This view is nothing less than monstrous. Could anyone imagine such unholy counsel coming from the Son of God Who throughout His teaching exhorts us to greater holiness while warning us of the consequences of evil. While we are able to do good and avoid evil only because of God's grace working in us, it is possible for us to reject His grace and thereby suffer the consequences of our rejection. Luther's letter should remind us of Hebrews 10:26-9: "For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses. Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?"

The following groups of scriptural passages show the true Christian teaching on (1) faith, works and salvation and (2) the mediation of human beings in God's scheme of salvation.

o "And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say." (Luke 6:46).

o "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." (Matthew 7:21).

o "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. ... Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not unto me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal." (Matthew 25:40,45,46).

o "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves."(James 1:22).

o "What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? ... Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone." (James 2:14, 17).

o "Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only." (James 2:24).

o "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing; for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men." (Galatians 6:7-10).

o "But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; who will render to every man according to his deeds. To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath." (Romans 2:5-8).

o "And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." (1 John 2:3-4).

o "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." (2 Corinthians 5:10).

o "Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." (Philippians 2:12).

o "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see God." (Hebrews 12:14).

o "Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye." (Acts 7:51).

o "For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses. Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?" (Hebrews 10:26-9).

o "But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction." (2 Peter 2:1). [This passage talks of Christian believers who are later damned ("even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction")).

o "Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall" (2 Peter 1:10) - thus implying that it is possible for Christians to fall.

o "He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved." (Matthew 24: 13). This calling to persevere in holiness is echoed throughout the New Testament as we see from this verse in Hebrews:

"For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end." (Hebrews 3:14).

o "But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." (1 Corinthians 9:27).

The passages above show without a doubt that: (a) God desires the salvation of all men (b) all human beings have the ability to accept or reject God's free offer of salvation (c) even those men who initially accept God's offer of salvation can later be lost if they do not "persevere to the end" (d) we are all called to make the right choices and to grow in holiness "lest we perish". This is the historic Christian teaching that is unbiblically denied by Fundamentalists. Ephesians 2:5f. and Romans 5:1 reiterate the traditional teaching that salvation is not possible through works. It is a free gift of grace accepted in faith. We are justified through faith (Romans 5:1) but the grace which saves us has to be accepted and the acceptance of faith is not merely an intellectual belief but an act of obedience. Paul makes it clear in Romans 1:5 ("By whom you have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith") and 16:26 ("made known to all nations for the obedience of faith") that faith involves obedience. Without "the obedience of faith" and a continuing acceptance of God's grace, we cannot be saved.

o "Abraham stood yet before the Lord. And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? ... And the Lord said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes." (Genesis 18:22-24, 26).

o "Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the Lord; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin. And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin -; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou has written." (Exodus 32:30-32).

o "I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is the Church." (Colossians 1:24).

o "For we are labourers together with God." (1 Corinthians 3:9).

o "We suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together." (Romans 8:17).

o "Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." (James 5:20).

o "Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee." (1 Timothy 4:16).

The passages above demonstrate that: (a) both in the Old and the New Testaments God allows His creatures to participate in His scheme of salvation of their own free will (b) our mediation is essential to the completion of God's plan of salvation. Concerning the interpretation of 1 Timothy 2:5, the exegete Manuel Miguens shows that this passage is not talking of exclusivity of mediation. It should be translated to read "There is one and the same God [for all], there is also one and the same mediator [for all]."¹⁰ The passage is not intended to rule out other mediators. It is to be noted too "that in 1 Timothy 2:1-7 (the whole context), Paul commands all Christians to be mediators and intercessors for all men because God is God of all and Christ is Christ for all. He concludes by saying that he himself is a mediator too, as preacher and apostle. The high point of the passage is verse 5, where he enthrones Christ, the mediator par excellence, who by uniting us to himself makes mediators of us all for all. The whole passage, verses 1-7, is a unit and must be read as a unit. Its message is broadly ecumenical; it is a missionary message, a message of outreach."¹¹. It is clear from Colossians 1:24 that the suffering of any person, when offered freely to God, is incorporated by Him in the salvific scheme. We can all be co-redeemers in this sense. "We are God's fellow-workers," says Paul in 1 Corinthians 3:9.

