Some Gifts are Conditional
by Dwight Fuqua
From The Reminder, March 27, 2011
People have real difficulty accepting the fact that we must obey God to be the recipients of His grace. They have the mistaken idea that if we must “do something” to be saved then it is not a “gift.” This misconception has led many to conclude that we are saved by “grace only” - a doctrine foreign to and easily refuted by the Word of God.
We need realize that some gifts are conditional. God told Joshua, “See! I have given Jericho into your hand..” (Joshua 6:2). God GAVE Jericho to Joshua and the children of Israel. Yet they had to meet the marching orders that God gave them in the verses that followed (verses 3-5). It was not until they met those conditions that they received the gift (verses 6-27). Some gifts are conditional!
In John 9 Jesus GAVE sight to the man that had been blind from birth. Yet the man had to meet the condition that the Lord set forth: “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” What an awesome GIFT! When the people asked the man how he had received his sight, he told them what the Lord had done, the instructions that He had given him and how he had complied (verses 10,11). He said, “So I went and washed, and I received sight.” It was not until he met the condition that he received his sight. Some gifts are conditional!
Ephesians 2:8,9 teaches that we are saved by grace. There can be no doubt that salvation is “the gift of God.” We cannot merit (earn) salvation. It is a GIFT. But does this mean that there is nothing for us to do? Are we to disregard plain statements like Mark 16:16 and Acts 2:38 where we are taught to believe, repent and be baptized to be saved? Are these requirements “explained away” by saying, “Oh, but we are saved by grace”? No, my friend! The gift of salvation is conditional!
There is an eternity of difference between saying that “we are saved by grace” and saying that “we are saved by grace only.” Those who contend that we are saved by “grace only” cause the Bible to contradict itself! While the Bible clearly teaches that we are saved by grace (Ephesians 2:8), it also teaches that we must obey God to be saved (Mathew 7:21; Hebrews 5:8,9; Revelation 22:14). Salvation by “grace only” arrays grace against obedience and obedience against grace - one passage against another, one statement against another, one inspired spokesman against another (even against himself).
There is no contradiction! The Bible teaches that we are saved by grace. The Bible also teaches that obeying God saves us. God offers the GIFT of salvation through the sacrifice of His Son. We become recipients of that gift by meeting the conditions of salvation He has set forth (belief, repentance, baptism, faithfulness, etc.). Some gifts like salvation - are conditional!