On Making Infidels: "Both ... And," Not "Either ... Or"
I have often wondered why it is that people who study the word of God at all will sometimes (quite often, in fact) try to pit one Bible doctrine over against another. There are those who seek to throw the scriptures in contrast with one another, making one passage apparently contradict or deny another. This is a prolific source of infidelity in the world today. And many times those who engage in such a practice are not conscious at all of the deadly consequences of what they are doing.
As a case in point, consider the attitude of those who give great importance to the doctrine of "justification by faith" and at the same time belittle and minimize the necessity or importance of the works of God's righteousness performed by the individual through faith. They make the doctrine of "salvation by faith" deny the doctrine, also scriptural, of "salvation by obedience." Or, consider those who seek to make a contradiction out of the doctrine of "salvation by grace" and the doctrine of salvation being conditioned upon obedience to the will of God. Their number is legion. And they seemingly fail to see that in putting one Bible teaching over against another, in trying to destroy one truth of God's word by another truth of God's word, they are simply making infidels of all who take them seriously!
There are still others who try to make a contrast between Christ and the church, trying to show that since we are saved by Christ, the church is unimportant and non-essential. They emphasize the essential relationship between Christ and the human soul; but deny the essential relationship of the church, the saved body of Christ, to the souls of men and women. Then there are still others who would contrast what the Bible says about the "blood of Christ" with what the Bible says about "baptism." In order to emphasize the blood, they apparently feel they must repudiate and deny and minimize what the Bible says about water. Yet Jesus taught that water is an essential element in the new birth. He taught that a man cannot be "born again" without the agency of water; and that unless he is born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Your Bible does not talk about faith without works. It does not talk about grace without obedience. It does not talk about Christ without the church; nor does it talk about blood without water.
When inspired men talk of Christ, it is not "Christ OR the church," but rather Christ AND the church; it is not blood OR water, but blood AND water. It is not "salvation by grace" contrasted with "salvation by obedience"; but rather it is "salvation by grace AND obedience." The Bible does not talk about "faith OR works," but rather about faith AND works. It is not one to the neglect or refusal of the other; it does not teach as if these were contradictory ideas or elements; but rather that all are in perfect harmony with one another and with the will and plan and purpose of God. All are taught in his word.
Let us consider the relationship of the blood of Christ to the soul of the individual. In the first chapter of his first letter, Peter connects the plan of God for the redemption of humanity by the blood of his Son with the importance of faith in, and obedience to, his word. It is the blood of Jesus which purchases our redemption. But we are not redeemed by that blood except we have believed in God who raised him from the dead and gave him glory. Thus our faith and our hope are in God.
The blood of Christ has been shed for the redemption of humanity; but the power of the blood to save has been offered conditionally to the souls of men and women. The fact that Jesus Christ died for all men, and that his blood was shed for the sins of every man, does not mean at all that all men are going to reap the benefits of that blood. It does not mean that all are going to be saved by that sacrifice. Why not? Because the offer of the blood of Christ with its power to redeem is a conditional offer. Peter says that it is conditioned, first of all, upon those who believe in God, who raised Christ from the dead and gave him glory, so that their faith and hope might be in God.
Then notice the very next expression of Peter, "Seeing ye have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth." (1 Peter 1:22) So it is not only faith in God and in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, but it is obedience to the truth that appropriated the blood of Christ for salvation. The offer of the blood of Christ is conditioned upon faith; it is conditioned also upon obedience. Any man who would try to emphasize one to the denial of the other is set on a course that will make infidels instead of believers out of men.
But the next verse adds still more. "Having been begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which liveth and abideth." So we might sum up the story of redemption, as set forth by Peter, in four terms: First, it was the purpose of God for Christ to die that his blood might purchase our redemption. Secondly, the redemption thus purchased has been offered to us through the gospel. Thirdly, the redemption thus made possible by the blood of Christ, and thus offered through the gospel, can be appropriated only by those who believe the gospel. And, lastly, it is by obedience growing out of this faith that our souls are purified and made free from sin. That is the reason Peter connected the power of the blood to redeem, the power of the gospel to retrieve and make us new individuals in Christ, the power of faith to save, and the power of obedience to purify our souls before God. All four of these essential elements in the salvation of an individual are connected by the Apostle Peter in these few verses from his writing. Any man who would try to put these things in contrast the one with the other, so as to belittle or minimize any one of them to the emphasizing or enlargement of the other, is following a course designed to make infidels of men. It will inevitably have that effect.