DeusVult wrote (View Post): ›
So, my first question is: How do you come to the conclusion that faith alone saves where the opposite is stated explicitly in the Bible. (See Jam. 2:24 and 2:26.)

Quote: › And my second question is: Even assuming arguendo that faith alone saves, how is it that you interpret the concept of "faith" as a one-time moment of acceptance, as opposed to a greater requirement akin to an ongoing committment.

Quote: › From your description and my description, we are not so far apart, although there is a divide that must be acknowledged.

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A Perversion of Biblical Faith

by Wayne Jackson
Christian Courier: Archives
Thursday, April 27, 2000

Valid faith is never passive. It becomes a redemptive quality only when it responds in implementing the will of Jehovah.
One of the great tragedies of ecclesiastical history is the fact that so many have failed to find a balanced view of human redemption as this concept is set forth in the biblical record.

On the one hand there is Roman Catholicism, arrogantly contending that salvation is conferred upon the basis of meritorious acts. The Council of Trent declared that good works, done to the honor of God, have ?truly merited the attainment of eternal life in due time? (Sess. vi., ch. xvi.).

On the other hand, Protestant reformers, reacting against this unscriptural ideology, gravitated to an equally indefensible position, alleging that salvation is bestowed by means of ?faith alone.? The French reformer Jacobus Faber (1455-1536) argued that salvation is upon the basis of faith without works. And Martin Luther?s obsession with this theme led him to alter the text of Romans 3:28 so that his translation read: ?a man is justified by faith only.? It is rather well-known that he rejected the divine character of the book of James due to the inspired writer?s affirmation that ?faith apart from works is dead.?

A sectarian organization promoting the ?faith only? dogma these days is the Research & Education Foundation operating out of Austin, Texas. The executive director of this group is Dr. Robert Morey. Morey is a respected scholar who has produced some very fine works (e.g., Death and the Afterfife ? a review of the annihilationist position). But Dr. Morey is very militant in his view that salvation is by faith alone. He classifies the church of Christ as a cult simply because the Lord?s people proclaim that Jesus is the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him (Heb. 5:9). One of Morey?s ?consultants? is Bob L. Ross, a Baptist clergyman who appears to be incapable of framing a simple sentence without the use of the pejorative appellation ?Campbellite.?

The assertions of Dr. Morey and his colleagues are without substance, and the type of ?faith? advocated by these gentlemen is not biblical.

It will be the burden of this study to demonstrate that ?faith,? as that term is employed in contexts in which the subject is commended, is never a mere intellectual or emotional disposition divorced from devout obedience. Valid faith is never passive. It becomes a redemptive quality only when it responds in implementing the will of Jehovah.


?Faith? ? A Word of Action
One of the most absurd statements that we ever read was from a denominationalist who declared: ?Faith is the only thing that one can do without doing anything.? The affirmation is a textbook case of contradiction.

The following examples will clearly reveal that genuine faith is not a mere attitude; rather, it is a word of action.


Jesus was teaching in the city of Capernaum. The crowds so pressed around Him that some who sought His presence could not gain access to the Lord. Four enterprising men brought a lame friend, climbed to the rooftop of the house wherein Christ was teaching, and lowered their impotent companion through the ceiling. Significantly, the inspired writer comments: ?And Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, your sins are forgiven? (Mark 2:5).
What did Christ see? He literally saw the action of these men (including the sick man who obviously endorsed the activity). But the action is called faith. In a similar vein, James challenged: ?Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith? (Jas. 2:1.

John 3:16 is perhaps the best-known verse in the Bible, but it is one of the most misunderstood. ?For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.?

Does the ?belief? of this passage include obedience, or exclude it? A comparison of this verse with Hebrews 5:9 reveals that the former is the case. In John 3:16 believing results in eternal life. In Hebrews 5:9, eternal salvation is said to issue from obedience to Christ. It thus should be quite clear that the belief that saves is one that manifests itself in obeying the Son of God. True faith is not just a mental process.

Note this declaration from the Lord: ?He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life; but he that obeyeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him? (John 3:36 ASV).
We have cited the ASV here because it is more accurate in its rendition of the original language than is the KJV. The term in the latter portion of the verse is apeitheo, which, according to Balz & Schneider, literally means ?to disobey? (118). In this passage ?believing? is set in vivid contrast to disobedience.

Is not Christ suggesting that the one who obeys the Son is promised life, but the person who disobeys will not receive such?

Observe a similar usage in Acts 14:1, 2 ?. . . a great multitude both of Jews and of Greeks believed. But the Jews that were disobedient stirred up the souls of the Gentiles, and made them evil affected against the brethren.?

In the book of Hebrews we are informed that God was displeased with many rebellious Israelites who died in the wilderness. They were condemned because they were ?disobedient? ? yes, they were not allowed to enter the promised land due to their ?unbelief? (Heb. 3:18, 19). Continuing that analogy, it will be those who have ?believed? who will enter the final rest (4:3), but those who are ?disobedient? will not (4:6).

The Bible knows nothing of true ?faith? that is divorced from obedience.

When a jailor in the city of Philippi feared for his life during an earthquake that rocked the prison, he pled with Paul and Silas: ?Sirs, what must I do to be saved?? God?s messengers proclaimed to him the gospel. Evincing repentance (for having beaten his prisoners), the jailor washed their stripes. Subsequently, he and his family were immersed (Acts 16:31-33).
Significantly, this entire process is summed up in this fashion: ?And he . . . rejoiced greatly, with all his house, having believed in God? (34). It is clear that the participle, ?having believed,? includes the jailor?s repentance and his baptism.

