Justification by Faith Alone (2)

When we think about the doctrine of justification by faith alone apart from obedience or works of law as the meritorious ground of our acceptance before God, it would be unbalanced and unfaithful to the full-orbed historic Biblical teaching if we neglected to stress the necessity of obedience or works as a neccesary evidence of the possession of saving faith. When we talk about works we tend to confuse necessary works (i.e. works that are the fruit or evidence of true faith in the Savior) with meritorious works (i.e. works that serve as the basis, or ground of acceptance before God). To be sure, there are meritorious works that serve as the basis or ground of our acceptance before God; the only thing is that they are never, never, never our works--rather they are Christ’s, in our place, on our behalf. But, just because our works are never meritorious so as to earn our salvation, it does not Biblically follow that obedience and a changed life are optional. The reality is we cannot genuinely claim to truly believe in Jesus Christ as He is offered to us in the gospel, and at the same time not seek to follow Him as Lord.

In the book, Redemption Accomplished and Applied that I mentioned in my previous post, Professor Murray has this to say regarding objections that justification by faith alone teaches or implies that we can theoretically live any way we want and still claim to be right with God, with heaven as our destiny:

It is an old and time-worn objection that this doctrine ministers to license and looseness. Only those who know not the power of the gospel will plead such misconception. Justification is by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone. Justification is not all that is embraced in the gospel of redeeming grace. Christ is a complete Savior and it is not justification alone that the believing sinner possesses in him. And faith is not the only response in the heart of him who has entrusted himself to Christ for salvation. Faith alone justifies but a justified person with faith alone would be a monstrosity which never exists in the kingdom of grace. Faith works itself out through love (c.f. Gal. 5:6). And faith without works is dead (c.f. James 2:17-20). It is living faith that justifies and living faith unites to Christ both in the virtue of his death and in the power of his resurrection. No one has entrusted himself to Christ for deliverance from the guilt of sin who has not also entrusted himself to him for deliverance from the power of sin. "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?"

It is not the mere profession of faith that saves, but rather the possession of genuine faith--a faith that works--and this faith itself is the gift of God, the out-flowing of new spiritual life given by the sovereign and gracious work of God in the new birth. Yes, faith alone justifies, but as Professor Murray so powerfully states--“a justified person with faith alone would be a monstrosity which never exists in the kingdom of grace.”