Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith, without
the deeds of the Law.--_Rom. 3, 28._
Whoever has read his Bible with attention must have observed that
there are some passages which, at first view, appear hard to
reconcile. Take, for instance, the passage before us. St. Paul
here says "that a man is justified by faith, without the deeds
of the Law," and to confirm his assertion produces the example
of Abraham. "Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him
for righteousness." St. James in his letter, the second chapter,
produces the same example, that of Abraham, and draws from it a
conclusion directly contradictory. He says: "Ye see, then, that
by works a man is justified, and not by faith only." Can any two
opinions be more opposite in appearance? And as may be expected, all
manner of conjectures have been presented. I will not tire you with
a tenth part of these interpretations. Only two shall I mention as a
specimen. A writer of great eminence, recognizing the difficulty in
its full strength, allows that it is not only hard, but impossible
to reconcile the two apostles, and concludes that, since it is
impossible to hold both their sentiments, we must abide by him who
wrote the last. Accordingly, he gives up the doctrine of faith
without works, supposing that St. Paul wrote with carelessness of
expression, and that St. James wrote after him to clear up what Paul
had obscurely or inaccurately expressed.
Again we would note that our great Reformer, Dr. Martin Luther,
having felt the power of St. Paul's doctrine in his own soul, that
he would have defied an angel from heaven to oppose it, when his
adversaries pressed him with the passage from St. James, styled it
an epistle of straw, because, in his opinion, it did not urge Christ
sufficiently strong.
But what of an explanation of these apparently so contradictory
passages?
Is there an explanation? Indeed, a simple and satisfactory one.
God's truth never clashes. When St. Paul speaks of justification,
he means the justification of our persons,--how we may be accepted
by a just and holy God, that is, by faith, and by faith alone, not
by works. When St. James in his letter speaks of justification, he
speaks of the profession as believers, how a man proves, shows, that
he has faith, and that he can only show that he has faith in one
way, namely, by his works. St. James, in his epistle, is addressing
such of his day as _said_ they had faith, though it had no influence
upon their hearts and conduct. He shows that their hope is vain.
He asks: "What doth it profit though a man say he hath faith, and
hath not works? Can faith save him?"--that is, can such an idle,
empty faith save him? He quotes an example: "If a brother or sister
be destitute, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye
warmed and filled, notwithstanding ye give them not those things
which are needful to the body, what doth it profit?" Would such
empty professions of charity prove a man to have charity? No more,
does he argue, would a person's mere assertion that he has faith,
unless it were followed by good works, justify his profession. A
Christian's faith is proved to be what it ought to be by works,
and not by mere empty profession of faith. And so the example
of Abraham is pertinent in both cases. According to St. Paul,
"Abraham believed," had faith in God, and God counted it unto him
for righteousness, accepted him by faith, and being thus accepted,
Abraham, already justified before God in person, showed that he had
the true faith by the effects which it produced in his heart and
life, and when God directed him to offer his son Isaac upon the
altar, he obeyed. Thus, concludes the Apostle James, his obedience,
his works, justified his faith, his profession as a believer. In
a word, St. Paul speaks of the justification of our persons, and
that is by faith, and by faith alone, and St. James speaks of the
justification of our faith, and that is by works. Viewed thus,
there is no discrepancy, no difficulty, and having taken up the
subject, let us continue to consider these two statements, perfectly
consistent with each other:--
_I. That there is no acceptance or justification for any of us
with God but through Jesus Christ received by faith, and that in
this concern of justification works of every kind are absolutely
excluded._
_II. That where faith in Jesus Christ exists, it must show itself by
works._
To begin with,--what is it for a man to be justified? When a person
has been brought to trial for any offense and has been found guilty,
he must make satisfaction for this offense. If he is able to make
a sufficient satisfaction for his offense, either through his
own ability or that of his friends, and the law accepts such an
indemnification, the criminal departs from the trial justified. He
is not, indeed, an innocent man, but he is so regarded by the law,
and though guilty, he would be no more liable to prosecution and
punishment for that offense than a person who had never committed
it. Now this is the way in which we are justified before God. We
are guilty beings; the sentence of eternal punishment is pronounced
upon us; we have no ability of our own to make satisfaction to the
court of the just Judge. But an almighty Friend has died to make
satisfaction for us; God is ready to accept this satisfaction, and
in consideration of it He releases us from the penalty of eternal
death to restore us to His favor, in a word, to justify us, to treat
us as innocent. A person who is found in Christ, having the infinite
merits of his Savior to plead for his justification, is no longer
liable to punishment.
