I invite you to ponder the following three ways of speaking about our works in relationship to our salvation. There are other aspects of it that are not “apart from works” but are, in fact, dependent upon (though not merited by) works. Justification is one aspect of salvation. It secures the removal of God’s wrath so that his Spirit flows freely in a union where works are possible and necessary.Īnd salvation is a larger reality than justification. Justification does have a relationship with works. This is a glorious truth, and our life hangs on it.īut if we carelessly speak of justification as having no relationship to works, or if we generalize about salvation being apart from works of the law, we lead people away from the Scriptures. I take that to mean that anything we bring to Christ other than faith has no part in the ground (Christ) or the instrument (faith) of our justification. If you take any one of them and treat it as the whole picture, you will almost surely lead people astray.įor example, Paul rejoices that we are “justified by faith apart from works of the law” ( Romans 3:28). The biblical texts relating to this issue are many and diverse, but not contradictory. This is notably true of the way our works (including our attitudes and words and behavior) relate to our salvation. One effect of close attention to Scripture is that sweeping generalizations become problematic.
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