This article is based on the article: Salvation by What?

NOTE: Please read carefully as this is a little complex

When you say that you are saved by faith you are inadvertently identifying your faith as the source of salvation when it should only be regarded as a means to the Source. Indeed, there is a difference, and I am going to expound on this more in just a moment. But before I do that I would like to take a look at it from another angle that I also disagree with, which suggests that we are saved by love and by faith.

Saved by Love and by Faith

You can’t be saved by love and by faith at the same time and in the same sense as this violates the law of non-contradiction. You see, there can only be one Source of salvation. Therefore it must be one or the other—either faith or love. For if you are saved by love and by faith then that suggests that it is both your faith and God who saves you. After all, the Bible says, “God is love.” (1Jn. 4:8)

But it doesn’t follow that you can be saved by both love and faith for the simple fact that if it weren’t for love, faith wouldn’t even be an option for any of us. Please keep in mind here that the Bible says, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. (Rom. 10:17)

You see, since faith comes from God, and God is love, it is safe to say that faith comes from love. Hence, love is greater than faith and can not therefore be equal to it because faith owes its existence to love—to God.

Therefore what all of this comes down to is that if you believe you are saved by faith and by love, then you are inadvertently placing your faith on a level of equality with love as the source of salvation. But this isn’t possible as faith wouldn’t even exist if it weren’t for love. So faith and love are not equal and can not therefore save you equally. Only one can save you; and that is obviously love; for God is love and only He has the power and authority to give Eternal Life.

It makes perfect sense then to use ‘through’ rather than ‘by’ when referring to faith within the context of salvation. And I am quite sure that that is why Paul was careful to word it thusly in Ephesians 2:8, which says:

“For by grace are ye saved through faith” – Ephesians 2:8 KJV

Saved by Faith

Now let’s go back to the original thought of being ‘saved by faith’, which I had said I would expound on more. When you say you are saved by faith you are allowing faith to become the source of salvation rather than simply seeing it as a means to the Source which saves you—the source being God. And if you really want to get technical about it, since James said, “faith without works is dead” (James 2:20), to say that you are saved by faith is to essentially suggest that you are saved by works!

So it must be just as Paul stated it:

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” – Ephesians 2:8-9 KJV

Indeed, to state it thusly is to give God all the glory! But when you say you are saved by faith you give yourself the glory for believing in God when in fact you wouldn’t know that God existed if it weren’t for Him telling you so. Hence the only correct option that you have is to say that you are saved by grace through faith as that gives God the glory that He deserves; and it also compliments what the Bible actually says according to the words of Paul in Ephesians 2:8.

Turning Ideas Inside Out

Please understand that I am not saying that those who are inculcating the idea that we are saved by faith are intentionally substituting God’s grace as the source of salvation with faith, as in suggesting that they are knowingly allowing their faith to take precedence over God’s grace in this way.

I am just simply saying that when you take the idea that you are saved by faith to its logical conclusion that is what happens. In other words, faith then becomes the source of salvation. But that can not be true because only God can save you. Hence, He is the Source of salvation.

So I am not judging people here; rather, I am examining ideas by turning them inside out, so to speak.

Conclusion

The idea of being saved by faith is not consistent with reason; nor is it consistent with what the Bible actually says, as it suggests that faith is the source of salvation. And that just can’t be correct, because if it weren’t for God’s grace we wouldn’t even have faith to believe that salvation is an option. For that matter, if it weren’t for God’s grace salvation wouldn’t even be an option!

There may be a tendency for some to look at all of this as an attempt to trivialize the subject of salvation or to do semantic gymnastics, as it were. But please understand that it is neither of these. Whole movements have risen up as a result of people having the wrong understanding on this subject matter; and many people are being led down a path that leads to a destructive end because of this. Therefore we need to look at ideas more closely if we want to see them as they really are.

After all, if we want the Truth, we will do what is necessary to find it. So let’s not be anti-intellectual, but open to self-examination and the investigating of ideas, as this is the attitude of a true disciple of Jesus Christ.

To read the second part of this article go here:  The Preeminence of Grace – Part Two