Conditional Grace

The following is a meditation on sanctification as a condition of our salvation. It is an excerpt from a more extensive meditation, thirty pages and counting, on Romans 8:13b.

The verse is a condition: “but if by the Spirit, you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”

Now, we have to be careful to be true to the scriptures. We sometimes get nervous when we see conditional statements in the New Testament because we have trouble reconciling a free gift with a condition. We think if we assert a condition then we are in danger of denying the freedom of God’s grace. We so want to affirm the unconditional nature of God’s grace, and of his love, that we pass over these conditions lightly. We explain them away. But let’s be careful. This verse clearly states that life is conditional on putting to death the deeds of the body. That’s made even clearer when we compare it to the first part of the verse. Not putting to death the deeds of the body, but living a complacent life of the flesh, results in death. So, if you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live; if you don’t, you must die. There’s no escaping the conditional force of these words.

There are many conditional statements in the New Testament. For example, Jesus said in His great Sermon on the Mount, "if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.” (Matt 6:14,15.[1]) This statement should raise a lot of questions for us. Isn’t forgiveness a free gift from God? How then could He make it conditional on our forgiving others?

Let’s take a few other examples. In First Corinthians, Paul says, “Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.” (1 Cor 15:12) and in Colossians, “He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach-- if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, was made a minister.” (Col 1:22,23) Or even in this passage of Romans, we have another conditional statement at the very end, at the end of v. 16 and all of v. 17, “we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.” I won’t continue with other examples, you can look some up for yourselves.[2]

We’re wrong if we ignore the conditional statements in the New Testament. They are very important. We need to take them seriously. We need to give them their full weight. In these examples alone, we are told that forgiving others is a condition of our being forgiven, and faithfully holding to the apostolic teaching, continuing in the faith to the end, and suffering with Christ are conditions of our future glorification and salvation. There’s something wrong with our thinking if our faith in the freedom of God’s gift is threatened by these conditions. There are conditions and we need to have a theology of grace that accounts for these conditions. The gift of God is not unconditional; it is conditional. Life is conditional, our glory is conditional, even forgiveness is conditional. We need to be able to recognize this even at the same time that we affirm that God’s grace is entirely free and sovereign and unmotivated by any merit in us. We are saved by grace through faith and not by works!

So, we need to think long and hard about the conditions in the Bible. We can’t deny that they are there, nor can we skip over them. They’re too important. We need to delve deeply into the nature of these conditions. We need to understand how they work, where they fit in God’s plan of salvation.

Conditional statements simply highlight a relationship between two things. They show that the two things are connected. What’s described after the “then” is connected to what comes after the “if.” The key to avoiding confusion about the conditional nature of the gift, is to be clear about the nature of these connections.

We sometimes think every conditional statement has to be interpreted as a cause and effect statement. That is, we automatically assume that the connection between the two things is cause and effect. The statement after the “if” describes the cause, and the statement after the “then” describes the effect. One thing causes the other. But if that were true, then persevering to the end would be the cause of our being saved, and it would be impossible for us to have any assurance until we actually had completed the course of our lives. Our forgiving others would be the cause of God’s forgiving us, and our suffering with Christ would be the cause of our being glorified – being holy, blameless, and without reproach before Him on the last day. It would be hard for us to see anything except salvation by merit in this situation.

But a different type of connection is means and end. God has guaranteed the end, but may also have ordained that the end come true through means. The “if … then … ” statement asserts a connection between two things as a means to an end. Eternal life is a free gift and is guaranteed for us, but it is given to us through sanctification. Sanctification is a condition of future life.

We’re all very familiar with Romans 6:23, “the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life. “ Many of us can probably recite this part of the verse from memory. It’s an important verse to evangelicals. In fact, many of us may have learned a simple but effective summary of the gospel, called the “Roman Road,” that uses this verse.[3]

Romans 6:23 is one of the linchpins of our faith in the freedom of God’s grace. And it clearly contrasts the free gift with our wages, what we deserve. This is probably the first verse that would come to our minds if we were asked to prove biblically that eternal life is a gift. It affirms with the strongest imaginable words that eternal life is undeserved. It’s a free gift. It’s the opposite of a wage. We don’t deserve it.

But now let’s look at the verse right before it, 6:22, “But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 6:22,23) Eternal life is still an outcome of something. Literally, the Greek word translated “outcome” is “end.” Eternal life freely given is an end. V. 22 describes the means to that end. First, comes being freed from sin and being enslaved to God. Next, this paradoxical combination of freedom and enslavement bears the fruit[4] which is sanctification. And finally, the outcome, or end, of sanctification is eternal life. So sanctification is connected to eternal life as a means to an end.

Sanctification is itself a fruit of our being set free from sin. So, in some sense it is an end, too -- “Christ gave Himself up for [the church], so that He might sanctify her.” (Eph 5:25,26) – but the ultimate end is life. Sanctification is the means through which eternal life is given to us. It is not its cause. Those are two different things. God guarantees the end and fulfills the end through means. Both the end and the means are the gift of God.

