Transcript: Understanding 'Not by Works' | Faith and Works in Christianity

The Bible is a Christian. The Bible is a Christian. The Bible is a Christian. The Bible is a Christian. If Abraham was justified by works, he would have reason to glory, but not before God. But what does Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now, to him that works, the reward is not based on grace, but on debt. Yet to him that does not work, but believes on God, who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. A member of our community sent me a question about this passage from Romans. He asked me to make a video to explain what it means. What I am about to say is largely what I wrote in reply. Taken entirely on its own, these words from Romans 4 do seem to be saying that Abraham was a good example of someone who literally stopped trying to be good, so that he could be blessed by God. Strangely, this passage is not used very much, or at least not very openly, by the do-nothing preachers even though it does support what they actually teach. It seems to be saying, if you try to be good, then God owes it to you to save you. I think there are several reasons why they don't use this verse very much. The main one is that Abraham would have to be the worst possible example of someone who stopped working so that he could be eligible for God grace In fact James directly addresses Paul argument here with an observation of his own Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Do you see how faith prompted his works, and how, by works, his faith played itself out? Thus, the scripture was fulfilled which says, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed to him for righteousness and he was called the friend of God. You see, then, how a man is justified by works too, and not by faith alone? These do-nothing preachers hate the forsake-all verses more than anything else Jesus taught and that includes the one where Jesus says that we must hate our families by comparison to him. Yet Abraham is the ultimate example of that. He was prepared to sacrifice his own son if God said so. That is the kind of faith God is looking for. Paul saw Abraham's behavior as evidence of his great faith, and James saw it as a powerful example of his good works. It was, of course, both, because the two work together all the time. Abraham is also the one whose faith is exemplified in terms of forsaking all and becoming homeless for God. Read this passage from Hebrews. By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive as an inheritance, obeyed. He went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise as in a strange country dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob the heirs with him of the same promise He did this because he was looking for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. So we have to ask ourselves how to reconcile these various references to Abraham's faith along with his works. The dead works of religion, which we are to forsake, are largely man-made works, the kind that preachers end up making on both sides of this debate. We make the rules to govern people's behavior, and we tell ourselves that keeping those rules will make us holy. But, as I understand scripture, those are exactly the kind of works that we may need to stop promoting so that we can get back to the things that Jesus told us to do. I grew up in what is called a holiness church. We had lots of man-made holiness, which led to a lot of self-righteousness. Rules about which words are taboo, about pretending you have never masturbated, about all alcohol being evil and about whether we could go to the movies. Add that to Calvinist rules about going to church, getting baptized in water, paying your tithes, listening to their theologians, and all you get on both sides is a lot of self-righteousness. We need to cease measuring righteousness on those criteria, and get back to what Jesus actually taught. The difference, you see, is that Abraham listened to God. He didn't make up his own list of rules. God spoke to him even when it was just through a feeling of emptiness in his heart He knew there was something better than the idolatry of his pagan religion and he desired to know this real God with his whole heart That is precisely the sort of people that God is still looking for today. Like Jesus said in the Beatitudes, Abraham hungered and thirsted after righteousness, and that is why and how he finally got there. In other words, his attitude was not to prove that he was more righteous than other people as happens with the religious arguments on both sides of the once-saved, always-saved doctrine. Abraham's faith was virtually the opposite. He knew that he was in need of something better than he had in the system, and he went looking for it. His looking became his works in the good sense. That is what James was pointing out. Abraham left everything to go looking, but his listening is what Paul was talking about. Sometimes one comes first, and sometimes the other, but faith is what links listening with forsaking all. And this kind of faith is missing on both sides of the churchy holiness debate. Well, that's it. I hope there is a little more understanding of that passage in Romans 4 now. If you like this video, can you give it a thumbs up? And if you haven't already subscribed, can you do that too? 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