As astonishing as it is to think that grace is UNMERITED FAVOR sovereignly given by the Holy Spirit, it is even more astonishing that some think that if they practice certain acts, like prayer, etc., they will obtain grace. They admit that it is through and by the Spirit that this grace is obtained. They also agree that the Spirit, like the wind, goes wherever he wishes. Then how can they possibly do anything that will influence the almighty and unchangeable God to give them grace?? We are mystified by this. These men claim to believe in salvation by grace ALONE, not by any actions they perform - ed
Such Arminians as Grudem in his Systematic Theology states 11 means by which Christians can obtain grace:
1. Teaching of the WordThe Word of God is a means of grace to the church. David said, “The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple” (Psalm 19:7). Jeremiah wrote, “Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?” (Jeremiah 23:29). And Paul called the gospel, “the power of God unto salvation” (Romans 1:16). God’s word is instructive, powerful, and can save people. The Bible is the primary means of grace to God’s people.
[Here Grudem makes the typical mistake most Reformed theologians do. They assume (since they are cessationists) that the ONLY testimony God has to his elect is through the Bible. An example of this mistake is his definition of the Hebrew word eduth. If we consult the most scholarly Hebrew Lexicon we read this word in this passage the following: "he solemn undertaking of the given duty connected with the remembrance of God’s saving acts, without reference to a particular written document". But there is more. The word of God is NOT the Bible. Normally the Bible, particularly the Old Testament is called the scriptures. The Bible cannot save anyone. Its words are meaningless unless applied by the Spirit of God! In fact, the Bible as we know it did not exist in the time of the Apostles. It was put together over centuries with chapter headings and verses added. God's inner word; the words that Jesus speaks do not return to him void. They accomplish the precise purpose for which they were sent! Like on the road to Damascus for Paul, that Christian-hating Pharisee, they will totally transform you!]
2. Baptism Jesus commanded his church to baptize disciples (Matthew 28:19). Water baptism is an outward symbol of inward spiritual baptism of the Holy Spirit. It does not save people, but it is a way God blesses his people. Baptism is an act of obedience for the one being baptized (Acts 2:38). It is also a way to publicly confess Jesus as Savior which blesses the church and testifies of the grace of God to the world.
[How does this act give you grace? Can we find such an idea in the New Testament? Does not grace mean unmerited favor from God? If so, how can we procure it by something WE do?? Where does it say that Baptism "blesses" the church? And where does it say that it is a symbol of the inward baptism of the Spirit?]
3. The Lord’s Supper The Lord’s Supper is another means of grace in the church. In a similar way as baptism, the Lord’s Supper is an outward symbol of an inward spiritual reality while Christians eat bread and wine (or juice) as symbols of the body and blood of Christ. The Lord’s Supper is a sharing in the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 10:16). In addition, it should be done carefully. If a believer eats and drinks without concern, they may eat and drink judgment upon themselves (1 Corinthians 11:29-30)
[We refer our readers to an article titled to come out on this website on November 23rd titled "Being Taught by Christ And Being Taught About Christ."]
4. Prayer God has also given prayer as a means of grace to the church. Prayer is direct communication with God. Prayer is one of the ways God’s people invite God’s action on the earth and a way that God blesses his people. The author of Hebrews instructs believers, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16).
[Prayer does not bring grace. Prayer is produced by grace! Prayer does not move the hands of God; prayer does not change God's mind. God has a plan, a will from eternity that he will not change! At times, he prompts Christians to pray for what he decided in eternity to do. The event comes to pass and Christians are encouraged that there is a God who listens to them and loves them. He already knows what you need before you ask him. The reference cited in Hebrews should be noted very carefully. What is being said is NOT that the act of asking God for help will give us grace! After all, sometimes God will not answer our prayers. But in time of need; the right appointed time (what the Greek term means) God will provide help. Thus the prayer does not give grace, the grace comes before that when God's people are made to cry out by God's enablement. We do not even know what to pray for and how we ought to do it. It is the cries that cannot be uttered by the Spirit and produce anything.]
5. Worship Worship is another means of grace given to the church. Jesus said, “True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.” (John 4:23). So worship involves both a physical action and a spiritual experience. In addition to prayer, worship is another way God comes near to his people (James 4:8).