If we really think about the nature of eternal life, the connection between sanctification and eternal life becomes obvious. Eternal life is not just life that lasts forever. Thank God! Some of us have miserable lives. The idea of an endless continuation of the life we now live isn’t at all exciting to us. For some, that kind of life without end would almost be hell. We have to believe that there will be a dramatic change in the quality of our lives. We believe that the essence of eternal life is not in its endless duration but in the quality of that life. And, in fact, this is, I believe, the biblical view of eternal life. Eternal life is life with God, and death is life apart from God. Jesus said in His high priestly prayer, “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” (John 17:3) The Old Testament says very little explicitly about “eternal life,” but it has a lot to say about living in a relationship with God. That is the essence of the biblical view of life rather than death. Life is fellowship with God.

When we think about eternal life that way, it’s easy for us to understand that sanctification is the means through which eternal life is given to us. I’ll even go so far as to say that in sanctification we enjoy the beginnings of eternal life.[5] In sanctification we grow in our knowledge of God, we increase in our Christ-likeness, we kill our anti-God desires and behavior, and progressively put on behaviors we know please God. We know we are being made fit for heaven. We long for the day when we are completely free from the presence of sin, but we already enjoy progressive freedom from its power. Glorification, the transformation of our bodies to become like Christ’s, is the full and final consummation of a process that’s already started: sanctification, becoming Christ-like in character and behavior.

Let’s pause here briefly to get our bearings. What have we said so far about this one word “if”? What conclusions have we drawn? So far, we have affirmed that eternal life is conditional on sanctification. We have also explained that sanctification being a condition of eternal life doesn’t mean it’s the cause of eternal life, but the means through which the gift of life is given to us. We have one more point to make: we also now have to assert that sanctification is a necessary condition of eternal life.

What do we mean by that? It means that without sanctification we cannot have eternal life. It’s necessary because without it having eternal life is impossible. Remember what Paul says in the first part of verse 13, if you aren’t pursuing sanctification, “you must die.” Without sanctification, death is necessary and certain.

He confirms this in the following verse. Verse 14 begins with a “for” flagging the fact that Paul is going to confirm and defend his argument, “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.“ Paul anticipates and answers the question why it is only those who “by the Spirit, are putting to death the deeds of the body” who will live, and why everyone else must die. It’s because they, and they only, are sons of God. Being led by the Spirit is a defining characteristic of the sons for God, “For all who …, these are sons of God.” Being led by the Spirit is what identifies them as sons. And they are led by the Spirit to kill sin. So, it is those who put to death the deeds of the body who are the sons of God. And life is for sons; not slaves. It is the inheritance of the heirs of God. (vv. 15,16) Sanctification is necessary for life, because sanctification is a necessary characteristic of the children of God and life is only given to the children.

Let’s briefly quote some other verses that confirm this teaching, that sanctification is a necessary condition of eternal life, before we move on.

Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. (Heb 12:14)

For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matt 5:20, “unless” is the same as “if not” If your righteousness is not greater than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” )

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived … (1 Cor 6:9,10)

For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words … (Eph 5:5,6)

… envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Gal 5:21)

Note that all these verses are expressed in negative terms. Sanctification isn’t what gets you into heaven, but not having it keeps you out. Sanctification isn’t the cause of our salvation, but without sanctification we are not saved. That’s what we mean when we say sanctification is a necessary condition of eternal life. If you do not pursue sanctification, you are not a child of God. If you are not a child of God, then you are not an heir and have no right to the inheritance of the children. You will not receive life.

If, on the other hand, you are being led by the Spirit to pursue sanctification, you will live. It is God’s intent to give His children eternal life – an endless life of joyful, intimate communion with a holy God. He makes all His children holy so they are fit for such a life, and He gives them the Holy Spirit to ensure that happen.

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[1] Matt 18:35 has an even stronger statement in the parable of the unforgiving servant.

[2] Here are a couple more examples: “If we endure, we will also reign with Him” (2 Tim 2:12a). “but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house-- whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end” (Heb 3:6) These examples make our future glory and even our present identity as belonging to God conditional on our endurance till the end.

[3] The Roman Road is a series of four verses from the book of Romans that can guide us in presenting the Gospel to an unbeliever. The first verse is Romans 3:23, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Using that verse we show that all men are sinners, including the person we’re talking to. Then we recite Romans 6:23 to show what the consequence of sin is, death, and at the same time to show that in spite of what we deserve, God has provided eternal life as a free gift. Romans 5:8 shows both that Christ took on the death we deserve for us – he received our wages for us – and that Christ’s death is motivated by God’s love. And, the final step on the road, is Romans 10:9, “if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

[4] The literal translation of the word the NASB translates “benefit.”

[5] Eternal life is both a present and a future possession, just as salvation is past, present and future.