In his book Future Grace, John Piper writes, “Faith alone is the instrument that unites us to Christ who is our righteousness and the ground of our justification. But the purity of life that confirms faith’s reality is also essential for final salvation, not as the ground of our right standing, but as the fruit and evidence that we are vitally united by faith to Christ who alone is the ground of our acceptance with God.”[1] His purpose in writing that statement is to “explode the great error that says . . . [y]ou get your justification by faith, and you get your sanctification by works. You start the Christian life in the power of the Spirit, you press on in the efforts of the flesh.”[2]
The emphasized portion above (and other such statements) has raised critical concerns over Piper’s Reformed theology in that his words seem to veer away from orthodox Reformed teaching. These critics contend Piper teaches a two-stage justification where one is “initially justified by grace alone, through faith alone but finally saved through works.”[3] Twenty years later, following the initial publication of Future Grace, Piper’s comments noted in the Foreword of Thomas Schreiner’s 2015 work, Faith Alone: The Doctrine of Justification, sent up red flags among the Reformed. Piper writes,
As Tom Schreiner says, the book “tackles one of the fundamental questions of our human condition: how can a person be right with God?” The stunning Christian answer is: sola fide—faith alone. But be sure you hear this carefully and precisely: He says right with God by faith alone, not attain heaven by faith alone. There are other conditions for attaining heaven, but no others for entering a right relationship to God. In fact, one must already be in a right relationship with God by faith alone in order to meet the other conditions.[4]
The sentence in question indicates that sola fide only makes one right with God, but it does not attain heaven. What is interesting is that critics are challenging Piper’s views of justification, yet he was referring to Schreiner’s conclusion. In Faith Alone, Schreiner states, “Good works are necessary for final salvation, and yet these works don’t compromise salvation by faith alone.”[5] I wonder if Piper’s critics actually read Schreiner’s book to better understand Piper’s comment in the Foreword. With that said, this essay will review select portions from Piper’s writings that inform his understanding of good works being necessary for final salvation—without compromising sola fide. And then I will review John Calvin’s understanding of the role of good works, with the purpose of identifying a coherence between the two.[6] Obviously, Calvin doesn’t speak for the entire Reformed tradition, but he carries quite a lot of weight (plus, he is my favorite Reformer).
Getting back to our opening paragraph (which cited Piper from his book Future Grace), later in the work, Piper seeks to tackle the passages that speak to the judgment of believers, as taught in Matthew 16:27, Romans 14:10–12, 2 Corinthians 5:10, and Hebrews 9:27. These passages imply that all will stand before Christ and will be judged according to the deeds in this life. He sets out to answer a few questions regarding the nature of this judgment for believers. Is “this judgment to declare who is lost and who is saved, according to works done in the body? Or is the aim of this judgement to declare the measure of your reward in the age to come according to the works done in the body?”[7] The New Testament indicates both. Our deeds reveal who enters the next age; our deeds reveal the measure of our rewards.[8] Piper considers the challenge that many Christians might pose, in that it seems we have a conflict with Ephesians 2:8–9, which teaches salvation by faith through grace, not of works. Piper clarifies from the text “works do not earn salvation. Works do not put God in our dept that he must pay wages. That would contradict grace.”[9]
What role, then, do our deeds play in measuring our rewards and entry into the kingdom? Piper responds:
. . . our deeds will be the public evidence brought forth in Christ’s courtroom to demonstrate that our faith is real. And our deeds will be the public evidence brought forth to demonstrate the varying measures of our obedience of faith. In other words, salvation is by grace through faith, and rewards are by grace through faith, but the evidence of invisible faith in the judgment hall of Christ will be a transformed life. Our deeds are not the basis of our salvation; they are the evidence of our salvation. They are not the foundation; they are demonstration. All our salvation will be by grace through faith—demonstrated by what this book calls “living by faith in future grace.”[10]
On the surface, Piper’s words seem in line with Reformed teaching. But he has yet to support his arguments from the text. Now, I have yet to see critical responses to Piper as it pertains to the nature of rewards in heaven for what we do in the body, so I will restrict myself to his “our faith is real” remark.
