We are not saved by our faith.

From time to time I’ll hear a Christian unthinkingly state we’re saved by faith. And I’ll correct them: We are not. We’re justified by faith. We’re saved by grace.

The usual response is they give me an annoyed look: Why are you correcting me?

Not that they disagree with me! They don’t. They’re aware we’re saved by grace. But they figure we’re saved by grace through faith—

Ephesians 2.8 KJV

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

—so faith is in the formula somewhere; so they figure they’re not wrong either. That’s why they’re gonna forget what I just said about being saved by grace, and continue to say we Christians are saved by faith. I’m just nitpicking, and they don’t care.

In online discussion groups, I can’t see their annoyed looks in person, but I have no doubt they happen. And their usual response is to ignore my response. Again, they don’t disagree with me; they’re aware we’re saved by grace; but saved thorough faith, and is there any real difference between by and through anyway?

While most discussion-group folks will debate anything and everything at the drop of a hat, they never choose to debate my statement, “We’re justified, not saved, by faith; we’re saved by grace.” After all, it’s true.

There are rare exceptions—I think I only experienced two of ’em—where people respond, “Yes; I misspoke; we’re saved by grace.” The rest of the time, in a rare exercise of online self-control, they simply ignore the fact I said anything. They move along.

And I guarantee you they’re gonna say or write “We’re saved by faith” again.

Yet I persist.

Why persist?

Okay, so why do I keep pointing this out? Simple: Faith is a good work. Choosing to believe the right things is a good work. Choosing to trust Jesus and follow him is a good work. It’s a choice, a decision, a movement in God’s direction, on our part.

Yes, it’s ultimately empowered by God—as is probably almost everything in the universe. I’d be unable to believe in Jesus unless he first presented himself as someone to believe in. I’d be unable to believe his teachings until he taught ’em, and until I heard ’em or read ’em in a language I know. And there are some things God tells us, either in the scriptures or personally, which are really hard to believe—if not impossible—but we’ve learned to trust God, so despite our doubts, we’re gonna trust God. That level of trust is likewise empowered by God. It’s a fruit of the Holy Spirit. But I gotta do it.

And doing it does not save me. It justifies me; it indicates to God I’m someone he might want to take an interest in. He’s actively looking for people who don’t just passively, shruggingly agree with God-stuff, but act upon it. He wants to save such people. And does.

But he does all the saving. I don’t. I can’t. My faith has no such power. Only God does.

Thinking my faith does have such power, that I can save myself by the good deed of believing in all the right things, is called Pelagianism, and it’s heresy. And while most of the folks I correct haven’t gone anywhere that far—like I said, they do believe we’re saved by grace; they just misspoke—you do realize they’re gonna interact with non-Christians and newbies.

These non-Christians and newbies aren’t gonna understand there’s a vital difference between “saved by faith” and “saved by grace.” All too often they—same as most people, really—don’t understand grace any. They’re used to living by karma. That, they get; it makes total sense to them; getting what’s coming to you sounds entirely fair.

Deserving your salvation—earning it through some action, even if it’s a really small action—also sounds entirely fair to them. God freely offers his kingdom to everybody, right? And all we gotta do is believe. So they do! They met his really easy, simple conditions; now God owes ’em heaven. They earned it—even though earning it took almost no effort. So little, they’re gonna insist it’s not an effort; that faith isn’t a work. Yet somehow they deserve heaven anyway.

Yeah, they’re unwittingly being Pelagian. Doesn’t matter what mental gymnastics they do to cover up the fact their will is getting them into God’s kingdom: It’s all about the choices they made, the actions they took, their decisions for Christ. They’ll acknowledge Jesus made it possible, dying for our sins and all that, but they’re saved because they believe. They have faith. They did something.

They wind up fulfilling the verse which comes right after the one I quoted up top:

Ephesians 2.9 KJV

Not of works, lest any man should boast.

They don’t always go so far as to actually boast about how their faith saves them… but some of ’em do. They’ll talk about how they have so much faith. How they absolutely believe in God and his promises and commands, so they’re definitely going to heaven. You wanna go to heaven too? Then quit your doubting and believe like they do!

That alone is bad enough, but Pelagianism typically affects way more than just we ourselves. It affects the way we treat others. It affects the expectations we put on other Christians. We start demanding they gotta believe in Jesus to be saved… and then we start nitpicking just how they gotta believe in Jesus. Usually it’s expecting them to believe exactly the same way we do: Gotta have all the same doctrines. Gotta have the same lifestyle. Gotta have the same politics. Gotta be offended by all the same people. It gets worse; I could go on, but I’m pretty sure you get the idea.

Salvation by grace tends to make us gracious.

Properly, we gotta recognize we’re not saved by orthodoxy. While we absolutely should do good works (it’s a fruit of the Spirit too) they have nothing to do with salvation, and everything to do with how a saved people oughta live. It’s why the LORD gave Israel his Law after he freed ’em from Egypt, instead of saying, “Do this to show me you mean it, and then I’ll save you.”

Once we have those good works in their proper place, and have the proper mindset about what they do and don’t do… well, such Christians tend not to get legalistic and cultish. We get it: God has saved us to do good works. You know, the verse which comes right after the last one I quoted.

Ephesians 2.10 KJV

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

If good works aren’t a mandatory requirement for salvation, if they’re something we get to do now that we have Jesus, the pressure’s off. And if they’re something we don’t require others to do before they can get saved—and if we’re not constantly judging them with “You’re such a sinner; I can’t see how you’re saved; you need to repent!” we’re gonna stop demanding the impossible of them, stop being jerks, and love ’em regardless of their condition. You know, like our Father does.

We’ll elevate grace to its proper position, and we’re more likely to remember to do it. And who knows?—it might convince people that when Christians follow Jesus, it’s a good thing.