April 26, 2024
As a Christian, if you suggest that there are conditions to salvation, you may be accused of legalism or heresy.
- The strict Calvinist believes that humanity is totally unable to repent or believe in Jesus Christ because we were born with an irresistible sinful nature as a result of Adam’s sin.
- The semi-Calvinist believes that we must believe in Christ as a condition of salvation. However, they quickly emphasize that even our faith is a gift from God and should not be seen as a condition that we must fulfill on our own.
- Then there are those Christians, like me, who believe that there are conditions to salvation, such as repentance and faith. They think that we are responsible for meeting the conditions. They believe that we can both repent and believe. It is this last group that is often accused of being legalists, Pelagians, or heretics.
For many Christians, hearing that there are conditions to salvation that we are responsible for meeting implies that we are earning salvation. They often comment that, ‘If we earn our salvation, it is therefore no longer a gift. They are greatly mistaken in this judgment. Repentance and faith are conditions of salvation, not the procuring causes of it. Meeting these conditions doesn’t imply that we believe we earn our way to heaven by our good works. In my estimation, this entire dispute revolves around the misunderstanding of the ground and the conditions of salvation.
Ground versus conditions of salvation
The foundation of our salvation should be understood as the primary cause that motivates salvation. It is not the same as the conditions required for our salvation. According to Ryrie, MacArthur, Sproul, Stanley, and many others, the foundation of our salvation is the imputed righteousness and obedience of Christ. Others disagree. The foundation or ground of our salvation is the love of God. The love of God, towards sinners, is the main driving force or motive behind our salvation. The main cause of our salvation is not the obedience of Christ, nor our faith in Jesus Christ, nor our repentance from sin. Instead, love moved Christ to make atonement for sin and to seek the lost.
The conditions of salvation are the requirements we must meet to experience the benefits of the atonement and the salvific love of God. I have heard it explained this way. The ground of salvation is the “that for the sake of which-the Causa finalis” while the conditions of salvation are the “that not without which-the sine qua non.” Do you understand the difference? It is an important distinction.
The reason why some Christians might think I teach a legalistic gospel is that they confuse the ground of salvation with the conditions of salvation. They incorrectly assume that the conditions earn salvation and are the “that for the sake of which.” But the conditions of salvation give us the right to become children of God and are the “that not without which.”
If a sinner repented of all sin today (met all the conditions of salvation) and never sinned again their entire life, they would still go to hell without the benefits of the atonement of Christ, which flows out of the love of God. That is the difference between the conditions and the ground of salvation.
An example might make this clear. Many gifts (or inheritances) contain conditions before the inheritance is distributed. Reaching the right age or graduating from the university might be two conditions that must be met before the inheritance is bestowed on the individual. The inheritance is a gift, notwithstanding the conditions that must be met before it can be received. Salvation is a gift from God, notwithstanding the conditions that we must meet to receive this gift. Conditions are the “that not without which.” The love of the person giving the inheritance or the gift is the “that for the sake of which” that makes the gift possible in the first place.
Let me use one other story to explain salvation. A young man contracted a deadly disease due to his careless living. He went to the doctor. The doctor correctly diagnosed the illness. He told the young man that he must stop this sinful behavior and take the medicine as instructed, or he will not recover from this disease.
How does this story end if the young man ignores the doctor’s instructions? The young man gets increasingly ill and, in a short time, dies because he refused to believe the doctor. Who killed the young man? Was it the doctor? Of course not. The young man killed himself because he refused to do what the doctor ordered.
How does this story end if the young man believes the doctor, stops the behavior, and takes the prescription exactly as ordered? The young man’s health improves quickly, and within a short time, he is healed. Who man this young man well, who saved him? Clearly, the doctor who correctly diagnosed the problem and prescribed the antidote is the first to receive credit for the healing. Also, the medicine was instrumental in the young man’s healing. And lastly, the young man healed himself by his faith in the doctor. It is nearly impossible to imagine that the young man would brag about healing himself, but his taking the doctor’s advice was an indispensable condition for his healing. All of these are needed for healing to take place: the doctor, the medicine prescribed, and the young man stopping the behavior that brought on the illness in the first place. That is a picture of salvation.
