Chapter 1 of Why Be Plain? introduces a number of themes that Weaver and Zimmerman elaborate on in later chapters. One of those themes is the threat of “easy-believism,” which the authors define on page 3:
On top of that, the message of easy-believism preachers have reached the ears of many, teaching that one’s lifestyle has nothing to do with being a Christian.
That particular theme is fully addressed in Chapter 2 of Why Be Plain?, titled “A Working Faith.” For the most part, the chapter is biblically sound. Along with many others, I have been warning about the same danger for decades. I refer to this danger as the “false-grace gospel,” which is not only a threat to Plain people but to everyone who desires eternal life. Allow me to elaborate.
Anyone who has read the Bible knows that salvation depends on God’s grace, because all of us have sinned, disobeying our Creator. He has written His moral law on every conscience, and we are without excuse (Rom. 2:14–16). Therefore, if we hope to escape our rightful punishment, we need forgiveness, and forgiveness, of course, is predicated upon grace.
What is grace? It is often defined as “unmerited favor.” That is because grace cannot be deserved or earned; otherwise it is not grace.
Perhaps the most well-known passage in the New Testament regarding the fact that salvation is by grace is Ephesians 2:8–9:
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast (emphasis added).
Because of that passage and others like it, some have concluded that there can be no behavioral requirement connected to salvation; otherwise, they claim, “salvation is not by grace, but by works.” Such folks often talk about the unconditional grace of God. God’s grace can’t be conditional, they claim, for then salvation would not be by grace.
But hundreds of New Testament passages contradict this idea of salvation by “unconditional grace.” One of them is the very passage I just quoted, Ephesians 2:8–9. Paul wrote that we are saved “by grace … through faith.” Our salvation does not hinge just on grace; it also hinges on faith. Obviously, grace is God’s part in salvation, and just as obviously, we have something to do with the faith part. Both facts are repeatedly affirmed in Scripture.
So for someone to benefit from God’s saving grace, he must have faith. If salvation’s only component was grace, then everyone would be saved, because Jesus died for everyone (1 John 2:2), God desires for everyone to be saved (1 Tim. 2:3; 2 Pet. 3:9), and His grace is extended toward everyone (Tit. 2:11). But not everyone benefits from God’s saving grace, because not all meet the condition of God’s conditional grace, which is faith.
Faith That Saves
Of course, saving faith is not just faith that the sun will rise tomorrow, or that a man named Jesus walked the earth 2,000 years ago. Saving faith is faith in a divine person. That person is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the object of faith that saves. The Bible’s most well-known verse affirms this fact:
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16, emphasis added).
What a wonderful promise! Those who believe in a unique person—God’s only begotten Son—shall not perish but will have eternal life.
Obviously, it is not just ten seconds of faith in Jesus, followed by a lifetime of unbelief, that save a person from perishing (as some strangely claim). It is faith that continues to believe in Jesus. That is why the original apostles repeatedly encouraged believers to “continue in the faith.” For example, the apostle Paul wrote:
Yet He [Jesus] has now reconciled you [to God] in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach—if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel that you have heard (Col. 1:22–23a, emphasis added).
Many other New Testament scriptures affirm that same fact. The apostles not only encouraged believers to “continue in the faith” (Col. 1:22–23; Acts 14:22), but also to “remain true to the Lord” (Acts 11:23), “not grow weary of doing good” (2 Thess. 3:13; Gal. 6:9), “hold fast to their confession” (Heb. 3:6, 14; 4:14; 10:23; 1 Cor. 15:2; Rev. 2:12; 3:11), and run with endurance the race that is set before them” (Heb. 12:1).
Faith’s Fruit
Naturally, anyone who truly believes in Jesus—the “King of kings and Lord of lords” (1 Tim. 6:15; Rev. 17:14; 19:16)—will strive to obey Him. That is why Paul wrote of “the obedience of faith” (Rom. 1:5; 16:26).
That is why Peter wrote that by practicing godliness, “the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you” (2 Pet. 1:11).
That is why John wrote, “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments” (1 John 2:3).
That is why James wrote that faith without works is dead, useless, and cannot save (Jas. 2:14-26).
And that is why Jude warned about false teachers “who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness [a license to sin] and [in so doing] deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” (Jude 4, emphasis added). The five apostles who wrote the New Testament letters could not have made it clearer.
Clearly, the proof of continued faith is continued obedience. Saving faith starts with repentance and continues with obedience. Anything less is not saving faith.
