Causes of Salvation in Reformed Thinking

This article first appeared in The Banner of Truth Magazine

In 1896, a collection of sermons by Southern Presbyterians appeared. Alongside the work of Dabney, Palmer, Girardeau and others is a sermon by a now forgotten minister called Walter William Moore (1857-1926). His sermon on James 1:18 is called The three causes of salvation. (Southern Presbyterian pulpit: a collection ..., Presbyterian Committee of Publication, Richmond Va, 1896, pp 277-286)

Moore was professor of Hebrew at Union Seminary, Virginia and a leading Southern Presbyterian in the first quarter of the twentieth century. In 1904 he became the first president of Union and in 1908, moderator of the General Assembly. Author of several books, in 1897 he delivered the Stone Lectures at Princeton Seminary, as well as a number of other prestigious lecture series.

James 1:18, Moore tells us, reveals three things about our salvation - the source (Of his own will begat he us); the means (with the word of truth); the object (that we should be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures.). He reminds us how philosophical writers are accustomed to distinguish three kinds of cause – efficient, instrumental, final. The efficient cause is the power that produces the result and without which no result can be produced; the instrumental cause, the means by which the power is applied; the final cause, the object contemplated in producing the effect

With a train, the efficient cause of motion is steam; the instrumental cause, the engine; the final cause, the transportation of passengers or produce. The efficient cause of a letter is the writer; the instrumental cause, the pen; the final cause, why it was written. When a tree is felled, the efficient cause is the one who chops it down; the instrumental cause, the axe; the final cause, the purpose for which the tree is felled.

When it comes to redemption, Moore says, leaning on Calvin, the efficient cause is God. The power that regenerates a human soul is nothing less than divine. He demonstrates this from his text and other Scriptures. The instrumental cause is God's Word. The Word has no power in itself, the Spirit must activate it but it is the instrument God uses to save. The final cause, from man's side, is That we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. Moore explains the Old Testament background and says the great idea in connection with firstfruits is consecration, absolute devotion to God's service. James is saying that the object of our salvation is consecration to God's service.

For what purpose, then, are sinners saved? That they may finally escape the punishment due them for their sins? Yes, but that is secondary. That they may finally attain to the happiness of heaven? Yes, but that is secondary. The primary object of our salvation is consecration to God's service (p 285)

Calvin

If this way of considering salvation sounds unfamiliar, this was not the case in the past. Moore acknowledges that the roots of his method lie with the philosophers and with Calvin. In The Institutes, focusing on Romans 3:24-29 rather than on James, Calvin makes a fourfold rather than threefold distinction. He writes, with regard to our salvation, of

• The efficient cause - the Triune God and his grace. He alone is the author and executor of our salvation. Without the Father's love, there would be no salvation.

• The material cause - Christ and his righteousness alone. His righteousness is the ‘material’ granted to us as the substance of our salvation. The Son's obedience is crucial.

• The sole instrumental cause - faith. Faith alone, which comes through the illumination of the Spirit, is the tool God uses to grant us the salvation stored up in Christ.

• The final cause or purpose for granting us this salvation - that God might manifest his righteousness as the God who is just and justifies his people. That is, the final cause is the revelation of God’s glory.

(John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 3.14.17. Library of Christian Classics, John T MacNeil, Ford Lewis Battles, Presbyterian Publishing Corporation, UK, 1960)

Reformer Zacharias Ursinus (1534-1583) is similar

We must observe, therefore, that it cannot be said that we are justified in the same sense by the grace of God, by the merits of Christ and by faith. The first must be understood of the moving cause, which is in God; the second of the formal cause, which is in Christ and the third of the instrumental cause, which is in us. We are justified by the mercy or grace of God as the chief moving cause, by which God was led to justify and save us; justified by the merits of Christ, partly as by the formal cause of our justification, inasmuch as God accepts of us in view of the obedience of Christ applied unto us and accounts us as righteous seeing that we are covered with this as with a garment and partly as the moving and meritorious cause, inasmuch as God on account of this acquits and frees us from the condemnation of the law. We are justified by faith as by an instrumental cause by which we apprehend the righteousness of Christ imputed unto us.

(Zacharias Ursinus, Commentary … on the Heidelberg Catechism, USA, 1888 edition, p 331)

Aristotle

This way of thinking is based on the way Aristotle and his successors taught and is everywhere in Reformed teaching.

For Aristotle there were four types of cause to any event. Take a sculptor making a sculpture for example.

• The efficient cause - the person who will carry out the project, the sculptor.

• The formal cause - the idea for the sculpture that the person has in his head, the form he intends the block of stone to take.

• There is also the material cause - the block of stone, the actual material that will be the substance of the sculpture.

• Last, the final cause - this is the purpose for which the whole project was conceived.
  
  

These are obviously not all causes in the same sense, but the word cause is applied to all four aspects as without any one of them the sculpture would not exist. After Aristotle, people spoke also of the instrumental cause, which equates to the tool that the sculptor uses to make the statue.

