Faith and Works

Broadening the Promise

Israel has become a very hot-button topic in American politics. It is really strange, if we stop to think about it, that such a small strip of land in the Middle-East can cause so much controversy. And yet, many Christians and Jews alike believe that this tiny part of the world was promised by God to the Jews. We don’t have enough time to delve into the very complicated situation in the Middle-East concerning Israel-Palestine. That would take far longer than the short time I have to do it justice.

But, I would like to point out that, on its face, this idea is theologically wrong for Christians. Hear what Paul has to say on the matter, “For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith.” Not “the promise that he would inherit Canaan.” Nor “the promise he would inherit Judea-Palestine”. Paul talks about the promise that Abraham would inherit the world. All of it!

We may be thinking, “Wait a minute Paul! We spent a whole year going through Genesis, and I remember very clearly that the promise was for the land of Canaan, not the whole world!” But Paul is doing something quite interesting here. He is claiming that God has altered the deal. Paul is claiming that, in fact, we only knew a small part of what God had in mind when he spoke to Abraham. Canaan was only the tip of the iceberg, underneath the waters, however, was God’s plan for the whole world. Even more than that, Paul suggests that the Jews being “God’s chosen people” was also just the tip of the iceberg! In fact, God had planned all along, even from the time of Abraham, to include not just the Jews but also the Gentiles in his family! The scope of God’s plan for salvation is, in fact, much bigger than has been realized.

God’s promise is not just the redemption of Canaan, but the redemption of the whole creation. God’s offer of covenant relationship is extended not only to the Jewish people, but to every people group on earth. God is not abandoning his old plan. It is not as if God had a good go with the Jews and then decided to scrap that idea and move on to the gentile Church. No, the inclusion of the Gentiles in God’s family is a continuation of God’s plan that goes all the way back to father Abraham.

God is not abandoning his old plan. It is not as if God had a good go with the Jews and then decided to scrap that idea and move on to the gentile Church. No, the inclusion of the Gentiles in God’s family is a continuation of God’s plan that goes all the way back to father Abraham.

The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989), .

Justifying the Ungodly

If we are children of Abraham, then does that mean that we need to be Jewish? This is one of the central questions of Paul’s letter to the Romans. Do we all need to be circumcised? Should we start eating Kosher? How exactly does God’s inclusion of the Gentiles in to Abraham’s family work?

Paul points us back to the story of Abraham. For many Jewish people in Paul’s time, circumcision was what “justified” you before God. Circumcision is what told God you were “in”, you were right by him. This is what Paul means when talks about “works” or “works of the Law”.

And so Paul begins in by asking the question, “Therefore, what should we say? Have we found Abraham to be our ancestor according to flesh?” In other words, “Are we only Abraham’s children through circumcision? Or is there some other way to be Justified, one of the “in” crowd like Abraham? The answer is a resounding “No!” Abraham was considered “righteous” before he was ever circumcised! Circumcision is not the thing that justifies, or makes us right with God, it is only a symbol that one has been justified! The thing that justifies is God himself, and he makes right with him the ones who follow in Abraham’s footsteps, mirroring his faith.

In other words, there is nothing special about Abraham as a person, or special about the Jews as a people. They are not justified, right with God, because of the flesh. They are not “in” because of who they are, or what mark they have on their body, or what religious laws they’ve kept, or what nation they were born to. No, they are “in” because they have chosen to place their faith in the God who “justifies the ungodly”.

This is a remarkable idea! While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. God takes the ungodly and brings them close to him. He began this miraculous work with Abraham, a desert nomad from the land of Ur. In Ur, Abraham was no doubt a pagan. He did not worship Yahweh, God the Father, he did not follow the Law, he did not look at all like a “godly” person. Yet it was Abram from Ur that God called and chose to be the ancestor of both Jews and Gentiles. And now, Paul says, God is doing the same thing through Jesus Christ as he did through Abraham. He is calling people out of Ur and inviting them to be his people. He is justifying the ungodly, granting those who do not deserve it a place at his table, in his family.

In this season of Lent, it is important to remember our justification. We have no claim to communion with God based on who we are. We have nothing to boast about before God, we are not a special people above all the rest, we have not earned and are not entitled to God’s grace. And yet, here we are! Our trust is not in circumcision, it is not in church attendance, it is not in the reading of scripture, nor is it in adherence to rules and laws. Our hope is based on trust in the God who justifies the ungodly.