The possibility of our participation in Christ's work of redemption is very clearly highlighted in Colossians 1:24: "I Paul ... rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church." About this latter verse, Frank Sheed writes: "The sentence is doubly stunning, for Paul not only speaks of something lacking in Christ's sufferings but says that he, Paul (and presumably other Christians), will 'complete' them for the sake of Christ's body, the Church. Whatever the God-man could do, Christ did. What was lacking could only be something which in the nature of the case could not be done by the God-man for men but must be done by men for themselves. Men are not merely to be spectators of their own redemption. Purely human love, yours and mine, is not to be denied all place in the expiation of human sin."¹² From the time of the Reformation this passage from Colossians has been a major obstacle to the perverse theory that denies all value and merit to good works and sees human beings simply as puppets.

The most powerful critiques of Calvinism have come from Protestants. The most important of these is the critique of John Wesley which has yet to be adequately answered. "Predestination Calmly Considered" by Wesley is the classic refutation of Calvinism and is cited in detail in the trilogy. Addressing a prominent Calvinist, Wesley once said, "You represent God as worse than the devil; as more false, more cruel, and more unjust ... You say you will prove it with the Scripture? Hold! What will you prove by Scripture? That God is worse than the devil? It cannot be."¹³

Interestingly, as far back as 529, the Council of Orange declared that any doctrine of "once damned always damned" is anathema:

We not only do not believe that any are foreordained to evil by the power of God, but even state with utter abhorrence that if there are those who want to believe so evil a thing, they are anathema.

In his monumental work, Not By Faith Alone, Robert Sungenis, a former Fundamentalist, has shown conclusively that the Bible clearly teaches that salvation does not come from faith alone. Drawing specifically on the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles Paul and James, Sungenis shows that Scripture not only does not teach the idea of salvation by faith alone but expressly rejects it (for instance, "Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only." James 2:24.)

The teachings of Jesus have been a perennial source of embarrassment for faith-alone Fundamentalists. So clear is Jesus in His teaching that faith must be accompanied by works if one is to be saved that Fundamentalists have even said that the Apostle Paul is more authoritative on justification than Jesus Himself. Some Fundamentalists have said that Jesus' teachings on works are merely hypothetical or apply only to the millennial kingdom. There is no evidence to support either one of these audacious interpretations and it is hard to believe that Jesus was not serious about salvation, the central theme of His teaching.

The parable of the Sheep and the Goats leaves no doubt that our works play a critical role in determining our salvation: "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. ... Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not unto me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal." (Matthew 25:40,45,46.) This theme persists in various other parables such as the parables of the ten virgins and the talents.

The encounter with the Rich Young Man gives no comfort to any theology of faith without works. Similarly, the Sermon on the Mount is a sermon about works (obviously works that are performed within the context of God's grace) and there Jesus even says, "Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and the Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:20). In Matthew 24:13, Jesus warns us that only "he that shall endure unto the end ... shall be saved."

"If Jesus had a faith alone theology in mind," says Sungenis, "he had ample opportunity to teach it. As it stands in the gospels, however, there is not one specific teaching of Jesus that would lean us in such a direction. The whole tenor of his teaching is just the opposite - works play a most significant part in determining whether we will be saved or not."¹⁴

The Apostle Paul is often heralded as the primary proponent of justification by faith alone by Fundamentalists. But, as a matter of fact, Paul explicitly taught that our deeds determine our eternal destiny: "But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; who will render to every man according to his deeds. To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath." (Romans 2:5-8). The only response that Fundamentalists have made to this clear-cut teaching is that Paul (like Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount) is being "hypothetical" - a wholly implausible interpretation designed to salvage an unscriptural theology. But in Romans 14:12, Paul says, "Every one of us shall give account of himself to God," and continues the theme in 1 Corinthians 3:13-17 and 2 Corinthians 5-10.