Piper looks at the teachings of Jesus and Paul, who both teach that one will receive varying rewards “according to the degree that their faith expresses itself in acts of service, love, and righteousness.”[11] Passages such as 1 Corinthians 3:8 and Ephesians 6:8 indicate a believer’s works are “works of faith” (cf. 1 Thessalonians 1:3; 2 Thessalonians 1:11), not works of the law, and thus having no merit to earn salvation. Piper points out that “the parable of the talents in Luke 19:12–27 teaches the same thing.”[12] He notes further that this parable moves beyond what Paul teaches, in that there isn’t just a loss of reward but of heaven. This parable is showing that the one claiming to be faithful but does nothing with God’s gift prizes the gift and not the Giver. Therefore, he loses his life.[13] And Jesus expresses his judgment in Matthew 25:30, when he says to cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. And this brings us to the purpose of judgment regarding one’s deeds: “to declare openly the authenticity of the faith of God’s people by the evidence of their deeds. Salvation is owned by faith. Salvation is shown by deeds.”[14] Piper says there are numerous texts that support his claim that when Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:10, “each may receive what is due for what he has done,” “he not only means that our rewards will accord with our deeds, but also our salvation will accord with our deeds.”[15]
Piper references Romans 2:5–8, Galatians 5:21, 1 Corinthians 6:9–10, James 2:26, which together demonstrate that God will render to each one according to his works: eternal life for some; wrath and fury for others, thus not inheriting the kingdom of God. Piper writes, “when these deeds are exposed at the judgment as a person’s way of life, they will be the evidence that their faith is dead, and he will not be saved” (cf. James 2:26).[16] And this is what Jesus was getting at in John 5:28–29 at the resurrection of the dead: “those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgement” (Emphasis added). The way one has lived is the evidence for eternal life or eternal judgment.[17] But it seems Jesus is making contradictory statements when we consider what he says in John 5:24: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life.” Piper writes, “To hear and believe is to have eternal life—it is by grace through faith. But when that faith is real—not dead—the life will change , . . so that Jesus can say, with no contradiction: the deeds of this life will be the public criteria of judgment at the resurrection. Because our works are the evidence of the reality of our faith. And it is the faith in Christ that saves.”[18]
So how are we ultimately saved? I am jumping to a more recent article Piper wrote answering that question. In this article, [19] he shows his support for the five solas,[20] but with the caveats that the “five prepositional phrases hanging in the air with no clause to modify are not helpful in making clear what the great controversy of the Reformation was about, nor do they clarify the essence of the true Christian gospel.” Piper writes, it is “only after justification can the five prepositional phrases follow and do their magnificent work to define and protect the gospel from all unbiblical dilution.”[21] How does this play out? Piper fills in the necessary pieces to express the full breadth of the solas:
We are justified by God by grace alone; on the basis of Christ’s blood and righteousness alone; through the means, or instrument, of faith alone; for the ultimate glory of God alone; as taught with final and decisive authority in Scripture alone.” All five phrases serve to modify God’s work of justification — how sinners gain a right standing with God so that he is one hundred percent for us and not against us.[22]
Piper observes that the other key elements to glorification (i.e., sanctification and final salvation), cannot be substituted with the solas. Rather, to be faithful to Scripture alterations must be made. For example, “[i]n sanctification, faith receives an ongoing power of Christ that works inside us for practical holiness. . . . And in final salvation at the last judgment, faith is confirmed by the sanctifying fruit it has borne, and we are saved through that fruit and that faith” (cf. 1 Thessalonians 2:13).[23]
