Lesson for September 10, 2023
The Doctrine of Pneumatology
Lesson 4
The pre-salvation grace ministry of God the Holy Spirit is as follows. In common grace (available to all), the Holy Spirit makes the Gospel message clear. God invites the spiritually dead person to believe in Christ, which is called “the divine call.” The spiritually dead person, with the Holy Spirit acting as a human spirit, believes in Christ, and the Holy Spirit causes faith to be effective for salvation, which is called efficacious grace. Again, when any human works are added to faith in Christ as a requirement for salvation, the Holy Spirit cannot cause that faith to be effective. The reason is that human power for salvation, which is based on human works, is rejected by grace. Consequently, human works added to faith in Christ as a requirement for salvation changes faith alone to faith plus works. Therefore, salvation cannot be produced from our own effort, since it is a matter of common grace, the divine call, and efficacious grace. That’s why it is a gift from God and not from good works. (Romans 11:6; Ephesians 2:8-9)
Salvation is by grace, through faith in Christ. Faith is the only system of perception which is totally devoid of any human merit. Only the object has merit, and in salvation the object of faith is Jesus Christ. How much faith does it take to be saved? Just a little bit more than no faith at all. (Luke 17:6) The salvation work of Christ on the Cross excludes anything being added to faith. Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Grace is all that God is free to do for mankind on the basis of the work of Christ on the Cross. Grace is extended to the entire human race as unbelievers, who are spiritually dead and totally helpless to do anything to about it through human effort. Therefore, as a matter of grace, salvation is entirely the work of God. It is the work of the Father in judging our sins, the Son in being judged for our sins, and the Holy Spirit in making the Gospel clear. This is why the way of salvation is by faith alone in Jesus Christ, with no human works added to it. Human works are human efforts to please or gain the approval of God for salvation including, but not limited to, such things as church membership, water baptism, religious rituals, performing good deeds, obeying the Ten Commandments, good behavior, being sincere, and/ or keeping certain rules.
Saving grace is called “efficacious grace,” meaning effective grace. When a spiritually dead person responds to the invitation from God (all are invited) to have eternal salvation, a person simply responds by believing in Jesus Christ as Savior. This is classified as “faith alone” or “faith plus nothing.” It is the ministry of God the Holy Spirit to “invite” unbelievers to believe in Christ. So, the Holy Spirit makes the Gospel clear to an unbeliever (who is spiritual dead without a human spirit), by acting as a human spirit so they can understand spiritual things like the Gospel. (I Corinthians 2:14) Upon faith alone in Christ alone, the Holy Spirit makes that faith effective for salvation, eternal life, and the other spiritual assets that we receive as a result.
The faith of an unbeliever who is spiritually dead means that they have positive volition at the point of God consciousness and Gospel-hearing and exercise their faith in Christ, which is a non-meritorious function and is compatible with God’s grace. Works such as being water baptized, giving money, doing good deeds, observing certain rituals, are dead (useless) works with regard to salvation, and the Holy Spirit does not make dead works effective for salvation.
Salvation is not by “repenting of sin.” True repentance does not mean to feel sorry for sin. The Greek word for repentance is “metanoeo,” which means to change your mind. When a person understands the Gospel, they are changing their mind about Christ from disbelief to belief. Repentance is a result of the convincing ministry of the Holy Spirit and responding positive to God’s divine invitation.
Salvation by inviting Christ into your heart is an erroneous statement. A person doesn’t invite Christ anywhere for salvation. The invitation is made by God the Holy Spirit to believe in Christ. The invitation to salvation is the principle of coming to Christ (by faith), not inviting Christ to come to you. Christ invites everyone to come to Him in faith. Matthew 11:28, Jesus said, “Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” Everyone is spiritually dead at birth and cannot invite Jesus Christ anywhere.
Committing your life to Christ for salvation is not the means of salvation. It is putting the cart before the horse. “Commitment” confuses the salvation work of Jesus Christ on the Cross with a believer’s dedication after salvation. (Romans 12:1-2). Therefore, attempts to make commitment passages a condition for salvation is a false Gospel. Commitment is something that a believer may or may not choose to do after salvation.
“Lordship salvation” is not salvation at all. This false system of pseudo-salvation says a person must make Christ the Lord (Master) of their lives or they are not saved. No one can make Christ the Lord (Master) of his or her life without the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit. “Lordship salvation” is teaching salvation by human works, and therefore is no salvation at all. A spiritually dead person does not have the ability to make Christ the Master of their lives. After salvation, a person with positive volition toward God and His Word may or may not make Christ the Master of their life.
Ritual works for salvation is false and includes water baptism, the observation of communion, and many other religious rituals as a condition for salvation. Most common in this category is called “baptismal regeneration” or salvation through faith plus water baptism, which is a common teaching of several religions and denominations. When water baptism is added to faith as a requirement for salvation, there is no salvation. The Holy Spirit cannot make faith plus water baptism, communion, or any other religious ritual effective for salvation. This would violate the principle of grace.
Salvation by morality is false. Morality is something spiritually dead person can accomplish to some degree on their own through human effort. Therefore, salvation is obviously not by morality. Being moral is certainly a command to believers and was instituted by God for the entire human race, believers, and unbelievers alike, but has never been a requirement for salvation or spirituality. Attempting to keep the morality of the Ten Commandments is not the means of salvation. (Romans 3:20-28, 4:4-14, 5:1; Galatians 2:16)
Salvation by emotion is false and alleges salvation must include an emotional experience after believing in Christ, to validate the sincerity of a person’s faith. However, the validity and assurance of faith in Christ comes from the Holy Spirit, never from emotion. (Romans 8:16) Even after salvation, the filling of the Spirit is not associated with emotion. Emotional feelings, which are often accompanied by weeping, may occur at salvation but are not a condition or a part of salvation.Appreciation for what Christ did on the Cross is certainly appropriate at salvation.
A believer must never assume that emotion has a spiritual connotation. You may get emotional over understanding spiritual things, such as grace. However, that emotion does not constitute spirituality; it is merely a response to the spiritual things of your life and does not indicate the filling of the Spirit.
The Gospel does not emphasize feelings; it emphasizes truth regarding Who Christ is. In spiritual death, there is nothing we can do to impress God. When we believed in Christ, how we felt was not important; it’s what God did for us that was important.
Church activities are not a requirement for salvation such as joining a church, tithing, being water baptized, taking Communion, raising your hand during prayer, coming forward, walking an aisle, weeping tears of sorrow at an altar, or making a public declaration of faith. Titus 3:5 says, “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit.”
Many religions and denominations add certain requirements or obligations to faith in Christ, which is no salvation at all. Many who belong to these organizations claim that they believe that Christ died on the Cross for their sins. Hence, they allege to believe in Christ. But at the same time, their church has a system of penance and/or works which they must follow for salvation. If a person follows a system of penance, indulgences, and works for salvation, they are not saved. If they are depending on the work of Christ on the Cross alone, they are saved. But if they add a system of works, they are not saved. What people who believe this are saying is that the work of Christ on the Cross was not good enough to pay the penalty for their sin and they have to “help” Him out by some form of human effort. (I Corinthians 5:6)
Therefore, you do not have to practice a system of works to ensure or retain your salvation, as alleged by many churches. Some people in these churches are saved because at some moment they believed in Christ alone for salvation, totally apart from anything imposed by their church. At the moment they believe in Christ totally apart from their works, they receive eternal life. Later, after hearing the false explanation of the Gospel from some minister in their church, they may have changed their minds about the requirement for salvation, but they are still saved because of that one decision to trust Christ alone for eternal life. (John 3:16)