And this is what Weaver and Zimmerman similarly warn against in the second chapter of Why Be Plain? According to them, numbers of Plain people have been deceived by the false-grace gospel that is prevalent in so many North American churches. That is indeed tragic. Later in this chapter, I will try to explain why Plain people, in particular, are so susceptible to that false gospel. But first, here is a helpful paragraph penned by Weaver and Zimmerman:
The salvation-by-faith-alone theory [that is, an alleged faith that is void of works] … is likely a big factor in the decisions of various people to move on from an Old Order setting, since it helps them think salvation has nothing to do with what we do, but only with what we believe. Some theologians bring so much discredit to good works and obedience that it has become a negative term to many professing Christians. It makes them suspicious of living holy lives for fear that it might be a denial of faith and a rejection of Christ—in spite of the fact that Christ clearly taught that those who do not obey Him are the ones who reject Him! Satan has twisted man’s understanding of the Bible to where they are more afraid of the works of God than the works of the devil!
And thus it’s not only unnecessary to strictly obey the Bible. It is viewed as sin! (p. 15).
That appraisal is tragically true. The false-grace gospel reduces faith to nothing more than mental acknowledgement that may not produce any fruit of obedience. Weaver and Zimmerman add:
As a holy God, He [Jesus] cannot overlook unholy, unrepentant lives. On the Day of Judgment, He will sit on the throne, dividing the saved from the unsaved. All our works are written in a book, and we will be judged according to our works written therein. The Holy Bible will be the standard we’ll be judged by—according to whether we followed its teachings (p. 16).
In the second sentence of this last quotation, the authors seem to be citing Jesus’ warning found in His foretelling of the judgment of the sheep and the goats (Matt. 25:31–46). At that judgment, the eternal destiny of everyone will be determined by whether or not they cared for those whom Jesus referred to as “the least of these my brothers”—believers who suffered from hunger, thirst, homeless, lack of sufficient clothing, being ill, or imprisonment. Those who cared for “the least of these” will inherit God’s kingdom and eternal life. Those who did not will be cast into eternal fire (Matt. 25:34, 41, 46).
Jesus said nothing about faith in that particular warning, and that can only be because genuine faith always results in obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ and love for brothers and sisters in Christ (1 John 2:3; 3:14). So all of us should ask ourselves if we will be among the sheep or goats at that future judgment. Are we making sacrifices for those whom Jesus referred to as the “least of these His brothers”? If we aren’t, then we’re goats. We prove by our actions that we really don’t believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, even if we think we do.
Jesus’ warning in that passage motivated me, decades ago, to launch a Christian organization called Heaven’s Family, which, with the generous help of thousands of followers of Christ, serves poor and suffering believers all over the world. We do it because we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and all that He said. We obey Him because we believe in Him. It is just that simple.
Weaver and Zimmerman clearly state that “the Holy Bible will be the standard we’ll be judged by—according to whether we followed its teachings.” The only thing I say differently is that we will be judged specifically by whether or not we obeyed the commandments of Christ.
Paul’s Conditional Grace
Later in chapter 2, Weaver and Zimmerman point out that although Paul told the Ephesian believers that they were “saved by grace” (Eph. 2:8–9), just a few paragraphs later, in the same letter, he warned them about the danger of disobedience:
But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God (Eph. 5:3-5).
Clearly, Paul believed the Ephesian Christians were capable of committing immorality, impurity and greed, or else he would not have admonished them to avoid all three. And he further warned them that “no immoral or impure person or covetous man … has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” So the grace by which they were saved was conditional.
Weaver and Zimmerman also respond to the often-used argument that another of Paul’s letters, Galatians, proves that obedience has nothing to do with ultimate salvation because salvation is by grace. The authors wisely point out that if that were true, Paul would have had no reason to warn the Galatian Christians in the same letter that certain sinful behaviors could cause them to forfeit their inheritance in God’s kingdom:
Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God (Gal. 5:19–21, emphasis added).
All this proves that the grace God is offering to all of humanity through Jesus is not a license to sin. Rather, it is a temporary opportunity to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, turn from one’s rebellion, be forgiven of all one’s past sins, be spiritually reborn, be set free from captivity to sin, be empowered to obey Him by the indwelling Holy Spirit, be forgiven of any future sins through confession, and inherit eternal life in His eternal kingdom. That is salvation by grace through faith.
The Nonsense of Unconditional Grace
The idea of unconditional grace is actually foreign to the Bible, just as it is in human experience. If you have ever been a father or a mother, you know that. Sometimes your children may disobey you, but you don’t discipline them immediately. Rather, you warn them. That is an example of conditional grace. You aren’t giving your disobedient child a license to disobey you. Rather, you are showing your child conditional grace in the hope that they won’t disobey again. If your child does disobey again in the same way, they probably won’t enjoy the same grace that you offered after their initial disobedience.
Here’s another example. Imagine that you are caught by a state policeman driving your buggy down the wrong side of the road. Imagine him saying to you, “I’m not going to issue a citation that will require you to pay a $500 fine. I’m going to show you grace.” Is his grace “unconditional”? If you want to find out, just thank him for his grace and then continue driving down the road on the wrong side. You will soon discover that his grace was conditioned upon your repentance!
Recall that Jesus warned, “But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions” (Matt. 6:15). Obviously, forgiveness from our Heavenly Father is an expression of His grace. It is undeserved favor. But His forgiveness hinges on us forgiving others. His grace hinges on our grace. So His grace is conditional. Conditional grace is still grace.
