...And in so doing, works of faith justify one as having true faith, a confessional type faith, being a kind of faith that not only believes unto justification but will affirmatively confess, “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10:10) And baptism is a confession in body language, while as God sees the heart it is shown that regeneration can precede that. (Acts 10:43-47; 11:8; 15:5-9)
The Lord Jesus, though being God and the Messiah, was “justified in the Spirit,” (1Tim. 3:16), as “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him,” (Acts 10:38) and was risen by the same Spirit, thus establishing to His claim, and was also rewarded for His obedience. (Acts 10:36; Phi;l. 2:5-11; Heb. 1:9)
And true believers are also established as being so by their works done by the Spirit, and their enduring fruitful faith “hath great recompense of reward,” (Heb. 10:35) though all are worthy of eternal damnation.
This distinction escapes man unless his utter unworthiness is emphasized, as man’s natural predisposition is towards supposing he earns eternal life, at least to some degree, with some mercy thrown in, and he will use texts which speak of rewards for the “obedience of faith” in order to escape the abasement of himself as one damned for his sins and destitute of any merit whereby he may escape his just and eternal punishment in the Lake of Fire, and gain glory, and so cast all His faith upon the mercy of God in Christ to save him by God-given faith His sinless shed blood. And the more He grows (or in order to) the more will realize he cannot continue to follow the Lord except by prayerful dependance upon the grace of Christ and the power of God, to the decrease of himself. To the glory of God who justifies the unGodly by a faith that will effect Godliness.
Amen.
I can so easily relate to Mephibosheth when summoned before the King..."And he bowed himself, and said, What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?" (2 Samuel 9:8)
To contemplate somehow earning our eternal life,to think we could stand before The Creator and have anything good of ourselves to offer is akin to standing on the surface of the sun expecting to cast a shadow.
Maybe justify isn't the right word.
Christ's work on the cross justifies us. Our good works of faith illustrate our ongoing sanctification by the Holy Spirit.
"Justify" is one of those words we need to protect the real meaning of lest Rome rewrite everything important, like grace and forgiveness and mediator.