The scriptures could not be more clear in insisting that “by grace you have been saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
(Ephesians 2:8-9) Many understand this, but somehow imagine that this only applies to the current
age, or Dispensation, as it is sometimes called, and thus imagine that it was different under the
Old Testament law. And some of these also imagine that during the millennium there will be a
return to this imagined salvation being brought about, at least partly, by works. But both of these
notions are contrary to explicitly stated scripture.
In considering this question, we need to examine how the Holy Spirit developed His argument, in
teaching this critically important truth. He first developed it on the basis of His relationship with
Abraham. That is, he based the doctrine that salvation is “by grace, through faith... not of
works,” on what He had previously said about Abraham. That is hard proof that, before the law
was given, salvation was “by grace, through faith.” for we read:
“Then Abram said, ‘Look, You have given me no off
spring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!’ And behold, the word of the LORD came
to him, saying, ‘This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body
shall be your heir.’ Then He brought him outside and said, ‘Look now toward heaven, and
count the stars if you are able to number them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your
descendants be.’ And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for
righteousness.” (Genesis 15:3-6)
And in the New Testament, God said:
“What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if
Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For
what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for
righteousness.’ ” (Romans 4:1-3)
“For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed
through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the law are
heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, because the law brings about
wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression. Therefore it is of faith that it
might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to
those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the
father of us all (as it is written, ‘I have made you a father of many nations’) in the presence
of Him whom he believed--God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do
not exist as though they did; who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the
father of many nations, according to what was spoken, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ And
not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about
a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah's womb. He did not waver at the promise
of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully
convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. And therefore ‘it wasaccounted to him for righteousness.’ Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was
imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up
Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was
raised because of our justification.” (Romans 4:13-25)
“O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before
whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? This only I want to
learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of
faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by
the flesh? Have you suffered so many things in vain--if indeed it was in vain? Therefore He
who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of
the law, or by the hearing of faith?-- just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was accounted to
him for righteousness.’ Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.
And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel
to Abraham beforehand, saying, ‘In you all the nations shall be blessed.’ So then those who
are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.” (Galatians 3:1-9)
But what about the time when the law was in effect? It is the same. God also proved the fact that
salvation is “by grace, through faith.. not of works,” by quoting two different passages from
the time that the law of Moses was in effect. The first of these was:
“Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.”
(Habakkuk 2:4)
Ths was quoted three times in the New Testament, to prove that salvation of “by faith”
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for
everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness
of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.’ ” (Romans
1:16-17)
“For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is
everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do
them.’ But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for ‘the just shall
live by faith.’ ” Yet the law is not of faith, but "the man who does them shall live by them."
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is
written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"), that the blessing of Abraham might
come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit
through faith.” (Galatians 3:10-14)
“Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need
of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:
‘For yet a little while, And He who is coming will come and will not tarry.’ ‘Now the just shall
live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.’ But we are not of
those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.”
(Hebrews 10:35-39)
And the second of these was:
“Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
Whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity,
And in whose spirit there is no deceit.” (Psalm 32:1-2)
And this was quoted in Romans:
“Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who
does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for
righteousness, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes
righteousness apart from works: ‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
And whose sins are covered; Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin.’ ”
(Romans 4:4-8)
And God also went all the way back to Abraham prove eternal security.
For we read:
“Then the Angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said:
‘By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not
withheld your son, your only son-- blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply
your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and
your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the
earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.’ ” (Genesis 22:15-18)
And we read in Hebrews 6:13-14, “For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He
could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, ‘Surely blessing I will bless you,
and multiplying I will multiply you.’ ” And why did God stress the fact that He “confirmed”
this promise “by an oath?” “For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is
for them an end of all dispute. Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs
of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable
things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have
fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.” (Hebrews 6:16-18)
But how did “we” get into the picture. The promise, and the oath, made to Abraham, was made
so that “we might have strong consolation.” But who is the “we” here? It is those of us “who
have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of
the soul, both sure and steadfast” and it “enters the Presence behind the veil, where the
forerunner has entered for us.” (Hebrews 6:18-19)
Thus we see that this promise and oath, made to Abraham, was not for his sake alone. It was also
to teach us a lesson. And what was the lesson? God will most assuredly keep His word. What
He has promised He will certainly perform. But why does God make such a strong point of this?We learn this in Galatians 3:15-20:
“Brethren, I speak in the manner of men: Though it is only a man’s covenant, yet
if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it. Now to Abraham and his Seed were
the promises made. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘And
to your Seed,’ who is Christ. And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred
and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by
God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance is
of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise.”
