Faith by Justification Alone?

If you've ever studied the theology of the sixteenth century Protestant reformation you will be aware of the doctrine of Justification By Faith Alone.  In this central doctrine we understand that salvation is the gift of God alone, by the grace of Christ alone and received by faith alone, as we know from Scripture alone.  There is no work or goodness of man that contributes to justification, it is completely the work of Christ.  Amen.

But, as the years, decades and centuries have passed the debate has shifted and it may well be said that today the question concerning justification is not whether it is by faith alone, but whether faith is by justification alone.  Is justification all there is to faith?  Does one just need to "believe" to become a Christian and live a Christian life?   Is there a separation between faith and life?  Or does our Christian faith make an influence on the way we live in our culture?

The Scriptures do make it abundantly clear that justification is by God, by his grace, and through the finished work of Christ alone.  Just as we find in Romans 1:17, "For in it (the gospel) the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith.""  Here we see it is the righteousness of God, not man, that is expressed in the gospel.  This righteousness of God is received through faith in Christ as it is emphasized in Romans 3:22, "Even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe."

But this justification from God also brings new birth or Spiritual regeneration.  In regeneration we have a whole new Spiritual nature in our hearts so that we can believe, and we do believe irresistibly when we are regenerated.  Regeneration precedes faith just as conception precedes birth.  This is what Jesus meant in John 3:3 when he said we "must be born again," we must have a changed nature in our hearts in order to believe.

We also have a new purpose and desire to live for God, as we see from Habakkuk 2:4, "The just shall live by faith."  We "live by faith" in the sense that we shall have eternal life in heaven one day because of the gift of salvation in Christ.  But to "live by faith" also means in the here and now we turn from the darkness to live by the Light of Christ in every aspect of our lives on earth.  This is the faith and process of sanctification.

Faith then is not just justification, it is much more than justification.  The life of faith involves new birth or regeneration, and we are called to live by faith in repentance and obedience in a life of sanctification.  Jesus himself lived a life of obedience unto His Father for the sake of our salvation, and he calls us to live in the same way in the world as we see from John 17:15ff.  "I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.  They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.  Sanctify them by Your truth.  Your word is truth."

The life of faith and sanctification in Christ is also necessarily tied to the Word of God.  However imperfectly we seek after God, we must study the Bible to grow in sanctification.  As we grow individually our lives will influence our families, churches and culture just as Jesus taught that a lamp is "put on a lamp stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house," Mt 5:15.  We can only live sanctified lives then that are filled with the Holy Spirit and bearing fruit to Christ as we follow after God's truth in his Word.

So, justification is by faith alone, it is the gift of new life and regeneration in Christ.  But faith is not by justification alone, it is also the new life in Christ that must be lived out in the sanctification of good works.  Sanctification is a life long process of repentance, obedience and Spiritual growth into the image of Christ.  It inseparably follows justification for we know that, "The just shall live by faith."  And this brings great Spiritual blessings.  In short, justification is by faith alone, but faith is not by justification alone, it includes regeneration and sanctification, without which there is no salvation.

Consider the people of faith in Hebrews 11: 33-34, "(W)ho through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of aliens."  All this to the glory of God.

Biblical Inspiration

Where does your inspiration come from? Got inspiration? The best inspiration I've ever had has come from the Bible, and thus I believe, from God.

 It might be a stretch for some to connect the Bible with God, as many see it just as a book written by men in a culture, long, long ago. But the Bible is God's book, it is inspired by God. And, if the Bible is inspired by God and true for every generation, then it can still teach us about God today. And thus it can inspire us with God's Spirit. 

The sixty-six books of the Bible have many real stories about real people and places, and many descriptions about the real God. Perhaps some of the great questions for us in our real lives have to be, who am I, and what is life all about? The Bible answers these questions and many more like them if we take time to read it. In the big picture of things we know from the Bible there is a God who created us and he is good. He also has the power to save us from death, and give us inspiration to live.

The Bible describes the Savior as Jesus Christ and eternal life as heaven.  Even though God can be seen and known to a certain degree outside the Bible through our conscience and the cosmos, it is only in the Bible that we can truly begin to know who God is and what his purposes are. Humanity has been created in the image of God and to be in a personal relationship with him. This brings inspiration. And this changes all of life for the good.

 The gospel of John is one book that is a great place to begin a Bible study. Here is one such inspirational verse from Jesus, John 12:46. "I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness." The light is good, it dispels the darkness. This is the way of biblical inspiration.

World Views

Have you hugged your world view today?  What?  Are you kidding?  Oh, by the way, what's a world view?  And isn't this a little theoretical?

Well, maybe.  It depends on your world view.  I mean it depends on what you believe.  Or, it depends on your faith system.  In other words, the way you see the world and how you interpret things.  It defines who we are and what we believe.

