Victor R. Claveau, MJ
To those who have adopted the hypotheses of the Reformers respecting original sin, free will, predestination and the inefficacy of good works as cooperative means of salvation, the following pertinent questions must be asked: Who are to be saved? How is salvation to be secured? Who can be assured of salvation?
A few of the arguments and inferences of the Reformers touching these points follow.
Since the fall of Adam, every human being has become totally depraved, incapable of receiving any good impression or performing any meritorious act. Luther, Calvin and other heretics of their era inferred no man is a free agent.
Who then are to be saved?
According to the Reformers, only those whom God has foreordained and predestined to this end before the foundation of the world. While at the same time, the judgment of eternal condemnation was rendered against the remainder.
How, then, can man be assured of salvation?
The Reformers assert this may be known by the actual possession of faith, which God forcibly implants within him, whether he desires it or not, or whether he performs good works or not. When this faith once takes possession of him, he is justified and sanctified — he must be saved, with or without sin, with or without good works. The very fact he believes renders it certain that he is one of the elect.
This doctrine of justification by faith originated with Luther and was afterward adopted by Calvin, Melanchthon, Zwingli and their followers. One of the canons of the Protestant Synod of Dort (Netherlands, 1574) declared, “that God gives true and vivid faith to all those whom He desires to rescue from damnation, and to those alone; that this faith is a gift of God; and that all of the elect are assured of their election by certain infallible tests.”
The following observation of Luther illustrates his tenacity with regard to the doctrine of justification by faith alone, without works:
“I see that the devil is continually attacking this fundamental article by means of his doctors, and that in this respect he can never cease or take any repose. Well, then, I, Doctor Martin Luther, unworthy herald of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, confess this article, that faith alone without works justifies before God, all the cardinals, with the priests, bishops, monks, and nuns; in spite of kings, princes, and nobles; and in spite of all the world, and of the devils themselves; and that, if they endeavor to fight against this truth, they will draw the fires of hell upon their heads. This is the true and holy gospel, and the declaration of me, Doctor Luther, according to the teaching of the Holy Ghost. … I say it once again, should all the world and all the devils tear each other to pieces and burst with rage, that it is not the less true.”[1]
Luther was so tenacious of this dogma he deliberately mistranslated and perverted parts of the Bible and rejected other parts, so that his own theological platform might be sustained. Whenever the declarations of the Apostles clashed with the theological tenets of Luther or Calvin, they impiously rejected the apostolic teachings and substituted their own. These modern “Apostles” were especially hostile to Saints Peter and Paul.
Most Protestants claim all who are selected for salvation are endowed from above, not only with the faith and an intuitive knowledge they are among the elect, but with irresistible tendencies to perform good works. The condemned are cursed with inherent and perpetual unbelief, and a continual and helpless impelling force to do evil.
Even during the lives of the Reformers, every form of infidelity, immorality and vice made rapid progress. Luther repeatedly admitted this. Such was the legitimate and inevitable result of throwing off the beneficial restraints of the ancient Church, opening a door to private interpretation of Scripture and to the intellectual and moral idiosyncrasies and inclinations of individuals.
The Reformers could not have conceived of a more efficient mode of making proselytes to their novel religions than through predestination, the inefficacy of good works and justification by faith alone. They shifted all responsibility from the creature to the Creator.
They taught that everything that has transpired or will transpire from the beginning to the end of the world was an accomplished fact with the Almighty before the creation. Therefore, all cooperative efforts on the part of mortals in the accomplishment of regeneration, justification and sanctification are not only useless but wicked intervention in the exclusive right of God.
This last idea had been pushed so far by several of the Reformers that they actually sanctioned the commission of sin so grace might abound and God might receive all the glory of the work of regeneration and salvation.
