Salvation by Faith

1Every single blessing God has ever given to humanity comes purely from his grace, generosity, and favor—his completely free, unearned favor. We have no claim whatsoever on even the smallest of his mercies. It was free grace that formed human beings from the dust of the ground, breathed into us the breath of life, stamped the very image of God upon our souls, and placed all creation under our care. That same free grace continues to sustain us today, giving us life, breath, and everything we have. There is nothing we are, nothing we possess, and nothing we do that could ever earn the slightest favor from God’s hand. As Scripture says, “Lord, you have accomplished all our works in us.” Every good thing we do is simply another expression of his unmerited mercy, and whatever righteousness is found in us is entirely God’s gift.

2How then could a sinful person atone for even the smallest of their sins? By their own good deeds? Absolutely not. Even if those deeds were countless and seemingly holy, they would belong to God, not to us. In reality, all our deeds are stained with sin and imperfection, so that every one of them actually needs atonement itself. A diseased tree can bear only diseased fruit. Our hearts are deeply corrupted and fallen, falling far short of God’s glory—the glorious righteousness that was originally stamped upon our souls in the likeness of our Creator. Having nothing to offer—neither righteousness nor good deeds—our mouths are completely silenced before God.

3If sinners like us find favor with God, it is grace upon grace! If God still chooses to pour out fresh blessings on us—and above all, the greatest blessing of all, which is salvation—what can we say in response except, “Thanks be to God for this gift too wonderful for words!” And that is truly what has happened: God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. So then, “by grace you are saved through faith.” Grace is the source of our salvation; faith is the condition on which we receive it.

Now, so that we do not miss out on the grace of God, we must carefully consider three vital questions:

I. What kind of faith is it through which we are saved?

II. What is the salvation that comes through this faith?

III. How should we answer the objections raised against it?

First, what kind of faith is it through which we are saved?

1To begin with, it is not merely the faith of a pagan.

Now, God requires even of someone without special revelation to believe “that God exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” God expects such a person to seek him by honoring him as God, giving thanks for all things, and practicing moral virtue—justice, mercy, and truth toward fellow human beings. A Greek or Roman, or anyone across the earth, was without excuse if they did not believe at least this much: that God exists with divine attributes, that there is a future state of rewards and punishment, and that moral goodness is required of us. Yet this is merely general, natural faith.

2Second, saving faith is not merely the faith of demons, even though demonic belief goes much further than natural religion. The devil believes not only that there is a wise and powerful God who is gracious in rewarding and just in punishing, but also that Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah, and the Savior of the world. In the Gospels, an unclean spirit cried out in plain words (Luke 4:34), “I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” We cannot doubt that these fallen spirits believe every word spoken by Jesus, as well as everything written by the prophets and apostles—two of whom an evil spirit was compelled to describe with that remarkable testimony: “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.” The great enemy of God and humanity believes all this and trembles: he believes that God was revealed in human flesh, that Christ will trample all enemies under his feet, and that all Scripture is inspired by God. That is how far demonic faith goes—yet it does not save.

3Third, the faith through which we are saved—in the full sense we are exploring—is not merely the faith the Apostles had while Christ was still physically on earth. They already believed in him enough to leave everything and follow him. They even had the power to perform miracles, healing every disease and sickness; they possessed authority over all demons; and beyond all of this, they were commissioned by their Master to preach the kingdom of God.

4What kind of faith is it, then, through which we are saved? Broadly speaking, it is faith in Christ: Christ, and God revealed through Christ, is its true focus. This completely sets it apart from any general, natural religion, whether ancient or modern. And it is completely distinguished from the faith of demons by this vital difference: it is not merely intellectual, rational assent—a cold, lifeless agreement with correct ideas in the head—but an inward disposition and posture of the heart. As Scripture tells us, we believe with the heart and are made right with God. It also says that if you confess Jesus as Lord with your mouth and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

5Furthermore, this faith differs from what the Apostles experienced before the crucifixion because it fully recognizes the necessity and saving merit of Christ’s death and the power of his resurrection. It embraces his death as the only sufficient means of redeeming us from eternal death, and his resurrection as restoring us to life and immortality, recognizing that “he was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.” Christian faith is therefore not just an intellectual agreement with the gospel message; it is a complete, personal reliance on the blood of Christ. It is an unreserved trust in the merit of his life, death, and resurrection—resting our entire weight on him as our atonement and our life, given for us and living within us. The result is that we gladly embrace him and cling to him as our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption—in a single word, our salvation.