Paul is, of course, very clear that works outside God's grace cannot justify the individual.

After a thorough study of various Pauline verses, Sungenis concludes, "Paul's understanding of works in relation to salvation [is] ... that works are necessary for salvation and, in fact, are one of the principal determining factors in whether or not one obtains salvation. We say this with the proviso that Paul outrightly condemns works done with a view toward obligating God to pay the worker with salvation. Man can never put God in the position of being in debt to an imperfect and sinful creature. The only way God can accept our works is through his grace. Works done under the auspices of God's grace, that is, works that do not demand payment from God but are rewarded only due to the kindness and mercy of God, are the works that Paul requires for salvation."¹⁵

Faith, as Paul understands it, cannot be separated from obedience (Romans 1:5 and 16:26). Moreover, for Paul, as for Jesus, the greatest good is Love and so it is "faith working through love" (Galatians 5:6) that saves us. This coupling of faith and love is found in Galatians, Corinthians, Ephesians, Colossians, Thessalonians, Timothy, Titus and Philemon. "In witnessing the inseparable bond Paul creates between faith and love," writes Sungenis, "we can understand why in Galatians 5:6 he insists that only faith working through love can justify an individual, not faith alone."¹⁶

Fundamentalists who build their theologies on distorted interpretations of Paul's epistles should pay heed to the warning given by Peter: "Our beloved brother Paul ... in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction." (2 Peter 3:16).

As even Fundamentalists admit, the Epistle of James offers perhaps the most explicit condemnation of the doctrine of salvation by faith alone. "What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? ... Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone." (James 2:14, 17). Martin Luther even called this epistle an "epistle of straw" - an appalling way to talk about a work inspired by the Holy Spirit. In comparing the epistles of Paul and James, Sungenis notes, "The similarities between Paul and James are not mere coincidence. Faith requires the addition of love towards God and one's neighbor. Salvation is not by faith alone. ... For both Paul and James works are the ultimate factor in the salvation of the individual. If one decides not to follow the Spirit and instead to follow his sinful desires and discriminate against the poor, God will judge him. ... If one refuses to add works of love to faith when the opportunity arises, then the rhetorical question of James 2:14, namely, 'Can faith ['by itself'] save him?' must be answered in the negative."¹⁷

Fundamentalists, in any case, have not arrived at any consensus among themselves on the precise relationship of faith and justification precisely because of their doctrine of private interpretation. In his review of the Evangelical Alister McGrath's Iustitia Dei, Lutheran Carl Braaten writes, "McGrath's discussion of the history of the doctrine of justification in the periods of the Reformation, orthodoxy, and pietism makes it clear that those who have adhered to the formula 'justification by faith alone' have sometimes understood opposite things by it. It seems ironic and even embarrassing that the very theological tradition which has affirmed the article by which the church stands or falls has been so confused and void of inner harmony on this doctrine."¹⁸

A sound scriptural theology of human mediation in God’s plans is as important to historic Christianity as a sound theology of faith, works and salvation. The greatest barrier to an understanding of Marian mediation and of the role played by Mary and all Christians in God's scheme of salvation is a well-known misinterpretation of 1 Timothy 2:5: "For one is God and one also is mediator of God and men, a man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all." ("For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all" is how this verse is translated in the King James version.)

