Faith and Faithfulness (Part 13)

This is the thirteenth in a series of studies on the topic of faith and faithfulness. (If you are coming to this page from a search engine, I recommend this link for a table of contents of the topics covered in this series.)

In previous posts, I have emphasized faithfulness over belief in the meaning of faith.   That isn't to say that belief isn't part of faith— it is.  Both belief and behavior are important.  Certainly James was reacting against an "only believe" understanding of faith in James 2:17-24:

James 2:17-24 NKJV – Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! 20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? 23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. 24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.

Justified by works?  I don't like the word "works" because it has become associated with a self-righteous attitude.  Maybe some other versions express this idea in a way that avoids this word— James 2:24:

• NLT – So you see, we are made right with God by what we do, not by faith alone. 
• NIV – You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.
• AMP – You see that a man is justified (pronounced righteous before God) through what he does and not alone through faith [through works of obedience as well as by what he believes].
• CEV – You can now see that we please God by what we do and not only by what we believe.
• NCV – So you see that people are made right with God by what they do, not by faith only.
• NIRV – So you see that a person is made right with God by what he does. It doesn't happen only because of what he believes.
• GNT – You see, then, that it is by our actions that we are put right with God, and not by our faith alone. 
• CJB – You see that a person is declared righteous because of actions and not because of faith alone. 
• God's Word – You see that a person receives God's approval because of what he does, not only because of what he believes.  

Our actions, what we do, that is what James is talking about.  I don't recommend The Message as a study bible, but sometimes it expresses things in a way that is helpful (and sometimes not).  I think it got this one right:

James 2:21-24 The Message – Wasn't our ancestor Abraham "made right with God by works" when he placed his son Isaac on the sacrificial altar? Isn't it obvious that faith and works are yoked partners, that faith expresses itself in works? That the works are "works of faith"? The full meaning of "believe" in the Scripture sentence, "Abraham believed God and was set right with God," includes his action. It's that mesh of believing and acting that got Abraham named "God's friend." Is it not evident that a person is made right with God not by a barren faith but by faith fruitful in works?

How does this perspective match what Paul had to say?  Do James and Paul agree?

• Romans 1:5 NKJV – Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name,
• Romans 6:16 NKJV – Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? 
• Romans 15:18 NKJV – For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me, in word and deed, to make the Gentiles obedient— 
• Romans 16:26 NKJV – but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith— 

Notice how the word obedience is used in the opening and closing verses of Romans— in Romans 1:5 and Romans 16:26.  It isn't just obedience, but obedience to the faith— he links faith and obedience.  Isn't obedience something we do?  A work— to use the older language?  Paul makes it clear in Romans chapter 2 that our works— our deeds— are important.

Romans 2:6-10 NIV – God "will give to each person according to what he has done." 7 To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. 8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. 9 There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; 10 but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.

Paul is consistent with other Scripture.  God judges our behavior.

• Job 34:11 NET – For he repays a person for his work, and according to the conduct of a person, he causes the consequences to find him.
• Ps 62:12 NET – and you, O Lord, demonstrate loyal love.  For you repay men for what they do.
• Prov 24:12 NET – If you say, “But we did not know about this,” does not the one who evaluates hearts consider?  Does not the one who guards your life know?  Will he not repay each person according to his deeds?
• Eccl 12:14 NET – For God will evaluate every deed, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. 
• Ezek 7:3 NET – The end is now upon you, and I will release my anger against you; I will judge you according to your behavior, I will hold you accountable for all your abominable practices. 
• Ezek 33:12-20 NET – And you, son of man, say to your people, ‘The righteousness of the righteous will not deliver him if he rebels. As for the wicked, his wickedness will not make him stumble if he turns from it. The righteous will not be able to live by his righteousness if he sins.’ 13 Suppose I tell the righteous that he will certainly live, but he becomes confident in his righteousness and commits iniquity. None of his righteous deeds will be remembered; because of the iniquity he has committed he will die. 14 Suppose I say to the wicked, ‘You must certainly die,’ but he turns from his sin and does what is just and right. 15 He returns what was taken in pledge, pays back what he has stolen, and follows the statutes that give life, committing no iniquity. He will certainly live–he will not die. 16 None of the sins he has committed will be counted against him. He has done what is just and right; he will certainly live. 33 Yet your people say, ‘The behavior of the Lord is not right,’ when it is their behavior that is not right. 18 When a righteous man turns from his godliness and commits iniquity, he will die for it. 19 When the wicked turns from his sin and does what is just and right, he will live because of it. 20 Yet you say, ‘The behavior of the Lord is not right.’ House of Israel, I will judge each of you according to his behavior.
• Rev 20:12 NET – And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne. Then books were opened, and another book was opened—the book of life. So the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to their deeds.

Ezekiel 33:19 — "when the wicked turns from his sin and does what is just and right, he will live because of it"— is exactly what Paul is talking about in Romans 2:4:

Rom 2:4 NKJV – Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?

 We find a call to repentance throughout Scripture.

