Salvation by Belief Alone?

One of the trendy things that seems to come into vogue lately among Protestants is the idea that you can be saved by simply professing faith in Jesus Christ. Protestants use this argument to make the case that sacraments are unnecessary. No need for baptism, chrismation, regular participation in the Eucharist, anointing of the sick, or reconciliation. I’m curious where this idea originated. It seems to have caught on quite recently and spread like wildfire through the Protestant faith communities. The proof they provide to support this claim lies in the gospel of Luke and the confession of the thief that was crucified with Christ.

And one of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!” But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”
- Luke 23: 39-43

 As the argument goes, the thief wasn’t baptized and took part in no other sacraments and yet was saved, so that should be good enough for us.

 One of the hallmarks of the Protestant movement seems to be a complete ignorance of Christian history. There are no new heresies, just variations on old ones that are often as ancient as Christianity itself. This particular case resembles the heresy of Pelagius in the fifth century which was condemned in the Second Council of Ephesus in 431.

 The salvation of the thief was never intended to be a model for the salvation of all the faithful. It must be understood within the context of Scripture. To start with we must consider the story of the widow's offering:

And He sat down opposite the treasury, and began observing how the multitude were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent. And calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on.”

- Mark 12: 41-44

 The thief had nothing to provide except his faith. He couldn’t spread the gospel, be a living example to others, raise children in the faith, participate in the Eucharist, or in any way be a member of the early Christian community. His profession was the final act of a dying man. Should you be lucky enough to be executed alongside the Christ, it’s probably all you would need, too.

 We should also consider the parable of the laborers in the vineyard:

 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place; and to those he said, ‘You too go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ And so they went. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did the same thing. And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing; and he *said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day long?’ They *said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He *said to them, ‘You too go into the vineyard.’ And when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard *said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first.’ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius. And when those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more; and they also received each one a denarius. And when they received it, they grumbled at the landowner, saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.’ But he answered and said to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? ‘Take what is yours and go your way, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. ‘Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?’ Thus the last shall be first, and the first last.”
- Matt 20: 1-16

The good thief was most certainly one of the last. His life was at its end, he would be dead within hours. And yet he would be the first Christian to join Christ in heaven, and indeed one of the first saints of the church. But his example in the extremis of torture and death is not - and never has been - the blueprint for salvation. For those who profess that it is, they ignore Scripture at their peril. Jesus himself commanded his apostles to baptize the faithful:

And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

- Matt 28: 18-20

The importance of baptism cannot be understated. Even Jesus refrained from beginning his ministry until his own baptism by his cousin John in the River Jordan, which is recounted in all four Gospels:

Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him. But John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?” But Jesus answering said to him, “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he *permitted Him. And after being baptized, Jesus went up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon Him, and behold, a voice out of the heavens, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”

- Matt3: 13-17

Indeed, Jesus emphasizes this to his Apostles. Are we to put ourselves above the Apostles?

And gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me; for John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
- Acts 1: 4-5

The ancient rite of baptism is performed by full immersion in water, symbolizing death and resurrection. We are born anew in baptism, as faithful followers of Christ. It’s not a solitary act, but a community event in which all of the faithful participate to recognize and welcome the newly illuminated into the church. In the ancient church and today in the Eastern Orthodox baptism was accompanied by an exorcism and absolution. The Sacrament of baptism isn’t the final act of salvation, but the first step of a lifetime of seeking perfection. As we continue to live our lives, it is in our nature to sin. The purity of the newly illumined in baptism must be regularly renewed by the sacrament of reconciliation. It’s said that we are purified by the holy waters of baptism, and that the purification is regularly renewed by the baptism of tears in the sacrament of reconciliation.

As members of the Christian community we are obligated to perfect our understanding of the faith through regular participation in the liturgy. In the early church the liturgy of the Word was literally preaching and homilies by the eyewitnesses who had traveled with Christ. As time passed and the church communities became more numerous in the eyewitnesses succumbed to their repose, extemporaneous sermons gave way to reading the accounts from the Gospels, accompanied by sermons to place those gospel stories in context and relate them to everyday Christian living. The liturgy of the word was accompanied by the sacrament of the Eucharist which the earliest Christians understood was the literal transubstantiation of simple bread and wine into the literal body and blood of Jesus Christ. This understanding survives today in the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic traditions. The celebration of the sacrament of the Eucharist is not merely a symbolic act. Its source is in Scripture:

 And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood.
- Luke 22: 19-20

Christ didn’t say that this is like my body, or that this represents my body. He specifically said this is my body and that this is my blood. The miracle of the Eucharist is repeated weekly across the world as the Holy Spirit changes simple bread and wine into the literal body and blood of our Savior. This is what the ancient Christians believed and practiced all the way back to the mass of St. James the Greater, apostle of Christ. If you have a theological problem with that I suggest you take it up with the apostle James.

The sacraments are a vital part of our Christian life, to be illumined and to grow closer to God as individuals and participate in play our role as members of the body of Christ on earth, as described by St. Paul in his letters to the Romans and to the Corinthians. Salvation is a process, and faith is a community activity centered around the sacraments. One does not take a small lump of iron and proclaim, “Behold the sword!” The sword is forged through a process of cleansing fire and cooling water, shaped by the craftsman to perfection. Likewise, one does not proclaim oneself a Christian and thereby claim salvation without participating in the lifelong process of perfection with the goal of eternal theosis — the unification with our Creator.