Faith vs Works

I know this topic has been talked about for centuries. Lots of people have lots to say about it. We also attach strong “feelings” to this topic. Many have used religion as a weapon in this area as well. So our feelings may be strong. And if we are honest with ourselves we may like one side or the other based on our personality. But rather than give my opinion, I want to get into the meat of the issue – only what the Bible has to say about it. This post will be longer than normal and I am adding a significant amount of scripture to this post. I will also link scripture for you to look at along the way that I can’t put into the post or it will be too long. My prayer is that we look beyond our previous thought and allow the Word to speak to us in this area.

Before we can talk about faith verses works, we have to come to the table understanding that we are all lost without Christ. Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Friends, we are all condemned by our sin. Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death. When we break the law there are consequences. Breaking God’s law is no different. We break the law and there has to be payment for that in order to be free from the penalty that is incurred when we sin. If I sin against God, then the punishment must happen. The punishment for sin is death. (see Romans 6:23 above) Death is not just nothingness. It’s not void of feeling. When we die we will be with God or in a place of punishment. 2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

I know how wicked my heart is. I know the thoughts I have that no one else knows. I know the sin I try to justify. I know the things I have done, knowing they were wrong, but they felt good so I did them. Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? I have hurt the people I love most, by the things I have done. I know that I am in need of a savior. God is holy and perfect. I do not deserve to stand in His presence. I also know that when I “try” to do right, I get it wrong. I can’t see the outcome nor do I realize that my “trying” is still doing things my way. Selfishly motivated to produce a good outcome for me. I am wicked. 1 John 1:8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. No matter what I do I can not be good enough to be in God’s presence.

So with that introduction, this is where faith verse works comes in. Once we realize how wicked we are, we have two choices. One is, man focused the other, God focused. One, I work to earn salvation. The other, a free gift from God that I can not earn. Which one is biblical? Here is an example Matt Slick , an apologist uses: “Let’s say I was over at your house, and I ended up breaking your lamp. You are a nice person, and you say, “Matt, I forgive you for breaking my lamp but pay me $10.” Now, is that true forgiveness? Is it true forgiveness to ask for a payment from someone whom you have forgiven? No. What should we do since the lamp needs to be replaced? You see, in true forgiveness, who is left to pay for the replacement of the lamp? It would be you, the owner of the lamp. Who is my sin against? You. Who forgave? You did. Who paid? You did. When we sin, who do we sin against? We sin against God. Who forgives? God forgives. Who pays? God pays.” In our case the penalty that was paid, was paid for by Jesus Christ, God in the flesh. On the cross, He died a horrible painful death so that I wouldn’t have to. He died so my sin could be paid for. I did nothing to earn forgiveness.

In fact, Jesus paid this penalty for us who would believe, prior to us knowing we needed a savior. Romans 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And, Romans 6:5-11 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— ⁸ but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹ Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. ¹⁰ For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. ¹¹ More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Now reading back through those last two scripture references, what part did we play? We needed the justification and to be reconciled to God but did you notice that we didn’t do anything in that description? It was done for us through Christ. Using the example of the broken lamp, if I am earning my forgiveness then I am paying the debt myself. I have to work to get that debt paid. But if that forgiveness is offered, freely, without me “earning” it, that is grace. I have been offered mercy in it’s place. Mercy and grace, as paraphrased from Willmington’s Guide to the Bible, can be differentiated as follows: “mercy is the act of withholding deserved punishment, while grace is the act of endowing unmerited favor. In His mercy, God does not give us punishment we deserve, namely hell; while in His grace, God gives us the gift we do not deserve, namely heaven.“

We saw Romans 3:23 above but the verses following it are so vital to us. Romans 2:23-26 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵ whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. ²⁶ It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (emphasis is mine) We have sinned and God offered us grace in that the sacrifice of Christ paid our debt. Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (emphasis mine). We are made right before God because of Christ, not because we have done anything to earn it.