To conclusively answer the question asked above, Piper examines key passages in James to demonstrate that “faith alone doesn’t mean the same thing when applied to justification, sanctification, and final salvation.” According to Piper, James was “vehemently” against such a view in that faith without works is dead (2:17). It is like a body without breath (v. 26), energy without effect (v. 20), and without completion (v. 22). Justifying faith has works (v. 17), which come from faith (v.18). Paul supports this, writes Piper, in Galatians 5:6, when he writes, “only faith working through love” accounts for anything. A faith that accounts for justification produces love, “always bearing transforming fruit.” Piper concludes that it is these “works of faith” (1 Thessalonians 1:3; 2 Thessalonians 1:11) or “obedience of faith” (Romans 1:5; 16:26), which are “the effects or fruit or evidence of faith” that “are necessary for our final salvation. No holiness, no heaven (Hebrews 12:14).”[24] Necessary for final salvation is the killing of sin (Romans 8:13) and the pursuit of holiness, which can only be done in a God-glorifying way “from a justified position where God is one hundred percent for us — already — by faith alone.”[25]
In the conclusion of his article, Piper emphasizes the importance of Scripture alone as our final and decisive authority, having priority over being Reformed. We are “Reformed only if it follows from Scripture.”[26] His final paragraph is worth citing in full:
The five solas provide wonderful clarity about the crux of the Reformation and the heart of the gospel, if the clause that the five prepositional phrases modify is “Justification before God is. . . .” Justification before God is by grace alone, with no merited favor whatever; on the basis of Christ alone, with no other sacrifice or righteousness as the foundation; through the means of faith alone, not including any human works whatsoever; to the end that all things lead ultimately to the glory of God alone; as taught with final and decisive authority in the Scriptures alone.[27]
Briefly summing things up, while Piper expresses a firm conviction that justification and the promises that flow from it are grounded solely in God, one’s justification must produce works done in faith. Putting sin to death and pursuing holiness by faith working through love is necessary for final salvation, for it confirms faith’s reality that one is united to Christ, the ground of our faith, thus revealing one has been justified by faith alone.
In having reviewed Piper’s understanding of justification and the necessity of good works for salvation, we will now move on to the magisterial Reformer, John Calvin. My intention is to identify a continuity between them on the necessity of good works for salvation.
John Calvin
This survey of Calvin’s material will cover selections from his Institutes. I chose not to include his commentary work, but I have provided it elsewhere for those interested in Calvin’s interpretation of key passages in this debate. I think the Institutes provide us enough material to identify whether there is a congruence between Piper and Calvin on the necessity of works for salvation. Below we will look at Calvin’s understanding of Justification, what he calls “faith righteousness” in contrast to works righteousness, and then we will conclude looking at Calvin’s understanding of the relationship between works and rewards.
Justification
For Calvin, justification “is the main hinge on which religion turns.”[28] Faith, writes, Calvin, “is said to justify because it receives and embraces the righteousness offered in the gospel.”[29] One is “justified in God’s sight who is both reckoned righteous in God’s judgment and has been accepted on account of [God’s] righteousness.”[30] In his grace, God “embraces the sinner with his pure and freely given goodness, finding nothing in him except his miserable condition to prompt him to mercy, since he sees man utterly devoid and bare of good works; and so he seeks in himself the reason to benefit man.”[31] This person has “been reckoned in the condition not of a sinner, but of a righteous man,” thus “he stands firm before God’s judgment seat while all sinners fall.” He who is justified by faith, his justification is “excluded from righteousness of works;” rather, “he grasps Christ through faith, and clothed in it, appears in God’s sight not as a sinner but as a righteous man.”[32] Calvin speaks of one’s “experience of faith” as a sinner coming “into possession of his salvation,” having been reconciled to God, which is accomplished in “Christ’s righteousness interceding and forgiveness of sins.”[33] Calvin cites Ephesians 1:5–6; Romans 3:24; 4:6–7 (cf. Psalm 32:1); 5:19; 2 Corinthians 5:18–21, demonstrating that God, in Christ, has accepted us and justifies us freely, having forgiven our trespasses, and imputing Christ’s righteousness to us. We have been reconciled to God, being made righteous by Christ’s obedience, a righteousness we do not have from ourselves.[34]
