Protestants Believe in Good Works!

Gavin Ortlund (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) is President of Truth Unites and Theologian-in-Residence at Immanuel Nashville.

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00:00 - Introduction

[euanthompson]

"You can come as you are but you can't stay as you are"

[SinceAD]

I agree and totally respect this Gavin. Since learning more about Reformed theology, I have come to respect it more, although I disagree with it still, and I see how much we agree on many things. Even more, learning about historical Protestantism and seeing how much people like Vermigli and Calvin quoted the fathers challenged my faith a little, as I saw many of the misconceptions I had about Protestantism were wrong. Thankfully, it made me drop the naiveness of claiming the Church fathers were unanimous on everything, and moved me to put my trust in Christ and not on any Church father. I am still Catholic but I must admit learning about Protestantism has helped me love Christ more because, although I do believe that His Church is infallible, it's easy to forget that the Church would be nothing without Christ preserving her. (I know you don't agree with this, but I hope you at least understand what I mean from my point of view). Appreciate you.

[chrispark]

Faith without works is dead.
James 2

[TheChadPad]

The difference is, we know all of our good works are attributed to God, not ourselves. Glory to God ✝️

[ogloc]

Ephesians 2:8-10 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
We are saved by grace through faith. After being saved, we are the workmanship of Christ created unto good works. If your life looks like you are not the workmanship of Christ, then you might not have faith in Christ.

[ottovonapps]

Galatians 5:6. Faith works through love.

[johnathanrhoades]

The issue with this is that these are NOT misrepresenting “Protestantism”. They are misrepresenting what Dr. Ortlund believes, but many people believe and teach each of these things that he decries.

[danstoian]

But, none the less, the true question is how does this fit with assurance? Because one one hand we say "if you do not take your cross, you're not a true Christian" how does that fit with assurance and justification?
Personally, I feel justification is done in light of a repentant consciousness

[matthiasdinkelbach]

I think a more glaring problem with Protestantism is that you can’t really say that this is what Protestants believe, in the sense that there is no united Protestant teaching. Under Protestantism, the Body of Christ is divided in doctrine, even on issues of salvation.

[EndingSimple]

"For it is by GRACE you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do GOOD WORKS, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:9-10. Grace is the horse. Good works are the cart.

[MastaC]

I totally agree with you Dr. Ortlund, but that is not the consistent belief throughout all of Protestantism and that is why the bad rep exists for Protestants. Hypergrace is a real teaching and it’s not rare.

[SaltyCalvinist]

Depends on how you define free will. Martin Luther made some very strong arguments against pelagian/semi pelagian ideas of free will

[youcatastrophe]

Oooh. I love this. What’s this in response to? Is this a clip from another video?

[Flame]

Let me ask Mr Ortlund. If so-called “easy believism” isn’t the Gospel, then how many works are enough? How much must you do to “stay” saved? or to “prove” that you are saved.

If I told you I know I’m a Christian because I go to church, I work in a soup kitchen, I quit my porn addiction, I help the needy, etc. Who do you think the object of my faith is? Jesus or myself?

If I tell you that I know I’m a Christian because I have trusted myself to Christ, I believe in His death on the cross, burial and resurrection on the 3rd day. I believe he is the Godman, the 2nd person of the Trinity. And no matter how many times I fall he will always be there to pick me up. Who does it sound like is the object of my faith there? Myself? no. Jesus.

Trust in Christ is literally all you need. Don’t conflate “What must I do to be saved?” with “what should I do now that I am saved?”

James 2:10 if you are guilty of the transgressing the law in one point you are guilty if all. If any sin can separate you from the love of Christ then ALL sin does.

[danielboone]

If a person is trying to change, but not successful, would you still categorize them as Christian?

[Romans.]

How can a will that’s dead in trespasses and sins be free to choose to believe the Gospel and to turn from sins?? The Holy Spirit must regenerate that will, make new and alive to God,

[INRIVivatChristusRex]

You are united with Christ in baptism.

[Astraogical]

This will forever be my difficulty with Protestantism - if I don’t believe hard enough I’m not a “true Christian.” This agonizing questioning day and night took me away from God and never allowed me the space to truly unite with him.

[minagelina]

You know, as I listen to these disagreements in the comments, it occurred to me that we are really leaning upon our own understanding too much. Yes, we need Truth. Yes, we need to be very serious about doctrine.

However do we believe God is a saving God? Do we think that God doesnt "get" that we are fallible humans who are trying to piece together 2000 years of history and trying to ensure we believe the Right snd truthful things? I think He does. He is a merciful God and He delights when we delight in Him. Im at the point where I think all of this arguing back and forth is getting absurd. We need to hold some of this theology with open hands and let the Lord lead us. Lets trust in Him less than we trust ourselves and our head knowledge. We will just go crazy. Now if someone believes the Lord is leading them in a certain direction, then so be it. But this arguing is just making me wonder if we are all looking at this the wrong way.

[thomasrutledge]

Dr. Charles F. Stanley's logical approach to soteriology seems to be internally consistent, valid, & sound.