“But what if they can’t understand the teaching?”: How can they be saved? (Fridays from the Families)

Yesterday I broke this question into two separate ones: (1) But what am I supposed to do on Sunday morning if they can’t understand the teaching? (which I posted about yesterday) and (2) But how can I think and preach soteriologically if they can’t understand the teaching. In other words, can they be saved in the typical sense of how we consider salvation through faith?

This is the harder question. And, while I will post in more length at some point about this when I am able to take time to gather the words to do so, for now I’m going to pass the ball to Greg Lucas. He’s the guy who wrote the book I highly recommended a couple weeks ago, Wrestling with An Angel. As the dad of a child who has disabilities, he has wrestled with this question. And, finally, he answers it better than I can.

The reason I recommend his response is two-fold:

1. It’s scriptural. Most of the answers I’ve found in my searches on this topic are based on feelings rather than the Bible. When we make theological judgments from the gut instead of from the Word, we’re standing on the wrong foundation even if we deliver the right answer.
2. It acknowledges that God is God and we are not. I sometimes forget that when I’m searching for an answer to any question. I like answers. I like facts. I’m not comfortable, most of the time, with questions and mystery and empty blanks. But, as a believer, there are times when I have to rest in God’s sovereignty as I say, “I don’t know, but he does, and that’s good enough for me.” As we teach and preach, we need to be mindful that we are not the source of all answers. It is not our job to provide answers but to point to Christ. He is our answer. As Spurgeon preached in 1865, “If I might only have it to utter one sentence, it would be this one, ‘Your help is found in Christ.’” (Charles H. Spurgeon, Memory: The Handmaid of Hope)

 So check out Greg’s answer below (reprinted with permission, originally posted here). And rest in God’s sovereignty.

“For by grace you are saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

The more I try to comprehend the sovereignty of God in salvation, the more I am astounded by His grace. That even the faith to believe is a gift given to those who deserve only His just wrath.

So the sovereign Lord gives us faith in His Son and we believe that Jesus came, lived a perfect life and died a sacrificial death for the payment of our sins. All the wrath of the Father justly reserved for us was cast upon His Son. All the righteousness of Jesus is transferred to us by grace through the work of the cross.

As one preacher so simply stated, “On the cross, God treated Jesus as if He had lived your life, so He could treat you as if you had lived His.” A profound paraphrase of 2 Corinthians 5:21

All of this is obtained by grace through faith. I understand that.

What I don’t understand is how this is applied, or better yet, how this works itself out in the life of an individual who cannot respond in faith, who cannot even speak, or who does not have the ability to comprehend the truth of the gospel.

I’m not thinking of the native in a far unreached part of the world that at least has a general revelation to point him towards more specific revelation.

I am thinking about my 17 year old son who has the mental capacity of a 2 year old.

I know Jake is a sinner—boy do I know. And I know that he is in desperate need of a Savior. I also know that salvation comes through repentance and faith, neither of which have I ever seen or could imagine seeing in my son’s life.

He does not understand the cross, or the sacrifice that was made. He knows nothing of his Adamic nature or fallen state. I’m not even sure that he treasures Christ above Jelly Belly’s or Santa Clause. So how can he be saved? How is the gift of faith applied to his lack of comprehension of the gospel?

I believe it all comes back to the main application of salvation for each of us—God’s undeserving grace. Yes, Jake is sinful. And yes, he is in desperate need of a savior. If he is saved from the just wrath of God, he will be saved by faith, but how that faith is gifted to him and in what capacity it is made manifest is still only through the mystery of God’s amazing grace.

I rest in that grace, not only for my own salvation, but for the salvation of my son.

I’m sure there is a lot of systematic theology that could be applied at this point, but I am not a theologian, I am a father. However, I do hope that no one mistakes my emotional parental response for a lack of searching the scriptures diligently for a solid answer to this important question.

I have poured over God’s promises like a doctor searching for a cure of the deadly disease in his own child, looking for hope and confidence in this grey area of my son’s life. There are many passages that give hints to the question I pose, but in the end I believe the passage in Ephesians 2 brings the most peace to my own soul—that Jake’s state is really no different from my own.

We are both separated from God by sin, in desperate need of a savior, and even if it is faith that appropriates our salvation, this faith is not our own doing—it is the gift of God. So that in the end our boast and our only hope is in the mysterious, amazing grace of God.

How will my son be saved?

“For by grace you are saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

I rest hopeful in God’s promises.