This is a response to a comment that TAMB left to my last blog; which itself was a response to a recent article by Brett. I think TAMB's arguments are good so I wanted to let them have their own space here on my page; especially because of the feedback I got about my previous post. I know this kind of thing is difficult to read and there are probably 5 of you who are interested in discussions like this, so I ask for your patience. I hope it helps sort some things out in your mind. I will put TAMB's comments between arrows and mine in bold type.
TAMB,
Nice to see you back! I really wish you'd blog more. I miss reading your eloquent and insightful posts. There are few people I respect more than you so I hope I do your questions justice here.
<<I take it their view is that the cross is behind us, so to speak: we've *already* been saved from our sins. Our task is no longer to repent and receive the merit that Christ earned. We've already done that. Our job now is to do the good works that God prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10). This all seems perfectly biblical, so I'm wondering if you really disagree.>>
<<Maybe that's because they're already preaching to the converted? People who have received Jesus don't need a sermon telling them to receive Jesus. People who have already accepted Christ's work on the cross don't need to be told to accept Christ's work on the cross. No, these Christians need to be told to DO SOMETHING, to do the good works that God prepared in advance for us to do.>>
First, I disagree that you can assume that Christians in church don't need to hear about the cross or what God did for us through Jesus. When studies show that a large amount of *professing Christians* don't believe in a hell, don't believe that Jesus is the only way of salvation, believe that Jesus sinned while on earth, and don't believe the Bible is accurate in what it teaches, we cannot even begin to assume that the people in the pews (or who are reading Christian books) are all Christians.
Even for those who DO believe in an orthodox Christianity, they need to be reminded of who God is and what He has done in Christ. Do you serve your wife better when you are dryly doing things for her because you were told to, or do you serve her better when your affections are stirred for her by all of the wonderful things she is as a person and what she has done/does for you? The human heart is one that will always try to usurp God from His throne, whether through legalism or license, and the Gospel is what humbles us and reminds us of who God is, who we were, and what He has done to make us who we are now.
This is how God did it with the Israelites and how Paul did it with the early churches. God gave Israel commands AFTER acting on their behalf and delivering them. Throughout the Old Testament, when God would levee charges against Israel for their unfaithfulness or give them commands, it was often with either "I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob" (reminding them of His covenant faithfulness) or "I am the God who brought you out of Egypt" (reminding them of His faithful deliverance).
When Paul wrote to churches in the New Testament - presumably to Christians who had already been saved and who needed 'to be told to do something' - he commonly did so AFTER reminding them of who God was and what He did in Jesus. Romans 12 comes after chapters 1-11, Galatians 5 and 6 come after 1-4, Ephesians 4 comes after 1-3 and so on.
The cross is never behind us, but always before us. It is the indicatives that ignite the imperatives.
<<I don't see why that transition is inevitable. Surely someone can (and should) consistently believe that Christ has done us an immeasurable service, while also desiring to live well, be sanctified, and do Christ's good works here on Earth. That's what Paul taught. NT Wright isn't into works-based justification in the sense you mean it. I think it's pretty unfair to accuse him of that.>>
I'm not saying we shouldn't live godly lives, but that the godly lives are a result of our justification. You're combining sanctification with justification (as Catholics do). To my best understanding Wright believes in an initial justification which begins the process of sanctification, and a final justification that is contingent on our sanctification.
Is what Christ did for us immeasurable or complete and sufficient? Is it all that we need to be reconciled to God?
If it's not, and we add to it, then we are introducing our works into our justification before God.
<<And in fact, as I've pointed out to you several times, the Bible clearly teaches that we will be rewarded or punished on judgment day ON THE BASIS OF OUR WORKS. Here's just one example: 2 Corinthians 5:10 tells us that before the judgment seat of Christ we will receive *what is due to us* for what we have DONE...
You characterize Wright's view as leading to the following conclusion:
>>When you finally stand before God, you are saved by what you have done rather than what God in Jesus has done for you.>>
Later, you say:
>>Wright's view is that there is a final justification where your deeds will play into whether you are saved or not.>>
But isn't that exactly what the Bible teaches?
-- Revelation 20:12-15 tells us the dead will be judged according to what they had DONE.
-- Matthew 25:31-46 tells us Jesus will separate the sheep from the goats on the basis of what they have DONE.
-- Romans 2:6 tells us "God will give to each person according to what he has DONE."
-- Romans 2:8-11 tells us eternal life will be given to those who DO good.
-- Romans 8:13 says that if we put to death the misDEEDS of the body, we will live.
-- Galatians 6:7-9 says that a man reaps as he sows, i.e. according to what he DOES.
Your view seems to be at variance with the Bible, while Wright's view seems to be in concordance with the Bible. Given your commitment to the Bible, I think you should adopt Wright's view.>>>
These are all good questions but no, that is not exactly what the Bible teaches.
--Rev 20:12. Yes, the dead are judged for what they had done. A horrible fact for all of those who are outside of Jesus and can't rely on Him and what He has done when it comes time to stand before God.