Very often we Christians forget this. We set high standards and draw circles to determine who’s in and who’s out. “This person is a sinner, they have no place in God’s kingdom. This person doesn’t go to church, they have no place in God’s kingdom.” If God can justify a sinner like you and me, he can make clean anyone whom he chooses. We do not receive salvation because we are better than others. The church is not called the “elect” because we’re special, but because the one who chose us is special. We have no merit to bring before God and boast. We are not invited to the Lord’s table because of who we are, but because of who He is. It has always been this way. Even Abraham was not set right with God because of his heritage, because of circumcision, or because of his obedience to the law. No, Abraham had faith in God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.

So we too, are justified by trust,faith in the God who justifies the ungodly.

Faith is a Verb

This is classic Christian teaching. Justification by faith. Yet, as we read Paul’s words concerning Abraham, and the good news that we are Justified not based on our own merits, but by our faith in God, the words of loom over us:

You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

So which is it? Are we justified by works or by faith? If we look for help even with Paul, things begin to get even more difficult for Justification by faith, since the same Paul who argues for that doctrine in Romans also says in :

Work out your own salvation by fear and trembling

So it is not only James that contradicts Paul, but even Paul contradicts Paul! Or, perhaps, we have simply misunderstood what it is that Paul means by “justification by faith”. It seems that some people misunderstood Paul, and took him to mean that “works” meant any kind of work. What Paul is talking about, however, are works of the Law, namely works like circumcision and kosher food laws. “Works” that set the Jews apart from the gentiles. Even in Romans, Paul insists that Christians must live good and holy lives to be right with God. Whatever he means by “justification by faith”, he most certainly does not mean we can take God’s grace for granted.

The reality is that this dilemma of “faith vs works” often misunderstands what Paul was trying to say. So often it has been taken to mean that so long as I read my bible and say a prayer, all is right between me and God. In fact, this is exactly the kind of thing Paul argues against! This is the same mindset as the Jew who believed, “So long as I am circumcised and go to Synagogue once in a while, I am one of Abraham’s children!” In many ways we have tried to replace circumcision with lip-service to God.

Perhaps this whole ordeal would be cleared up if the Church spent even a little time teaching on what scripture means by the word faith to begin with. Faith is not opposed to works. The kind of works Paul has in mind in Romans are not what we typically have in mind when we think of “works”. When we think of works we think “giving to the poor”, “reading scripture”, “going to church”, “praying”, “showing compassion to our neighbors”. What Paul had in mind when he said “works” was circumcision, kosher food laws, and any religious law that said “you’re in” because of nationality, that is, “You’re right with God just because you’re Jewish, a physical descendant of Abraham.” Ironically, the “works” Paul rails against in Romans are “works” that taught Jews they didn’t have to do works like caring for the poor!

This is because giving to the poor, reading scripture, going to church, praying, being compassionate, being respectful, all of these “works” are a part of what Paul means by faith. In other words, when we think of “faith” today, we think of mental assent. We think of paying lip service to God. Faith is all in your head for us.

This is not so in the Bible! The word we translate as “faith”, “trust”, or “belief” in the bible is πιστiς. Much like our English word “trust”, πιστις can not only be a noun, it can also be a verb, πιςτευω. In other words, so far as the Bible is concerned, faith is not something you think, faith is something you do.

So Paul and James are not actually in disagreement with one another. James is arguing against people who have misunderstood Paul, people who apparently thought that all you had to do was “think right” about God, and you were “in”. People who, it seems, shared our own culture’s misunderstanding of Paul. But, of course, that makes no sense! Faith that has no consequences, faith that cannot be seen by what we do, can hardly be called faith at all! Faith is a verb, faith is not something we think, it is something we do.

The faith Paul calls us to is faith in a merciful God who justifies the ungodly. It is faith that God brings life out of death, and calls forth being from nothingness. Faith that Jesus Christ is raised, and that his resurrection means we will be raised too. That kind of faith can’t just sit in your head. It has to shape who you are, it has to shape how you live.

A- Broadening the Promise: World and Gentiles

But how?

B- Justifying the Ungodly: Humble inclusivity

Nevertheless

C- Faith is a Verb

D-

E-