Years ago, Martin Luther, 1483-1546, decided to correct the beliefs that people had about their salvation. He said people believed that Jesus was simply half of the equation while the other half was “works.” Later, he presented a “novel doctrine,” which was “salvation is by faith only,” and he lectured on it in languages such as Romans and Hebrews.
He preached, “the just shall live by faith,”(He.10: 38) for God provided all we need for our salvation and we can’t add anything to our simple trust. “Just” may be translated as ‘righteous’ or ‘forgiven.’ At first, it seemed extreme that God paid it all. Questions arose, “What about love, self control, kindness, humility and compassion? Wouldn’t it mean everything is okay when you possess all those good qualities and you also believe Scripture doesn’t tell us we can do what we want and still believe in God? Would that not be okay?” You might say you’ve satisfied the criteria if you believe in God. Don’t overlook the fact that the devil believes in God, but it hasn’t changed him one iota.
We won’t agree with all of Luther’s 95 theses, but there are some with which we will agree. One is certainly faith, which he accented, as the need to believe in John 3:16, which is, “for God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” We will also agree with the statement he pointed out from Ephesians 2:8, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works lest any man should boast.” Where the Scripture in Romans 1:17 says, “The just shall live by faith” it seems to say, that’s all that’s needed for one’s salvation
Many Christians have not grasped the truth, that half the formula for God’s forgiveness is not deeds. The reason for this is that Jesus paid completely for our sins and by His personal sacrifice, our sins were forgiven. If our works promised our salvation, we would have the tendency to boast, which is senseless, for we can never outdo God!
For ever so long, people believed there were rules by which one had to abide, besides believing that Jesus gave His life. For them, they believed one had to be circumcised and also obey time-honored laws, which meant that they had to be Jewish. Paul was explaining to those people that they were turning to a different Gospel, which wasn’t a variation of the Gospel, but that it was no Gospel at all. The essentiality of what he was saying is, “O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? (Galatians 1:3)
Paul taught that Jesus is God’s only Son and that He humbled Himself, though He was God, to suffer in your place, and now you have to believe. And, since God did all this, it is all you need to believe. It is simply by believing all that you have heard that you are forgiven of your sins. He added for comparison, if forgiveness is completely by the law, you must keep every last detail, because not one of us has kept the 10 commandments in its entirety. Jesus became the curse (sin) for us so we can become free from the curse. That means that Jesus took our sins upon Himself, and paid our penalty to God. Nothing shall enter Heaven by which it would be defiled. That is what Paul explained; that salvation has to be entirely by faith. He was in effect, saying, ‘How can you be thinking you can add something to what God has done? You are establishing your own criteria and tend to emphasize those criteria more that which God has done, and you are also saying, “You must do this and not that!”’
The reason God did not accept Cain’s offering, while he did accept that of his brother Able, is that Cain was practicing his own religion while his brother Able was giving of himself to God. This is the real reason why God did not accept Cain’s offering. It is not that his was the offering of a blood sacrifice, where the Scripture says, it is only by blood we are saved, but he offered what God expected and didn’t substitute something else. We can only entrust ourselves to God and in that respect, salvation is only by faith.
Martin Luther said, “We are saved by faith alone,” but we realize that the faith that saves is never alone. Actually, one who has faith in Christ’s sacrifice, carries that thought around constantly and is ever willing to do some act of kindness for others, simply from being thankful; not for personal gain.