Here are a few extracts from the writings of the Reformers upon the subject:
“Luther maintained that no works could possibly be pure and acceptable to the Deity; that even the best work is a venial sin; that every so-called good work — that is to say, every act of a believer — is, when considered in itself, a mortal sin, though, by reason of faith, it is remitted to him. Melanchthon not only expressed full concurrence in this doctrine of his master, but also carried it out to an extreme, by asserting that all our works, all our endeavors, are nothing but sin. Calvin corroborated the assertions of both.”[2]
In 1559, Amsdorf published an elaborate work, entitled The Proposition of N. Van Amsdorf, in which he attempted to show good works were even hurtful to salvation. “Now thou seest,” wrote Luther, “how rich is the Christian or the baptized man; for, though he will, he cannot lose his salvation, however great his sins may be, unless he refuses to believe.”[3]
Sin boldly. This exhortation of Luther to commit sin, this unjustifiable teaching of its absolute necessity and his bold assurance of the impunity with which the vilest sins may continually be committed — provided they are accompanied by faith in Lutheranism — was a direct appeal to the carnal desires of mankind. Under the deceptive pretext of liberating the world from the bigotries, abuses and restraints of the Church, the Reformers established a reign of intellectual and moral depravity that has filled the world with irreligion and immorality, and shaken the very foundations of Christianity itself.
The human mind is prone to adopt those sentiments that afford the greatest scope to indulge passion and pleasure. To gratify these indulgences, it constantly seeks plausible novelties and philosophies. The fatalistic doctrines of the Reformers furnished a standpoint for this weak side of human nature.
Who can contemplate these reformed ideas of God and His New Law without a sense of repugnance? Who can seriously believe a Being of infinite love and mercy would foreordain and predestine a single one of his helpless creatures to eternal damnation? Were such an atrocious doctrine ascribed to Satan himself, it would scarcely receive acceptance.
Notwithstanding the supposed predetermined and irrevocable decrees of God, many of the revolutionists had the inconsistency to urge people to believe, with the assurance that belief would produce faith. When faith was attained, they could be certain they were among the elect!
The dangers of this fallacy will be apparent to all who examine the positive declarations and commands of Christ respecting those things essential to salvation, such as baptism, penance and obedience to the Commandments.
Many minds are so gullible and easily seduced that only moderate efforts are required to superinduce faith in any idea or hypothesis that may be presented, however absurd and indefensible. Faith is one of the most common and easily developed elements of the human mind. From childhood, onward, it is continually seeking objects to cling to — for hypotheses, theories, philosophies and creeds — as means of convenience, consolation or happiness.
Many new creeds have developed in the past 500 years. Some of these creeds involve gross perversions of the Scriptures and impious ideas respecting the goodness and mercy of God. It is then maintained that belief and adherence to this or that creed is the sole condition of salvation. There are many thousands of these human creeds, all false and all harmful in their tendencies, yet they all have their followers, firm in faith and thorough and consistent in practice.
Each founder coins a religion from his own mind, flanked here and there by isolated and often corrupted passages from the Scriptures, and then solicits faith in this human invention as the only condition of eternal happiness in the world to come. Each one professes to possess certain infallible marks by which the divine origin and truthfulness of his religion is apparent, and each one can point out fatal objections to the religions of his neighbors.
The Calvinist, who believes God has condemned a certain number of his creatures to everlasting punishment, denounces the creed of the Universalist, who asserts all mankind is saved. The Trinitarian entertains a horror of the creed of the Unitarian. The believer in justification by faith alone regards all cooperative works of men, for the purpose of securing salvation, as useless and insulting to the Deity.
Lutherans, Calvinists, Anabaptists, Methodists, Unitarians, Quakers, Anglicans, Universalists, Seventh Day Adventists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, Spiritualists and all of the sects have perfect faith in their own peculiar interpretations of the Bible and in their own peculiar religions. Will faith — alone, without works — save them all?
One individual interprets the Scriptures in such a manner as to make God the author and creator of sin, and the eternal antagonist of a certain number of helpless victims of his wrath. Will faith in such a doctrine secure salvation?
Another denies the divinity of Jesus Christ and regards him only as a created creature. Will such a faith save him?
Another declares there is no hell, no eternal punishment and no devil. Will faith in this creed rescue the honest believer from the penalties attached to a neglect or violation of the positive laws and commands of God?