The book of Romans demonstrates that faith is an action term. For example, Paul commends the ?faith? of these saints, which, says he, is ?proclaimed throughout the whole world? (1:. As he concludes the epistle he again congratulates them: ?For your obedience is come abroad unto all men? (16:19). Faith and obedience are parallel in these verses. In fact, at the beginning and end of the book, the expression ?obedience of faith? stands like guardian sentinels, defining the character of biblical faith (1:5; 16:26). In Romans 10:16, those who refused to ?obey the gospel? fulfilled Isaiah?s prediction that some would not ?believe? the divine report.

That the ?faith? system of the New Testament is not merely a mental phenomenon is evidenced by Galatians 3:26, 27. There Paul declares: ?For ye are all sons of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus. For [a conjunction of explanation] as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ.?

Immersion was an integral part of the faith process. Later, to the same people, the apostle affirmed that the faith that avails is that which is ?working through love? (Gal. 5:6). The fact of the matter is, believing itself is a work (cf. John 6:27-29; cf. 1 Thes. 1:3).


James shows the connection between faith and obedience when he writes: ?Was not Abraham our father justified by works [obedience], in that he offered up Isaac his son upon the altar? You see that faith operated with his works [obedience], and by works [his obedience] was [his] faith made complete; and the scripture was fulfilled which says, And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness; and he was called the friend of God? (Jas. 2:21-23).
If faith plus obedience constitutes one as a ?friend of God,? how would one be characterized who has faith minus obedience?


Those who possessed genuine intellectual-emotional faith were granted the ?right to become? children of God (John 1:12), but they were not, by that faith, automatically constituted sons of God.

That ?faith alone? is invalid as a means of redemption is revealed by a number of biblical examples.
(a) There were many Jews who ?believed on? Christ (John 8:30,31), but their faith was not operative, hence, the Lord appropriately described them as children of the devil (8:44).

(b)There were those among the Hebrew rulers who ?believed on him [Christ],? but because of Pharisaic pressure they would not confess their faith; they loved the glory of men more than that of God (John 12:42).

Will anyone contend that these proud egotists were saved simply because they ?believed? (cf. Matt. 12:32)? What was the flaw in their theology?

(c)Luke records that when Christ was preached, ?a great number that believed turned to the Lord? (Acts 11:21). The construction of the original language indicates that the ?believing? was prior to the ?turning,? hence, turning to the Lord involved something in addition to their faith.

The Language Authorities

It is this type of biblical evidence that has compelled leading New Testament language authorities to acknowledge that ?faith? is more than a mere philosophy of belief. Genuine faith cannot be separated from submission to the Lord.

Liddell & Scott show that the verb pisteuo (believe) can mean ?to comply? (1273).

H. Cremmer stated that the noun pistis (faith), both in the Old and New Testaments ?is a bearing towards God and His revelation which recognizes and confides in Him and in it, which not only acknowledges and holds to His word as true, but practically applies and appropriates it.? (482).

W.E. Vine noted that pistis involves ?a personal surrender? to Christ (71).

Lexicographer J.H. Thayer commented that pisteuo includes ?a conviction, full of joyful trust, that Jesus is the Messiah? ? the divinely appointed author of eternal salvation in the kingdom of God, conjoined with obedience to Christ.? (511).

O. Michael has stated: ?Faith understood merely as trust and confession is not able to save. Only through obedience . . . and conduct which fulfills the commandments of God does faith come to completion (Jas. 2:22)? (604).

Bultmann contended that ??to believe? is ?to obey?? (205). He stressed that this is particularly emphasized in Hebrews 11:7. He further made this interesting comment: ?According to Paul, the event of salvation history is actualized for the individual, not in pious experience, but in his baptism (Gl. 3:27-29). Faith makes it his. Hence faith is not at the end of the way to God, as in Philo. It is at the beginning? (217).

Alan Richardson declared that faith ?is confident reliance on God. It is the act by which he lays hold on God?s proffered resources, becomes obedient to what God prescribes, and, abandoning all self-interest and self-reliance, trusts God completely. . . . Obedience, conformity to what God prescribes, is the inevitable concomitant of believing? (75, 76).

Conclusion
The doctrine of salvation by ?faith alone? does not have the support of Scripture. It has resulted from a sincere ? but misguided ? reaction to Roman Catholicism. Those who have embraced this philosophy should carefully restudy the question of salvation.

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FAITH & FAITHFULNESS in Paul's Letter to the Romans
& THE OBEDIENCE OF THE NATIONS

by Mark Horne

Paul writes to the Romans:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "But the righteous shall live by faith" (Romans 1.16, 17).
But what distinguishes temporary faith from true saving faith by which one inherits eternal life at the resurrection? Jesus warns of those who "believe for a while" but then "fall away" (Luke 8.13). Paul announced similar warnings:

You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in." Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear; for if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you. Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God's kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off (Romans 11.19-22).