Faith Righteousness
Having summarized Calvin’s understanding of Justification, we now look at what Calvin calls “faith righteousness,” in contrast to “works righteousness.” In his Institutes, Calvin observes that a great many see that “righteousness is composed of faith and works.”[35] But there is a distinction between what Calvin calls “faith righteousness” and “works righteousness,” of which the former is established, and the latter is to be dismissed. As noted, for Calvin righteousness comes from God through faith (Phil 3:8–9). Faith excludes all boasting (Rom 4:2); therefore, “works righteousness can in no way be associated with faith righteousness.” If “reward is made for works,” writes Calvin, “it is done out of debt, not of grace (Rom 4:4).”[36] And regarding the spiritual works one does, Calvin writes, these “do not come into account when the power of justifying is ascribed to faith.” This is so because “even though the life of the patriarch was spiritual and wellnigh angelic, he did not have sufficient merit of works [according to Rom 4:2] to acquire righteousness before God.”[37]
So then, what is faith righteousness? “Faith righteousness,” writes Calvin, is the “turn[ing] aside from the contemplation of our own works , . . look[ing] solely upon God’s mercy and Christ’s perfection.”[38] Calvin explains the difference between faith righteousness and law (works) righteousness, denoting that the former “bestows free righteousness apart from the help of works,” whereas the latter “attributes righteousness to works.” And therefore, we understand that the righteousness given us through the gospel [faith righteousness] has been freed from all conditions of the law [works righteousness].”[39] Calvin notes the importance of Romans 10: 5, 6, and 9 in keeping us from entangling the two together as so many have done. Calvin looks at a few other passages to demonstrate the difference between faith and law righteousness, Hab 2:4 and Gal 3:11–12, whereby we are to understand that “works do not enter the account of faith.” The law, according to these passages “is different from faith. Why? Because works are required for law righteousness. Therefore, it follows that they are not required for faith righteousness. From this relation it is clear that those who are justified by faith are justified apart from the merit of works—in fact, without the merit of works. For faith receives that righteousness which the gospel bestows.” And Calvin again states the difference between the law and the gospel, in that “the gospel doesn’t link righteousness to works but lodges it solely in God’s mercy.” The sinner does not “attain righteousness by working; instead, [he] comes empty to receive it.”[40]
Works Righteousness Is Wrongly Inferred from Reward [41]
In Book 3, chapter 18 of his Institutes, Calvin addresses the wrongful notion that one’s works are the cause of salvation. Two subsections (1 and 3) will be of interest in our discussion. Again, in his context, Calvin is responding to Roman Catholic objections (i.e., “the Papists”) who placed primary importance on works as the cause and/or basis of one’s salvation. In these sections, Calvin cites many of the same passages Piper argues connect works to salvation, not as the cause or basis of salvation; rather, as the fruit of true, thus final salvation. What is interesting to observe is Calvin’s argumentation doesn’t consider the claims Piper makes. Again, it was a different context with a differing emphasis, in that Piper emphatically affirms justification by faith alone. The nuances we find in Piper, Calvin doesn’t address. However, does that mean we cannot deduce, principally speaking, that there would be alignment between Piper and Calvin? The following paragraphs from Calvin’s Institutes are illuminating on the discussion.
