For Reformation Sunday

(I don't normally post the same thing here and at my home blog, but I think this dovetails nicely with Fred's last post.)

In honor of Reformation Sunday this weekend, I want to post a little something on the nugget of truth that rocked the world that was, four hundred and ninety years ago.

Romans 4:5 says, "And to the one who does not work but trusts in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness." (ESV)

Truthfully, to get what this verse is saying, you've got to work your way in a straight line from Romans 1:1. Looking at it in isolation like this, with no extended discussion of context, is not the ideal way of doing things. But the discussion that follows does strive to take all of that into account. I'm looking at one verse, but striving to avoid looking at it as if it exists in a vacuum, okay?

1. "to the one who does not work": Paul has a very narrow definition in mind here. The one who does not work is not one who purposefully avoids doing anything. He's not one who disdains all good works. In context, this is one who has stopped trying to prove how righteous he is by knocking himself out with meticulous law-keeping. I mean, he's stopped using the law of God as his proving-ground.

It's easy to look back and see the Pharisees condemned in this. Their law-keeping was all about showing everybody how righteous they were.

But I think we have a tendency even as Christians to lapse into something like this. Maybe we don't try to do things to earn our commendation as righteous people (at least I hope we don't.) We can, though, slide into a thought process by which we still believe that our relationship with God is a works-based thing, and not a faith-based thing. If we're not conscious of great sin in our lives, it's easier for us to "feel" that God loves us. And when we yield to temptation, we can start to doubt that He does. So we can get into the whole performance-based rut if we do not always keep in mind that which is in fact the basis of our relationship with God: That is, of course, the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Another thing to note: Paul is elsewhere always fervent to urge Christians to continue in good works, so this "one who does not work" is not talking about there being some virtue in doing nothing for the kingdom of God. It is narrowly describing one who has stopped trying to earn anything in His sight.

2. "but trusts him who justifies the ungodly": A world of theological confusion would be cleared up if we'd get a hold of this. Who is it that God justifies? Those who deserve it? The righteous? No. He justifies the ungodly. Now, the Bible teaches that justification is a very initial step in Christian life. It happens at the beginning. To the ungodly. But we are supposed to progress. You don't get to stay that way.

Connect this phrase to the one before it. The man who is justified has stopped trying to prove how righteous he is, and has accepted God's judgment as to his fallen nature: he has realized the truth of his ungodliness. He isn't "basically a good person." He isn't going to get any credit for trying his best to do right. He is ungodly: contrary to God in every way. Knowing how little you deserve the reward of heaven is really the first step toward getting there.

I have come to cherish this phrase of the Bible, like Captain Jack Sparrow treasures...well, treasure.

I'm called to trust in the One who justifies the ungodly; and it always elicits this response: "Praise God that I qualify!"

3. "his faith is counted as righteousness." : I don't have the time or space to give this what it deserves. This is it in a nutshell, the fulcrum of the Reformation, by which the world was moved.

The word "counted" there refers to imputation, and is often translated as "accounted." We really can think of this in terms of bookkeeping. It's all about what is laid to your account and what isn't. In the verses that follow this one, for instance, Paul shows from Psalms 32 that it's really not about whether you sin or not (since all have sinned--Romans 3:23,) but it's about what God chooses to record on your heavenly book, so to speak.

God justifies the ungodly by counting them righteous, or by imputing righteousness to their account. They are not actually righteous: they are ungodly, remember. But He calls them righteous, innocent, godly. Then, after this imputation, in which they are justified, He sets about the work of making them what He has called them (and this is referred to as "sanctification.")

Now, in my short time as a Southern Baptist pastor, I think I have detected a common misunderstanding here. The verse says the ungodly man's faith is counted as righteousness. So, from this, many have concluded that God has decided to equate faith and righteousness. Righteousness is faith, and vice versa. The theory is that God used to count law-keeping as righteousness, but when that didn't work out so well, He simply changed the rules in the middle of the game and has agreed to accept faith as if it was righteousness. So, then, if God looks upon a man who has faith, He says, "Ah, here is a righteous man."

Here is why this is wrong:

For one, it ignores the context of what has come before in this letter to the Romans. Specifically, it ignores the fact that Paul has previously made it plain that we are saved by the righteousness of God, as revealed in Christ, and not by any supposed righteousness that dwells in us. (See for instance, Romans 3:21-22.) Faith is not that righteousness. Faith receives that righteousness of Jesus Christ "whom God put forward...to be received by faith." Romans 3:25.

So then, when faith is imputed to us for righteousness, it is specifically the righteousness of Christ which is laid to our account. It is as perfect, holy, and spotless as the Lord Himself.

