In my last post, I wrote about a popular distortion of the Gospel: Universalism. It embraces a hyper-grace—that God’s grace is so powerful, no one will be able to resist it, thus removing the possibility of refusing it. The other popular distortion is the complete opposite view of grace.

Photo by Noah Silliman

 This “gospel” is based on the idea that our perfect lifestyle must be added to Christ’s sacrifice in order to be saved. In other words, God’s grace is not enough. It is best known through the concept of “perfectionism.” The main argument for this alternate gospel is that, since no one who has sin will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, it is our responsibility to work to remove all sin from our lives before Jesus returns. Interestingly, most who subscribe to this belief do not reject the sacrifice of Jesus. It is generally agreed that Jesus paid the price for sins on the cross and provides us with salvation. However, they add, we have to work to “keep being saved.” 

Biblical Support?

Once again, there are a few texts that seem to verify this idea. In Matthew 5:48 Jesus said, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” However, read in its context, it is clear Jesus is not calling us to personal perfection (see my post on this passage). 

Jesus also said, “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:20). While it almost sounds like Jesus is challenging us to “outdo” the pharisees, why would He call attention to the works of the Pharisees when He later calls them hypocrites (see Matthew 23)? In fact, when we examine all of Jesus’ teachings concerning salvation and the Pharisee’s works, we will find that He was actually telling us to quit trying to be like them—to stop trying to earn salvation.

Furthermore, Paul appears to support this idea when he wrote, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12). However, if we continue reading, Paul adds, “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (verse 13). How can it be about our efforts to “work out our own salvation,” if it is God who is working in us to do it? Actually, Paul consistently taught that salvation is not reliant on our works (see Galatians 2:16, Ephesians 2:8, 9, and Titus 3:5).

The Error of this Distortion 

The danger of this “gospel” is that it gives the misperception that heaven will be inhabited by people who deserve to be there. While it accepts the sacrifice of Jesus, it removes the power of God’s mercy and grace. Claiming the need to perfect ourselves for salvation makes Jesus’ sacrifice grossly inefficient at best, and completely unnecessary at worst.

Once again, we have merely to go to the fall of mankind to see this teaching’s origins. When speaking with Eve, Satan not only deceived with the lie, “you will not surely die” (Genesis 3:4), but he sowed another deception with the claim, “you will be like God” (Genesis 3:5). He claimed that through their works (eating the fruit) they would become like God. In fact, through this lie, our enemy created a new goal in the minds of mankind: becoming like God. Interestingly, Satan was simply tempting us with his goal (Isaiah 14:14).

Becoming Perfect

This deception causes many to chase after personal perfection. Yet, we must not forget that if we claim to be without sin (perfect) the truth is not in us (1 John 1:8–10). Besides, if it were possible to remove the sin from our lives through our own good works, then why would we need a Savior? A Savior is necessary because our works are worthless toward salvation—they only make us more in debt. Romans 6:23 says that the wages (what we earn) from sin is death. Isaiah 64:6 says that even our righteous works (works done in a relationship with God) are “filthy rags” (literally, bloody rags—which represent death).

In addition, even if we were to become “perfect” on our own, how would we know if we had reached it? Paul, the apostle, great missionary, and a contributor of the New Testament, didn’t even claim to have reached perfection but said that he was pressing on to the finish line (Philippians 3:4–14). Again, according to Paul, it was Christ doing the work in him and He would finish it by the time He returned (Philippians 1:6). Therefore, it isn’t our duty to do the work of cleaning ourselves up, we just have to keep holding on to the One working in us! 

Truth about our Works

Don’t be deceived, our works have nothing to do with our salvation. We will be saved because we trust in God’s mercy and grace, not our personally-obtained perfection (Ephesians 2:8, 9; 2 Timothy 1:9). Of course, this doesn’t mean our works are worthless. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). While our works cannot earn salvation, our obedience to Him expresses our love towards Him—it is our response to the wonderful gift of His grace.

Honestly, I am surprised that this concept is accepted by so many. I would have thought that “salvation is a free gift” would be more inviting. However, there are still many who feel the need to “do something.” In fact, many who adopt this belief often refer to the free gift of salvation as “cheap grace.” Our salvation is, by no means, cheap. Just because we don’t have to pay, doesn’t mean it didn’t cost anything. The price God paid was enormous—Jesus died on the cross for us. But that’s how much He loves us. It was a full payment too. And if our debt is paid, why would further payment be necessary? It’s not necessary. Praise God, He paid it all!