[This worship is NOT a corporate worship. There is no such thing in the New Testament. It is done internally in Spirit and in Truth, not externally by some magical liturgies that vain men think will produce in God a wish to give them grace! Jesus did not even the church in this context. It seems more of a personal thing in a person's heart. Not a stony heart, but a soft heart made of flesh. Do we really think that James is talking about corporate worship? Really? No liturgical man-made, will-worshipping deeds are spoken of here.]
6. Church Discipline - Church discipline is a way the purity of the church is advanced and holy living is encouraged. Without church discipline, sin grows unchecked and God ultimately may abandon the church as he threatened in Revelation (Revelation 2:5). However with church discipline, God removes the unrepentant people from the church and cleanses his people so they will walk before him in fear and holiness (1 Timothy 5:20).
[We'd love to see the passage where Paul or Peter state that disciplining someone brings grace to the church! Where is it? The reference to I Timothy 5.20 is done in public, but not necessarily before the congregation, although this is possible. But the intended outcome is that all will fear who hear and watch it. It says nothing about whether the person receiving the rebuke will follow it.]
7. Giving Giving is another means of grace whereby God blesses his church. Paul wrote about giving, “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.” (2 Corinthians 9:6) God reserves a blessing for people who give to the Lord’s work. This blessing is not an automatic quid pro quo exchange, but a regular means God uses to bless the church.
[This is perhaps the most blasphemous of all the "means of grace" mentioned here. It implies that God is impressed with the amount of money and will make a deal to return the money back to the individual who gave it. Gruden forgets this little passage which follows the verse he quotes: "Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work". If it is not from the heart and spirit-produced, it will amount to NOTHING. Many men in the last day will tell Christ about all the great things they "did for him", but what is his answer? No doubt some of these men gave great amounts of money, and just performed miracles. Besides the collection that Paul was taking here was from individuals and it was unusual. It was NOT a "regular means": of anything!]
8. Spiritual Gifts - Spiritual gifts are a further means of grace for the church. Properly exercised, these gifts build up the church (1 Corinthians 12:7). Spiritual gifts like tongues, prophecy, words of knowledge, gifts of help, etc (see 1 Corinthians 12:4-11) are not intended to operate only with individuals, but as a way to strengthen the entire body of Christ. In addition, spiritual gifts are not just for the clergy or leaders but are also given to every Christian (1 Peter 4:10).
[These gifts are given BY GRACE through the manifestation of the Spirit. They do not produce grace. The grace is already given by the Spirit without any action on the part of men. The Spirit does this for the advantage and benefit of all in the church. They are not means of grace BUT A RESULT OF GRACE!]
9. Fellowship - Another way God blesses the church is through fellowship with other believers. The author of Hebrews wrote, “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:24-25) So we are commanded to meet together and God will bless us as we meet and fellowship together like the early church (Acts 2:42).
[Wallace, in his Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, "...describes the fact that both Either this pattern of worship was well known in the early church because it was the common manner in which it was done, or Luke was attempting to convey that each element of the worship was the only one deserving of the name (par excellence. Kittel's Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, states:In the NT the verb occurs at Ac. 17:16; it is said of Paul that when he saw pagan Athens παρωξύνετο τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ, “his spirit was provoked or incensed in him.” The expression seeks to emphasize the honest anger of the apostle, and can hardly suggest that he was stirred or stimulated to preach or to win converts.88 1 C. 13:5 says of love: οὐ παροξύνεται, “it does not let itself be provoked.” Pl. uses this expression with a conscious eye on the tensions in the church at Corinth, where there had been a good deal of provocation.
The noun παροξυσμός is found in the usual sense of “irritation” at Ac. 15:39, which tells of the quarrel between Paul and Barnabas. An unusual occurrence is at Hb. 10:24: κατανοῶμεν ἀλλήλους εἰς παροξυσμὸν ἀγάπης καὶ καλῶν ἔργων, where παροξυσμός, in keeping with the first meaning of the verb, can only have the sense of “incitement,” “stimulation.”90 Perhaps the author is intentionally suggesting the idea of spurring on or stimulation to give special force to his summons to love and good works.
