Echoes of the Fathers

Throughout Christian history, believers have wrestled with a central question: Does salvation depend on our own merit, or is it solely the work of God’s grace? Modern debates (in particular when Catholics and Orthodox are mischaracterized) often force a false choice between salvation earned through effort on one hand and salvation received by faith alone without any meaningful role for obedience on the other. But when we return to Scripture and the writings of the early Church Fathers, we find a much richer and more integrated understanding.

Let’s start where there is common ground between Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions. Salvation (justification) is by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). Justification cannot be earned. Both see the works (fruits) as evidence of our salvation. From there, however, there is divergence between Catholics and Orthodox on one side who view salvation as a process (grace through faith working itself out in love by participating in the work God called us to do, Ephesians 2:10); and Protestants on the other side who largely see salvation (justification) as a one-time “born again” experience. In the former view, the works are seen as a free will cooperation with God’s grace. While in the latter view, works are seen solely as evidence of one’s salvation, and not indicative of eternal security.

So, in studying scripture through the lens of the early Church, what do we learn about the true nature of our ultimate salvation?

The biblical and patristic vision is not merit-based in the sense of humans earning heaven by their own power, yet it is equally far from the idea that salvation requires no cooperation from the believer. Instead, the earliest Christians consistently taught a synergistic view: God initiates and empowers, and human beings respond freely and obediently. Our participation is real, but it is always rooted in God’s grace. In short, we have free will on whether or not to cooperate with God’s grace; and it is that grace which will produce the works. Submission is key. But it’s an on-going submission, not a one-time faith decision or prayer of salvation.

The New Testament clearly affirms that salvation begins entirely with God’s initiative. As Paul writes, “By grace you have been saved… this is not your own doing” (Ephesians 2:8–9). No human act or decision forces God’s hand; salvation is a gift before it is anything else. Yet Scripture is equally insistent that our response to grace—our obedience, perseverance, repentance, and love—matters for our final salvation. God “will render to each one according to his works” (Romans 2:6-11).

The Lord’s depiction of the final judgment in the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:31-46) focuses not on internal belief but on lived love: feeding the hungry, caring for the poor, serving “the least of these.” Right before this, in the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14–30), the servants were rewarded based on what they did with the talents (time, treasure, gifts, abilities) given to them by the master.

In the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:3–23; Luke 8:4–15), the second and third types of soil both believed and received the word but later fell away or were choked by the cares of life. All four examples are judged by their fruit — their works or lack thereof. The warning is clear: believers who once received the word can fall away and lose what they had obtained.

In the Parable of the Ten Virgins (Matthew 25:1–13), all ten went out to meet the bridegroom, but only five were prepared. The others were locked out when the Lord arrived. The question for us is: what must we do to be ready when He returns?

The Parable of the Unfaithful (Unworthy) Servant (Luke 12:35–48; Matthew 24:45–51) reminds us that every believer — especially those in leadership — is a steward of what Christ has entrusted. The faithful servant perseveres even when the Master seems long in coming. At Christ’s return, faithfulness will be rewarded with joy, but negligence and hypocrisy will meet just judgment.

In the Vine and the Branches (John 15:1–6), Jesus describes believers as branches “in” Him. Yet some choose not to remain — they are cut off, wither, and are thrown into the fire. For a branch to be cut off, it must first have been attached to the vine. Like fruitless branches in our own yards, those once productive but now barren will be cut off at the time of pruning.

In sum of the parables, Jesus spends a lot of time telling us what we need to do to cooperate with his grace, the results of not doing so, and we should listen to him.  

Paul warns: “I am reminding you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you indeed received and in which you also stand. You are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:1–2)

Yes, we are not justified, as Paul tells us, by the works of the law (Galatians 2:16) but by faith. But every reading from the Church Fathers, and the full biblical context, clearly state that Paul is referring to the mosaic law of the Old Testament which we are no longer bound by; but he is not referring to the works of love that Christ has called us to. For Paul also tells us that if we, have faith but not love, we are “nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:2-3).

And Jesus Himself declares the conditional nature of remaining in His love: “If you obey my commandments, you will remain in my love.” (John 15:10)

James echoes this reality when he writes, “You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone” (James 2:24). He does not deny the necessity of faith; he insists that faith severed from obedient love is dead and cannot save. Perhaps the most balanced expression of biblical synergy appears in Philippians 2:12–13: “Work out your salvation… for God is at work in you.” God’s action empowers human action, and human response fulfills God’s purpose.

This biblical pattern became the unquestioned foundation of early Christian teaching. The earliest Fathers rejected two extremes: the Pelagian idea that humans can earn salvation by natural effort, and the later notion that salvation requires no cooperation from the believer.

Clement of Rome held both sides of the biblical tension together. He insisted that we are justified by faith yet also affirmed that we are justified by works—not works apart from grace, but works that manifest living faith. For Clement, final justification and salvation requires obedience, good works and perseverance.