Almost all Fundamentalist interpretations of this passage ignore the actual linguistic and grammatical meaning of the text as well its meaning in the context of Paul's teaching and the teaching of the New Testament as a whole. "One" is generally interpreted by Fundamentalists in the sense of "only" so as to exclude any other. The actual Greek text reads, heis gar theos, heis kai mesites theou kai anthropon. Heis here is translated to read "one" - however it is not "one" in the same of exclusive uniqueness but "one" in the sense of "sameness" of function in regard to the many. The exegete Manuel Miguens has noted that "The meaning 'the same' is normal for heis, and seems to apply in different cases in the New Testament."¹⁹ Prominent examples he cites are Ephesians 4:6 and James 4:12. He notes also that the meaning of heis as "same" becomes clear when we see various usages in the New Testament where heis is used interchangeably with autos, the same, e.g., Romans 3:29ff.

1 Timothy 2:5 is not intended to mean that there is numerically only one God or only one mediator but rather to show that "the factual salvation of God and the factual mediation of the Redeemer are for all men." In Romans 3:30, heis ho theos, "God is one", the contextual meaning of heis as "same" is unmistakable. The term monon or "only" in verse 29 is contrasted to heis in verse 30 because Paul is trying to show that God is not "only" for the Jews (v.29) but "one and the same God" for all (v.30). "God is one," writes Miguens, "because he is the same God for all, he treats all in the same manner. This is the way heis was understood by those for whom Greek was the native language."²⁰

In this context, it is very significant that Paul uses the term heis in 1 Timothy 2:5 and not monos - monos would be the word to use if his intention was to stress exclusive uniqueness. In fact, writes Miguens, as he presents the clinching argument, "When the author of 1 Tim intends to stress the uniqueness of God, he does not use heis, but monos a few verses before, namely in 1:17, as well as in 6:15, 16. In the entire epistle heis occurs in our passage (2:5) only. It seems well that the writer felt the difference between monos and heis."²¹

After considering a variety of other linguistic and grammatical issues, Miguens concludes, "All theological, grammatical and linguistic considerations seem to suggest for 1 Tim 2:5 the following translation: 'There is one and the same God [for all], there is also one and the same mediator [for all].' The loving and saving care of God is for all (not only for a few, for Christians), and the redeeming mediation of Christ is ‘for all’ too."²²

It is supremely ironic that Fundamentalists cite the Apostle Paul in ascribing all mediation to Christ alone because it is Paul himself who teaches three kinds of mediation, priestly mediation, covenantal/contractual mediation and factual (as opposed to juridical) mediation and sees himself as a mediator under this third category. The priestly mediation, exercised in ritual and liturgy, is attributed to Christ and those called by God like Aaron (Hebrews 5:4). In covenant mediation, a covenant is contracted between God and a community. Paul sees Moses as this kind of mediator (Galatians 3:19) but not Abraham (for in Abraham's case, God made a unilateral promise rather than entering into a covenant). The third kind of mediation is factual mediation whereby a particular person becomes the channel through which God's grace is transmitted to a community because of the merits of the person. The merits here could result simply from God's free gift to a person or a cooperation of that person with God's initiative or a combination of both. A prominent example of this kind of mediation cited by Paul is Abraham: he sees Abraham as the "father of us all" because he was the channel of God's blessings and graces (although the blessings of Abraham reach their culmination in and through Christ, these are also the blessings of Abraham). And Abraham was a mediator because God instituted him as such. David was similarly a mediator and the resurrection of Christ is the fulfillment of God's promise to "give you the sure mercies of David." (Acts 13:34). The Apostle Paul too is a mediator in this category according to the Acts of the Apostles and the epistles of Paul. He is a "vessel of election" (Acts 9:15) through whom God brings grace and salvation to the Gentiles in particular (see Acts 22).

Through the application in Acts 26:16ff, Acts 13:47, etc., "of important Old Testament passages to Paul," writes Miguens, "Christian thought expressed his faith that the apostle in his ministry was not only a 'servant' of the Lord but also that he, as a servant of the Lord, was a true cause - may it just be a 'ministerial' cause - of salvation."²³ Paul is very conscious of being a mediator of God's salvation: God "called you through our evangelization" (2 Thessalonians 2:14). He and Apollo are "ministers through whom" God brings faith to the Corinthians. We are "co-workers with God" (1 Corinthians 3:5). "My life is being poured out as a libation." (2 Timothy 4:6). "In my own body I supplement what is still lacking in the sufferings of Christ for his body, which is the Church." (Colossians 1:24).