The second question to consider is what kind of salvation comes through this faith.

1First of all, whatever else it includes, it is a present salvation. It is not just a future hope; it is something that can be experienced and actually enjoyed right here on earth by everyone who shares this faith. Notice how the Apostle writes to the believers in Ephesus, and through them to believers of every generation: he does not say, “You will be saved” (even though that is also true), but rather, “You are saved through faith.”

2You are saved—to sum it all up in one word—from sin. This is the salvation that comes through faith. This is the great deliverance announced by the angel before God brought his firstborn Son into the world: “You are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Scripture places no limit or restriction on this promise. All his people—or as it is put elsewhere, all who believe in him—he saves from all their sins: from original sin—the corruption of our fallen nature—and the sins we ourselves commit, from past and present sin, from sins of the body and sins of the spirit. Through faith in him, believers are delivered from both the guilt and the power of sin.

3First, believers are saved from the guilt of all their past sins. The whole world stands guilty before God, so that if he kept a strict record of our wrongs, no one could stand before him. The law can only reveal our sin; it has no power to deliver us from it, which means that no human being can ever be justified in God’s sight by observing the law. But now, God has revealed a righteousness from God that comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. Believers are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in his blood, demonstrating his righteousness by pardoning the sins committed beforehand. Christ has removed the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. He wiped out the record of charges against us, taking it out of the way and nailing it to the cross. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who believe and are in Christ Jesus.

4Having been saved from guilt, they are also delivered from fear. This does not mean they lose a loving, reverent desire to please their Father; rather, they are freed from all slavish, tormenting fear—the dread of punishment and the terror of God’s wrath. They no longer see God as a harsh master, but as a tender, loving Father. They have not received a spirit of fear leading back into slavery; instead, they have received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father!” The Spirit himself testifies together with their spirit that they are God’s children. They are also freed from the anxious dread—though not from the sober possibility—of falling away from God’s grace and falling short of his magnificent promises. In this way, they enjoy peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. They rejoice in the confident hope of sharing God’s glory, and God’s love has been poured out into their hearts through the Holy Spirit given to them. Through this, they are deeply persuaded (though they may not experience this assurance at all times or with the same fullness) that neither death nor life, neither the present nor the future, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will ever be able to separate them from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

5Furthermore, through this faith believers are saved from the power of sin as well as from its guilt. The Apostle John says that Christ appeared to take away our sins, that there is no sin in him, and that whoever remains in him does not sin (1 John 3:5 and following). Again he warns his dear children not to be deceived: whoever commits sin belongs to the devil; whoever believes is born of God; and whoever is born of God does not commit sin, because God’s seed remains in them. They cannot sin because they are born of God. Once more, John says that whoever is born of God does not sin, but guards themselves, and the evil one does not touch them (1 John 5:18).

6The person who is born of God through faith does not sin:

(1.) By any habitual sin, for habitual sin is reigning sin, and sin can never reign in anyone who truly believes. Nor

(2.) By any willful, intentional sin, because as long as they remain in the faith, their heart and will are set firmly against all wrongdoing, detesting it like deadly poison. Nor

(3.) Through any sinful desire, for their heart continually longs for the holy and perfect will of God; and whenever an unholy desire begins to stir, they put it to death at once by God’s grace. Nor

(4.) Do they sin through unavoidable human frailties in action, speech, or thought, because these weaknesses happen without any consent of their will—and without that consent, these frailties are not sins in the proper sense of the word. Thus, the person born of God does not commit sin. Although they cannot say they have never sinned, they do not sin now.

7This, then, is the salvation that comes through faith right here in this present world: deliverance from sin and from the terrible consequences of sin. In Scripture, this whole transformation is often described under the word justification, which in its broadest sense includes two great gifts: first, deliverance from guilt and punishment as Christ’s atonement is personally applied to the soul of the believer; and second, deliverance from the dominating power of sin as Christ is formed within the heart. Anyone who is justified—saved through faith—is truly born again. Born of the Spirit into a brand-new life that is hidden with Christ in God, they eagerly crave the pure, unadulterated milk of God’s word like a newborn infant so that they may grow into full maturity. Strengthened by the Lord their God, they move forward from faith to faith and grace to grace, until at last they reach spiritual maturity, attaining to the full measure of the stature of Christ.