Those Christians who believe that God Almighty demands our faith and repentance from sin as conditions of salvation do not think we earn our way to heaven by our good works. We know that salvation is a gift of God (The Great Physician), even when we believe and repent of our sins. The conditions of salvation do not earn salvation but qualify us to receive the gift of salvation. Only the love of God in the atonement of Jesus Christ makes salvation possible to us. The atonement was a condition of our salvation that only God Himself could meet and satisfy. Christ died for the ungodly.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life”. John 3:16
God is just and the justifier of those who believe in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ’s love for sinners is “that for the sake of which” that led Christ to make atonement for us by offering Himself for our sins. Scripture commands us to repent and believe in Jesus Christ to receive forgiveness of our sins and adoption into God’s family. These conditions are the “that not without which.” Without our own repentance and faith, we will not receive the gift of adoption and salvation.
I asked ChatGPT to weigh in on this, and that response follows:
- Sine qua non = “without which not” → that without which something cannot be (a necessary condition).
And the Latin expression for “that for the sake of which” is:
- Causa finalis
This literally means “the final cause.”
It comes from classical philosophical language, especially in Aristotle’s framework of the four causes, later expressed in Latin by medieval theologians like Thomas Aquinas.
Aristotle’s four causes (in Latin form) are:
- Causa materialis – the material cause (what it’s made of)
- Causa formalis – the formal cause (its form or essence)
- Causa efficiens – the efficient cause (what brings it about)
- Causa finalis – the final cause (the end, goal, or purpose — that for the sake of which)
So:
- Sine qua non → necessary condition
- Causa finalis → the purpose or end for which something exists
What you’re expressing is a classically coherent way of distinguishing categories, and it actually maps quite well onto traditional theological language.
Let me frame it carefully using the Latin distinctions.
1️⃣ Sine qua non — Necessary conditions
When you speak of “that not without which,” you’re identifying what theology would call necessary conditions of salvation.
For example (depending on the Christian tradition):
- Faith
- Repentance
- Baptism
- Perseverance
- Union with Christ
These would be sine quibus non (plural): things without which salvation does not occur.
But importantly, A sine qua non is necessary, not necessarily the ultimate explanation.
2️⃣ Causa finalis — That for the sake of which
When you say: the merciful and loving disposition of God is that for the sake of which. You are identifying the final cause (causa finalis) — the ultimate purpose or end. In classical Christian theology (especially in thinkers like Thomas Aquinas), salvation ultimately flows from:
- God’s goodness
- God’s love
- God’s will to communicate His own life
That divine love is not merely a condition. It is the source, motive, and end. So in classical terms:
- Faith is a necessary condition
- God’s love is the final cause
And in many Christian traditions, one would also say:
- God’s grace is the efficient cause (causa efficiens). Chat is referring to Calvinism, which I reject. This is irresistible grace or the I in TULIP.
- Christ’s obedience is the meritorious cause. Chat is referring again to Calvinism, which I reject.
- The glory of God is the ultimate final end. Chat is referring to Calvinism, where God’s decrees, both good and bad, bring glory to God.
3️⃣ Is your formulation correct?
Yes — with one clarification.
You are right that:
- The conditions of salvation are “not without which.”
- The merciful and loving disposition of God is the deeper “for the sake of which.”
But strictly speaking:
God’s love can be described in two related ways:
- As the efficient cause (the moving cause that brings salvation about)
- As the final cause (the end toward which salvation is ordered — communion with God)
In classical theology, these are closely united, because God saves us because He is love,
and He saves us in order to bring us into participation in that love.
4️⃣ Theologically speaking
What you are guarding against — and rightly — is collapsing everything into conditions.
If we confuse necessary conditions with the ultimate cause, then salvation can subtly shift from being rooted in God’s character to being rooted in human performance. The tradition is careful to say:
- Conditions are real.
- They are indispensable.
- But they are not the fountainhead of our salvation.
The fountainhead is God’s merciful will.
