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Will The Real Heretics Please Stand Up  /  Chapter 6: What They Believed About Salvation  /  Discussion Questions
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Question 5
The chapter insists the early Christians did not believe we “earn” salvation, then cites early statements like “not justified by ourselves… but by faith” (Clement) and “by grace you are saved, not of works” (Polycarp)—how do you reconcile those grace-saturated quotes with the same writers’ insistence that obedience is necessary, without collapsing into either legalism or antinomianism?
Another way to ask: They say salvation is by grace and not earned, but they also say obedience is necessary. How can both be true without turning it into either rule-keeping to earn salvation or “obedience doesn’t matter”?

Direct Answer Bercot reconciles them by saying salvation is truly God’s gift and depends on grace, yet God gives that gift to those who respond with repentant faith and ongoing obedience. In his framing, obedience is not “earning,” but the required, grace-enabled response that keeps faith alive.

Support from Transcript:

  • He denies the “accumulation of good works” idea: “the early Christians did not teach that we earn salvation.”
  • Clement of Rome: “We are not justified by ourselves… or works… but by that faith.”
  • Polycarp: “by grace you are saved, not of works, but by the will of God through Jesus Christ.”
  • Yet Polycarp also says God will raise us up “if we do his will and walk in his commandments.”
  • Bercot’s summary: “salvation is a gift from God… and he chooses to give this gift to those who love and obey him.”
  • He explains the flow: new birth offered “purely as a matter of grace,” then “after receiving the new birth, we also have to obey Christ,” and even obedience depends on “continuing grace.”
Discussion Follow-ups How does Bercot’s “begins and ends with grace” protect against legalism? What protects against antinomianism in his model?

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