The first thing we can say for certain is that everyone has a world view.  Just like everyone has a perspective on life or a faith of some sort.  And our world view can be pretty subjective depending on a lot of factors.  It can and will change through the course of our lives as well.  The world view of a first grader is quite a bit different than that of a college senior.  The world view of a poor person is usually much different than that of a rich person.  And the difference between how a Secularist looks at the world and how a Christian looks at the world is huge.  Especially if it's a biblical Christian.

Our world view is essentially a faith perspective but it also involves personality, circumstances, emotions, families, age, maturity, goals and disappointments or success.  And a world view is like an operating system in a computer, it directs or guides everything the computer does and will affect how we live our lives and make decisions.  With faith in God we see that life has an eternal or Spiritual realm that gives us meaning and purpose.  Yet without faith we will only see the temporal and mundane aspects of life and this can lead us to a drastically different view of reality.  Our world views can be modified or changed however depending on our willingness to change.

We probably are unaware of our world views on a daily basis and we also can get set in our ways as we grow older.  There are a lot of reasons however for those of us who are Christians to examine our world view and to consider changing anything that is not in accord with God.  The reason we should consider both our world view or faith system from time to time is to see if it is true.  This is a step in Spiritual growth to examine ourselves to say, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting", (Psalm 139:23-24).  The revelation from God of "the way everlasting" is the Christian world view.

Another good reason to know a little bit about our world view is because the world is changing at a tremendous pace away from Christianity.  We live in a technological and moral revolution that is destroying our culture and creating a monolithic secularist world view.  Young people today have so few examples of Christian family values, morals, work ethic and integrity.  Virtually everything in the entertainment world of TV and movies mocks Biblical truth.  And the result has been broken lives.

But the Christian world view centers on the existence of the God of the Bible.  The Bible teaches us the creation of the universe by God, and man made in his image.  Mankind has fallen into sin but God has sent his Son into the world to redeem and reconcile us to him.  The ministry of reconciliation is the great message of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  And there is a consummation of all things unto the glory of God at the end of time.  This is the essence of the Christian world view.  This faith brings great significance, purpose, dignity and meaning to all who call on Jesus' name.  It brings us into a personal relationship with Christ, the Creator and Redeemer of all the world.

When you get caught up in the brokenness of this world, remember the Christian world view.  It is centered on the reality of the risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  He is alive.  Give this worldview a big hug Spiritually, for He is redemptive and calls us back to God.  In this faith we find salvation and we can be sanctified to become like Christ.  We can know God for eternal life.

Easter Proclamation

Easter is my favorite holiday for many reasons.  Possibly the greatest reason is that it defines Christianity.  Even more it verifies Christianity.  We find in the Christian message a multifaceted apologetic for an amazing reality, there is life beyond the grave.

Christianity is all about Christ, and he came to the earth as a human being in the life of Jesus of Nazareth.  The Christmas story is all about the Incarnation, truly a great doctrine in and of itself. From his very conception Jesus lived a sanctified life, he was set apart from the world.  But the life of Jesus was not without it's temptations and troubles.  He was a man of sorrows and there was nothing in him we would naturally be attracted to.  His life was a life without sin but with great Spiritual power.  His teachings were almost ironic for he taught the way up is down.  To gain our life we must lose it.  And to gain eternal life was greater than anything this life had to offer.

Also we see that the suffering and death of Jesus was foolish.  There's simply no other way to understand it in the eyes of the world.  Who in there right mind would accept "defeat" at the hands of his accusers so readily.  Just after accepting Peter's confession of him as the Christ in Matthew 16, Jesus prophesied to his disciples that he would be arrested and executed by his own countrymen.  Peter then protested with all his might at the very thought of such a foolish idea.  For clearly Jesus was gaining new popularity in Israel and could surely win the favor of the people to restore the Davidic monarchy.  But Jesus understood a much greater Spiritual victory and endured the cross, despising it's shame, and died at the hands of the Romans.

But, and this is the great proclamation, Jesus arose from the grave three days later.  Because of the Incarnation and the Life, there was the Resurrection.  Jesus wasn't just a man, he is the God-Man, the Son of God, the Messiah with eternal life.  Not only did Jesus fulfill all Biblical prophecy he resonates with our souls today.  For who does not seek life, and life abundantly?  Jesus declared in his teachings, "I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly," John 10:10.   Even more he declares, "I am the resurrection and the life.  He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live," John 11:25.

No other person in all the earth has ever had such a birth, life, teachings and resurrection. Surely our consciences speak to us that we want such a life and need eternal life.  We are mortal, sinful and unwise in our selves.  We need the immortality of Christ who has overcome the world.  The Easter message is absolutely relevant every day of the year, and we especially celebrate the life and resurrection of Jesus at Easter.