Since these sorts of warnings are present, the question arises, What sort of faith does God require? The traditional answer from the time of the Reformation has been to point out that true faith entails faithfulness. God is not interested in simply an intellectual assent to the facts of the Gospel, but a heartfelt trust in God and his promises through the message of the Gospel. Thus, when the Westminster Larger Catechism (a doctrinal standard that stands in a long line of great doctrinal standards springing from the Protestant Reformation) asks, "What does God require of us, that we may escape his wrath and curse due to us by reason of the transgression of the law?" it gives a three-point answer:
That we may escape the wrath and curse of God due to us by reason of the transgression of the law, he requires of us repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, and the diligent use of the outward means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of his mediation.
Furthermore, the Westminster Confession (a doctrinal standard from the same period) defines "faith" not only as principally "accepting, receiving, and resting upon Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life," but also, more generally as obedience to God:
By this faith, a Christian believes to be true whatsoever is revealed in the Word, for the authority of God himself speaking therein; and acts differently upon that which each particular passage thereof contains; yielding obedience to the commands, trembling at the threats, and embracing the promises of God for this life, and that which is to come.
For more details about how the Confession defines faith, see my article on "The Necessity of New Obedience".

Recently I read a claim regarding Paul's letter to the Romans that anyone who thinks the faith by which the righteous shall live includes any form of faithfulness has denied the gospel--mixing in works instead of confessing that we are only justified by faith.

Obviously, such a position is problematic for any Presbyterian minister who subscribes to the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms as the system of doctrine he believes is set forth in Scripture. But much more importantly, it defies Paul's own meaning. Paul uses the faithful life of Abraham as his example of justifying faith:

For this reason it is by faith, that it might be in accordance with grace, in order that the promise may be certain to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, (as it is written, "A father of many nations have I made you") in the sight of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist. In hope against hope he believed, in order that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, "So shall your descendants be." And without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb; yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what He had promised, He was able also to perform. Therefore also it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Now not for his sake only was it written, that it was reckoned to him, but for our sake also, to whom it will be reckoned, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, He who was delivered up because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification (Romans 4.13-25).
Obviously, Paul is referring to Abraham's constancy in trusting God over time. While he faltered and sinned, nevertheless, Abraham continued to trust God, not "becoming weak in faith" or capitulating to "waver in unbelief" as he followed God in leaving his home and wandering in a strange land without seeing the fulfillment of God's promises to him. We too, says Paul, if we faithfully trust God as Abraham did, are also regarded as righteous in God's sight and have our sins freely forgiven.

That Paul is referring to living by faith, and is including the "walk" that is an essential part of trusting God, is made even more evident in verse 12: Righteousness is credited to those "who also follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham." One cannot help but think of what the author of Hebrews says:

By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going (Hebrews 11.8; emphasis added)
But how many who name the name of Christ really believe in him? Is our belief in Christ on the same order of our belief that three is the square root of nine? Or do we trust God enough to follow him and receive his promises in the end?

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While the above is sufficient, I think, to prove my point, perhaps some other considerations from Romans are also relevant.

First of all, Paul also writes, "What then? If some did not believe [or: were not faithful], their unbelief [faithlessness] will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it? (Romans 3.3)" The word for God's "faithfulness" is the same word used as "faith" throughout his epistle. I don't think this means that Paul must mean the same thing by the word in every case. But I do think that if Paul was really worried about a reader including faithfulness in any form within the definition of saving faith, then he is not being very careful here.

Secondly, consider Romans 8.1-17:

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you. So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh--for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him (Romans 8.1-17).
Now here we have several descriptions of what one must do to be counted as righteous before God:

We must walk according to the Spirit (v. 4).

We must subject our minds to the law of God (v. 7).

We must not live according to the flesh (v. 13).

We must put to death the deeds of the body (v. 13).

We must suffer with Christ (v. 17).

Given the context of Romans, I have to believe that these all are equal to the basic decision to trust the God who raised Jesus from the dead for both justification and sanctification. If faith must never include faithfulness in Paul's mind it is hard to understand how he can list these sorts of conditions for salvation.

Consider also the term "the obedience of faith," one which begins and ends this epistle:

Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles, for His name?s sake, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ (Romans 1.1-5).

Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past, but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith; to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory forever. Amen (Romans 16.25-27).

Now one can insist on purely a causal relationship here, or else that believing is itself obedience. Both of these things are true, in any case. Faith does result in other obedience and believing the Gospel is obedience to the Gospel. So "the obedience caused by faith" and "the obedience that is faith" are both fair game. But it is hard to believe that Paul can be reduced to either of these views when he also writes:
For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the nations by word and deed, in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit; so that from Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel of Christ (Romans 15.18, 19; emphasis added).
Paul simply does not seem to concerned about carefully defining faith so that it is distinguished from obedience. Obviously, if someone claimed that one must by "faithful" by keeping the law perfectly, or having enough good deeds to outweigh the bad ones, or in any other way meriting salvation, Paul would condemn the idea out of hand. But it seems quite plausible here that he wants a response to the Gospel with the whole hearts of the hearers so that they both believe and obey.

Finally, consider how Paul describes the Romans own response to the Gospel message:

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness (Romans 6.15-18; emphasis added).
Surely the "form of teaching" to which Paul refers is the Gospel itself! And Paul even says that this obedience results in righteousness. There is no doubt that this response is characterized by faith, not by human efforts or achievements. But it is also beyond doubt that the response is one of obedience in general.

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Naturally, a modern Evangelical will trump all of the above and any other argument by insisting on an a priori definition of "faithfulness" as some kind of works-righteousness. But there is no reason in the world to mutilate ordinary grammar by insisting that such a definition is mandatory. Yes, faithfulness can possibly mean doing enough good works to qualify one for eternal life, but that is manifestly not the only possible meaning.

Consider one example among many: John 6.66-69.

As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him any more. So Jesus said to the twelve, "You do not want to go away also, do you?" Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God."
Quite obviously, Peter's declaration is an expression of faith. Just as obviously it is an expression of faithfulness. Instead of abandoning Jesus when he taught hard things, Peter declares that he will continue "walking with Him." He faithfully continues to trust Jesus even when others unfaithfully decide they can no longer trust him.