III, 18, 1 — What does “recompense according to works” mean? Here Calvin cites the various passages speaking of God repaying every man according to his works (i.e., Matt 16:27; 25:34–35; Luke 6:23; John 5:29; 6:27; Rom 2:10, 9; 1 Cor 3:8; 2 Cor 5:10; Phil 2:12). Calvin surmises that said passages speaking of works are “not opposed to grace but refers to endeavor.”[42] Believers are not “authors of their own salvation;” rather, their eternal life begins when they are called into fellowship with Christ by knowledge of the gospel and illumination by the Spirit. “Now that God has begun a work in them by the Spirit, it must also be made perfect until the Day of the Lord Jesus [Phil 1:6].” And Calvin concludes, “It is, however, made perfect when, resembling their Heavenly Father in righteousness and holiness, they prove themselves sons true to their nature.”[43]
III, 18, 3 — Reward as grace. In this section, Calvin expresses the relationship between grace and rewards, in that when the Lord says “he will reward works with what he had given free before works,” he does not “trick or mock us;” rather, “he wills that we be trained through good works to meditate upon the presentation or fruition, so to speak, of those things which he has promised, and to hasten through them to seek the blessed hope held out to us in heaven. Hence the fruit of the promises is duly assigned to works, which brings us to the ripeness of that fruit.” This labor or work Calvin refers to is grounded in Christ alone, which we find expressed in Col 1:4–5 and 1 Pet 1:5, from which Calvin writes, “In saying that they labor on this account, Paul means that to attain it believers are to run the whole course of their life.”[44]
Calvin addresses other aspects of rewards, of which he concludes that our salvation and all the spiritual blessings that we get as believers is based on the favor of God in Christ Jesus, by being adopted as sons. The works we do are accepted only because we are in Christ; but they have no merit toward our salvation.
Conclusion – Is There Congruence?
While the Reformed understanding is that a believer is justified by faith alone in Christ alone, in the sections noted above, Calvin seems to affirm the necessity (what other word should be used?) of one’s life showing proof of one’s salvation. One must ask, what else does Calvin intend to say other than affirming a necessity of one’s works for proof of salvation? While he has not explicitly made the assertion in the terms we see in Piper, I think we have warrant to state there is a continuity of thought between the two. If we conflate Calvin’s conclusions from sections 1 and 3, we (Calvin) can say for one to attain the promises of God given by Christ, one must run the whole course of their life proving themselves sons (and daughters) true to their nature (i.e., adopted children of God, born again through work of the Spirit). How is this statement any different than what Piper has been advocating? Both are saying a believer must prove he is a believer in Christ through his works during the whole course of his life (as a believer). This causes us to ask, “What is the result for the one who professes faith in Christ and doesn’t prove through his works he is a believer during the whole course of his life?” I think Piper and Calvin would affirm that the confessing believer will not get his reward, because he proved he was never justified through faith in Christ.
In my estimation, I do not think Piper has veered away from Reformed orthodoxy on Justification. I think the Reformed understanding of Justification was developed in a context that didn’t engage the issue of one’s works that we have now. Our modern context is dealing with the opposite end of the pendulum, “easy-believeism.” We have many professing Christians assuming they have salvation because they made a prayer one time at youth camp, while their lives look nothing like one who has been born again. Because of this concern, we are brought back to the Bible asking questions about the role of works in salvation, while already affirming one’s works do not merit one’s salvation (as was the Reformers’ issue). And that is where Piper (and others) have reengaged the Justification discussion, providing greater clarity on the doctrine because of the issues we are faced with today. And that is what we do in theology; we are always reforming. And that is what Piper is attempting to do, while remaining faithful to clear, biblical teaching of salvation as a work of God alone, by faith alone, in Christ alone, and to the glory of God alone.
~ Romans 11:36 ~
[1] John Piper, Future Grace: The Purifying Power of the Promises of God, Revised, (Multnomah Books, 2012), 333. Emphasis added.
[2] Piper, Future Grace, 333.
