February 21, 2010

  • Question 233 - The Meaning of Works of the Law, Part 2

    Cliff: First of all, thank you very much for taking the time for that response.  (Honestly, I wasn't even sure I'd get any response at all!  You've probably got a lot going on.)  My sincere thanks.

     

    I came to Christ about 10 years ago as a teenager.  I've been going to evangelical churches ever since.  I sense a bit of a disconnect between what many of my peers believe and what I see in the Bible and just wanted to search it out. I wanted to give the Catholic position a fair hearing on the topic of justification and I may just commit to reading some of your book.

     

    In your response, I don't think you've gotten to the heart of my concern about the works of the law. 

     

    R. Sungenis: Cliff, I’ll have to differ with you here about whether I got to the “heart of your concern.” You asked why I understood St. Paul’s statement about “justified by faith and not works of the law” as referring to the fact that we cannot “obligate” God to give us eternal life. I answered that specific question, showing that “works of law” referred to any work we try to do in order to obtain salvation by our own work apart from grace, and that since Paul used the “debt” analogy in Romans 4:3-4 he is referring to “works” as that which obligates God for payment.

     

    Cliff: When I read in Rom 3:28 that "a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law," I'm inclined to interpret that as follows: In order for someone to gain a right standing before God we need to believe in Jesus Christ.  Actually, faith is sufficient to gain us a right standing before God and it doesn't need to be supplemented by any works whatsoever, from whatever motivation. 

     

    R. Sungenis: But this isn’t what you asked in your previous email about why I understood “works of law” as a reference to the principle of obligating God for payment. The issue you bring up now is an additional concern, that is, whether Romans 3:28 is excluding all works from justification. To that new question, the answer is simple. If you examine Romans 3:28 in light of its context (which includes Romans 4:3-4) Paul is excluding works that attempt to obligate God to pay man a wage, but he is not excluding works in which payment is not sought but only a gracious reward is sought. The reward is salvation, which is given by grace, and thus any work we do to obtain salvation cannot be a payment but only a reward.

     

    This distinction is crucial because if it is not made, then Paul would certainly have contradicted himself in Romans 2:13 when he said a man is “justified by works,” and contradicted James 2:24 when James says “a man is justified by works not by faith alone.”

     

    The same is true of faith. Just because we have faith doesn’t mean we are guaranteed salvation, as if God now owed us salvation because we believed in him. We receive justification by faith because God is being gracious to us. There were a lot of Jews who believed in God, but that didn’t guarantee them salvation, for though they believed they would also continue to sin and not repent. This is why James 2:19 says that the devils also believe, but do not have salvation.

     

    So, in order to solve the problem of a “faith alone” that cannot justify and “works of the law” that cannot justify, we must have faith and works working together and never separately, yet a faith and works that does not seek to obligate God for payment, but faith and works that seeks to be justified from God’s grace.

     

    The Bible illustrates the working together of faith and works in the life of Abraham. In each section of his life (Genesis 12-14; Genesis 15-20; Genesis 21-23; compare Hebrews 11:8-19) faith and works were working together, never separately, for his justification.

     

    When you interpret Romans 3:28 as saying “faith is sufficient to gain us a right standing before God” you are claiming that faith is alone in justification, but that is not what the text says. The text does not say “a man is justified by faith alone,” The only one who uses the word “alone” is James, and he does so in order to warn us not to misinterpret Romans 3:28. The context of Romans 3-4 is concerned about one thing only, that is, that the Jews dispel from their minds the notion that they can put God under obligation to pay them with salvation simply because they are Jews and do the works of Jews.

     

    Cliff: This is because all works, even those done God's initiative and with pure motives, seem to ultimately be a work of love for God or for neighbor, both of which are prescribed by the Mosaic Law.

     

    R. Sungenis: It is not because works are prescribed by the Mosaic law which makes them non-salvific. Faith in God was also prescribed by the Mosaic law, so by your criteria faith should also be non-salvific. It is only because the Jews had turned the works of the Mosaic law into a means to force God to bless them simply because they were Jews and did the works of Jews.

     

    Cliff: So I'm tending to think that in order to gain an initial right standing in the sight of God, no works of any kind are required. 

     

    R. Sungenis: But the Bible never says that particular statement.

     

    Cliff: However, I do believe that once a person is justified, God does change his heart and will produce good works in his life.  Therefore, the final judgment will be a judgment according to works as Matt 25 and Rom 2 make clear.  Those who have done good will receive eternal life and those who have done evil will receive eternal punishment (John 5:28-29).  (I even the Westminster Confession seems to agree to this.)

     

    R. Sungenis: Yes, I believe this to be the case, but if you believe it to be the case, then you’ve contradicted yourself. For if faith alone justifies without any works of any kind, then there shouldn’t be a judgment of works on the last day that determines whether I will receive eternal life or eternal punishment. You can’t have it both ways, Cliff. The dilemma of being judged by works is precisely why some Protestant groups relegate the judgment of bad works to the time when each Christian, already justified by faith, will receive an extra reward for his works, but never be damned for those same bad works. The problem with this view, of course, is that the Bible never distinguishes between bad works and sins.

     

    Cliff: I'm writing to see if there is something that I might not be catching and to seek after the truth.  I am willing to change my views if the evidence should warrant it.

     

    I'm eager to hear your response and genuinely hope that it can help me to clarify some of these issues.

     

    Take care and God bless,

    Cliff

     

    R. Sungenis: I hope I have made the necessary clarifications. If you need to discuss it more, let me know. God be with you.