Grace is everything in salvation: God's unmerited favor saves the undeserving through faith, and no work or merit can add to it.
Les Feldick teaches that nobody deserves salvation — it is God's grace alone that saves. That same grace not only saves a person at the moment of faith but also keeps him every day, since no one can live perfectly enough to maintain salvation by his own effort. Because salvation is a gift, church membership, baptism, and all other human works are excluded. Saul of Tarsus is the supreme proof: a persecutor who deserved judgment was saved purely by grace.
Ephesians 2:8-9 — This is the passage Les Feldick repeatedly cites to show that salvation is by grace through faith — God's gift, not the result of works.
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). Scripture is explicit that salvation does not originate in the sinner. It is God's gift, given by His grace and received through faith, and it is expressly "not of works." The stated purpose is to exclude all human boasting: since no one contributed to his salvation, no one can claim credit for it. The same passage shows that grace and faith work together — the grace of God provides what the sinner could never achieve, and faith is the means by which that gifted salvation is received.
Les presents this teaching from the perspective of the age of grace — the period in which God is calling out a people for His name, the body of Christ — and laments how much confusion exists over the simple plan of salvation. He defines grace as "the unmerited favor of God" and places it at the center of salvation. He is emphatic that no one deserved salvation — "I didn't deserve salvation, you didn't deserve salvation, that was God's grace" — and that the same grace which saves us is also what keeps us, because believers cannot live perfectly enough to maintain salvation on their own.
Les Feldick walks through Ephesians 2:8-9 to show that the words "not of yourselves" and "not of works" remove any possibility of earning salvation. His test for any religious activity is simple: do you work for a gift? Do you merit a gift? Never — and salvation is a gift, so church membership, baptism, and every other human effort are excluded. Grace has made it possible; faith is simply the vehicle that receives it.
Les stresses that the grace of God saves us, but insists that the same grace is also what keeps us: "I don't deserve to be saved six hours of the day." Because believers are human and cannot live perfectly, God continues to keep them by His grace. This is the emphasis he says few people comprehend — grace is just as needed for the believer's ongoing walk as it was for his initial salvation.
Les points to the conversion of Saul of Tarsus as the ultimate demonstration of grace. A renegade who was "doing nothing but upset everything," Saul was exactly the person any human judge would have eliminated — yet God saved him. Les calls Paul the "apostle of grace" and the "epitome of grace," and he reminds his audience that every believer was in the same condition before salvation: "We were rebels. We were lost. We were condemned already. But what does God do? He saves us by His grace."
Les makes a sharp distinction between salvation and growth: "Salvation is an event. Salvation is an instantaneous event. Christian growth is a process. Bible understanding is a process." In that one-time event a person is translated from darkness to light, sins are forgiven, and he is justified — all instantaneously. Les also observes that in this age of grace it is never taught that believers must beg God to forgive their sins; the forgiveness was accomplished in that instantaneous event.
The Age of Grace Context
Les sets the question of salvation against the backdrop of the age of grace, in which God is calling out a people for His name — the body of Christ — and laments the confusion that exists about the simple plan of salvation.
Grace Saves and Grace Keeps
Les teaches that no one deserves salvation and that the same grace which saves a person is also what keeps him day by day, since believers cannot live perfectly.
Faith Is the Vehicle, Grace Makes It Possible
Les explains Ephesians 2:8-9 to show that no religious work — church membership, baptisms, or anything else — can earn salvation; grace has made it possible and faith alone receives the gift.
Grace Defined by the Incarnation and the Cross
Les presents God's grace as the holy, righteous God coming down among sinful men, taking on human flesh, and going to the Roman cross to suffer, bleed, and rise again to save lost humanity.
God's Voluntary Sacrifice for All
Les emphasizes that the triune God of creation voluntarily subjected Himself to the crucifixion — He could have destroyed the Roman empire with one word — because He was ready to pour out salvation on the whole human race; that is grace.
Grace Is the Unmerited Favor of God
Les defines grace as the unmerited favor of God and applies the test of a gift: since salvation is a gift, no one works for it or merits it — it is by grace through faith.
Saul of Tarsus, the Epitome of Grace
Les uses the conversion of Saul of Tarsus — a rebel and persecutor whom God saved — to show that grace saves the undeserving, making Paul the epitome of the grace that saves every believer.
Salvation Is an Instantaneous Event
Les distinguishes salvation as a one-time instantaneous event from Christian growth as a process, and notes that in this age of grace believers are never taught to beg God for forgiveness of sins.
Ephesians 2:8-9: For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.
This is the foundational passage Les cites to show that salvation is entirely by grace through faith, not earned by any human work.
Les Feldick defines grace as the unmerited favor of God. It means a person receives favor — salvation — that he does not deserve and cannot earn, because salvation is a gift rather than a wage.
We are saved by grace through faith, and not of works. Ephesians 2:8-9 is explicit that salvation is the gift of God, and Les Feldick stresses that no amount of church membership, baptism, or good deeds can add to it.
Yes. Les Feldick teaches that the same grace which saves is what keeps the believer, since no one can live perfectly enough to deserve continued salvation. "I don't deserve to be saved six hours of the day," he says — it is all His grace.
Saul was a rebel and persecutor of believers who deserved judgment, yet God saved him. Les uses this to show that if anyone was undeserving, it was Saul — and believers were no different; God saves us all by His grace.
Salvation is an instantaneous event, while Christian growth and Bible understanding are processes. In one moment a person is translated from darkness to light, sins are forgiven, and he is justified.
Watch the Teaching: Justification by Faith: What Does It Really Mean?