But how do we secure this satisfaction of an almighty Savior? Again
the text answers: By faith. Take, in illustration, the incident
of Peter's walking on the sea. We have in our natural state
nothing more substantial under our feet to keep us from sinking
into everlasting destruction than Peter had from sinking into the
watery deep, and it is only when we realize our situation as he
did, when we feel our entire helplessness and destitution of hope
as he did, when we cast the imploring look and hold out the same
suppliant hand, confident that He is able and willing to save, that
we exercise a Gospel faith, receive all that Christ has ever done
or suffered in our behalf. Faith is the hand that lays hold on the
Savior, and so justifies.
Again, "We are justified," is the Apostle's assertion, "without
the deeds of the Law." In the first chapter of this epistle to the
Romans, Paul labors to show that the Gentiles had sinned against
the law of nature which was written in their hearts, and in the
second and third chapters, that the Jews had equally transgressed
their written Law, and then, having thus shown that all the world
is guilty before God, he concludes: "Therefore by the deeds of
the Law there shall no flesh be justified." In other words, that
good works are of no account in our justification, they cannot set
us right with God,--make us acceptable with Him, cannot gain His
favor. That is the teaching of the Scripture and the doctrine of the
Church. Declares the Fourth Article of the Augsburg Confession: "We
teach that men cannot be justified before God by their own powers,
deservings, or works, but are accounted righteous in grace only
through the merit of our Lord Jesus Christ received by faith."
Nor is there a lesson which we learn more slowly. It is a task most
difficult for us to give up the idea of merit in ourselves, to feel
that we can do nothing, absolutely nothing, towards purchasing the
favor of God. Talk with the sick and the dying upon the grounds of
their hope, and they will often be found pleading that they have
always endeavored to live good lives, and have never been guilty of
any gross sins, showing by such language that they are clinging to
their own good works, instead of trusting to the heaven-procuring
righteousness of God. Converse with Christians, even some of our
church-members, and they will often speak in such a way as to
show that they are placing some merit in their good character or
endeavors to serve God. With one foot they may indeed be standing on
the rock of salvation, but the other is too often still in the miry
clay of our own deservings. We must learn to rest wholly on Christ.
We must pray God to break down every vain dependence, to look away,
with loathing and disgust, from anything that we possess or can do,
to receive a crucified Redeemer as our only hope. "Nothing in my
hand I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling."
This is the first proposition, that there is no acceptance with God
but through faith, and that in this concern works of every kind are
absolutely excluded. But this proposition, simple and plain as it
is, must not be perverted. It will not do, then, to say, It matters
not what our lives are, just so we only have faith in Christ. When
the Scriptures assert that we are justified by faith, they do not
mean a faith which leaves us indifferent to our practice. The faith
that saves a man is of the kind that has a prevailing and ennobling
influence upon the hearts and lives of those who possess it. Because
man cannot gain salvation by his own righteousness and works, he
must beware of falling into the fatal and ruinous delusion that he
can abolish righteousness and good works. God demands good character
and good works from His people. The same apostle who declares in the
epistle: "By faith we are justified," adds: "And His grace which
was bestowed upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly
than they all." The Bible wants every Christian to be busy; his
life should be filled with fruits of good. But these things must
be put in their right place; and which is that? As an evidence of
the faith within us. Faith saves us, but good character and good
works prove that we have this saving faith. The truth of the matter
is that to set little store on good works is an immoral and most
pestilent heresy. The works by which we recommend religion and adorn
the doctrine of God, our Savior; the works which spring from love
to Christ and aim at the glory of God, the works by which a good
man blesses society and leaves the world better than he has found
it, are not worthless and "filthy rags," but they are the gracious
and graceful ornament of a blood-bought soul, the fruits of God's
Spirit within us, the clear and comfortable evidence of our being
the children of God; and in this St. Paul and St. James agree.
Whereas a faith that professes to believe in Christ, and denies Him
in character and works, is not only unprofitable, but loathsome and
offensive, a dead carcass.
God grant that we have all rightly understood that we place our sole
and undivided dependence for salvation upon our blessed Redeemer,
and that we evidence such faith in Him by the virtues of a holy
character and the performance of godly acts. To God be all glory in
Christ Jesus! Amen.