• Neh 1:8 Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, “If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations; 9 but if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name.’ 
• Jer 25:5 NKJV – They said, “Repent now everyone of his evil way and his evil doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD has given to you and your fathers forever and ever.
• Matt 3:1 NKJV – In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” 
• Matt 3:7 NKJV – But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, 9 and do not think to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.  
• Matt 4:17 NKJV – From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
• Luke 5:31-32 NKJV – Jesus answered and said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
• Luke 13:1-3 NKJV – There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? 3 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.
• Luke 15:10 NKJV – Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
• Luke 24:46-47 NKJV – Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
• Acts 2:38 NKJV – Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
• Acts 20:18-21 NKJV – And when they had come to him, he said to them: “You know, from the first day that I came to Asia, in what manner I always lived among you, 19 serving the Lord with all humility, with many tears and trials which happened to me by the plotting of the Jews; 20 how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house, 21 testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
• Acts 26:19 NKJV – “Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, 20 but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.
• 2 Cor 7:9 NKJV – Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. 10 For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.
• Rev 2:5 NKJV – Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.
• Rev 3:19 NKJV – As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.
• Rev 16:11 NKJV – They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and did not repent of their deeds.

That is Paul talking in Acts 26:19, saying that he had declared to his hearers that "they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.  Even Paul preached a message of works!

Paul recognized that on the one hand, we need to be "doers of the law", but on the other hand, "none is righteous."

Rom 2:13 NET – For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous before God, but those who do the law will be declared righteous.

Rom 3:10-12 NET – ... just as it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one, 11 there is no one who understands, there is no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away, together they have become worthless; there is no one who shows kindness, not even one.”

No one can boast— we are all unrighteous.  Jesus condemned the boastful spirit in the self-righteous Pharisee.

Luke 18:9-14 NET – Jesus also told this parable to some who were confident that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else. 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself like this: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: extortionists, unrighteous people, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’ 13 The tax collector, however, stood far off and would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, be merciful to me, sinner that I am!’ 14 I tell you that this man went down to his home justified rather than the Pharisee.  For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

1 John also describes this paradox.  We need to stop sinning and yet, we must never see ourselves as righteous.

1 John 1:10 NET – If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. 

1 John 2:1 NET – (My little children,  I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.) But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous One,...

1 John 3:6 NET – Everyone who resides in him does not sin; everyone who sins has neither seen him nor known him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you: The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as Jesus is righteous. 8 The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was revealed: to destroy the works of the devil. 9 Everyone who has been fathered by God does not practice sin, because God’s seed resides in him, and thus he is not able to sin, because he has been fathered by God.

1 John 5:18 NET – We know that everyone fathered by God does not sin, but God protects the one he has fathered, and the evil one cannot touch him.

Let us never forget that it is God that cleans up our act— he "cleanses us from all unrighteousness."

1 John 1:9 NET – But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, forgiving us our sins and cleansing us from all unrighteousness.

I struggle trying to understand the paradox between "not sinning" and yet continuing to have the attitude of "God, be merciful to me a sinner."  The best explanation that I can think of is the parable of the unforgiving servant.  The main point to recognize about this servant is that 10,000 talents represented an outrageous, impossible debt.  It is on the scale of corporate or national debts— impossible for an individual to pay.  There is nothing that the man can do to repay it— nothing.  It is impossible.  That is how it is with us.  There is nothing that we can do to earn (or repay or merit or deserve) the forgiveness that we are given.  And yet, like the unforgiving servant, we can reject the gift.  We can forget that we have been forgiven an outrageous debt.  Like the unforgiving servant, we can behave in ways that will forfeit the gift.

Matt 18:23 NET – For this reason, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his slaves. 24 As he began settling his accounts, a man who owed ten thousand talents was brought to him. 25 Because he was not able to repay it, the lord ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, children, and whatever he possessed, and repayment to be made. 26 Then the slave threw himself to the ground before him, saying, ‘Be patient with me, and I will repay you everything.’ 27 The lord had compassion on that slave and released him, and forgave him the debt. 28 After he went out, that same slave found one of his fellow slaves who owed him one hundred silver coins. So he grabbed him by the throat and started to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ 29 Then his fellow slave threw himself down and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will repay you.’ 30 But he refused. Instead, he went out and threw him in prison until he repaid the debt. 31 When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were very upset and went and told their lord everything that had taken place. 32 Then his lord called the first slave and said to him, ‘Evil slave! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me! 33 Should you not have shown mercy to your fellow slave, just as I showed it to you?’ 34 And in anger his lord turned him over to the prison guards to torture him until he repaid all he owed. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to you, if each of you does not forgive your brother from your heart.

I think this is what Paul is talking about in Romans chapter 3.  We can't repay the debt!

Rom 3:20 NKJV – Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

We are forgiven the debt!

Rom 3:23-24 NKJV – for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

 But, we also no longer take on new debt!

Rom 3:31 NKJV – Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.

Rom 6:1 NKJV – What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?