The very idea that unless grace is unconditional, it is not grace is absurd. God’s saving grace is undeniably conditional. This is why Paul wrote about God’s grace:
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds (Tit. 2:11–14, emphasis added).
That was the apostle Paul’s gospel of grace. Again, God’s grace is not a license to sin (as it is portrayed in so many churches today). Rather, it is a call to repentance and an opportunity to be purified and prepared for Christ’s return.
Clearly, a behavioral standard is required to ultimately inherit God’s kingdom, and Paul repeatedly refers to it. We have already considered warnings found in Ephesians and Galatians. Here is another one from 1 Corinthians:
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God (1 Cor. 6:9–11).
It is indeed tragic that so many Plain people have fallen for the false-grace gospel. They are joining millions of non-Plain people in their deception, and when they wake up, it may well be too late. Their opportunity to rightly respond to God’s gracious offer may have passed.
The Unwitting Contribution to Plain People’s Deception
Based on what they wrote in chapter 2, I’m sure Weaver and Zimmerman would never intend to drive any Plain person into the deception of the false-grace gospel. Tragically, however, they inadvertently do that very thing when they promote, in the same chapter, extra-biblical, Plain traditions as essential components of saving faith.
As we have seen, obedience to Christ’s commandments is an essential component of saving faith. But Weaver and Zimmerman make obedience to the ordnung essential as well. That adds the weight of hundreds of extra rules that must be followed, rules that were never required or mentioned by Jesus or His apostles. That heavy burden often pushes people to look for an escape, which makes them extremely vulnerable to the false-grace gospel. Tragically, they embrace a message that removes all responsibility to obey Christ’s commandments. I have seen it happen over and over again.[4]
Immediately after Weaver and Zimmerman expose the fallacy promoted by the false-grace gospel that holiness is not essential, they lament:
Now it doesn’t matter if you disobey the church, how you dress, what you own, or what you do. It doesn’t matter if you live like the world as long as you have mentally accepted the correct beliefs (p. 15).
The authors don’t bemoan the idea that, under the deception of the false-grace gospel, people assume they can ignore the plight of the “least of these,” practice immorality or greed, or commit any of the other sins Paul listed in 1 Corinthians, Galatians and Ephesians that prevent people from inheriting God’s kingdom. Rather, they focus on ordnung rules. That may not be so evident to non-Plain readers, but it is certainly clear to Plain readers.
If I was to paraphrase, for the benefit of non-Plain readers, the two sentences I just quoted from Why Be Plain?, they would read something like this:
Now it doesn’t matter if you disobey the church [that is, if you disobey the hundreds of ordnung rules that are enforced by Plain church leaders], how you dress [that is, if you keep the scores of ordnung regulations about outward attire], what you own, [that is, if you own what is forbidden by the ordnung, such as cars and cell phones], or what you do [that is, what you do that transgresses any other ordnung rules]. It doesn’t matter if you live like the world [that is, not wearing clothing that identifies you as Plain, driving cars, owning cell phones and other technologies and so on], as long as you have mentally accepted the correct beliefs.
To Weaver and Zimmerman, keeping the ordnung is just as important as keeping Christ’s commandments. A few pages later, they write:
If we truly live for Christ, His commandments are not grievous, neither are the rules of the church hard to keep, since they help us live out His commandments (p. 22, emphasis added).
Clearly, in the minds of the authors, “living for Christ” entails both keeping Christ’s commandments and keeping the rules of the church. That is an admission that church rules are different from Christ’s commandments and yet are of equal importance. The justification given for the hundreds of church rules that govern every aspect of Plain life is that “they help us live out His commandments” (p. 22).
That may sound good but, as I will show later in this book, the ordnung actually causes Plain people to live out Jesus’ commandments as they interpret them through Plain lenses, and not as the early Christians or the original Anabaptists interpreted them. Moreover, ordnungs also help Plain people follow age-old traditions that have no connection to Jesus’ commandments or to any moral, ethical, or biblical principle.
My point here is that the heavy weight of ordnungs makes Plain people vulnerable to the deception of the false-grace gospel. If Plain people want to see fewer people depart from their ranks, if they want to keep their families intact, if they desire more harmony and unity and less division, and (most importantly) if they want to see more of their family members and friends in heaven, they should to take a look at their ordnungs in the light of the New Testament. I hope to help in that regard in the remainder of this book.
Not only do Plain people often interpret some of Jesus’ commandments differently than the large majority of professing Christians currently on planet Earth (as well as the original Christians), but they also interpret key biblical phrases differently. One of those phrases is “the world,” a biblical phrase we will consider in the next chapter.
[4] I’ve even had former Amish people who claim to be born again, but who have embraced the false-grace gospel, refer to me as a “wolf in sheep’s clothing and a “false prophet” because I teach that obedience to Christ is a necessary component of saving faith.