Or consider First John 2.9: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Here we are told to confess our sins to be forgiven of them. This is a lifestyle mandate: as one inevitably sins one is not to give up or abandon the way of the Lord but rather to return in the confidence that he will continually forgive his people of all their sins. If someone decides that they have sinned too dreadfully to be forgiven then one has become unfaithful to the way of life enjoined upon all professing Christians by the Apostle John. Unbelief is faithlessness and faith means faithfulness.

To conclude, remember that equating "faithfulness" with meriting salvation or attaining to some level of sanctification is to entirely beg the question. Indeed, to simply assert as a dogmatic and unargued premise that Paul is repudiating all forms of faithfulness in his contrast between faith and "works"--especially in a debate over the meaning of the "works" that Paul condemned--is to construct a viciously circular argument. The point is simply that it is impossible to trust God and not follow him. If Abraham had claimed to believe God's call and yet refused to leave his home in Mesopotamia, he would not simply be lacking in fruit, but guilty of an obvious self-contradiction. Opposing faith and faithfulness involves us in exactly that sort of contradiction. The same Lord who justifies the ungodly also sanctifies them.


INTANGIBLE FAITH & ELUSIVE ASSURANCE

The importance of the above discussion needs to be explained more fully. We need faithfulness to be counted as essential to faith because we want the people of God to be assured that he has actually made promises to them individually and that they need never doubt his good will toward them--that they have really (and preveniently!) received the grace of God and are already righteous in his sight through the imputation of the righteous status of Jesus.

Imagine a teacher asking a child in school if he believes that two and two is four. If the child answered affirmatively, then how would he reply if the teacher responded with great passion, asking, "But do you believe it sincerely, with your whole heart?" What could possibly be communicated by such an exchange. Would not the child simply be confused? What if the child was told that his eternal destiny, the difference between heaven and hell, rested on whether he "truly" believed that the sum of two and two is four? This would obviously produce a great deal of anxiety but there would be no obvious way to relieve such anxiety.

For Paul, however, there is no such problem. All those who confess that "Jesus is Lord," and believe that God raised Jesus from the dead will be saved. Paul doesn't warn believers that they might not be true believers but rather exhorts them to repent of known sin to avoid the possibility of being cut off (First Corinthians 10.1ff; Romans 11.17ff; Colossians 1.21-23; etc.). The only possible exception proves the rule: When Paul is ready to personally excommunicate the recalcitrant in his judicial capacity (Second Corinthians 13.1-10).

Likewise, when the author of Hebrews exhorts Christians to persevere rather than be disqualified from inheriting eternal life, he begs them to not "throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised" (10.35; c.f. 3.6). Even though the writer has real concern for his readers he does not undermine their confidence by promoting fruitless and self-destructive anxiety as to whether they are "really saved." Rather, he asks them to add endurance to what they have, and what he confidently reassures them that they have. We, on the other hand, tend to treat endurance as superfluous. Endurance is automatic for those who have any grounds for confidence, so we prefer to question a person's confidence rather than to simply exhort him to endure. Ironically, we do this all in the name of assurance of salvation even though we undermine it even as we glory in it.

Furthermore, faith and assurance are supported by an outwardly mediated structured relationship--a covenant administration. Thus we read in the Westminster Confession of Faith (7.5-6):

This covenant was differently administered in the time of the law, and in the time of the gospel: under the law, it was administered by promises, prophecies, sacrifices, circumcision, the paschal lamb, and other types and ordinances delivered to the people of the Jews, all foresignifying Christ to come; which were, for that time, sufficient and efficacious, through the operation of the Spirit, to instruct and build up the elect in faith in the promised Messiah, by whom they had full remission of sins, and eternal salvation; and is called the old testament.

Under the gospel, when Christ, the substance, was exhibited, the ordinances in which this covenant is dispensed are the preaching of the Word, and the administration of the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper: which, though fewer in number, and administered with more simplicity, and less outward glory, yet, in them, it is held forth in more fullness, evidence and spiritual efficacy, to all nations, both Jews and Gentiles; and is called the new testament. There are not therefore two covenants of grace, differing in substance, but one and the same, under various dispensations [emphasis added].

While one might quibble as to whether the language is entirely consistent with the Bible--since Paul refers to the administrations as themselves covenants (Romans 9.4; Galatians 4.24; Ephesians 2.9)--plainly it is conceptually right. And also plain is the fact that this covenantal administration is the visible church. One sees this by simply comparing the content of the chapter on the covenant with that of the chapter on the Church (7.2, 3):

The visible church, which is also catholic or universal under the gospel (not confined to one nation, as before under the law), consists of all those throughout the world that profess the true religion; and of their children: and is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the house and family of God, out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation.

Unto this catholic visible church Christ hath given the ministry, oracles, and ordinances of God, for the gathering and perfecting of the saints, in this life, to the end of the world: and doth, by his own presence and Spirit, according to his promise, make them effectual thereunto.

Membership in the covenant, the visible church, ordinarily means salvation. Why? Because the visible Church is the very body of Christ. That is, according to my denomination's Book of Church Order, a "preliminary principle" of the plan of ecclesiastical government. For, as the third of our "great principles" we read
Our blessed Savior, for the edification of the visible Church, which is His body, has appointed officers not only to preach the Gospel and administer the Sacraments, but also to exercise discipline for the preservation both of truth and duty.