In the New Testament, Mary is shown neither as a priestly mediator nor as a covenantal mediator. She is, rather, a factual mediator like Abraham. About the mediation ascribed to her in the Bible, Miguens writes,

It is only obvious that, in factual terms, Mary happened to find herself more closely related to the very event of salvation than any other person, except Christ himself. On the path traveled by God's salvation from the very first suggestion in Gen 3:15 to its full actualization in Christ, no other channel of God's redeeming purpose is more immediately and intimately connected with the actual salvation and savior. She is actually the last link of the long chain through which God connected his personal saving initiative with its actual implementation in Christ. From this viewpoint Mary is no less mediator of salvation than Abraham or David. These two men were chosen by God's free and spontaneous grace in order to be rendered channels of his salvation - a salvation that could be channeled through other persons, but it was actually channeled through them. In just the same way God freely, spontaneously and graciously decided to constitute Mary the last end of the channel that, in all truth, not only carries the savior but, in actuality, grows into the savior himself who springs up directly from Mary. She happens to be a mediator of God's salvation precisely because God chose her to be such.

At this point, however, a distinction must be made between Mary, on the one hand, and Abraham and David on the other. The two men were not directly connected with the savior himself, either genetically or socially, etc. But Mary was the "mother" of the redeemer. She made a very personal and unique contribution to the formation of a redeemer for God and to the actual saving activity of the same redeemer. She was there as a "mother" when the redeemer/savior entered the world, was brought up, was educated, engaged in his ministry and died a redeeming death on the cross. Her part in mediating salvation was certainly greater than that of Abraham or David. In this perspective the episodes of the Cana wedding (Jn 2:1-10) and of Mary's presence at the foot of the cross (Jn 19:25ff.), as well as the passage of Rev 12, may prove to be highly significant. Mary was certainly placed by God in the way of the redeemer himself, i.e., in the way of God's salvation as it was in the process of becoming.

Such factual mediation, moreover, does not exclude - it rather includes - another mediation, namely, the mediation of one's own actual contribution to God's saving activity. Paul - as well as the other ministers of the gospel, and prophets of the Old Testament - understood that he, as a "servant" or minister of the Lord, in his apostolic effort and suffering was a real mediator "through" whom God's salvation became effective to many nations. One does not see why Mary's motherly contribution to the life and activity of the savior himself was not a means by which God made his salvation available to mankind. If Moses, Gideon, Jeremiah, the prophets in general, and the Servant in the Second Isaiah were "servants of the Lord" because they truly mediated God's salvation, one does not see why Mary, "the servant of the Lord" did not mediate God's salvation in her motherly ministry." ...

Mary is "servant of the Lord" in a sense and to a degree that constitute her far above all other servants of the Lord, with the one exception, of course, of Jesus Christ. The Lord equips his servants according to the service they have to do; Mary was equipped according to the dignity and excellence of her service.²⁴

Mary's mediation, like the mediation of all Christians, is possible only because of the grace of God and as a participation in the supreme mediation of Christ.

Between the two extremes of Pelagianism (Liberalism) and Pantheism (Calvinistic Fundamentalism) is the teaching of the historic Christian Faith: we are creatures made in the image of God and our Creator seeks to bring us to salvation. We cannot accept the divine invitation without the grace of God. But we can refuse this grace - and be damned. Moreover, we can collaborate with God's grace in performing the work of Christ (as Paul wrote, "It is not I who lives but Christ who lives in me."). Marian doctrine and devotion preserve the great teachings of the historic Faith on God's infinite love, human freedom and dignity and the great Christological and Trinitarian doctrines.