Thus this term which was usually used for producing anger, Paul uses it to produce good works. The same energy for anger is turned into good works. As for this bringing grace, we simply quote Philippians 2.11-12: Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Grace comes first and produces these desires and not the other way around).
10. Evangelism - Evangelism is sharing the good news that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). Those who evangelize share the grace of eternal life with those who are not Christians, and God blesses those who evangelize with his presence (Matthew 28:19-20).
[Share the grace of eternal life?? Really? One can share the message of eternal life, i.e. the Gospel, but one cannot share grace. That is God's prerogative. And as for being blessed with God's presence, we believe that all believers have Christ in them, not just those who evangelize. Again grace is UNMERITED favor, who can get it by doing something "for the Lord"? Does the Lord need help in anything??]
11. Personal Ministry to Individuals - Though all of the previous means of grace are important, we can never neglect the final means whereby God blesses the church: personal ministry to individuals. This category includes many things including admonishment (Colossians 3:16), giving to the needy (James 2:16), praying for the sick (Mark 6:13), and laying on of hands (Acts 28:8).
[What can we say? Gruden is still missing Philippians 2.11-12!]
Application: God Blesses His Church
[Like a good Puritan, Grudem applies the meaning to his hearers, apparently not believing that the Holy Spirit is capable and WILL apply any words spoken to his people Himself.]
In application, we should remember God’s concern for us regarding these means of grace. When Jesus ascended to the Father, he did not leave us as orphans alone to fend for ourselves (John 14:18). Instead, he gave his Holy Spirit to lead us and several means of grace by which he blesses his people. God loves his people and daily cares for us with many types of unmerited favor.
[This is an amazing statement. Gruden basically equates the Spirit of God with "means of grace" which involves the actions of men! Does he realize what he is saying??]
Where did this phrase "means of grace" begin? Well, to obtain a clue we can use Google's NGram. Here we would find this:
Click to Enlarge
This idea of there being a means of grace goes back to the Synod of Dordt the most sacred bastion of Calvinistic Orthodoxy, and of course back to the Catholic Church which shows its Satanic origins.
Some years ago, a friend of the writer was present at a conference in which Dr. Cornelius Van Til of Westminster Theological Seminary was taking part. Van Til was already in his seventies and in the question-and-answer session, someone asked him, ‘Dr. Van Til, isn’t there a sense in which as you get older, sins that once bothered you no longer do so?’ Van Til, his finger shaking, answered the question energetically: ‘Young man, that is incipient perfectionism. The greatest battles I have now are the sins of my youth!
Negatively then, true mortification can never be accomplished by the imposition of human rules and regulations. How is it accomplished? Positively, the Holy Spirit enables us to mortify sin by creating and sustaining our union and communion with Christ, by applying his fulness to us, and not only strengthening us to resist temptation but causing our hearts to abound in grace and in those fruits of the Spirit which are contrary to the flesh.
This is true. At times the Spirit, by his sovereign grace enables us to mortify the deeds of the flesh. So far so good, but then this statement is made which John Owen agrees with and is quoted:
Yet the Holy Spirit is not given apart from the means of grace. Rather, he is communicated through the means of grace. And therefore, says Owen, it is required of us that we look for supplies of grace ‘in all those ways and means whereby they are communicated; for although the Lord Christ giveth them freely and bountifully, yet our diligence in duty will give the measure in receiving them’ (3:554). And by duty, Owen refers to ‘prayer, mediation, reading, hearing of the Word, and other ordinances of divine worship’ (3:554). However, he mentions prayer particularly. ‘It doth itself mightily prevail unto the weakening and destruction of sin.’ Or again: ‘the soul of a believer is never raised unto a higher delight in holiness, nor is more conformed to it than in prayer’ (3:560). That is where we start, says Owen, in effect; with the realization that the Holy Spirit is in us as believers. In other words, we must know our resources, we must begin from a position of strength by realizing what is already true of us as Christians.
To finish off the inconsistency, the article continues in the work-mongering:
However, the Spirit’s method is not to work mortification in us so as to bypass our activity but rather to enlist it. We are not spectators in the work but participants.
How these two views can be reconciled is beyond our understanding! This is what happens when one follows "logical consequences" instead of the New Testament.
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