Thursday, September 4, 2008

More on Faith - It's About HOW You Act

I am excited to approach this subject. I was hoping someday to write something 'comprehensive' about it, but for today my thought is simple.

Grace vs. Works?

This issue is understood best in the eternal context. That context requires a comfort with the doctrines of creation, fall, and man's relationship with God including the nature and character of God.

That's a lot. The issue, fortunately, can also be understood in a more simple context.

This is it: One way or another, many people come to an understanding that they are not as close to their Father in Heaven as they could be. In seeking how to draw closer to Him, they come to find out how.

Coming closer can be called salvation, forgiveness, rebirth, repentance and so forth. These are not all the same, but in a simple sense they represent the repair of a broken relationship with God.

Christians understand, through the Bible, that this atonement comes through the grace of God. What remains controversial, even between 'orthodox' or 'creedal' denominations, is the exact process of grace.

The more ancient traditions of the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox faiths seem to rely on the virtue of priesthood and tradition as the vehicles of grace brought to a sinful mankind - incapable on its own of any good. In other words, observe the traditions faithfully and you can receive that grace.

I apologize now if my oversimplifications have offended.

For protestant faiths there is disagreement, but the evangelical view is basically that if you confess belief in Christ, his grace will transform you and by then being 'born-again' spiritually you are saved.

I have to state that I'm not fully concerned with the views of others, I've written them for sake of contrast, but here I write my view.

Grace comes abundantly from God, I believe. I think any human being that seeks God's will and tries to pray will receive at least some grace. I also believe, as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that there is a necessity for essential saving ordinances to open up for man the fullness of grace - these, as the name applies, being ordained of God.

However, for the time in between, the time we spend day by day just trying to live our lives, what is the personal process for obtaining grace?

One of the best places to look for an answer is in the writings of Paul. I will try and cite some of what he wrote and demonstrate that grace is found through works... of faith.

Here we begin with a simple statement:
"For by agrace are ye bsaved through cfaith; and that not of yourselves: it is the dgift of God"
Ephesians 2:8

Grace and salvation, the 'repairing' of our relationship with God, comes from God through the atonement of Christ, not from us. The vehicle for receiving the grace is faith. But there's more to it.

"28 Therefore we conclude that a man is ajustified by bfaith cwithout the deeds of the law.
29 Is he the aGod of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the bGentiles also:
30 Seeing it is aone God, which shall justify the bcircumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.
31 Do we then make void the law through faith? aGod forbid: byea, we establish the law."
Romans 3:28-31

First Paul says that a man is not justified - or held worthy of receiving God's grace - through following all the rules of the law. A man's faith justifies him. Paul is mostly trying to explain why even the Gentiles of his day deserved grace even though they didn't observe the law as the Jews did. At the end of this chapter, Paul mentions that despite this argument the law is not void, but established. How?

"2 aFor if Abraham were justified by works, he hath bwhereof to glory; but not before God.
3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham abelieved God, and it was counted unto him for brighteousness.
4 Now to him that worketh is the areward not breckoned of grace, but of debt.
5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness."
Romans 4:2-5

If works save us, we are grateful to ourselves for our salvation and not to God. This is hardly a reconciliation. However, faith in God who does the healing will be counted as righteousness. This makes sense, only by turning to God can our relationship with God grow better. So why the law at all? Because our works matter.

"20 He astaggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;
21 And being fully persuaded that, what he had apromised, he was able also to perform.
22 And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.
23 Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him;
24 But for aus also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;
25 Who was delivered for our aoffences, and was raised again for our bjustification."
Romans 4:20-25

Speaking of Abraham, Paul explains that Abraham's faith in God's promises enabled him to do works. Do works matter? They do to God. He created, he reveals, he heals, and he saves. Drawing closer to the divine must involve works, it involves becoming more like Him and understanding God better. Paul is here beginning to explain that faith is the process that draws us to God, and that works follow. God does not, as a puppet-master, compel Abraham to do righteous acts. Abraham's faith persuaded and enabled him to do so. That faith brought grace, but it would not have been true faith had it not been followed by the acts of righteousness.

"12 Let not sin therefore reign in your amortal body, that ye should obey it in the blusts thereof.
13 Neither ayield ye your bmembers as cinstruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but dyield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of erighteousness unto God.
14 aFor sin shall not have bdominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under agrace? bGod forbid.
16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves aservants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye bobey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have aobeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
18 Being then made afree from bsin, ye became the servants of righteousness."
Romans 6:12-18

Paul now explains how a faithful man, having received God's grace by having faith, should look to God for guidance in life and not his natural passions. He clearly states that our obligation is to not sin, nor yield to the temptations of sin. This is a work or act, sin is an act, so not sinning is an act. Paul says that sin will have no dominion, but that grace will. He asks if this means that we can therefore still sin since we are not subject to sin because of our faith. He clearly says no. He explains that whether you obey temptation and give into it, or obey God - maybe I can say 'conscience' - will determine who is your master. That means that if you give in to sin, sin is your master.