Here we see that the promise was stronger than the law. The Law could not annul the covenant,
because it had already been made. But the covenant was not based on law. It was based on promise.
We see the same in the promise made to David, saying::
“My mercy I will keep for him forever,
And My covenant shall stand firm with him.
His seed also I will make to endure forever,
And his throne as the days of heaven.
‘If his sons forsake My law
And do not walk in My judgments,
If they break My statutes
And do not keep My commandments,
Then I will punish their transgression with the rod,
And their iniquity with stripes.
Nevertheless My lovingkindness I will not utterly take from him,
Nor allow My faithfulness to fail.
My covenant I will not break,
Nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips.
Once I have sworn by My holiness;
I will not lie to David:
His seed shall endure forever.”
(Psalm 89:28-36)
And although this was not repeated in the New Testament, it was extended to us, saying:
“Ho! Everyone who thirsts,
Come to the waters;
And you who have no money,
Come, buy and eat.
Yes, come, buy wine and milk
Without money and without price.
Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
And let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear, and come to Me.
Hear, and your soul shall live;
And I will make an everlasting covenant with you—
The sure mercies of David.”
(Isaiah 55:1-3)
So both the fact that salvation is “by grace, through faith... not of works,” and eternal security
were clearly taught, both before the time of the law, and during the time of the law.
But what about the time to come? Many imagine that salvation by works is taught concerning
either of two future ages, or Dispensations. One of these future ages is the time we all “the
tribulation,” and the other is the millennium. What are we told about salvation in those ages?
First, we need to notice Revelation 9, where we first read: “After these things I looked, and
behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and
tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with
palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs
to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’ ” (Revelation 7:9-10) As these ones are
in heaven, we see that they are unquestionably saved. But how were they saved? a few verses
later we read:
“Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, ‘Who are these arrayed in white robes,
and where did they come from?’ And I said to him, ‘Sir, you know.’ So he said to me,
‘These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and
made them white in the blood of the Lamb.’ ” (Revelation 7:13-14) This says absolutely
nothing about works of any kind, but rather, their presence there in heaven is explained by the
fact that they had “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” But
who are they? “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation.” so we see that,
during the time of “the great tribulation,” people will be saved in exactly the same way we are
today, through “the blood of the Lamb.” That is, “by grace, through faith... not of works.”
This leaves only the millennium to consider. Many imagine that at that time, there will be a
return to th law of Moses. But that is serious error. While the latter part of Ezekiel indeed
describes a future system of worship based on animal sacrifices, but the sacrifices and the
associated ordinances described in Ezekiel are distinctly different from those described in the law
of Moses. And even it they had been he dame, we have already seen that under the law of Moses,
salvation was, even as it is today, “by grace, through faith... not of works.”
But how will the people be saved at the beginning of the millennium? We are clearly told.
"And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of
grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn
for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.
In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. And the land shall mourn, every family by itself: the family of thehouse of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of Shimei by itself, and their wives by themselves; all the families that remain, every family by itself, and their wives by themselves.” (Zechariah 12:10-14)
So these will be saved exactly in the same way we are saved, by deep repentance, brought about
by the “grace” of God. And what will be the result of this universal repentance?
“ ‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the LORD, ‘when I will make a new covenant with
the house of Israel and with the house of Judah-- not according to the covenant that I made
with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of
Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them,’ says the LORD.
‘But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the
LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their
God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every
man his brother, saying, “Know the LORD,” for they all shall know Me, from the least of
them to the greatest of them,’ says the LORD. ‘For I will forgive their iniquity, and their
sin I will remember no more.’ ” (Jeremiah 31:31-34)
Again, we see that this promise is to be an act of God, not an act of man. And it will be a work in
their hearts, not their bodies. And it will be based on pardon, not on works.
So we see that the scriptures could hardly be more clear in teaching that salvation always was,
and always will be “by grace, through faith... not of works.”
