"For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers." (Galatians 1:13-14 ESV)
". . . Paul was also a man who had done many religious deeds. He had spent years seeking to live according to the Jewish customs and traditions. He says that he had beaten almost everyone of his own generation ("of my own age", v.14) at being zealous for moral righteousness (v.14). And yet it had not made him right with God." - Timothy Keller, "Galatians for You", p. 27.
There was a terrific discussion in Sunday School today about performance, or works done by Christians, and the value of those works, and the motive(s) for them. At the 101 Level is the understanding that people are not saved by their works. It cannot be so because we are fallen children of the fallen proto-parents, Adam and Eve, and therefore we cannot achieve the standard of righteousness that the thrice-holy God requires. Not only is the bar set very high, our arms are too short for "all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment." (Isaiah 64:6) Even our attempts at righteous acts are sin, for we are sinners.
But in Christ, Christians have a savior Who lived a righteous life which fulfilled the requirements of God's law. And, more than that, He died a substitutionary, atoning death which satisfied the requirements concerning the sins of His people. Our sins were paid for and Christ's righteousness was imputed to us. This comes by grace and grace alone. We have done nothing to deserve it. We cannot do a thing to earn it.
In a similar vein, since God has secured it on our behalf, we cannot undo it. It is God's doing, I cannot stop Him. My works can neither gain justification for me, nor can my works nullify justification for me.
What then is the proper place of my works? The simple answer is that my works are as a result of Christ living in me. My heart has changed and I now have a desire and an ability to perform good works that please the Father. The Spirit which indwells me gives me desire and power. The word of God informs my desire and tells me of God's moral standard.
I desire to do His work not to be justified, but because He has justified me.
As a former hyper-nomian, I shift uncomfortably in my pew when someone affirms that there is no action or deed that will reconcile us to God then goes on to say – but – we cannot live any old way we want. It has always seemed to me either the speaker doesn’t really believe in our inability or else is afraid that the freedom that the elect enjoy will be abused. The implication appeared to be that our behavior would affect God’s relationship to us. However, yesterday something came to me that helped me to perhaps see what some of these speakers were meaning. I am an alcoholic in recovery and sometimes a person, freshly sober, will say that they want to drink. I typically hear two types of response. Most often they are told that they CAN’T. “A drink never fixed anything.” “Let’s go get coffee and talk about it.” “Go to a meeting.” “Call your sponsor.” All of which is good, but occasionally the person craving a drink is told, “That is an option.” I love to watch the bewildered look on their face as their line of thinking is derailed. The false dichotomy of ‘the way I feel at this moment vs. having a drink’ is revealed. It usually results in the person thinking past the suggestion of the initial drink to the consequences that inevitably result from taking that first drink. They suddenly remember the bottom from which they recently crawled. They reflect on the bondage with all its attendant physical and mental suffering that is the outcome of the decision that they are considering and often take an action like the ones suggested above without having to be told to do so. Now whether or not that person is able to resist the drink (or sin in the Christian’s case) and take positive action depends, I believe, on God and whether or not they have been truly delivered. And my reaction to someone about to make a poor choice can be based upon fear. But do I care more for this person that God does? Is He not paying attention? Is He not working in this person’s life? I do not possess the power to prevent someone from making a bad decision. Do I point them back to The Law? Don’t misunderstand, encouragement is good and often paramount but I don’t want to cause someone to believe that the answer to sin is obedience.
ReplyDeleteWe believe that imputed righteousness is sufficient to save the pagan coming to Christ...but do we really believe that imputed righteousness can save the Christian? On paper and in theory, the "reformed minded" Baptists get this right...but in practice? Not so much. Needless to say, this is where I have some real problems with the Reformed side of the reformation. I think our Lutheran brothers do a much better job of handling this particular issue.
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