Obviously, one needs to be careful when making use of a secular method but as an analytical tool this one is clearly very useful.

Puritans and their contemporaries

This way of thinking and expounding is common enough among the Puritans and their contemporaries. Here are some examples.

In 1609 in The highway to heaven by Royalist Thomas Tuke (c 1580-1657) speaks of five or more causes. (Thomas Tuke, The Highway to Heaven; or the doctrine of Election, etc, Nicholas Okes, London, 1609). These are the internal impulsive cause leading to justification, which is God's grace and benevolence; the external impulsive or meritorious efficient cause, which is not our own works, virtues or obedience but Christ by his obedience; the material cause, in two parts, - remission of sins and God’s accepting of us as righteous men; the formal cause, “the free imputation of Christ’s righteousness, by which Christ’s merit and obedience are applied to us by virtue of that near communion whereby he is in us and we in him; the final cause: in respect of God, his glory “in an admirable composition of justice and mercy”; in respect of ourselves: that we may be pleasing to God, having peace of conscience and true tranquillity of mind and true piety.

In his major treatise, On Justification of 1633, George Downame (c 1566-1634), Bishop of Derry and one of the best Aristotelians of his time, sets out the efficient causes of justification, saying that the efficient cause is principally God himself and instrumentally, on one hand, God's Word and sacraments and, on the other, our faith in Jesus Christ. He says

when we say that faith does justify, we do not mean that it justifies absolutely or in respect of its own worth and dignity; and much less, that it does merit justification, either as it is an habit, or as it is an act, but relatively in respect of the object which it does apprehend, that is, Christ, who is our righteousness. (George Downame, A treatise of justification, Felix Kyngston for Nicolas Bourne, London, 1633, p 14)

The often pithy Anglican commentator John Trapp (1601-1669), looking at Romans 3, says “men are said to be justified effectively by God, apprehensively by faith, declaratively by good works.” (John Trapp, A Commentary Or Exposition Upon All the Books of the New Testament Wherein the Text is Explained, Some Controversies Discussed, etc, RW to be sold by Nath. Ekins, London, 1656,)

In a body of divinity published by prolific lay writer Edward Leigh (1602-1671) in 1654, a similar approach is found, this time with four elements. In Chapter 7 of that work it says “God justifies judicially, Christ’s blood meritoriously, Faith instrumentally, Works declaratively (Romans 3:24,28 and 4:5; Mark 5:36; Luke 8:50; Acts 13:39).” (Edward Leigh, A systeme or body of divinity consisting of 10 books, etc, AM for William Lee, London, 1654, p 528).

The Christian in complete armour by William Gurnall (c 1616-1679) is rightly famous. Early in that work he says of justification that the moving cause is the free mercy of God; the meritorious one, the blood of Christ and the instrumental one, “faith with all the sweet privileges that flow from it.” (William Gurnall The Christian in Complete Armour: A Treatise of the Saints' War Against the Devil, Wherein … etc. Edinburgh, 1865 edition, p 95).

John Owen (1616-1683), writing in 1674 on the Holy Spirit, is again similar

The purging of the souls of them that believe from the defilements of sin is, in the Scripture, assigned unto several causes of different kinds; for the Holy Spirit, the blood of Christ, faith, and afflictions, are all said to cleanse us from our sins, but in several ways, and with distinct kinds of efficacy. The Holy Spirit is said to do it as the principal efficient cause; the blood of Christ as the meritorious procuring cause; faith and affliction as the instrumental causes – the one direct and internal, the other external and occasional. (John Owen, A Discourse Concerning the Holy Spirit. See Works Vols 3 and 4. See Chapter 5 Book 4)

There is also a place where the author of Pilgrim's Progress, John Bunyan (1628-1688) says that Christians must warily distinguish betwixt the instrumental and the meritorious cause of justification. The latter is Christ, with what he has done and suffered. (John Bunyan, Salvation by grace, 1675. See Works Vol 1. See Section IX on Justification by faith).

In 1692 Walter Marshall (1616), in a sermon opening and applying the doctrine of justification, made the causes five, speaking not only of God being the efficient cause and faith being the instrumental cause but also of the impulsive cause being grace; the means effecting or material cause, the redemption of Christ and the formal cause, the remission of sins (Walter Marshall, The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification: Growing in Holiness by Living in Union with Christ Parkhurst, UK, 1692. See Appendix, The Doctrine of Justification Open and Applied).

Later writers

This way of proceeding can be traced down the years in the works of many good reformed writers. Again, some examples.

In 1740, a brief collection of sermons by George Whitefield (1714-1770) was published. The volume contained an opening address on Whitefield by Josiah Smith (1704-1781) of Charleston, South Carolina. In the course of describing Whitefield's preaching, he says that he, on one hand,

earnestly contended for our justification as the free gift of God, by faith alone, in the blood of Christ, an article of faith delivered to the saints of old.

and on the other

took special care to guard against the licentious abuse of it, and would not make void the law, when he asserted that good works were the necessary fruits and evidences of true faith. 