--Matt. 25:31-46. Here is the first problem, if we stick to the surface reading as you just did and claim that God will judge us based on what we have done, we have to ask ourselves, "How are we doing on feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty, clothing the naked, welcoming the stranger, and visiting the prisoner?" My guess is that, as mine do, your sins outweigh those deeds. Even if you claim it's a parable, then what are the criteria for good deeds that we must do to be sure that we are put at His right hand? And what's the passing grade? How many good deeds is enough? Those are all rhetorical questions of course.
[I hope you can see how a works-based justification leads to legalism and pride. If you're doing "better" than someone else, then you feel superior to them. If you're going "good" in your life, and God has to reward you for that, then He owes you. As opposed to the classic Protestant view that we are all equally depraved sinners in need of grace (Rom. 1-3).]
I think your emphasis on good works can be handled with a closer examination of the passage. Jesus is talking here of an inheritance. Who inherits but heirs? It requires a familial relationship. How are believers adopted into the family of God and how do they receive that inheritance?
a) It's only through Jesus that we go to the Father. (John 14:6)
b) How do we come to Jesus? The Father draws us to Him. (John 6:44)
c) How does the Father draw us? By the Holy Spirit. (John 15:26)
d) What does the Holy Spirit do? Regenerate us and give us faith. (John 3:5-8)
e) What does that faith do? Justifies us before God, gives us peace with Him, and reconciles us to Him by removing our sin and guilt. (Romans 5, Romans 3:25, 26; Romans 3:28; Galatians 2:16; Galatians 3:8)
f) What does that justification, peace with God, bring with it? Because we are then alive in Christ, we are considered sons of God and heirs of His promises. (Titus 3:3-7; Galatians 4:4-7)
g) How do we know that we can be sure of our inheritance? Because when through faith we were sealed with the Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance. (Ephesians 1:13,14)
It is BECAUSE of all of those things and BY the Holy Spirit that we are to continue living by the Spirit and showing fruits of the Spirit (Romans 8, Galatians 5). I would pose the question that Paul asked the Galatians to you as well: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? In the same way, if you are a Christian, you have been justified.
It is living a Spirit-enabled, worshipful, godly life of grateful obedience and service that flows from a response to all God has done that flows from a true Christian. Notice how the sheep were all shocked. (Matt. 25:37,38) They weren't living godly lives in anticipation of God weighing their deeds one day.
Faith alone saves, but saving faith is never alone. It bears fruit.
Now to your use of Scripture to say that we are judged on our works.
--Romans 2:6 and Romans 2:8-11. Romans 2 is directed at judgmental Jews (v.1). Jews who thought they were 'righteous' because of their heritage, and the Gentiles were 'sinners' because they were outside of Israel. This section is Paul rebuking the Jews, and is followed by the conclusion to his opening argument (chaps 1-3) where he says that what has been revealed in the Gospel is "the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith." (vs.22-25) He is showing the legalistic Jews and the licentious Gentiles that they both, we all, need a Savior.
--Romans 8:13. Romans 8 is Paul talking about sanctification and not justification. In chapters 1-3 he lays out the sin of mankind and our need for a Savior and tells us we are justified, saved, by faith. In chapter 4, Paul uses the story of Abraham to illustrate how we are saved by faith, as he was. Chapters 5-7 are about, because of Jesus' death on the cross, we are saved from slavery to sin, death, and the law. Chapter 8 is about living in the Spirit. Since it doesn't have to do with how we are saved, but rather how we are to live as Christians, I'll proceed to the next verse you gave.
--Galatians 6:7-9. Again, this is coming in the section of the letter in which Paul is talking about how Christians are to live in response to their salvation (chaps 3-4), NOT about how to be saved.
In conclusion, I would encourage you to embrace the incredible freedom and grace in the Biblical truth that we are justified by faith in Jesus Christ alone.
<<But why is there any doubt here? The Bible clearly teaches that we will be judged on the basis of what we have DONE. Doesn't it?>>
I think I just showed that it doesn't. When in doubt, side with Grace.
<<In Philippians 1, Paul tells us that he is "confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." God glorifies all those he sanctifies, and sanctifies all those he justifies. If you were justified, you'll eventually be glorified. You can rest assured in that, while still believing that sanctification (and therefore glorification) requires that you do good works (not works of the Law, "works of love").>>
You came close to sounding Reformed there. I like it. You can see that in your own words, it is God who does the work - who begins and completes - and that it begins with justification, continues into sanctification, and comes to full flower in glorification. The amazing truths and benefits of justification (completed and accomplished for us) and the hope of glorification gives us endurance - along with the Holy Spirit - to persevere in sanctification.
I think J.I. Packer describes the tie between works and rewards very well. "Though the believer's works do not merit salvation and always have something imperfect about them (Rom. 7:13-20; Gal. 5:17), in their character as expressions of the love and fidelity that faith calls forth they are the basis on which God promises rewards in heaven (Phil. 3:12-14; 2 Tim. 4:7-8). For God thus to reward us according to our works is, as Augustine noted, His gracious crowing of His own gracious gifts."
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