Martin Luther stated in his preface to his commentary on Galatians, "The Papists and Anabaptists are today agreed on this one point against the Church of God (even if their words disguise it), namely, that the work of God depends on the worthiness of the person." 2 Luther explained that the Reformation was being fought on two fronts, Papists and Anabaptists (I include the Libertines here also), but against a common heresy: human merit that "earned" grace. The Romanists taught the heresy of legalism, that we earn our way to heaven, and the Anabaptists promoted license, that neither baptism nor grace meant anything without the consent of man. And if man consented, that was all that was necessary; the sacraments and the life of obedience meant little. Once man had "grace," the way he lived was a separate issue. Thus we had these two extremes. On the one hand, the dead sinner could make God his debtor (legalism), and on the other hand fallen man could take part of what God offered and leave the rest (license). The irony is that both extremes have a common heresy: the pretended autonomy of fallen man, that the sinner is in charge of his own salvation. Indeed, the Church through the centuries has constantly had to sail between the Charybdis of legalism and the Scylla of license, but on occasion it has crashed into one or the other. The same issues confront us today.
During one of the greatest revivals in church history, the Reformation, the Reformers brought the Church back in line from the rampant legalism of the late Medieval Church. In Galatians Paul stated: "I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain" (Gal. 2:21). Likewise, in Romans 4 the same Apostle stated: "Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness." The Church needed to hear that God "justifies the ungodly" (Rom. 4:5). We needed to be reminded that we have nothing to offer God except our sins, and that He in return grants us the righteousness of Christ-all as a free gift.
Rome had taught that a good work before grace was able to obtain the grace of congruence, the giving of grace for consideration of due merit (legalism). The Anabaptists (Libertines3 ) especially taught that God would give grace if the will of man first moved Him, first engaged Him, and once grace was given, the "converted" man could walk away from the Church. That meant he could live an ungodly life-because he only wanted grace for not going to hell-and he could refuse the grace for Christian living (license).
But in re-emphasizing the Gospel, the Reformers also reminded us that even our response to the Gospel was God's gift to us, that before the foundation of the world God has chosen some to be His (Acts 13:48; Eph. 1:4; 2 Tim. 1:9, etc), and that these would respond to His grace. By this biblical emphasis, our salvation was rightly seen to be all of God and none of man, that justification was by faith alone because it was by the merits of Christ alone. To the extent that justification was by the merits of man, it was not by Christ alone, and thus not by faith alone. This Reformational emphasis protected the Church from legalism.
But with equal fervor the Reformers also balanced justification as a free gift with the equally biblical teaching that if one had grace, he would have the evidence of grace: a changed life. In the words of James, "faith without works is dead." The one who had received grace had all of grace (or none of it), which included sanctifying grace, living for God. This protected the Church from license.
In opposition to Rome, grace was free, merited for us by Christ alone. In opposition to the Anabaptists, grace made a difference, changed one's life so that if one did not have the fruit of grace it was clear that he did not have the root of grace either.
There was another balance that the Reformers gave us, which was the right place of the Church in our salvation. Again there were two extremes. Rome had taught the religion of the magic touch, which meant that if you were touched by a priest who had been touched by a priest who had been touched by an Apostle, you had grace. It was automatic (ex opere operato).
But the Reformers vehemently denied such a view of grace while at the same time avoiding the other extreme: that the Church was not part of God's grace. They taught that the Church and her sacraments were very much a part of the Gospel, and that outside her was no salvation. Johh Calvin had stated that we must be in ". . . the church, into whose bosom God is pleased to gather his sons . . . so that for those to whom he is Father the church may also be Mother." Again, he taught: "For there is no other way to enter into life unless this mother conceive us in her womb, give us birth, nourish us at her breasts, and lastly, unless she keep us under her care and guidance until, putting off mortal flesh, we become like the angels." 4
Once again, the Anabaptists went to the other extreme, stating that the Church was all but irrelevant, that the baptism of infants meant nothing because the will of the infant was not yet able to procure grace by its due exercise. One must wait until the child was old enough to make a decision for Christ (to use the modern language) before he could be baptized. Once again man was put in charge. This naturally devolved into the complete irrelevance of the Church that we see in modern Christianity today.
Let us consider the balance between these two extremes Rome taught that there was absolutely no salvation outside membership in her and by her touch, which grace was merited by the sinner (legalism). The Anabaptists taught that the Church did not matter (license). The Reformers, however, proclaimed salvation in the Church but not necessarily as automatic; it was through the means of grace in the Church (balance) and received by faith. Rome saw salvation as corporate only (legalism), the Anabaptists as individual only (license), and the Reformers as both corporate and individual (balance). With Rome the sacraments were everything (legalism); with the Anabaptists they were nothing (license); and with the Reformers they were means of grace (balance).
Today we have need of another Reformation, but this time it is to reestablish the Protestant Church that has become affected by heresies, legalism, and given to license. (The Roman Church still needs to be reformed as well.) Some groups do not profess the Gospel at all. Others do not even believe the Apostles' Creed, denying the deity and/or humanity of Christ (see article in this issue entitled "Crisis Regarding Christ"). The churches that deny this are apostate.
Many are legalistic in that they look to human elements for their salvation, such as walking an aisle or other additions to the Gospel. Extra-biblical rules (hair length, rules on alcohol, etc) govern the Church more than His commandments. Indeed, His commandments are often said to be for some other age, not for today! It has become our laws, not His.
Some are given to license in that many Protestant churches do not believe in the Lordship of Christ. Indeed, one large "evangelical" seminary has made it a matter of faith that one can have Christ as Savior without having Him as Lord! In many Protestant circles, the Anabaptists have won the day. The Church is relegated to the irrelevant while we constantly hear individuals say, "I don't have to go to church to be a Christian." This is license with a vengeance. Christ's Lordship in His Church takes a back seat to the individual who sovereignly decides what part of salvation and the Church he will take. Claims are made to belong to the "invisible" Church even though one may not belong to His visible Church, which is totally contrary to the Reformation and to Holy Scripture. Maybe he will take baptism, and maybe he will take Holy Communion; but then, maybe not. One can still be a member in good standing of many Protestant churches without these means of grace! I know of churches, even elders, who have never been baptized! After thirty years of ministry in Protestant churches, the most difficult battle has been getting people to see the importance of the Church. They have resisted the error of legalism quite well, but they have fallen headlong into license, thinking that the Church is a smorgasbord, take what you want and leave the rest. The individual is in charge. One former parishioner challenged me to show him in the Bible where it said that he had to come to church on time (he was habitually 30 to 40 minutes late!). He was in charge, and he would take however much of the Holy Communion service that he thought best!
But let us proclaim the old grace of the Gospel that lifts up the divine Son of God, who gave Himself for our sins that we might be justified by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus alone, thereby avoiding legalism. Let us with equal insistence expound that the same grace that grants us entrance into God's Church also enables us to make progress in the Christian life, to attend His worship, to use the means of grace through His sacraments, and to be submissive to Him by being submissive to His ordained clergy. Let us say with Paul, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast" (Eph. 2:8-9). But let us also agree with Paul's next verse: "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them" (Eph. 2:10). The same grace that saves us from the penalty of sin also saves us from the power of sin, and both always in the context of His visible Church.
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2 Martin Luther, A Commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians, 1535 (Published by James Clarke & Co. Ltd, 1973), p. 18.
3 John Calvin, Treatises Against the Anabaptists and Against the Libertines (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1982), p. 262ff.
4 John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 4.1.1, 4. We could also quote the later Westminster Confession of Faith, 25.2 of the Presbyterians, or the earlier Article XIX of the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion of the Anglicans.
