One day two theologians were traveling to a conference together and their car broke down on a country road. They began the long walk back to the nearest town together, which was about five miles away and, as they walked, they fell into a deep and profound conversation. To pass the time as they walked, they had decided to pursue the long-vexed question of faith and works, and they wanted to parse the question carefully. Each of them was very careful by temperament and usually felt that heresy was always just around the corner, and so they both felt the need for extreme caution.
They were both staunch Protestants, and so one of them said that the best way to formulate it was to say that “man is justified through faith in Jesus, plus nothing.” The other was maintaining, just as stoutly, that a “man is justified through a living faith in Jesus, plus nothing.” They had discussed the question for some time, making no headway, when a local farmer pulled over to the side of the road in his pickup and offered them a ride. They clambered in, very grateful, and as the conversation continued, they decided to ask the farmer for his opinion.
One of them said, “Which of these two propositions must a man affirm in order to be saved?”
The farmer scratched his chin while he thought for a moment, and then said, “Well, I am not educated in these things as you two johnnies are, but I would have to say that if either of them is true, then a man doesn’t have to affirm either of them to be saved. But I don’t know much. I only belong to the local community church here. I am on the finance committee though.”
Both theologians stared at him. “What do you mean?”
“Well, I was asked by the pastor to serve about three years ago . . .”
“No, no, not the finance committee. The other thing you said.”
“About your question? Well, whether it is faith in Jesus or living faith in Jesus, neither of them, if true, would require that a man say any particular open sesame statement about faith. He would have to have whatever kind of faith it was, but why would he have to talk about it?”
One of the theologians said, “Huh,” and the other one stared out the window, kind of grim. He was going to be up late that night, modifying his paper.