All of this is built (as a casual reading of the prooftexts for the Westminster Confession will demonstrate) on Paul's great statements about the Church as a spiritual reality marked out by baptism.
For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit (First Corinthians 12.12-13).

And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4.11-13).

A visible church is being described here complete with ceremonies and officers. Obviously, Paul does not have much to say about an intangible entity called "the invisible Church." (In fact, the "invisible church" actually refers to the future church and can only be derived, in Paul, from his statements about the future of God's people.)

God doesn't want us guessing to whom we belong. He marks us out with signs and seals that signify promises and personalize them to us in particular--that we are members of Christ's body. We can trust him because we can know that we have been entrusted to him.

SUPPORTING THE SECULAR

Any number of things could be sited as evidence for the close affinity between intangible faith and secularism. One example (among others) can be found in Rich Lusk's "Compact Road Map of American History":

George Will says the founding fathers
wished to tame and domesticate religious passions of the sort that convulsed Europe . . . [Jefferson] held that ?operations of the mind are not subject to legal coercion, but that ?acts of the body? are. ?Mere belief,? says Jefferson, ?in one god or 20, neither picks one?s pockets nor breaks one?s legs.?

For Jefferson, religion is by nature disembodied and Gnostic, sectarian and individualistic. It is ?mere belief,? rather a way of life, incarnated in communal practices. Again, according to Will, this view
rests on Locke?s principle . . . that religion can be useful or can be disruptive, but its truth cannot be established by reason. Hence, Americans would not ?establish? religion. Rather, by guaranteeing free exercise of religions, they would make religion private and subordinate.
What is startling about this quotation from George Will is that it allows for no freedom to practice religion at all. Jefferson says that "mere belief"--as Lusk points out--cannot be regulated. The only "free exercise" left then, is the freedom to say propositions to oneself, in one's head, while one is going about one's regulated, secular life. "Exercise" has been defined solely in terms of affirmations within one's own mind. If actual bodily action is permitted, that is only a matter of toleration by the secular authorities that have decided (for now) that the acts are not disruptive.

It is odd to see Christians promoting a definition of faith that seems based on Lockean principles. At the very least it is suspiciously compatible with them. But when some Corinthians claimed that they could eat in idol temples because they "knew" that idols were fake, Paul responds by claiming that they are quite real:

For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him (First Corinthians 8.5, 6)
By referring to "gods," Paul probably means demons (10.20, 21). But the "lords" whom he deliberately juxtaposes to the "one Lord Jesus Christ" are the earthly rulers that dotted the pagan landscape either as divine figures or close to it (c.f. Acts 12.22).

Entrusting oneself to these gods and lords was not, for the pagan world, an intangible activity. It involved being loyal to these gods and lords, especially when a rival god and lord was being proclaimed (god: "great is Artemis of the Ephesians"--Acts 19.28, 34; lord: "they all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus"--Acts 17.7). Likewise, Paul's commission was to preach the Gospel and turn them away from these gods and lords:

And I said, ?Who are You, Lord?? And the Lord said, ?I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But arise, and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things which you have seen, but also to the things in which I will appear to you; delivering you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, in order that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.? Consequently, King Agrippa, I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision, but kept declaring both to those of Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance (Acts 26.15-20; emphasis added).
The "darkness" that Paul refers to is the darkness of idolatry:
Men, why are you doing these things? We are also men of the same nature as you, and preach the gospel to you in order that you should turn from these vain things to a living God (Acts 14.15).

For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come (First Thessalonians 1.9, 10).

Faith means one either serves idols or one serves the true God. To make faithfulness no part of faith under any possible definition of faithfulness is to render any real Christian faith null and void. Such a Gospel would have meant the triumph of paganism in Paul's day just as it will mean the triumph of secularism in our own.

copyright ? 2003

Quote: › Jesus announced the gospel of the kingdom. In chapter 6 we saw how Jesus went through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God (Luke 8:1), and saying that the salvation promised by God through His prophets had come: The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand (Mark 1:15). In this chapter we are going to see what is that gospel and, something equally important, how the gospel is not just a proclamation, but a message that the believer should appropriate for himself through faith, in order that it might produce its fruit in him, salvation.

Meaning of the word gospel. The word gospel comes from the Greek word euangelion, which means "good news," as well as the Greek verb euangelizo meaning to proclaim, to give good news. The gospel is, simply, good news for mankind, the best news man could receive, namely: God is giving salvation: take it everyone and make it your own. As we can see, the gospel is a message from God, Father of all, carried by Jesus to mankind and telling them: you have now the opportunity to be saved.

Use of the word gospel. The word euangelion is 76 times in the New Testament; of that, 56 times is in Paul's letters; Matthew has it 4 times and Mark 8, and it is not found in the gospel of Luke nor in John's writings. A few times it is called the gospel of the kingdom, or the gospel of God or the gospel of His Son (Romans 1:1, 9). The verb euangelizo is 54 times in the New Testament, almost half of them in Acts and Paul's writings.

The gospel, synonym of the salvific power of God. Gospel is the word most comprehensive of the plan of salvation; to say gospel is like saying: "God is saving mankind." Gospel is a synonym for the salvific power of God, as Paul says to Romans: The gospel is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes (Romans 1:16). God saves through the gospel; whoever hears, believes and accepts the gospel, he does make the salvific power of God be a reality in him, by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The salvation of God is already present. As we said in chapter 6 about the kingdom of God, when Jesus said: The kingdom of God has come upon you (Matthew 12:28; Luke 10:9), what He was saying was that the promises of salvation made by God in the Old Testament, were already fulfilling. That is why, when He read the Isaiah prophecy, He said: Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing (Luke 4:21), which was like saying: the promise of salvation that Isaiah made and that He just read, was being fulfilled right there.