He told people plainly

and with the clearest distinction, that a man was justified these three ways; meritoriously by Christ, instrumentally by faith alone, declaratively by good works. (George Whitefield, Fifteen sermons preached on various important subjects … To which is prefixed, a sermon, on ... Whitefield. By Joseph [ie Josiah] Smith VDM, Mathew Carey, 118, Market-St, Philadelphia, 1794. See p 14)

There is a similar reference to Calvinistic Methodist Martin Madan (1725-1790) in the works of Wesleyan Methodist John Fletcher of Madeley (1729-1785). In a 1773 work we read

By Christ only are we meritoriously justified, and by faith only are we instrumentally justified in the sight of God; but by works, and not by faith only, are we declaratively justified before men and angels (Martin Madan quoted in John Fletcher, Five checks to Antinomianism. See Works, p 239). 

In 1840, Canadian Presbyterian James Bennet wrote of justification (James Bennet, Justification as revealed in Scripture, in opposition to the Council of Trent, and Mr. Newman's lectures Hamilton, Adams & Co, UK, 1840,)

• The material cause is not the inner man made holy as Trent decreed but Christ or his perfect righteous.
• The instrumental cause is faith that lays hold of this hope to unite us with One who cannot but be justified.
• The meritorious cause is the Saviour who has deserved that all whom he lays hold of and who apprehend that for which they are apprehended should be treated as himself.
• The efficient cause is the whole Deity ….
• The final cause is the glory of God for which all things but especially moral and accountable agents exist …. that grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

Preaching on John 18:37, American Presbyterian Charles Seymour Robinson (1829-1899) says of salvation

The original cause is the grace of God; the meritorious cause is Christ's atonement; the efficient cause is the Holy Ghost; but the instrumental cause is the "Word of truth" (John 15:8), and faith therein (https://biblehub.com/sermons/john/18-37.htm (accessed July 18, 2024)).

In 1859 the Strict Baptist George Wyard (1803-1873) said that salvation has several parts - “its moving cause is love, the love of God; its meritorious cause is blood, the blood of Christ; its efficient cause power, the power of the Spirit.” In other places he puts it differently, for example later expanding on this and adding to the meritorious and material cause of it, which is the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus and the efficient and applying cause of it, the Holy Ghost,

The enjoying and realising cause, faith in the Son of God by the Spirit; the promoting and confirming cause, the word of life through the Spirit and the ultimate and final cause, everlasting happiness with and complete conformity to Christ in eternal glory, for whom God justifies he glorifies. (George Wyard A series of pastoral letters ... on the leading doctrines of the gospel UK, 1859, pp 44, 74)

A more modern example of this sort of statement is that of A W Pink (1886-1952). In A Fourfold Salvation, written in 1938, he writes of salvation that the ...

Originating cause is the eternal purpose of God, or, in other words, the predestinating grace of the Father.

Meritorious cause is the mediation of Christ, this having particular respect to the legal side of things, or, in other words, His fully meeting the demands of the law on the behalf and in the stead of those he redeems.

Efficient cause is the regenerating and sanctifying operations of the Holy Spirit, which respect the experimental side of it, or, in other words, the Spirit works in us what Christ purchased for us. Thus, we owe our personal salvation equally to each Person in the Trinity, and not to one (the Son) more than to the others.

Instrumental cause is our faith, obedience, and perseverance; though we are not saved because of them, equally true is it that we cannot be saved (according to God’s appointment) without them.

(A W Pink, A Fourfold Salvation, Vol 17 No 7 Studies in the Scriptures, Sovereign Grace Publishers, 1938, p 20)

A final example would be that of R C Sproul (1939-2017) who also distinguishes causes in order to help us understand and maintain the unique role of faith. One way to think of these causes, he says, is to view them as various layers of the answer to the question, “Why are we saved?” There are four answers to this one question.

1. God determined to save us by his grace.
2. Christ and his righteousness.
3. Faith in Christ, not our own works.
4. That God might be glorified.

Each has its own place, if understood correctly. And each must stay in its own place to be understood correctly. He says that the causes of eternal salvation are three.

Efficient cause – it is always said in Scripture to be the mercy and free love of the heavenly Father towards us who believe.

Material cause - Christ, with the obedience by which he purchased righteousness for believers.
Instrumental cause - must be faith. He quotes Calvin, “Faith is thus the instrumental cause by which righteousness is applied to us.”

(R C Sproul https://www.ligonier.org/learn/series/what-is-reformed-theology/faith-alone-part-2#: ~:text=The%20Reformers%20said%20that%20the,Christ%20is%20given%20to%20us.

Accessed July 18, 2024)

This way of approach has perhaps been forgotten by some today but, in its various forms, it is worth re-examining as a useful tool for explicating the Reformed understanding of salvation.