Has God Been Neutered?

In a recent sermon a familiar argument was used that diminishes the sovereign grace of God and the sufficiency of grace. Since the original Greek was cited I decided to go home and check my Greek sources. Since I am not a Greek scholar I may only interact on a layman’s level, and you will have to judge whether my arguments make any sense at all.

Since Kenneth Wuest’s Word Studies in the Greek New Testament made an even stronger case than did my pastor I will mainly interact with him. Basically the argument that was made is based upon a phrase in Ephesians 2:8-9. So I will quote the verse below:

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.

As a note, the “it is” in verse 8 is italicized. That is because the Greek does not have it. It is added to the English translation in order for an English speaking person to understand the thought.

The word “that” in the phrase “that not of yourselves” is the point in question. What does “that” refer to?

Kenneth Wuest states:

The definite article appears before the word “grace” here, pointing the reader back to the same statement in verse 5, and informing him that the writer is to elaborate upon this previously mentioned statement. The reader of this exposition is urged to go back to the exegesis of verse 5 and refresh his memory as to the total meaning of Paul’s statement, “For by grace are ye saved.”

I could not agree more. The context bears this out. There is no other source of salvation, and Paul is clearly being consistent with himself in other places. But Wuest goes on to formulate an argument, which is very popular in the next paragraph. Read carefully.

The words, “through faith” speak of the instrument or means whereby the sinner avails himself of this salvation which God offers him in pure grace. Expositors says: Paul never says ‘through the faith.’ As if the faith were the ground or procuring cause of the salvation.” Alford says: “It (the salvation) has been effected by grace and apprehended by faith. The word “that is touto, “this,” a demonstrative pronoun in the neuter gender. The Greek word “faith” is feminine in gender and therefore touto could not refer to “faith.” It refers to the general idea of salvation in the immediate context. The translation reads, “and this not out from you as a source, of God (it is) the gift.”

I had reread this paragraph several times looking for the unspoken assumptions. It is one thing when your pastor announces from the pulpit his tradition that God gives every man the ability to exercise faith and that man must be a morally free creature in order for God to be able to judge him for choosing sin. This I can handle and find rather easily. It is quite another when dealing with a scholar, who’s traditions may be much more subtle. That is exactly what we have here.

Part of the assumption is that God is merely the source. The unspoken tradition here is that man must have a free-will to go and get this present called grace that awaits every individual out in the mail box. Unless you activate the grace of God, it remains only a gift waiting to be opened. Notice Wuest’s words, “…this salvation which God offers him in pure grace.”

However, Paul is in no way giving this definition of Grace. Grace is never “offered” in this text! I can’t stress this enough. This underlying assumption must be challenged. Paul says we are saved by grace, not made savable.

Let’s go back through the text and see how Paul arrives to verse 9 when he makes the grand closure, “that not of yourselves”. Since chapter divisions are not inspired I will begin with chapter 1.

1:4 “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world”

1:5 “He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself”

1:6 “He freely bestowed [grace] on us in the Beloved”

1:8 “He lavished on us” [forgiveness]

1:13 “you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise”

2:4 “His great love with which He loved us”

2:5 “made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)”

2:6 “raised us up with Him”

2:6 “seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus”

So let’s review our English. In every verse of action, the subject is God. We are His objects in Christ including when Christ was raised from the dead. God chooses. God predestines. God bestows grace. God lavishes grace. God seals us. God loves us. God makes us who were DEAD to be alive. God raises us up with Christ. God seats us with Christ.

Now I am to believe that even though there are references to believers believing, this is supposed to be the activator of God’s grace? God sovereignly acts all throughout the text as saving perfectly. Yet Wuest would have us believe grace is only offered? The believer is the sovereign of whether or not God’s grace is effective? Even Wuest seems to contradict himself when he says in the second paragraph, “…therefore touto [that] could not refer to “faith.” It refers to the general idea of salvation in the immediate context.”

Does Christ not procure faith for the believing ones? How do dead men believe? Does salvation not consist of faith too?

The text is about God, not man. Yet our Traditions are so man-centered we do not even realize that we have followed the worlds thinking. Every religion is not about whether grace is necessary, but whether or not grace is sufficient of itself. Only the Reformed Faith is consistent on this point.

Another serious problem in the above exegesis offered by Wuest is if faith is not a part of the “that not of yourselves”, then we do have exactly what Paul says we should not have, room to boast!

Think carefully with me. If God has given all men some form of prevenient grace so that all may believe equally with equal ability, then why do some men believe and others do not? Is it because some are smarter or more spiritual or wiser or is it just the luck of the draw?

If my believing is not caused by the above list of things that God does, then when in heaven I can say to the one who did not believe, “I believed and you didn’t, therefore I have the ability to boast over you.” The truth is, God did not choose me because I believed. I believe because chose me, predestinated me, raised me from the dead (explain free-will with that!) and loved me, IN CHRIST!

You might be asking why I have bothered to be nit-picky. To be honest, it is simply a matter of truth. God’s Word should have the final say over our Traditions, whether we are aware of them or not. Also formulating this kind of theology offers no apologetic to the religions of men. When big named philosophers such as Francis Beckwith (President of ETS) revert back to Rome, what could possibly be argued for him to stay in Evangelicalism? He believes Grace is necessary too.

The argument of the Reformation has never been that Rome rejects Grace, but that Grace alone is sufficient to bring about a dead sinner and raise him to spiritual life. That’s why we believe.

Soli Deo Gloria