Ignatius of Antioch taught that real discipleship requires bearing the fruit of Christ and persevering to the end. It was not enough to profess Christ with the lips; one had to embody Christ through obedience, unity, humility, and steadfast endurance under suffering. This echoes Christ words that, “he who endures to the end, will be saved (Matt 24:13)”. He urges believers to persevere until the final moment of life, insisting that salvation is not secured by a single act of belief but by a life that remains faithful to Christ’s grace through trials, temptations, and even death.

Justin Martyr explained that while each person is indeed judged according to his deeds, those deeds possess any saving value only because of Christ’s grace at work within the believer. In Justin’s theology, human actions matter eternally, but they matter precisely because they are responses to—and empowered by—the grace revealed through Christ.

Irenaeus emphasized that God alone gives the growth in salvation, but he was equally clear that human beings must freely offer their will in cooperation with that divine work. For Irenaeus, salvation is not a mechanical process imposed upon passive creatures; it is a living, relational transformation in which God patiently forms the believer into the likeness of Christ. Yet this formation requires the person to respond, consent, and align his will with God’s action. Although grace initiates and accomplishes the entire healing and restoration of the human person, Irenaeus insisted that God does not save us without our participation.

Origen frequently used the term “merit,” but only to describe the good that God’s grace produces in us—not something we generate on our own. Thus, “merit” is not a human achievement but a measure of how fully the believer has allowed God’s grace to bear fruit. Salvation remains entirely God’s initiative, yet God dignifies our cooperation by treating His own gifts in us as worthy of reward. In this way, Origen preserves both divine sovereignty and genuine human participation without ever crossing into the idea that salvation can be earned.

Augustine, the Father most adamant against Pelagianism, taught that everything good in us—including our good works—is the result of God’s grace. His famous line summarizes the entire patristic worldview: “When God rewards our works, He is crowning His own gifts.” Far from diminishing human effort, Augustine believed that grace is what enables human effort to be genuine, fruitful, and pleasing to God. Pelagius had argued that human beings could obey God and achieve righteousness by the power of their natural will; Augustine responded by showing from Scripture and experience that the wounded human heart cannot heal or elevate itself. Only God’s grace can liberate the will from the bondage of sin and empower it to love God rightly. Yet Augustine did not erase human participation. Instead, he described salvation as God healing the will so that it can truly cooperate with Him.

From the apostles to Augustine, the early Church consistently rejected the notion that human beings can earn salvation through their own strength. But the Fathers also rejected the idea that salvation is a one-time event detached from the believer’s transformation and obedience. The Christian life, as they understood it, is a dynamic relationship between God’s gracious action and the believer’s free, grace-enabled response. Salvation is not a passive possession but a living journey of becoming conformed to Christ. Grace does not eliminate the necessity of obedience; it makes obedience possible and meaningful.

This synergistic vision can be summarized simply: salvation begins with God’s initiative, is sustained by God’s grace, and is completed by God’s power, yet it requires the real, willing cooperation of the believer. God did not create robots. He gave us free will to allow him to work in us and through us.

Our works do not earn salvation, but they are the necessary fruits of grace at work within us. They are not a human attempt to climb to heaven; they are evidence that God Himself is healing, empowering, and transforming us. This is why Augustine’s phrase—“God crowns His own gifts”—became the definitive expression of the early Church’s teaching. The reward is real. The works are real. But their origin is God. We have free will on whether or not we allow God to fulfill the mission, plan and purpose that has for us.

The early Church never saw salvation as a transaction based on human merit, nor as a legal fiction requiring no transformation. Instead, the Fathers understood salvation as the life of God growing within us, a life that demands our free cooperation and unfolds through faith expressing itself in love. Salvation is not earned. But it is not passive. It is a divine-human relationship—God acting, us responding, God empowering, we participating, God completing, we persevering. It is the story of grace inviting human freedom into communion. It is synergy, the ancient Christian vision of what it means to be saved.

Next time, we’ll dive into whether or not the early Church, citing the fathers above and others, believed that salvation could be lost or forfeited?

As with any maturing born-again Christian in a Bible-teaching church, one of the first passages I ever committed to memory was Ephesians 2:8–9:

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so no one may boast.”

Now to this day, I’ve not met, nor do I know any Christ-following believer or Christian tradition that doesn’t affirm Ephesians 2:8–9 — salvation is by grace, through faith.

However, those verses have always been memorized and quoted to the exclusion of Ephesians 2:10:

“For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them.”

Part of the problem is that Scripture was not written with chapters and verses — those were man-made additions added much later, in the 1500s. While Scripture memorization is vital, verses are too often plucked and isolated to fulfill narratives and justify doctrines in ways that neither the apostles nor the Church Fathers ever intended.

