The FR Countdown
to the Calvin Quincentenary
Posted on 07/24/2008 5:40:35 AM PDT by Gamecock
The doctrine of justification by faith alone does not imply that you are justified before God because you managed to work up enough faith in and by yourself to believe in Christ, which is impossible in the first place. Rather, the doctrine contrasts faith against works, emphasizing that we are justified by God through faith apart from works. This faith is itself not a work — that is, not a work of man, but a work of God in man.
Faith is a gift of God purchased by Christ for all those whom God has chosen for salvation. It is a gift even though it has been purchased by our Mediator because it is God who sovereignly decreed to save us through this Mediator in the first place. It is God who has sovereignly chosen those whom he would save by his grace through Christ, so that all of salvation is a gift of God — it is a sovereign gift of God, unmerited by man, that at the same time fully satisfies divine justice, since it has been merited by Christ. Thus salvation is from the grace of God alone, through the work of Christ alone, and by means of faith alone (that is, in contrast to works).
Therefore, when discussing the doctrine of justification by faith, we must not portray faith as a condition for salvation that God requires from us, as if we could produce faith in and of ourselves prior to regeneration and apart from the Spirit’s power. So, although it is correct to speak of faith as our necessary response to the gospel, this "response" of faith is in fact one of the very things that Christ’s atonement purchased for his elect, and that God bestows upon his chosen ones by his Spirit. In other words, God is the one who produces this response of faith in his elect.
When Scripture says that salvation is by faith and not by works, it is not throwing out works just to make faith a condition that man must fulfill in order to obtain salvation from God, although this is precisely how the doctrine is frequently but mistakenly portrayed, either by explicit statements or by implication. Faith is not a good work or a condition for salvation that God requires from us before he would do anything to save us; instead, God has already decreed and performed all that is necessary to secure the salvation of his chosen ones, and faith in the gospel is precisely one of those things that he has secured for the elect by the work of Christ, and that he sovereignly produces in their minds when he commands them to believe and summons them to himself by the gospel. There is therefore no place for boasting. Salvation comes from God through Christ alone. We cannot even boast about our faith, since it is a sovereign gift of God, merited by Christ for the elect.
We love to discuss how faith can save us. But works are an important part of the evidence of things not seen.
Faith cannot move mountains if the mountains don’t move.
Faith cannot pluck up a tree and cast it into the sea if the tree stays in the ground.
James 2:17-18
Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
Must a saving faith be an obedient faith? In other words, is obedience required in order to become a child of God?
Obedience reveals if one is a child of God. Consider the parable of the sower and the seeds. But also don’t forget about Matthew 7:21-23; works alone cannot confirm the work of God in a person. He alone can make the determination, as we see dimly.
All blessings and honor and glory and power be unto the Lamb of God, to Whom and through Whom all praises be.
God desires that we be obedient, but we cannot be 100% obedient while we are still struggling with our human sin nature.
Romans 6:17-18 teaches that we must be obedient before we are freed from sin. Works alone accomplish nothing, but faith without works accomplishes the same thing. Obedience to the Gospel of Christ is absolutely necessary in order to become a child of God.
There is no other justification than that by faith.
Paul is using the term for being declared right in a court of law. (His claim was shown to be just.) James is using the term in the sense of “evidence” of any individual’s claim about anything. (Justify your remark that Lincoln relied more on Generals than on politicians.)
In short, Paul is addressing that standing we receive at salvation. James is addressing evidence of our Christian life after salvation.
I believe it is that simple.
Who said 'Faith without works is dead'?
read later
Repentance is more than just a mental acknowledgment, it is also an act of turning from a sinful life and turning towards God. If we look at the earlier part Romans 6, we see exactly what “form of doctrine” is to be obeyed.
Deed over creed
A good article, although IMHO, the audience who needs to learn from it, is probably misguided in its approach, while those who understand its basic theology are easily lead to a less robust grasp of faith.
Some confusion may arise when folks identify the Cross with salvation, then redemption with salvation, then forgiveness with salvation, then proceed to read the many other Scriptures describing walking in fellowship with Him, and returning to Him after sin.
We are scarred in our thinking by the old sin nature and worldly perspectives into confusion our ability to discern good from evil, but failing to think, decide, and act through faith alone in Christ alone.
The Cross was all judgment. The atonement for all sin, the reconciliation of man to God, the propitiation of God’s wrath, and the redemption of man from the slave market of sin were all a consequence of our Lord and Savior’s obedience and love of the Father on the Cross, while enduring the judgment of God the Father.
The Cross, though was not about forgiveness, rather about judgment. Whenever the righteousness of God is exposed to sin, His Perfect Justice demands Judgment before He is free in His essence to bestow grace in forgiveness.
Since our Lord and Savior satisfied all encroachments upon the perfect essence of God by the sin of man, He is now free to provide a regenerated human spirit in every believer who exercises just a little more faith than no faith whatsoever in Christ alone.
Repentance is not a promise or regret, rather is is simply returning to Him, so He is free to return to us. It does involve volition and the will, and it requires our thinking to shift back to God. Explicitly, repentance is the simple act of shifting our thinking away from anything other than Him and then facing Him. Sin isn’t the issue, since it was all paid for on the Cross, but turning back to Him, confessing our sin, allows our status to shift back to how He has intended for us to walk, and He sees our return to Him as faith, placing Him as the object of our thinking, not meritorious to us, but to the object of our thinking. (1st John 1)
Forgiveness is not possible without redemption, so redemption is an act of salvation, but the natural man prior to becoming a believer is already condemned from the past.
Due to our Lord’s work on the Cross, through faith in the Father (in Christ’s humanity), (doctrines of kenosis and Hypostatic Union), the new believer has access to salvation through the Cross by believing in Christ through faith in Him.
All faith is from Him, so indeed, even the unbeliever who initially comes to Christ is also called by the Father.
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