Again, if we try to pay back God for the debt that we owe, we would be earning it, not receiving a free gift. I can’t pay you for my birthday present and still call it a gift. If I pay for it, it’s mine because I bought it. We all know that no matter what we do, we can never be good enough to earn our way to Heaven. If perfection is the standard, the first time we sinned, it made us ineligible for Heaven. I will never be able to undo what I have done and continue to do. I am in need of a savior. Again, scripture is very clear, we need Jesus, the one who was the perfect sacrifice. He paid the debt on the cross and made a way for us to stand in the presence of God, clean and made righteous. 2 Corinthians 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

Jesus Himself said that there is only one way to come to the Father, John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. He alone has made a way. As soon as I add anything to earn salvation, I haven’t done it His way. His was and is the only way that leads to life. Remember that when I disobey God, that is sin. Sin deserves death. Jesus tells us that He has eternal life and all we need to do is believe that He alone is the way. He is the Son of God who paid the debt for us on that cross. We mess it all up trying to make ourselves right. He has already made a way for us. We don’t have to invent our own way. Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

So where does the confusion come when we suddenly decide to work for God’s favor? I believe it comes from taking scripture out of context. Scripture has to agree with scripture. It doesn’t contradict its’ self. So let’s look at an often confused scripture. James 2:14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? (emphasis mine) Read James 2:14-26 to see the whole portion. It’s a little long to put the whole portion here but worth reading. There are a few scriptures in that portion might appear to that say faith and works together equals salvation. See the emphasis above, “can that faith save him”? The book of James is all about the fruit of a Christian walk. James encourages the believers reading his letter, that when we are in Christ, we see the work of the Holy Spirit all over our lives. He talks about how we handle trials & temptations. How we speak to each other. How we treat each other. How we work with others and alone. If you read the book of James and read this portion of James 2 you can see, that in context, James lays out the argument that if you have nothing in your life that changes, that faith can’t save you. You have ceased to have a true heart change that comes in relationship with Christ Jesus. Other portions of scripture call this fruit. When we are in Christ, we have dramatic life changes, we see the fruit of that change. It’s not an intellectual faith but saving faith. Martin Luther said, “A man is justified (declared righteous before God) by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone.” Genuine faith will produce good deeds but only faith in Christ saves. Righteous action is evidenced by faith. Faith that saves produces good fruit in our lives and we see that in all areas of our lives.

So as believers, we don’t do good things because we have to – we work because we are so in love with Christ and humbled by His grace, that we want to serve Him and bring glory to Him. I am humbled that a Holy God would make a way for a sinner like me. I want everyone to know that they too can have that kind of freedom. I want to spend my life telling others about Christ and my hope is in that God keeps producing fruit in me as I serve Him. As soon as it’s an obligation to do the work – it’s working out our own salvation. Faith is trusting that God is able to do what He said. That He will fulfill His perfect plan for our salvation. Our works demonstrate our salvation – they don’t earn salvation. When we surrender our lives to Christ our focus shifts from us to Him. Shifting our focus from what we do to what God does.

Doing good works can make us feel better about ourselves. It’s pride that creates in us a desire to earn our salvation. We compare ourselves to others and we work harder to be better than them. As a believer we have to check our motivation constantly because we desire people to notice us and how “good” we are. I know I have struggled for years in this. I grew up as a Christian. I have often felt puffed up by being a “better” Christian than some one else, which was evidenced by my behavior. That is proof that my good deeds were done for me, not to glorify God. I am constantly asking God to change me and forgive me for acting, thinking and moving in a way that is me working out salvation or trying to produce fruit that makes others jealous or gets me attention. It requires a constant asking, “am I doing this for Gods glory alone or am I doing it for my glory or am I trying to earn Gods favor?”.

It may also be what we are used to because of our growing up or a religion we were raised in. We were told we needed to earn our salvation. That God would make up the difference after all we have done. But friends, nothing that is in scripture says that. Those are man made laws. Today we have a choice. Do we want to follow man’s law or do we trust God’s word? Romans 3:28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. The law only shows us how far we are from being good enough. We can’t produce a fruitful life in ourselves. My working only produces plastic fake fruit. It looks nice but when you get close you realize it’s not fruit at all. God alone, giving His free gift of salvation, has the life changing ability to produce in us fruit that is unlike anything we could have dreamed of. Matthew 7:15-23 Is a whole section on fake fruit and false teaching in this area.

John 1:12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. When we believe that Jesus is who He claimed to be, and we surrender our lives to Him, we become children of God. That’s a guarantee. We don’t have to always try to measure up. God places His seal on us. Ephesians 1:13-14 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. And nothing can undo what God has done. He is able to complete the work in us. He works it out in us as we live lives daily surrender to Him. Philippines 1:6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Romans 8:38-39 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord

Galatians 3:16,21yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.( Emphasis added). Today, I pray that each of us, regardless of what we had though before, will take time to look at God’s word and then ask the Lord to reveal in us our motivation. Then be willing to surrender to what His word and the Holy Spirit reveals in us.

Further study: Romans 8-11 Psalm 50:7-17 & 23 Galatians 2-3