The first common objection to this message is this:

1People say, “Preaching salvation or justification by faith alone is preaching against personal holiness and good deeds.” To this we can give a very direct answer: That would only be true if we were talking about a dead faith separated from good works. But we are speaking of a living faith that naturally and abundantly produces all holiness and every kind of good work.

2Yet it is helpful to examine this charge more thoroughly, especially since it is not new at all—it goes all the way back to the Apostle Paul. In his day, critics asked, “Do we make the law void through faith?” Our answer is twofold. First, those who do not preach faith are the ones who actually nullify God’s law. They do it either directly by adding loopholes and human traditions that drain all the life from God’s commandments, or indirectly by failing to point people to the only power by which the law can truly be obeyed. Second, we actually uphold and establish the law! We show its full depth and spiritual meaning, and we call everyone to the only living way by which the righteous requirements of the law can be fulfilled in our lives. Believers, while relying solely on the blood of Christ, joyfully participate in all the means of grace he has appointed, practice all the good works God prepared in advance for them to do, and cultivate holy, heavenly dispositions of heart, reflecting the very mind and character of Christ Jesus.

3“Doesn’t preaching salvation by faith make people proud?” We reply that, if misused, it could. That is why every believer must take to heart the earnest warning of the great Apostle: “Branches were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.” As long as a believer remains humble in that grace, they will remember Paul’s words anticipating this very objection (Romans 3:27): “Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law of faith.” If we were justified by our own good deeds, we would have something to boast about. But there is no room for boasting for anyone “who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly” (Romans 4:5). The verses surrounding our main text say the exact same thing (Ephesians 2:4): “God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved... in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” Neither your faith nor your salvation comes from you; both are entirely God’s free, unearned gift. That you are able to believe is an act of his grace; that believing brings you salvation is another. It is not by works, so that no one can boast. All the deeds and righteousness we attempted before coming to faith deserved nothing from God but condemnation; they could never earn the gift of faith. Nor does salvation come from the good works we do after we believe, because even then it is God working in us. The fact that he generously rewards what he himself produces in us only highlights the boundless riches of his mercy, leaving us no reason to boast in ourselves.

4“Still, doesn’t speaking of God’s mercy like this—saying he saves and justifies freely through faith alone—encourage people to go on sinning?” Sadly, some people will twist it that way and continue in sin thinking grace will abound, but the blame rests entirely on their own heads. God’s kindness is meant to lead people to repentance, and it will do so for everyone whose heart is sincere. When sinners discover that there is genuine forgiveness with God, they will cry out to him to blot out their sins through faith in Jesus. And if they cry out earnestly and do not give up, seeking him through every means of grace he has provided and refusing to settle for anything less than his presence, he will surely come without delay. God can do a mighty work in a very short time! The book of Acts gives us many examples of God igniting this faith in people’s hearts like lightning falling from heaven. In the very hour that Paul and Silas shared the good news, the Philippian jailer repented, believed, and was baptized. On the day of Pentecost, three thousand people repented, believed, and were baptized at Peter’s first preaching. And praise God, we have many living witnesses in our own day showing that the Lord is still mighty to save!

5Looked at from another angle, however, people raise the exact opposite objection: “If nothing we do can save us, won't this drive people to despair?” Yes, it certainly will drive them to despair of saving themselves by their own good works, merits, or self-righteousness! And that is exactly what ought to happen, because no one can truly rest on the merits of Christ until they have completely abandoned their own. Anyone trying to establish their own righteousness cannot receive the righteousness that comes from God. The righteousness received through faith can never be given to someone who is still relying on their own obedience to the law.