The life of Jesus is gospel. When Mark begins writing the life of Jesus, he called it the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God (Mark 1:1), because the events that he narrates there, ?His last week with His passion, death and resurrection occupy most of his gospel,? were the events that brought salvation to mankind. Salvation comes to men through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. To preach the gospel is then to announce salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

The hearing of the gospel alone does not save. Salvation is not present just by the hearing of the gospel; it is necessary that the hearer believes with a faith of conversion, with a faith that changes his life, and not with an intellectual faith. After Jesus gave the Great Commission to His disciples, saying: Go into the world and preach the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15), He added: He who believes and is baptized will be saved (Mark 16:16). To be saved, there is a fundamental requisite: to believe in the gospel, to obey the gospel, to do what the gospel commands. And, whoever believes must demonstrate by a sign that he has accepted the gospel: this is baptism. So, whoever believes and puts the sign of his faith, is saved. That is the gospel; that was the good news that Jesus preached.

The Scriptures announced the gospel. The Scriptures announced that mankind would receive the good news of salvation, when they announced that God will send them a Savior Messiah; they are the same. For that reason Paul was able to say that his gospel was the gospel of God, which He promised in the Scriptures (Romans 1:1, 2), because the gospel of salvation he was preaching was the one that God had promised.

The whole New Testament is gospel. It can be said, too, that the whole New Testament is gospel, in the sense that all its books explain something that the Jews hadn't managed to discover: how the Savior Messiah promised by God would be, and what kind of salvation He would bring to mankind. The whole New Testament proclaims with one voice the fulfillment of God's promises in Christ, by His death and resurrection, something that the Jews never understood, nor even the apostles themselves comprehended until after the resurrection. That was when the expiatory value of the death of Christ and the salvation arising from the cross was revealed to them.

The gospel is Jesus Christ. We may add also that the gospel is a person, Jesus Christ, because it was in Him and by Him that the work of salvation was carried through. Paul affirms this when he says that he has been separated to the gospel of God, and that this gospel is concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power... by the resurrection from the dead (Romans 1:1 to 4). Paul considers that his election to be apostle of the gospel was nothing other than to have been chosen to proclaim Jesus Christ, son of David according to the flesh, and declared Son of God by His resurrection. For him the gospel is Jesus Christ.

The believer makes salvation his own through faith in the gospel
The gospel becomes reality through faith. Although we have said that the gospel is the proclamation of the good news of salvation, the fact is that the announcement alone does not produce salvation; it is necessary that the hearer believe in the message and accept in his life the doctrine and the person of Jesus Christ. If there is no faith, the message would be only words and would not produce its saving effect. The message must be "embodied" in the believer to produce salvation. Let us explain.

One attains faith through a process. One reaches faith through a process, which might be a sudden act, almost instantaneous, although other times it can be a slow, sometimes painful process. In this process is included repentance and conversion, which are the sign and signal of a true faith; the believer then receives justice and salvation, which is also called justification, thanks to this faith. This process is known as the "finding or encounter with the Jesus of the gospel," because found is the word used by the gospels to talk about those who encountered Jesus and believed in Him.

Examples of encounters with Jesus. In the gospel of John we read that Andrew, touched because he had just met Jesus, told his brother Peter: We have found the Messiah! (John 1:41). And later Philip, who had had the same experience of finding Jesus, told Nathanael: We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote, Jesus of Nazareth! (John 1:45). Matthew and the rest of the apostles left everything when they found Jesus (Matthew 9:9; 10:27; Mark 10:2.

Other examples of finding Jesus. Among other examples that could be quoted, there is first of all Paul's encounter with the Lord on the way to Damascus (Acts 9:4-6), that of Zacchaeus (Luke 19:2-10), that of the eunuch of queen Candace (Acts 8:26-40), that of Cornelius the pagan (Acts 10), the prison guard of Paul and Silas, at Phillipi (Acts 16:30-33), and all those who found Jesus as Savior at their first encounter or notice of Him. Isaiah speaks also about the finding of God when he says: I was sought by those who did not ask for Me; I was found by those who did not seek me (Isaiah 65:1).

The encounter of the Jesus of the gospel. It is important to emphasize that, in order for faith to be effective, the Jesus of the gospel must be found. We say this, not because there would be other "Jesus's," but because sometimes people follow after another "Jesus" who does not correspond to the Jesus of the gospel.

Paul experienced a problem like that. Paul experienced a similar situation at his time, when he had to reprehend Galatians because they have turned away so soon from Him who called them in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another ?Paul says,? but there are some... who want to pervert the gospel of Christ (Galatians 1:6-7). It wasn't because there was another gospel, but because some announced other gospel to you than what we have preached to you (Galatians 1:; and when an altered gospel is preached, the image of its protagonist, Jesus Christ, is also altered. When Paul saw that even Peter, with Barnabas, were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel (Galatians 2:14), he had to confront and reprehend them, because of their simulation and hypocrisy. Even in our days the gospel is altered and consequently so is the image of Jesus.

