It is a correct statement to say God saves sinners. But sinners are saved from what? This article traces looks at how Augustine answered this question, and it shows that the threat to biblical salvation has always been some form of Arminianism.

Source: APC News, 2009. 3 pages.

Our Spiritual Roots: God Saves Sinners Augustine on sin and grace

Jesus said – “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” One of his apostles wrote, “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the fore­most.” The Bible is telling us that God saves sinners.

Saved from what?🔗

The fact that God saves sinners might sound obvious, but we do well to ponder it. For example, there is the question: Saves from what? What precisely is the nature of human sin, and what does God graciously do to save Our Spiritual Roots God saves sinners – Augustine on sin and gracethe sinner? Does he only save us from the consequences of our sins? Or does he also save us from ourselves?

Augustine (354-430), who was Bishop of Hippo in North Africa, thought a great deal about such questions. He knew what the Bible says about humanity, and about God’s salvation. He also knew about sin and grace from personal experience. Some of his contemporaries (especially the British monk, Pelagius) were saying things that he knew were unrealistic and unbiblical. So he wrote what he understood the Bible to teach, and what the church generally believed. Putting pen to paper makes explicit things we already know; and that helps us to understand them better. Augustine’s work was a classic study of sin and grace. The church has been indebted to him ever since.

His answer to the question – “saves from what?” – can be summarised as follows. “Sin” is more than the wrong things we have done; it describes what we are. We are free in the sense that no one compels us to do right or wrong; but we are biased against God. Augustine compared it to a pair of balances, or kitchen scales. When balanced correctly they give an accurate measure; but if one side is loaded, they can only give a wrong measure. In a similar way, we would choose what is right, if we ourselves were right; but our sinful bias against God means we end up doing wrong, even rejecting the Saviour.

Freedom from external constraint is not the same as freedom from our own spiritual bias. That bias is a sinful thing – just as malice towards another human being is sinful. “The carnal mind is enmity against God…” (Rom 8:7). As Jesus put it, “You refuse to come to me that you may have life” (John 5:40). That was part of the change that came over humanity at the Fall. We need forgiveness for it, and spiritual healing. King David’s prayer should find an echo, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Ps 51:10).

Augustine used three analogies. Sin is a hereditary disease; it affects the way we feel, think, and act. Therefore it is also a power that holds us captive. And it is guilt – the liability to punishment because we have wronged God. “We are all in Christ’s hospital”, he wrote. And he was fond of quoting Christ’s words, “Without me, you can do nothing.”

God’s grace🔗

In the Old Testament God gave many promises of the coming Saviour and what he would do. One of the promises (quoted in Hebrews 8:10-12) is of a ‘new heart’, or disposition. Jesus’ expression “born again” (John 3:3) is about that change of heart, not merely about a change of beliefs or lifestyle. Augustine realised that and pointed out that such a change of heart is an integral part of the salvation that God gives.

So what happens when God visits us in the gospel of our Lord Jesus? When we receive the Son of God as our Saviour we do so of our own accord – it is a very hearty and sincere act on our part. But, if we were to reflect on it, we would realise that God must have been at work in us before we would ever do such a thing.

But we must never confuse the message of the gospel with reflecting on the gospel. What God does behind the scenes is not our business; our business is to do what he tells us. God does not ask us to wait for some change to happen, or focus our thoughts on ourselves. Instead he simply presents his Son to us as the Saviour of sinners and commands us to receive him. Christ Jesus will make the changes we need – our responsibility is to ask him.

Augustine saw grace as nothing less than God saving sinners. It’s more than making salvation possible – it’s actually saving the person. God is active. Everything from start to finish is his work. A sinner’s task is to rest wholly on God’s promise to save people by Jesus Christ. A good standing with God (justification) is his gift; a good heart (sanctification) is also his gift. A life well lived is ultimately the result of his gifts.

History🔗

The Bible’s teaching on these things has been challenged or denied. Sometimes that is the result of thinking about two different things at the same time – we tend to get them mixed up. People sometimes forget the difference between what God does for us (he justifies), and what God does in us (he sanctifies).

Our Spiritual Roots God saves sinners – Augustine on sin and graceAlso, if our main concern is to live a life of obedience to God, we might imagine that people who speak a lot about grace are encouraging careless living. They are not. Or if our main concern is to show that “salvation is from the Lord”, we might imagine that anyone who speaks a lot about obedience is denying that salvation is all of grace. They are not. God’s saving grace gives us a new heart, and his Spirit continues to work in us. The result is that we want to please him, and will persevere in the faith till the end. Augustine knew that from the Bible and his own experience.

A different challenge came at the start of the seventeenth century. Followers of a Dutch theologian called Arminius developed ideas that became more extreme as time went on. They argued that God had only made salvation possible – the rest being up to us. If they had been correct that would have made God a helpless spectator, his choice would only mean acknowledging the inevitable, and sinners could lose their salvation as easily as gain it. That is contrary to the Bible’s teaching that God saves sinners. The church as a whole rejected what they said, and the international Synod of Dort gave a point-by-point refutation of their arguments (known in the jargon as T.U.L.I.P. – look it up!). But their approach has become common.

Later a similar controversy arose. An American evangelist named Charles Finney did not fully appreciate sinners’ need for God to heal their soul. He thought that what people needed was arm twisting, or psychological pressure. His concern for the salvation of his fellow men was commendable – we can learn from it. But his approach was flawed and a significant proportion of his ‘converts’ went back to what they had been before. His apparent success (large numbers were moved to profess faith) has led others to follow his example – which turned out to be a mistake. They do not realise that a change due to psychological factors is a different thing to a God-given change of heart. Without God’s work people will ‘snap-back’.

Differences and issues🔗

There are significant differences in the message conveyed by those who agree with Augustine or Calvin, and those who have the weaker beliefs of Arminius’ followers. James Packer has summed up the gospel as Augustine and others understand it in this way:

  1. “that all men are sinners and cannot save themselves;
  2. that Jesus Christ, God’s Son, is the perfect Saviour for sinners, even the worst;
  3. that the Father and the Son have promised that all who know themselves to be sinners and put faith in Christ as Saviour shall be received into favour, and none cast out … that God has made repentance and faith a duty…”

Our Spiritual Roots God saves sinners – Augustine on sin and graceThat message offers Christ freely to everyone. It gives strong reasons why everyone should entrust themselves to him to save them. It presents him as a purposeful and capable Saviour as well as one who is “ready to forgive”. And it gives assurance that “he who has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil 1:6). That is very different from saying that God wants to save you but can’t until you make the decisive choice. It shows a God who actually saves, not one who watches helplessly.

We would expect a difference in the spirituality that results from those different beliefs and experiences. Faith in a God who really saves sinners should result in deep humility, utter confidence and resounding praise. For it sees a love, a loyalty, and a power that others have never imagined.

(Alister McGrath’s ‘Christian Theology: An Intro­duction’ contains a summary of Augustine’s thought on this matter. Two good biographies are by Peter Brown and Henry Chadwick. One of the best articles on sin and grace is by J. I. Packer – it is his Introduction to John Owen’s ‘Death of Death’, which can also be found as ‘Saved by His Precious Blood’ in his ‘A Quest for Godliness’. Two helpful pieces are chapters 16 and 17 of Packer’s ‘Serving the People of God’, Vol. 2 of ‘Collected Works’.)

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