The Doctrinal Statement of Grace Church of the Valley reads, in part, as follows:

“We teach that salvation is wholly of God by grace on the basis of our redemption by Jesus Christ and the merit of His shed blood, not on the basis of human merit or works. Salvation, therefore, is totally of God, who, before the foundation of the world, foreordained some men to eternal life, leaving the rest in their sin to their just condemnation.”

Although the position that “it is God alone who saves” has been a very unpopular view down through the ages of church history, it nonetheless has been the view dogmatically held to by those who over the centuries have been considered the titans of classical Christian scholarship, evangelism and church reform. Men such as Aurelius Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, John Wycliffe, Martin Luther, John Calvin, George Whitfield, Jonathan Edwards and Charles Haddon Spurgeon to mention a few. And as we shall see, the words of Christ and the writings of Paul speak only too clearly to this issue, as well. However, this Position Paper must limit itself to an overview only, as this is a topic on which millions of words have been both written and spoken over the centuries.

Any position that Grace Church holds to must be securely anchored in Scripture. As stated in our Church Constitution, we are “to do everything humanly possible to discover the true meaning of the Written Text, but when that meaning is discovered, that meaning stands in judgment of us, never do we stand in judgment of it.” For this reason, the greatest part of our defense will be taken directly from God’s Word.

The bottom line question is this: “Does the ‘final decision’ for man’s salvation rest solely with God, or is man genuinely a free agent and the final decision rests upon the exercise of his own free will?” Our overview begins with the teaching of Christ speaking directly to this issue, as found in John 6:37, 39, 40, 44 and 65:

“ALL THAT THE FATHER GIVES ME SHALL COME TO ME; and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out…And this is the will of Him who sent Me, THAT OF ALL THAT HE HAS GIVEN ME I LOSE NOTHING, but raise it up on the last day…For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son, and believes in Him, may have eternal life; and I Myself will raise him up on the last day…NO ONE CAN COME TO ME, UNLESS THE FATHER WHO SENT ME DRAWS HIM: and I will raise him up on the last day…And He was saying, ‘For this reason I have said to you, that NO ONE CAN COME TO ME, UNLESS IT HAS BEEN GRANTED HIM FROM THE FATHER.’”

Later on in the ministry of Christ, as found in John 15:16, He says again to His disciples :

“YOU DID NOT CHOOSE ME, BUT I CHOSE YOU, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give to you.”

And again in His High Priestly prayer just before His crucifixion, as recorded in John 17:2, 6, 8 and 9:

“Even as Thou gavest Him authority over all mankind, that TO ALL WHOM THOU HAST GIVEN HIM, HE MAY GIVE ETERNAL LIFE…I MANIFESTED THY NAME TO THE MEN WHOM THOU GAVEST ME OUT OF THE WORLD; THINE THEY WERE, AND THOU GAVEST THEM TO ME, AND THEY HAVE KEPT THY WORD…for the words which Thou gavest Me I have given to them; and they received them, and truly understood that I came forth from Thee, and they believed that Thou didst send me…I ASK ON THEIR BEHALF; I DO NOT ASK ON BEHALF OF THE WORLD, BUT OF THOSE WHOM THOU HAST GIVEN ME; for they are Thine.”