Food For Thought: Faith vs. Works; the Debate *This is a very long article, but I felt the issue of faith and works required a full analysis and deserved much greater contemplation because of its volatility today* Dear Friend, We have had so many glorious debates over the past few weeks, and I have come to admire your tenacity and your knowledge. We have both learned so much in our mutual quest for the truth. I am very grateful for the opportunity to have met with, and befriended, you. All of that being said, we still disagree on several key sections of scripture, particularly those involving “faith” and “works;” it is about this primary disagreement that I write. While we have both revealed a profound knowledge of the intricacies of scripture, I don’t believe our current, oral debate format provides the most adequate forum for our discussion. I write this article to summarize your position and to provide my key arguments. If you choose to respond by letter, I believe writing our thoughts will provide for more cogent reasoning and for more amicable debate. In my effort for brevity, I probably won’t hit on every argument you have made over the past two weeks, so please forgive me –and remind me- if I overlook one or two. I’d like to begin by bringing our attention to our common grounds of belief. We both believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God (Matthew 16). We also both believe that Jesus Christ died for our sin (and the sins of the entire world), and it is in contact with His blood we are saved. We both know the Christ is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” and “no one comes to the Father except through Him” (John 14:6) Since Cbrist is “the truth,” the truth cannot be contradictory; otherwise, it is not truth. Logically, then, we both believe that truth can be known and understood. Furthermore, we both believe that Christ wants us to know the truth, and He alone is the way to God. These points are our common grounds, so I just wished to iterate them for the purpose of establishing the debate on faith and works. To summarize your position to the best of my ability, you believe that faith alone saves us, and faith is completely separated from works. You believe that faith should produce works, but those works are not necessary. To support this statement, you reference the parable of the laborers in the vineyard found in Matthew 20. They all received the same reward, though some worked a long time and some worked a little. You also believe that Christ’s grace covers all sins, even sins such as “unrepentant murder” as long as we have faith in Christ; however, you do limit yourself by saying that Christians cannot sin (1 John 3) and “all things are lawful, but not all things profitable” according to 1 Corinthians 10. If I understand you correctly, you are saying here that all sins are forgiven as long as Christians have faith in Christ, but you define faith as mere “belief,” “acceptance of the Holy Spirit,” and “desire for grace.” You do, however, hold that a lack of works indicates that faith never existed in the first place, saying that our desire should be follow Christ as “disciples” but, for a direct quote from you, “discipleship isn’t necessary.” You also teach that the Holy Spirit is received through faith in, what you call, “the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.” (Ephesians 1:13-14) Without the Holy Spirit, we cannot be saved, and, without the Holy Spirit, we are totally corrupt. You teach that any “work” “demeans Christ’s sacrifice,” and that any “work” is the equivalent of attempting to earn salvation; otherwise, according to you, grace isn’t free. Finally, you believe that if the Bible teaches works can cost someone their salvation, then Christians need only “to follow Christ and to live perfectly” in order to be saved; something you refuse to believe God would ask. I think this is a fair summation of your argument, and I would ask that you, out of reciprocity, listen to my reasoning as to why I believe the Bible disagrees with several of your key arguments. First, a quick look at Matthew 20 gives a much better explanation for itself than either of us could ever write. The earlier question by Peter in Matthew 19 of saying “Lord we have left everything for You, what then will there be for us?” sets the context for the parable in Chapter 20. Peter is essentially saying the Apostles have done so much more than everyone else and deserve a greater reward, but Christ’s parable obviously disagrees. However, this parable does not deal with those who do not work; those who don’t do anything at all. In fact, I’d say it is safe to surmise that everyone in the vineyard worked for as long as they were hired to work (vs.12). But, they worked. They labored for the master. They did not merely “enter the vineyard while the stronger in faith did everything.” To apply this to not working at all would be a complete misapplication of the parable, because it would directly contradict another of Christ’s parables in Matthew 24. “4 For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will. 45 “Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. 47 Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 But if that evil slave says in his heart, ‘My master is not coming for a long time,’ 49 and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards; 50 the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know, 51 and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” According to this parable, the slave must be doing the will of the Master. If that slave chooses to disobey, He will be punished (“cut to pieces”.) You cannot apply Matthew 20 to those who do not work, because they all worked. Those who do not work the will of the Father will suffer and be “assigned a place with the hypocrites, in that place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” If the Lord returns and we are living in sin, we will face His full wrath. Furthermore, the slave had faith that his master would return, just not then, so he could do what he wished. That faith in the master’s return was in vain because of his actions. Let us look at another passage that deals with your ideas. “26 For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” 31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Hebrews 10:26-31) Those who “go on sinning willfully” after receiving the knowledge of the truth are adversaries of God. Notice that they had received the knowledge. The word for received here is “λαμβάνω” (to accept, lay hold of). Those who “trample underfoot the Son of God” are those who have received (accepted, taken hold of, have faith) in Christ but choose to continue in sin. All these willful sinners can expect is fire. We must remember that Hebrews is written to Christians, who, according to scripture could lose the sacrifice for their sins. Not only that, but the law of Moses was merciless to those who failed, yet Hebrews 10 says that severer punishment is more worthy for those who had knowledge then gave up on it. We also read that “the Lord will judge His people.” Judgment requires law, and law requires obedience (otherwise it isn’t law.) Accordingly, if we choose to continue in sin after faith, we will be judged and condemned by God. (Matthew 7: 16-21) “16 You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? 17 So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 So then, you will know them by their fruits. 