ARTICLE IX -- THE GOSPEL MESSAGE

Section 3          Popular False Doctrines Touching on the Gospel    We believe that there exist popular doctrines and teachings that, though not necessarily denying the gospel, are so inextricably linked to the gospel message, that history bears witness to the damage consistently done to the gospel message by adherence to these false doctrines, including:

(a)                        The Doctrine of "Infused," "Sovereign," or "Irresistible" Grace.  We believe that the fundamental meaning of "grace," from the Greek word "charis," is the disposition of a giver to offer something freely, out of the beneficence of the giver, its closest equivalent term in Hebrew being "hesed," God's loyal and unconditional love.  We note that, throughout the progressive history of the church, the very meaning of grace was transformed from its lexical roots into a sensual quality or an ethereal vitalizing element (e.g. Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica, Part 1 of the Second Part, "Treatise on Grace," questions 109-114).  Through this progressive distortion, bizarre and complex schemes of "grace" have been developed, including "prevenient grace," "actual grace," "common grace," "effectual grace," "sovereign grace," "sanctifying grace," and "irresistible grace."  We observe from church history that the corruption of "grace" into an ethereal vitalizing substance, though often starting with the seemingly "innocuous" view that "grace" vitalizes the lost sinner to belief in Christ, deteriorates, almost inevitably, to the belief that the effects of grace, being sovereign or irresistible, will ultimately empower man to "repent of his sins," to perform certain acts of righteousness, and/or to "persevere to the end" in faith and good works.  Finally, we observe that the frequent conclusion of this heresy is that, if permanent and significant lifestyle changes are not manifest in the life of a sinner, God's "grace" was never received.

As a consequence, we believe that such a corruption of the meaning of the word "grace" historically portends a grave likelihood, if not a virtual certainty, of a theological system deteriorating into a system of salvation by "Christ plus works," (Romans 11:6-7, Ephesians 2:8-9), the very opposite meaning of the word "Grace."

(b)            Faith as a "Work"  We further note that the doctrine of "sovereign grace," whereby grace is redefined as a vitalizing element empowering man toward faith often gives rise to the absurd doctrine that faith is somehow a "work," or that the teaching that a man must make a free will decision to believe on Christ is to deny the doctrine of "grace." To this end:

1.      We affirm that the one requirement of Scripture for man's salvation is to believe on Christ alone (John 3:16).  Moreover, we believe that the requirement of faith on the part of man is specifically singled out in Scripture as being wholly consistent with God's offer of eternal life by grace, that is, a free gift (John 6:28-29; Romans 3:28; 4:4-5; Ephesians 2:8-9; and see especially Romans 4:16).

2.      We further reject as unbiblical the absurd teaching that a belief in "sovereign grace," or the bondage of the will is, on any level, part of the gospel message unto salvation.  We affirm that the logical and necessary conclusion of this absurd view of the gospel is that, for a lost sinner to exercise saving faith, he must believe that he cannot believe.

3.      We further affirm that the drawing of man to God is an act of the personal Triune God (John 3:8; John 6:44; John 16:7-11; John 12:32), and reject the belief that man is drawn to God by some impersonal mystical Aristotelian empowering substance that is infused into man.  We deny knowledge of any such form of "grace," in the Holy Scriptures.

Although we believe that the Triune God is active in drawing the unbeliever to Christ, we believe that faith is ultimately an act of the creature, not an imposition of the Creator.