A personal experience. The author wants to share his personal experience with the readers. I also believed for many years that I had found the Jesus of the gospel; however it wasn't so. I, as at Paul's time, was indoctrinated in a different gospel from the true gospel. I didn't learn that Jesus had completed my salvation for me, if I'd accept Him with all my heart in my life; what I learned was that I had to "earn" my salvation with my works, and to "pay" for my sins. But looking at myself as such a great sinner, I never was able to be at ease and sure of my own salvation. It was only after much anguish and uncertainty, a lot of prayer, and the constant study and meditation on the Scripture, that I found the true Jesus. Then, I had great peace, and the certainty that I was saved. I realized then that I hadn't found the Jesus of the gospel, but a misshapen and incomplete Jesus.

Positive signs of having found Jesus. Whoever finds Jesus as His Savior and surrenders his life without taking it back, realizes that, by faith, his/her sins do not count any more, and that he or she can be sure of his/her own salvation. He or she knows that he/she does not need his/her own works, nor of the saints, much less of other men to obtain forgiveness and salvation. He realizes that, no matter how great a sinner he has been, his sins do not count, and he does not fear any more. He is certain and sure of all this, and hence peace and gladness overflow his soul.

Negative signs of the non-encounter with Jesus. Let us point out at least three negative signs of an evangelical faith. The first sign of not having found the Jesus of the gospel is being still afraid of his/her sins, or having doubts or distrust of his/her salvation. Whoever doubts is not saved, because the justifying faith is without doubts or hesitation. Another sign of not having found the true Jesus is when one thinks that salvation can be merited, obtained or increased with personal deeds. Finally, another sign of not having found the Jesus of the gospel, is to think that the mediation of other men, or rites, or saints are required, to be justified. Those who put their hope to be justified in something different than Jesus, have become estranged from Christ, Paul said (Galatians 5:2, 4). They are changing the gospel of salvation in Jesus, for a different gospel.

Repentance and Conversion

Faith is a gift, a present or call from God. Let us start this Step saying that faith is a gift or present of God. Nobody has faith because he wants to have faith; only one whom God calls is able to believe. Paul said, talking about his calling to faith: When it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through His grace (Galatians 1:15). We may ask God to give us faith, as the father of the ill child did, when he said to Jesus: Lord, I believe; help my unbelief! (Mark 9:24). We know also that Peter's faith, when he said that Jesus was the Son of God, didn't come from his own insight, but by revelation of the Father: My Father who is in heaven revealed this to you, ?the Lord said (Matthew 16:17). And Paul counts faith among the fruits from the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). Faith is a free gift from God that can not be merited through deeds.

How faith is received. Paul teaches that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17), which means that faith is received when the well disposed hearer listens to the word of God and receives it in his heart. Whoever hears or reads the word of God indifferently or as a human word, does not receive faith; it is essential to see a call and invitation from God to man, in the word of God.

Faith is founded in the word of God. Faith is born from the word of God, as we just said, and is founded on that word, not on signs or miracles. In the parable of the wealthy man and Lazarus, Jesus said: If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead (Luke 16:31). One believes, not through signs, but by the authority of the speaking God.

Time required to obtain faith. We can not talk about a precise time or period to receive faith. As we said in the previous Step, at the time of the apostles (and now too), many people believed in Jesus, suddenly, almost instantly, just in one second, as did Paul, when he met the risen Jesus. But these are exceptional cases; most people receive faith gradually, at the same time as they are growing within a Christian home and hear about Jesus; and other people in so many other ways.

Repentance and Conversion. Repentance and conversion are the initial and fundamental steps of faith. Jesus began preaching and saying: The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel (Mark 1:15). Let us notice that Jesus' call was for repentance and faith. The initial step to enter the kingdom of God is to repent, to convert,

What does it mean to repent. There are two Greek words meaning repentance: one is metanoia, which means to turn back, change direction, to convert, repent himself; the other one is epistrophe, which has almost the same meaning of turning around, converting himself. The latter is found 36 times in the New Testament, and is the word that Luke prefers (14 times), although it is used by Matthew and Mark also; John does not use it. Regarding metanoia, the proper word for repentance, it is found several times in each of the synoptics (Luke 11 times), not in John's literature. It is also infrequent in Paul's letters.

Meaning of metanoia. The meaning of this word is to turn around or to turn back, to repent. This is the first step of conversion and it stands for leaving sin and turning to God. John Baptist preached metanoia, as a preparation for the gospel of Jesus (Mark 1:4; Matthew 3:2; Luke 3:3), and Jesus did the same calling: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matthew 4:17; Mark 1:15).

Jesus commands the apostles to preach repentance. When Jesus commits the Great commission to the apostles said that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations (Luke 24:46, 47). The apostles, following Jesus' command, preached repentance; that was Peter's call when he said: Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out (Acts 3:19); and Paul testified, saying: You know in what manner I always lived among you... testifying repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:18, 21). Nobody can be a Christian without conversion, but this should be an attitude which extends through the whole life of the Christian.

Metanoia is a total change. The call to conversion, metanoia, means a total change; it is to leave everything behind and turn around; it is a radical change, of attitude and mind; it is a change which affects the whole person. Paul expresses the same idea of total change with different words: death and life, death and resurrection; he does that very often, as when he says: We were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead... so we also should walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4); or this one: Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus (Romans 6:11). The idea is the same: conversion is necessary in order to have God, and this is to die to sin and turn to God.

Conversion is a personal act. Conversion is a personal act; the person is the one who makes the decision; nobody can substitute this personal and voluntary act of the one who turns to God, to Christ; nobody can be intermediary in this relation between God and the sinner who converts; there is no rite substituting the personal act of conversion. It is the sinner who presents himself before God to tell Him that he is repented, that he leaves everything and turns around to Him. That was Paul's exhortation everywhere, saying: that they should repent and turn to God (Acts 26:20).