Going back to verse 10, Paul tells us that we “should” live in the good works that God prepared for us. Notice that he doesn’t say that we “will” live in them. There’s a big difference between saying something “should” happen and saying something “will” happen. So, the works aren’t just an automatic outflow of faith. That they “should” happen means we have a role in determining — and cooperating with — God’s grace on whether or not we live out those good works (Philippians 2:12–13).

And what happens if we don’t do the good works that Jesus prepared for us in advance? The answers couldn’t be any clearer throughout Scripture. Jesus specifically tells us in his parables what we are to do to live out our faith — and what happens if we don’t. We would all be wise to take Him at His word.

In the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats (Matthew 25:31–46), what’s the first thing He’s going to do when He comes back? Is He going to separate us by those who had faith? No — He’s going to separate us by those who did the good works He called us to do: feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and visiting the imprisoned.

Note that neither here, nor anywhere in the aftermath of any of the following parables does Jesus sit his disciples down and explain that the works are merely the evidence of faith. Faith isn’t even mentioned in this, or any other parable.

In the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14–30), the servant who is cast out “where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth” wasn’t an outsider. He called his master ‘Master’, and the master called him his ‘servant’. This represents someone within the body of believers who failed to use what was entrusted to him.

In the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:3–23; Luke 8:4–15), the second and third types of soil both believed and received the word but later fell away or were choked by the cares of life. All four examples are judged by their fruit — their works or lack thereof. The warning is clear: believers who once received the word can fall away and lose what they had obtained.

In the Parable of the Ten Virgins (Matthew 25:1–13), all ten went out to meet the bridegroom, but only five were prepared. The others were locked out when the Lord arrived. The question for us is: what must we do to be ready when He returns?

The Parable of the Unfaithful (Unworthy) Servant (Luke 12:35–48; Matthew 24:45–51) reminds us that every believer — especially those in leadership — is a steward of what Christ has entrusted. The faithful servant perseveres even when the Master seems long in coming. At Christ’s return, faithfulness will be rewarded with joy, but negligence and hypocrisy will meet just judgment.

In the Vine and the Branches (John 15:1–6), Jesus describes believers as branches “in” Him. Yet some choose not to remain — they are cut off, wither, and are thrown into the fire. For a branch to be cut off, it must first have been attached to the vine. Like fruitless branches in our own yards, those once productive but now barren will be cut off at the time of pruning.

Paul exhorts believers to “work out your salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12–13) and reminds the Corinthians that salvation is an ongoing process:

“I am reminding you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you indeed received and in which you also stand. You are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:1–2)

Yes, we are not justified, as Paul tells us, by the works of the law (Galatians 2:16) but by faith. But every reading from the Church Fathers, and the full biblical context, clearly state that Paul is referring to the mosaic law of the Old Testament which we are no longer bound by; but he is not referring to the works of love that Christ has called us to. For Paul also tells us that if we, have faith but not love, we are “nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:2-3).

James 2:24 states — and it’s the only place “faith alone” appears in Scripture — that “a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.”  He precedes that statement, in 2:14 by saying, ” if someone claims to have faith, but not works. Can that faith save him?”  

And Jesus Himself declares the conditional nature of remaining in His love: “If you obey my commandments, you will remain in my love.” (John 15:10)

As the Church Fathers taught, salvation is a gift of divine grace, freely initiated by God, yet requiring the believer’s cooperation. Grace empowers every good action, but it does not override human freedom. Irenaeus, Chrysostom, and Augustine affirmed that grace heals and strengthens the will so we may respond to God’s call in righteousness.

Because grace restores rather than replaces freedom, the Fathers also held that salvation could be lost through willful sin, unbelief, or neglect of one’s faith. Tertullian, Cyprian, and Origen warned that it is not enough to begin the Christian life — one must persevere in faith and obedience (Matthew 24:13; Hebrews 10:26–31). Even Augustine maintained that believers must “remain in Christ” to be saved (John 15:4–6). Grace must be continually received and lived out through prayer, repentance, and good works.

Faith alone is a doctrinal invention that was unheard of, and nowhere to found for the first 1500 years of church history. The interpretation didn’t exist because the Early Church that were handed the scriptures didn’t interpret and weren’t taught to read the scriptures that way.

In summary, the early Church saw salvation not as a one-time transaction but as a lifelong cooperation between God and the believer. Grace is both the source and sustainer of faith, while the human will, restored by that grace, must freely respond in love and obedience. For the Fathers, to persist in faith was to remain in grace; to reject or neglect it was to risk losing communion with God. Salvation, therefore, was never seen as a “once saved, always saved” one-time decision. The totality of Ephesians 2:8–10, read in full context, is grace through faith — working itself out in love (Galatians 5:6; James 2:17; 1 John 3:18).