The Hand of Faith. Not necessary?

A difficulty I ran into when I once believed in time salvation was what to do with all the Bible verses which united faith with salvation. The gospel of John and the Roman and Galatian epistles have much to say about the subject, and were therefore very difficult books to face when I held to a doctrine which claimed many unbelievers were saved. An equal difficulty I had was how to face the “shadows” of salvation depicted in the Old Testament in which faith is part of the picture. In particular, I can remember the touching description of the sinner’s sacrifice:

“And he shall put his hand on the head of the burnt offering…” (Lev. 1:4)

On this passage, Matthew Henry writes:

“The offerer must put his hand upon the head of his offering, v. 4. "He must put both his hands," say the Jewish doctors, "with all his might, between the horns of the beast," signifying thereby, (1.) The transfer of all his right to, and interest in, the beast, to God, actually, and by a manual delivery, resigning it to his service. (2.) An acknowledgment that he deserved to die, and would have been willing to die if God had required it, for the serving of his honour, and the obtaining of his favour. (3.) A dependence upon the sacrifice, as an instituted type of the great sacrifice on which the iniquity of us all was to be laid. The mystical signification of the sacrifices, and especially this rite, some think the apostle means by the doctrine of laying on of hands (Heb. vi. 2), which typified evangelical faith. The offerer's putting his hand on the head of the offering was to signify his desire and hope that it might be accepted from him to make atonement for him. Though the burnt-offerings had not respect to any particular sin, as the sin-offering had, yet they were to make atonement for sin in general; and he that laid his hand on the head of a burnt-offering was to confess that he had left undone what he ought to have done and had done that which he ought not to have done, and to pray that, though he deserved to die himself, the death of his sacrifice might be accepted for the expiating of his guilt.”

The extending forth of the hand upon the head of the offering signified the sinner’s reliance upon the sacrifice for the covering of his sin. As a shadow it points beautifully to Ephesians 2:8 where it is declared that sinners are saved “by grace THROUGH faith”. The difficulty facing those who are steadfast in their claim to time salvation is what to do with this. It is obvious that the sinner knew what he was doing. He extended his hand and knew that he did it! This act on the sinner's part was a definite element of the transaction, and it was not complete unless he did so! But how could this shadow point to the salvation of the idol-worshipping heathen which time salvation says is regenerate? Has he placed the hand of faith upon Christ for salvation?

When I recently shared with my congregation the errors of time salvation which they used to condone themselves, I shared this passage with them. I told them God’s word says salvation is “by grace THROUGH faith”, whereas Hardshellism is “by grace at the EXPENSE of faith”. The Bible says lay the hand of faith upon Christ for salvation. Hardshellism says be saved whether you extend your hand or not!

Not only are the explicit passages of the necessity of faith for salvation against this heresy, but the shadows are as well.