Conversion is a gift of God. We said at the beginning of the Step that faith is a gift of God; conversion being the germ of faith and its initial step, it follows that conversion is, also, a free gift of God. God is the one who calls, and the movement to accept His calling with a free act of the will, comes from God too. We can be sure, however, that God does not deny anybody His grace, because He desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4). The grace of conversion is not denied to anybody sincerely searching for God.

Faith, in the New Testament

The noun faith and the verb believe in the New Testament. The noun faith, in English, does not have the same root as the corresponding verb which is to believe. That does not happen in Greek, where the verb pisteuo, to believe, and the noun pistis, faith, have the same root. If we consider that these two words are each found 243 times in the New Testament (486 total; others say they are 500), we can get the idea that we are dealing with one of the fundamental concepts of the Christian revelation.

Relationship between believing and being a Christian. Faith and Christians are correlative, that is, there is an indissoluble union between believing and being a Christian. As the Messiah was not what the Jews had expected there was no other alternative than to believe that Jesus was the Messiah; that is why from the beginning Christians were called simply, pisteuontes, those who believe (Acts 2:44). John, who does not use the noun faith in his gospel, does however use the verb pisteuo, to believe, 98 times; to believe, to have faith, is the favorite theme of his gospel.

Meaning of faith. Faith means to believe, to trust, to abandon and rest in somebody else's hands. Faith is a very comprehensive word which expresses man's response to God's call, and integrates all aspects of the relationship between the believer and God. When the Scriptures talk about the faith of God, as in Romans 3:3, the meaning is the faithfulness of God. John speaks about receiving Christ as a synonym of believing in Him, when he says that as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, that is, whoever believes (John 1:12).

Object of faith. A Christian should believe and accept everything that Jesus taught; however, what makes him a Christian, is to believe in Jesus Himself: that He is the Son of God, that He is Savior of all mankind, that His death was a ransom for our sins, and that His resurrection is the guarantee of our faith and of our own resurrection. Peter's confession is the essence of the Christian faith itself (Matthew 16:16).

Faith includes knowledge. We have to know to believe; knowledge and faith come together. Peter said: We have come to believe and to know that You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God (John 6:69).

What is not faith and what faith includes. When we say that faith is to believe, we are not talking about an intellectual assent alone; that wouldn't be faith, unless it comes accompanied by a change of life and a dynamic attitude, action oriented. Christian faith includes, as we said before, conversion, repentance, change of life, surrender and total submission to Jesus Christ. Hence, it is not enough to believe, but the believer must act according to that which he believes. There must be a balance between that which is believed and that which is done, because, ?as Paul said,? not the hearers of the law are just... but the doers of the law will be justified (Romans 2:13).

Faith is also called obedience. In the New Testament obedience to the faith is mentioned (Romans 1:5), because faith is an act and habit of obedience to the Lord. If I believe that Jesus is the Lord, then I should obey Him and act as He has taught. If I believe that He is the true Son of God, then I should give Him my life without reservation. If I believe that He is my Savior, then I should follow Him and I should put all my trust in Him, without doubts or fear. Finally, if I believe that He is my Teacher, I will follow all His teachings, and if I believe that He will come to judge me, then I should try not to offend Him.

Faith according to the letter to Hebrews. The letter to Hebrews has a definition of faith saying that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). In this definition is included certainty in hope ?things hoped for,? and the evidence or conviction of things that we don't see.

Faith, unconditional surrender to Jesus Christ. True faith is, therefore, an unconditional surrender and submission to Jesus Christ; is obedience to the doctrine and commands of the Lord; is a change of life which makes the believer a new creature (2 Corinthians 5:17), who lives a new life (Romans 6:4).

Faith, prerequisite for salvation
Salvation is through faith. According to the synoptics, the only condition set by Jesus to enter the kingdom of God was to repent and believe in the gospel; that is, to believe and accept that in Him, the good news was real for all mankind. That is, also, the message of the whole gospel of John: that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). We already have explained which is the evangelical faith, which is the saving faith. Works are the consequence or fruit of a living faith, and not the cause producing salvation. There is no salvation by deeds but by faith.

Meaning of the word justification. The word justification is, in Greek, dikaiosyne, and in Latin justification; from this comes the English word justification. To justify means literally "to declare somebody just," particularly in court. Paul, the one who uses this word the most in the New Testament (57 times from a total of 91), used justification to explain the condition of the believer who has accepted Jesus Christ and believes in Him: he was righteous or declared just before God.

Justification through faith. The question of how a human being becomes just before God, was an issue raised very early for converted Jews. According to the Pharisees, defenders of the law, man became just by obedience to the law; Paul refutes and condemns them with the Scripture that says: The just shall live by faith (Romans 1:17). These words were written by the prophet Habakkuk for the first time (2:4), and Paul quotes them in Romans, and also in Galatians 3:11. We find them also in Hebrew 10:38.

"God justifies the ungodly." According to Paul, man finds himself before God, not as a just man, but as a sinner who fully depends on His mercy, grace and goodness. Justification is produced by a gratuitous movement from God who makes the sinner just, as we read in Romans: To him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly (Romans 4:5). This "movement" from God to justify the believer was due to Jesus who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification (Romans 4:25).

Justification is gratuitous. We could add that justification is given gratuitously to men, but God does receive the ransom or "payment" for the rescue, which is the expiatory sacrifice of Jesus Christ. (See Step 61, meaning of ransom.) Paul says: Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:24). "