6Others object, “This is such an uncomfortable, discouraging doctrine!” But the devil speaks in character—completely without truth or shame—whenever he whispers that lie. In reality, this is the only comforting doctrine, overflowing with comfort for every broken, self-condemned sinner! Scripture promises that “anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame,” and that “the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him.” Here is comfort as high as heaven and stronger than death! Mercy for anyone? For Zacchaeus, a corrupt tax collector? For Mary Magdalene, whom Wesley here describes as a prostitute? I can hear someone crying out, “Then there is hope even for me!” Yes, there is hope for you, dear brokenhearted soul whom no one has comforted! God will not turn away your prayer. He may whisper to your heart this very hour, “Take heart, child; your sins are forgiven!” Forgiven so that sin no longer rules over you, and the Holy Spirit will testify directly to your spirit that you are God’s beloved child. What incredible good news! Tidings of great joy for all people! “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!” No matter what your sins have been, even if they are like crimson, even if they outnumber the hairs on your head, return to the Lord, and he will have mercy on you; turn to our God, for he will freely and abundantly pardon.

7When critics run out of other arguments, they fall back on saying, “Salvation by faith alone should not be preached first, or at least, it should not be preached to everyone.” But what does the Holy Spirit say? “No one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.” Therefore, the truth that everyone who believes in him will be saved must be the very foundation of all our preaching—which means it must be proclaimed first of all! “Well,” they say, “at least don't preach it to everyone.” To whom, then, should we refuse to preach it? Whom shall we exclude? The poor? No, they have a special right to hear the good news! The uneducated? No, from the very beginning God revealed these glorious truths to ordinary, unlettered people. The young? Certainly not! Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them.” Sinners? Least of all, for Jesus said, “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” If anyone were to be excluded, it would have to be the rich, the sophisticated, the respectable, and the morally upright. And it is true that they all too often exclude themselves from listening. Yet we must still proclaim the words of our Lord, for our commission clearly commands: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” If anyone twists this truth to their own destruction, they bear that responsibility themselves. As for us, as surely as the Lord lives, we will speak whatever the Lord commands us.

8Right now, more than ever, we must proclaim that you are saved by grace through faith. Upholding this truth has never been more urgent. [In this paragraph Wesley argues against Roman Catholic teaching in the religious disputes of his own time.] Nothing else, he argues, can effectively prevent the spread of the Roman Catholic errors he opposes. Attacking every error he sees in that church one by one would be an endless task. But salvation by faith strikes at their root, and where it is established they all fall together. Wesley credits this doctrine—which the Church of England calls the strong rock and foundation of the Christian religion—with first displacing Roman Catholicism in these kingdoms, and says that it alone can keep it out. Nothing else can turn back the flood of immorality sweeping over our society. Can you empty an ocean drop by drop? That is what trying to reform people merely by warning against specific vices is like. But bring in the righteousness that comes from God through faith, and that tidal wave of wickedness will be stopped in its tracks. Nothing else can silence those who boast in their shameful lifestyles and openly deny the Lord who bought them. Such people may talk eloquently about moral duty, sounding like those who have God’s law written on their hearts, leading listeners to think they are close to the kingdom of God. But move them from the law into the gospel; challenge them with the righteousness of faith and with Christ as the culmination of the law for everyone who believes—and those who seemed almost or entirely Christian are exposed as utterly lost. Without Christ, they are as far from life and salvation (may God have mercy on them!) as the depths of hell are from the heights of heaven.

9This is why the enemy of our souls rages whenever salvation by faith is declared to the world. That is why he stirred up all the forces of earth and hell to destroy those who first preached it. Knowing that faith alone could shatter the foundations of his dark kingdom, he summoned all his powers, using every deceit and slander to terrify Martin Luther from recovering this gospel. Nor should we be surprised. As that servant of God once remarked: “Imagine how furious a heavily armed, arrogant warrior would be if a little child came against him holding only a reed!” Especially when he knew that this child would surely defeat him and trample him underfoot. Yes, Lord Jesus, your power has always been made perfect in our human weakness! Go forward, then, you child of God who believes in him, and his mighty right hand will accomplish awesome deeds through you! Even if you feel as helpless as an infant, the enemy cannot stand against you. You will prevail, overcome, and tread down his power beneath your feet. You will march forward under the great Captain of your salvation, victorious and destined for final victory, until every enemy is destroyed and death itself is swallowed up in victory!

Now thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! To him, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving, honor, power, and might, forever and ever. Amen.