Some reject portions of the Holy Scriptures and accuse the inspired Apostles of errors and schismatic teachings because their precepts clash with their own individual and rationalistic hypotheses. Will ever so strong a faith in such private interpretations of the word of God justify and sanctify?
Others, deriving their inspiration from the Bible, teach that it is right to commit sin so that grace may abound. Will faith in such an interpretation lead to heaven?
Many have faith in the utter impotency of mortals in all matters pertaining to their spiritual welfare, and place the responsibility of all good and bad deeds upon the Almighty. Will such faith carry one safely to the haven of bliss?
Some absolute predestinationists assert good works always follow true faith and that this combination of faith and works is a sure indication of the real Christian. This argument fails when we remember there are moral, benevolent and charitable men, leading blameless lives, who are to be found among those who deny the divinity of Christ, the necessity of baptism, the existence of a future state of punishment and many of the Sacred writings. These men have the strongest faith in their own dogmas, worship God in sincerity, and do unto others as they would be done unto. Good works accompany their faith. Are they also among the elect? Are they also justified by faith?
Faith in some kind of religion is an instinctive want of the human mind and, in most instances, consistent and appropriate works accompany this faith. The faith Christians have in the Bible is no less strong than the faith the Muslims have in the Koran; the Mormons in the Book of Mormon, nor do Christians obey the precepts of their religion with any more faithfulness than do the Muslims. The same is true of the Hindu, the Brahmin, the Buddhist and the American Indian who worships the Great Spirit.
Christians who have rejected the divinely founded and divinely endowed Church of Christ and adopted the novel inventions of men are often perfectly sincere and earnest in their religious convictions. They have firm faith in some creed, live and practice in accordance with it and are fruitful in good works. But among the thousand contradictory and conflicting sects, who can decide which is true and which false?
Among the innumerable Reformed churches, with different articles of faith, different modes of worship and different ideas respecting the duties of man, how can we find the one Church, one-fold and one Shepherd that Jesus founded and ordained, with one Lord, one faith and one baptism?
Can we detect it in any one of the numerous reformed confessions of faith? Can we find any special morality and virtue pertaining to some one of the sects? Can we see a resemblance between the members of some reformed church and the holy Apostles? Can we find any infallible marks to indicate a divine theological Phoenix, which had slumbered profoundly for fifteen centuries, has again risen from the ashes of the past, at the bidding of a German monk?
Or shall we discover it by seeking the Church that has existed and been visible from the days of Christ to the present moment? The Catholic Church is universal, its doctrines are unvarying, and its priests and missionaries, ever since the time of the Apostles, have visited all of the nations of the earth to preach and teach the word of God. The Church, whose devout men and women have braved every danger and hardship, and in almost countless instances have suffered martyrdom in the cause of Christ.
Justification by faith! Faith in what? In the personal inspiration, private Scriptural interpretation and the creed and religion of some individual reformer? Faith in Lutheranism, or Calvinism, or Anabaptism, or Quakerism or some other sect? Faith that God is God, and that Luther, or Calvin, or Smith or Russell was his prophet? Faith not in the one original Church, but in one that was brought into existence by one of the German, or Anglican, or Swiss revolutionists of the sixteenth century, or by Americans in the nineteenth century? Faith in the belief that Christ’s mission was a failure, that his Church was non-existent or invisible for fifteen hundred years? Faith in the belief that millions of human beings perished in ignorance and sin in consequence of the non-fulfillment of the Word of God through the Apostles and their successors, until Luther, Calvin, Smith, Russell or some other so-called reformer brought light out of darkness in the form of Lutheranism, Calvinism, Mormonism or the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society? Faith that Christ is the Son of God, and that the revolutionists of these latter days are his only true prophets and interpreters? Faith that a simple, naked, mental act, without works, without obedience to the sole practical duty of man toward his Maker, himself and his fellow men is all that is necessary?
Those who adopt the fatalistic doctrines of the Reformers do not require a Bible, a confession of faith or even a moral code, because they believe it is the decree of God that all things, good or evil, must come to pass in precise accord with His predestined will, without regard to the numerous practical commandments contained in Sacred Scripture.