For another thing, if faith equals righteousness, then Paul's entire argument is overturned here. Paul has already said that it is not the righteous man who is justified: it is rather the ungodly man who believes and trusts. But if faith equals righteousness, how can the man who has faith be called "ungodly?" Wouldn't you have to call him righteous, if faith is that righteousness?

If faith is righteousness, then what you have in justification is simply God rewarding righteousness with the wages it deserves. If faith is righteousness, then it deserves to be justified, you see, and so Paul's whole argument that justification is a gift of God's grace is turned on its head. (As in Romans 4:4, for instance.)

No, faith is not righteousness. Faith is that by which the righteousness of Christ is apprehended, or grasped.

So this is really the crux of the Gospel invitation. Recognize how stinkin' ungodly you are and trust in the One who justifies the ungodly, by imputing the righteousness of Christ to their account.

If you already know and believe all of this, tell me, why are you not rejoicing?

The Demonic Doctrine of Cheap Grace

Recently in the Mafia speak-easy, we've heard some things that are very disturbing. We've been told that a person can possess genuine faith yet never produce any good works as an evidence of having genuine faith! In spite of the clear language see in James 2:14-24, we have been told, "the idea that James is dealing with a distinction between false and genuine faith is an eisegetical import into the text."

This whole line of reasoning is foreign to me, because if anything, I normally see this passage being used by Catholics and Pelagians as a proof text against the Reformed doctrine of Sola Fide. After much debate in the speak-easy, I have not seen our detractor bring any compelling evidence that the Reformed Mafia has eisegeted anything into James 2:14-24. The only reason I can imagine that someone would want to propagate the idea that saving faith can be wholly lacking in any good works is either to protect their Antinomian theological framework, or to allow for the willful and habitual indulgence in sin by those who want to call themselves Christians.

Concerning this so-called "faith" that produces no outward manifestation of good works, the great Baptist John Gill said:

"for as works, without faith, are dead works, so faith, without works, is a dead faith, and not like the lively hope and faith of regenerated persons: and indeed, such who have no other faith than this are dead in trespasses and sins; not that works are the life of faith, or that the life of faith lies in, and flows from works; but, as Dr. Ames observes {b}, good works are second acts, necessarily flowing from the life of faith; to which may be added, and by these faith appears to be living, lively and active, or such who perform them appear to be true and living believers."

Saving faith is not a dead faith. It is not a faith that allow a person to go, perhaps, for decades totally devoid of any good works whatsoever. Genuine saving faith is a faith that changes a man on the inside and therefore cannot help but show in some way on the outside. In Hebrews 11, we see examples of Old Testament saints who's lives were not always the best examples of godly living, but in spite of their failures, we see that all of them did some good works!

In 2 Cor. 5:17, Paul tells us "if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." According to the "Free Grace" scheme, Paul would have to reword that verse to say "if any man be in Christ, he may not necessarily be a new creature: old things may stay the same; behold, nothing really needs to change at all."

Not only does Scripture teach that God has ordained that Christians will manifest good works (Eph 2:10), but experience teaches us the same thing. I'm certainly not the most perfect Christian on the planet, but when God saved me, there was a change! It wasn't much at first, but over time God has brought me to the point to where I'm not the same guy I was 9 years ago!

When I was an Arminian, preaching in a Pentecostal denomination, this Antinomian perversion is exactly the kind of nonsense I used to attack at every opportunity. Ironically, now that I'm a Calvinist in the Southern Baptist movement, I'm still in opposition such nonsense! The idea that a person can experience a genuine conversion and continue living in a completely reprobate manner is untenable. This sort of "easy-believeism" is what has plagued Baptist churches for decades and has resulted in a multitude of people who profess to know Christ, who profess to be Baptists, but in their works deny him.

We who are Reformed (and yes, Arminians as well) believe that real saving faith -the kind faith causes a person to be justified in Christ- is not a dead faith that may never bear fruit. Though works do not save a person or keep a person saved, we understand both from Scripture and experience that when a person is saved, the works they do are an evidence of that faith.

What I am about to say may be shocking to the modern "to each his own" mentality so prevalent in our day, but I truly believe the theology we have been defending against recently is a dangerous heresy. It may masquerade as "Free Grace" but it's not...

It's Cheap Grace and a doctrine of demons!

What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. (Romans 6:14-17 ESV)

Please see also my article entitled Aspects of Faith and Evangelism where I discuss the differing aspects of faith.

Barclay on Faith and Works

Commenting on James 2:18-19, William Barclay says this:

James is thinking of a possible objector who says, "Faith is a fine thing; and works are fine things. They are both perfectly genuine manifestations of real religion But the one man does not necessarily posses both. One man will have faith and another will have works. Well, then, you carry on with your works and I will carry on with my faith; and we are both being truly religious in our own way."

The objector's view is that faith and works are alternative expressions of the Christian religion. James will have none of it. It is not a case of either faith or works; it is necessarily a case of both faith and works.