This needs to be clarified somewhat. When we have faith, we are forgiven and justified by grace. In other words, if we believe God's promise that he will forgive us we are enabled by his grace to obey his spirit over the temptations of sin. However, if we decide to sin anyway, we would not have that same grace because sin is our master now, not God. However, as Paul explains, God's grace means that sin won't rule us. This seems like a contradiction. It's not. Ultimately, even if we sin, faith can return us to grace through repentance. In other words, grace enables us to do good works, but if we don't proceed to do them, we must repent, renew our faith and try again. I will get back to the topic of repentance.

"18 For I know that in me (that is, in my aflesh,) bdwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to cperform that which is good I find not.
19 For the agood that I bwould I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
20 Now if I do athat I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is apresent with me.
22 For I adelight in the law of God after the inward man:
23 But I see another law in my members, awarring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into bcaptivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
24 O awretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin."
Romans 7:18-25

Keep in mind the battle Paul described earlier, between 'yielding ourselves to God' vs. 'yielding ourselves to sin'. With God's grace, we receive His spirit and become motivated to do good. Just as much as hunger, fatigue, and other natural instincts can compel us to act, so can God's spirit give us 'holy instincts'. We can feel just as 'compelled' to do good as bad through God's grace. This is what Paul is talking about above, especially in v.23.

Putting it all together, we see how faith in God's promise that He will forgive us enables us to overcome sin. So we could say that we are not save by works, or by faith alone, but by works of faith. Making this absolutely clear is James:

"14 aWhat doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath bfaith, and have not works? can faith save him?
15 If a brother or asister be naked, and destitute of daily bfood,
16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye agive them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?
17 Even so afaith, if it hath not bworks, is dead, being alone.
18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my afaith by my bworks.
19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the adevils also bbelieve, and tremble.
20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that afaith without bworks is dead?
21 Was not Abraham our father ajustified by works, when he had boffered Isaac his son upon the altar?
22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by aworks was faith made bperfect?
23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham abelieved God, and it was imputed unto him for brighteousness: and he was called the cFriend of God.
24 Ye see then how that by aworks a man is bjustified, and not by faith only.
25 Likewise also was not aRahab the harlot bjustified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?
26 For as the body without the aspirit is bdead, so faith without cworks is dead also."
James 2:14-26

Works of faith. When you believe in God and His promises, and the virtue of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, you are first persuaded to do good, enabled to do good, but then you must do good to continue receiving God's grace. In doing works, we shouldn't do them thinking that the works will bring us grace, but that by fulfilling our faith through our works we live with a fullness of faith and receive grace. Our acts fulfill our faith. We must do works, but they don't mean anything if we don't do them with a spirit of belief. That's the key.

When we mess up, we lose grace. However, continued faith and hope can repeat the process, and by means of repentance the grace is restored to us by God. In the end, how do we know if we are saved?

It's easy and complicated. It's easy because if we choose to believe in God and trust in Him through developing faith, and repent, we will always draw closer to Him. If we ignore him, are unbelieving, and persist in unrighteous acts, we will always draw away from Him. This answers the first question about our closeness to God.

However, at what point are we 'saved'? That's a topic for next time. As a summary though, there is a coming judgment. Our faith will be measured against the light we have received, our works will be measured against our faith. We can do nothing except do our best. If we have true faith, we will live our lives as close to God as we are personally capable of, and our faith will be full and alive. That's why faith saves us in the end, because no one is perfect and lives life without sinning. However, without works, our faith is false, and dead.

Again, we do our best to believe, and believing we strive to do works of faith. In the end, God will judge us. However, if we have lived life with the right kind of faith we won't fear His judgment, but welcome it with confidence.

Salvation is available to all, but faith is more than assent or desire, it is the placing of the things of God above all other things in life. If we really believe in Christ - and all that he stands for - we will and must change and our works will and must follow. If we sit back and allow sin in our lives, as long as we have more faith and more strength to lead us to righteousness - and if we really believe in God then what strength we have available to us - we do not have the sort of faith that invites the fullness of God's grace. If we truly believe, we know our goal, and can't help but act.
"Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain."
1 Corinthians 9:24




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