The Holy Scriptures assert faith without works is dead;[4] and the kind of works that are requisite are accurately prescribed in the sacred commandments and ordinances. Faith is, indeed, one of the fundamental elements of Christianity, but its significance must not be limited to a simple mental act. The entire tenor of the sacred Writings teaches us that by the word “faith,” Christ included not only a belief in all his teachings but a practical performance of them.
The definition He gave of “love of God” is applicable to faith. In what consists the love of God? “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.”[5] In like manner, faith is a belief in Christ and His mission, and obedience to the commandments.
The teaching of the doctrine of justification by faith alone has been a most fruitful source of evil. A few of its legitimate consequences have been a practical repudiation of the laws and commandments of the Scriptures and of all personal responsibilities and duties in spiritual matters, a paralysis of all personal effort and cooperation in the great work of redemption and salvation, and an alarming tendency to rationalism and religious skepticism.
The only occurrence in Scripture of the phrase “faith alone” is a repudiation of that concept: “You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.”[6]
No one can examine critically and impartially the innovations of the Reformers without arriving at the conclusion their tendencies are anti-Christian. The Gospel teaches that God is a Being of infinite love and mercy; the revolutionists regard Him as a malignant demon, who has deliberately created a certain number of helpless creatures for the express purpose of tormenting them forever!
Christ taught the necessity of faith in and actual obedience to all the Father’s commandments and ordinances as conditions of salvation. The revolutionists ignore good works and rely on faith alone as the sole duty of the Christian.
The Bible teaches that man is a free agent and he must personally exert himself and actively cooperate with the blessed influences of the Holy Spirit to serve God acceptably and secure his eternal welfare. The reformers regarded man as a passive instrument in the hands of the Supreme Architect, and that any attempt at personal interference, effort or cooperation in the work of regeneration and sanctification are wicked and reproachable.
It would be difficult to read a single chapter of the New Testament without finding inspired beliefs in direct opposition to these reformed teachings. While conceding isolated passages may be distorted and used to bolster an absurd hypothesis or an ungodly theological novelty, the great fact nevertheless remains that the New Law was given us expressly as a rule of religious faith and a practical working code.
The entire spirit of the gospel teaches the absolute necessity of both faith and works.
“So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.”[7]
“For he will render to every man according to his works.”[8]
“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”[9]
“Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.”[10]
“For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink, because you bear the name of Christ, will by no means lose his reward.”[11] In this instance, Christ not only required faith in Him and in His divine mission, but He demanded the act of giving the water.
When the young man came to Christ and asked him what he should do to have eternal life, Jesus answered him, “If you will enter life, keep the commandments.”[12] In this instance the Savior recognized the free will of the young man, and the necessity of performing good works by keeping the commandments.
Obedience to the commandments, coupled with faith, were all our Savior absolutely required. When the young man informed Him that he had kept all of these things from his youth up, and again inquired what he yet lacked, Jesus said to him: “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven: and come, follow Me.”[13]
In both of these examples, works are demanded — in the first instance, certain definite works, in order to secure salvation; and still other works, more difficult and self-denying, in order to achieve the holiest degree of excellence — perfection. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive good or evil, according to what he has done in the body.”[14] The perfect Christian will occupy a higher place in heaven than him or her who simply obeys the commandments.
In their doctrinal innovations, Luther and his contemporary revisionists violated at every point the spirit and intent of the sacred Writings. In their efforts to sustain the hypothesis that faith — considered apart from any action — alone saves, they did not hesitate to corrupt, pervert and distort the plain teachings of Christ and the Apostles.
[1] Marcy, p. 274.
[2] Marcy, p. 277.
[3] Ibid.
[4] James 2:26.
[5] 1 John 5:2.
[6] James 2:24.
[7] James 2:17.
[8] Romans 2:6.
[9] Matthew 5:16.
[10] John 5:28-29
[11] Mark 9:41.
[12] Matthew 19:17.
[13] Ibid, 19:21.
[14] 1 Corinthians 5:10.