[3] “Yes, He Really Does Teach Final Salvation Through Works,” The Heidelblog, August 9, 2021, accessed October 26, 2022, https://heidelblog.net/2021/08/yes-he-really-does-teach-final-salvation-through-works/. Shawn Lazar, “John Piper Unquestionably Believes in Salvation by Works – Grace Evangelical Society,” accessed October 26, 2022, https://faithalone.org/blog/john-piper-unquestionably-believes-in-salvation-by-works/. Though not taking up Piper on this issue, Harrison Perkins, “Engaging Piper’s New Book: Are Affections Part of Saving Faith?,” The Gospel Coalition, accessed October 26, 2022, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/reviews/what-saving-faith/, acknowledges the nuances in Piper’s doctrine of justification that seem as an affront to the Reformed heritage.
[4] Thomas R. Schreiner, Faith Alone—The Doctrine of Justification: What the Reformers Taught...and Why It Still Matters, (Zondervan, 2015), 11.
[5] Schreiner, Faith Alone, 199. For a summary of Schreiner’s argument on the necessity of good works for salvation, click here.
[6] For a pro-Piper response that identifies other key thinkers in the Reformed tradition whom align with Piper, see: Marc Jones, “John Piper Compromising Sola Fide?,” The Calvinist International, October 7, 2017, https://calvinistinternational.com/2017/10/07/john-piper-compromising-sola-fide/.
[7] Piper, Future Grace, 363.
[8] Piper, Future Grace, 363.
[9] Piper, Future Grace, 363.
[10] Piper, Future Grace, 364.
[11] Piper, Future Grace, 364.
[12] Piper, Future Grace, 364.
[13] Piper, Future Grace, 365.
[14] Piper, Future Grace, 365.
[15] Piper, Future Grace, 365.
[16] Piper, Future Grace, 365.
[17] Piper, Future Grace, 366.
[18] Piper, Future Grace, 366.
[19] John Piper, “Does God Really Save Us by Faith Alone?,” Desiring God, September 25, 2017, accessed October 27, 2022, https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/does-god-really-save-us-by-faith-alone.
[20] Sola is Latin for “alone” or “only.” The five solas are sola gratia (by grace alone), solo Christo (on the basis of Christ alone), sola fide (through the means of faith alone), soli Deo gloria (to the ultimate glory of God alone), sola Scriptura (as taught with the final and decisive authority of Scripture alone). (Taken from Piper, “Does God Really Save Us by Faith Alone?”)
[21] Piper, “Does God Really Save Us by Faith Alone?”
[22] Piper, “Does God Really Save Us by Faith Alone?”
[23] Piper, “Does God Really Save Us by Faith Alone?”
[24] Piper, “Does God Really Save Us by Faith Alone?”
[25] Piper, “Does God Really Save Us by Faith Alone?”
[26] Piper, “Does God Really Save Us by Faith Alone?”
[27] Piper, “Does God Really Save Us by Faith Alone?”
[28] John Calvin, Calvin: Institutes of the Christian Religion, ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1960), III, xi, 1.
[29] Calvin, Institutes, III, xi, 17.
[30] Calvin, Institutes, III, xi, 2.
[31] Calvin, Institutes, III, xi, 16.
[32] Calvin, Institutes, III, xi, 2. In III, xvii, 8, Calvin offers this succinct definition of justification: “the sinner, received into communion with Christ, is reconciled to God by his grace, while, cleansed by Christ’s blood, he obtains forgiveness of sins, and clothed with Christ’s righteousness as if it were his own, he stands confident before the heavenly judgment seat.”
[33] Calvin, Institutes, III, xi, 16.
[34] Calvin, Institutes, III, xi, 4.
[35] Calvin, Institutes, III, xi, 13.
[36] Calvin, Institutes, III, xi, 13.
[37] Calvin, Institutes, III, xi, 14.
[38] Calvin, Institutes, III, xi, 16.
[39] Calvin, Institutes, III, xi, 17.
[40] Calvin, Institutes, III, xi, 18.
[41] Chapter heading of Calvin, Institutes, III, xviii.
[42] Calvin, Institutes, III, xviii, 1.
[43] Calvin, Institutes, III, xviii, 1, (Emphasis added).
[44] Calvin, Institutes, III, xviii, 3, (Emphasis added).
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