to reach out for Him and find Him (Acts 17), we are promised that those who seek with all their hearts will find Him (Jeremiah 29:13), and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). We are commanded to repent, to turn from sin and to place our trust in Him for the future, indeed these are the first words Jesus spoke when beginning His ministry (Mark 1:15). 

Seeking is an action, reaching out is an action, turning from sin is an action, repentance is an action and receiving Him as Lord is an action. These are all willful choices grounded in God giving us the freedom to choose. Every human being has been given general revelation (Romans 1:18-20). But if we refuse to act on that revelation and seek, we will not receive any further revelation, or conviction which leads to repentance forgiveness, humility and salvation.

If we sincerely seek Him, the Lord will bring us to a place where we understand through conviction that we are helplessly enslaved to sin, that there is absolutely nothing we can do to save ourselves. But, He holds out His hand to us, He bids us to trust Him, to take His hand to act in faith, and when we freely respond in this way, our belief is coupled with action, and as James stated, our faith is made complete, it is no longer just a dead belief, but believing unto salvation.

IV. In Summary

Monergism, the teaching that we play no part in salvation, is utterly contradicted in Scripture. What kind of God commands people to seek, reach out and find Him, without giving them the ability to obey that command (Acts 17)? Those who obey His command are brought near to Him, and in His holy presence, through the conviction of the Spirit, see their sin as He sees sin. Their eyes are open, they recognize they are slaves to their flesh natures, there is a form of self-loathing and their greatest desire is to be made holy, to receive forgiveness and be set free. This is what new birth means.

The Lord holds out His hand to every person who has come to understand they are drowning in a sea of sinfulness. The self-righteous fool doesn’t realize that he is even drowning, he doesn’t understand that his so called ‘good works’ are as a filthy rag compared to the holiness required for salvation, a holiness that can only be given as a gift from God.  The person who reaches out and takes His hand did not contribute to their salvation, they simply trusted in the only One who can save them, they trusted in the righteousness of Christ, they acted in faith and ‘without faith it is impossible to please God’ (Hebrews 11:6).

The Lord created us in His image that we might have the opportunity to be in a holy, loving relationship with Him for all eternity, being transformed into His likeness and even sharing in His divine nature. It is love which caused Him to create, and loving Him is the greatest commandment and goal of creation and salvation.

We have nothing to offer God other than our lives, our gratitude, our love and devotion, but if we do not offer what we have then we sink beneath the waves, lost forever, and cut ourselves off from any real relationship with Him. 

I pray this video/article has been enlightening for you and helped you understand the role we must play in the process of salvation.  

Steve Copland