21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.” Christ, the Son of God, our Lord and Savior, the King of All Creation, said that every tree that does not bear fruit will be “cast into the fire.” Scripture cannot be any plainer. “Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the Will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.” Those who do (work) the will of the Father (who desires obedience [Hebrews 12]) will enter the kingdom of heaven. Those who fail to do so will be cast out into punishment. “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. 26 Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.” (Matthew 7: 24-27) Those who hear and act (as in follows Christ’s commandments) are wise and stand firm. Those who hear and do not act (as in hearing a command and not thinking it necessary to follow) are considered by Christ to be foolish and are guaranteed to greatly fall. “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; 24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. 25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does. 26 If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless. 27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” (James 1:22-27) We cannot claim to be religious without bridling our tongues; otherwise, our religion is worthless. Also, we are “blessed in what we do” if we abide by the perfect law (notice: a law exists. Those who do not follow law are law-breakers, and law-breakers are punished because they are guilty.) I would like to take a moment and address your claim that God would not ask perfection of us. The last part of vs. 27 tells us pure religion keeps unstained from the world. The word for unstained literally means “without blemish, spotless.” God does ask for us to never sin; His very nature requires this. Just think for a moment, in what case would God want us to sin? The answer, of course, is never; otherwise, God would be violating Himself. “This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5) God can never want us to sin; in fact, God hates sin. Therefore, God hates it every time we choose to sin. If God despises our choices to sin, then, by definition, He would want us to be perfect. Whatever God desires, we must desire too. (How else can we pray “thy will be done” unless we want to conform to His will?) If we do not strive to live lives free from sin, we do not have Christ, because we are choosing to accept the very things God hates. “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; 7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:6-7) Either we walk in the light or we walk in the darkness. If we walk in the light, Christ’s blood cleanses us from all sins. “How do we walk in the light?” you have asked before. Very simply, God is the light. To walk in the light we must walk and live like our Lord, who is God in the flesh, who lived perfectly and sinlessly. God is the light. To walk in the light, we must live like the Light desires. If we choose to ignore the Light’s commands, we walk in the darkness. When we walk in the darkness (do not do the works of The Father) we do not practice the truth. You have said, “discipleship isn’t necessary to be saved.” I hope all the previous scriptures have convinced you otherwise, but, if they have not, here is another. “23 And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. 24 For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.” (Luke 9:23-24) Christ requires us to die to ourselves, to sin, daily. To follow after Christ, we must live the Christian life every day; therefore, when we do not live the Christian life every day, we do not follow Christ. If we do not follow Christ, we will not be saved. Now, I know you like to quote Ephesians 1:13-14, so here it is: “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.” What is belief? You say that faith never existed if one lacks works. Let us apply your logic here. Your logic would say here no actions based upon belief would indicate belief never existed in the first place. If you accept that logic, then you must believe that belief requires actions. (even without accepting that logic, you must believe that belief requires actions. [John 3:36]) Since belief requires actions, if any additional scripture says how to receive the Holy Spirit, by definition, belief would require that action be taken. I challenge you to find anywhere in scripture that says the Holy Spirit is received after saying the Lord’s Prayer because that scripture is nowhere to be found. I can, however, quote a scripture that says another action provides the Holy Spirit. “7 Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” 38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” 40 And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!” 41 So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.” (Acts 2:37-41) Those who received Peter’s Word (believed) were baptized, and this, according to Peter allows us to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. “and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; 12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” (Colossians 2:11-14) At baptism, Christ cancels our debt and nails it to the cross. At baptism, we are made alive with Christ. At baptism, we are forgiven. Notice the passive tense here though. We can do none of this ourselves. Christ does these things for us. 1 Peter 3:21 says that “baptism now saves you, not a removal of the dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” If you want a “sinner’s prayer” you have it in Baptism because, in baptism, we appeal to God for forgiveness. I apologize for the length of my letter, but please let me close with a few more scriptures. “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;” (Romans 6:1-6) Baptism brings us into contact with Christ. “20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. 22 But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:20-23) The outcome of sin is death. The free gift of God is eternal life, but we contact Christ through Baptism. The wages of sin is death; we cannot sin and expect to receive anything other than our dues. “14 What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? 17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. 18 But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” 19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. 20 But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? 22 You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. 24 You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. 25 In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? 26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.” (James 2:14-26) It is not that our works earn anything, but faith requires works. If those works do not appear, faith is dead. Faith saves us (Ephesians 2), but our faith isn’t even worth anything. God’s grace saves us. We can do nothing for salvation, but, if we do not do as God commands, we are much like chaff, fit only to be burned. We don’t earn salvation, but we can refuse Him who offers the gift. According to Luke 17:10 “So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.’” We do not earn anything, but we can choose to give up everything. “For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.” (James 2:14-26) You now have a choice to make; I hardly need to say what that choice is because we both know what you need to do. Scripture plainly teaches that faith without works is dead. Scripture plainly teaches baptism brings the gift of the Holy Spirit and appeals to God for a good conscience. Man’s wisdom would suggest arguing because of the harshness of reality, but, as for me, I will follow what God’s Holy Scriptures command. If God says it once, we must obey. In these areas, God has spoken over and over again. What you make of this is up to you. In Him, Lance Benson
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 04:02:41 +0000
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