Born Again

One of the great themes of Christianity is being born again.  Today is the day I accepted Christ in 1976 as an eighteen year old college freshman.  This is the day I was born again.

As a biology major in a state university I was exposed to the theory of Darwinian evolution and challenged with a world view that had no God.  It startled me as I couldn't imagine what life would be like without a creator and a God who holds all things together.  This also caused me to ask questions of what life is all about.  Why are we here?  Where are we going?  What is the meaning and purpose of life? 

It was at this time of questioning life itself that I attended a church service at home with my family one Sunday.  The pastor knew me somewhat and wanted to ask me some questions after the service.  He asked me how I was doing in school and how life was going.  I told him fine, and "don't worry about me, because I believe in God."  I wasn't like the professors at the university, I thought.  He said that's good, but there was more he wanted to know.  

He then proceeded to ask me that if I were to die today, for some unforeseen reason, did I know for sure I would go to heaven?  I knew in an instant that I didn't know the answer, I wasn't sure where I would be if I died.  In fact, that was like the questions I was asking myself regarding the meaning and purpose of life.  And this was just like those questions, where will I be when I die?  

The pastor graciously explained that it's not just enough to believe in God, but the Bible teaches a person needs to accept Jesus as his Savior.  It is only through Christ that a person can be saved and go to heaven.  As Jesus describes in John 14:6, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me."  He explained that Christ came to the earth and lived a perfect life without sin so that he could pay the penalty of our sins.  He died on the cross and he became the substitutionary atonement for us.  Then after three days he rose again from the grave and he can give us eternal life after our death as well.  But we need to accept Christ as our Savior and Lord.

These words struck me like an alarm.  The pastor asked me if I believed it was true.  I sat there for what seemed like a long while as I thought about what he had said.  Could it be true that Jesus rose from the dead?  I had the image in my mind of the stone rolled away from the grave that I had seen as a kid in Sunday school, and I asked myself, is it true?  And I realized it is true, it couldn't have just been made up.  My conscience confirmed that God did exist and he did send his Son into the world to save people from their sins, for all who call upon his name.  

I really didn't know what to do at first after that day.  I kept a pretty low profile for some time as I wasn't sure if I understood it all, or if anyone else would believe me.  Today I can say after many years that indeed Christ is the Savior and Lord who has come into the world and we must be born again.  Jesus explained this to Nicodemus in John 3:3, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."  Jesus graciously gives people new lives of faith and eternal life if they call upon him and walk in his precepts.  Only he can give new birth to a Spiritual life, only he can cause a person to be born again.  And praise God that he did.  

   

Themes

The themes of these last few blog posts have to do with true Christianity.  It may not seem to make sense as I've hopped all around, but as I look at them I see a pattern.

At the start I discussed true truth, Veritas, as it relates to Christian faith.  So, first and foremost is the "Truly, Truly" foundation that Jesus describes.  In our postmodern world this just can't be emphasized enough.

Then I discussed "Technology and Theology" because I believe technology is a great connection to the order and structure design of the universe.  Technology is a witness to the truth of God's existence and creation.  Technology works because we live in an ordered and principled creation.

Then the next three posts were made to address the parable of "The Prodigal Son."  This is to address a contemporary trend in Christianity on the love and grace of God, which is glorious, but to miss the necessity of repentance and faith from a Christian.  The prodigal son first confessed, repented, humbled himself without conditions, and returned home to seek reconciliation with the Father.  This is the emphasis of the parable.  This is the spirit of true Christian faith.  And then God receives us in open arms.

So, the message of the Bible is often missed, but it's most often right there plain as day, and we must always ask, "what does text say, what does it mean, and how does it apply to life?"  The Bible is the word of truth and the focus of all our faith and doctrine.  It is inspired by God and brings inspiration and truth to Christians.  But we must interpret it through the lens of truth, just as it was intended.

As compared to a contemporary emphasis on grace, and even free grace, as it is often implicitly described, I also discussed Bonhoeffer's classic book, "The Cost of Discipleship."  True faith is costly sometimes to us, just as it was to Christ.  Simply saying we believe in Christ is not necessarily costly at all.  We must have true faith through obedience to all God's commandments.  Obedience is not legalism when living in the power of the Holy Spirit, it is true faith.

The truth of true faith brings great blessings.  My thesis is that good theology leads to good faith and good faith leads to good living.  Obedience to God's laws is good theology.  No one is perfect, but good theology is a necessary start.  The Veritas Fellowship is all about proclaiming true-Truth and the process of good "theology-faith-living," which leads to our sanctification into the image of Christ.

And this week I will add one more blog post on 3/21 if my schedule permits.  For on March 21, 1976 I became a Christian and this will mark my 37th anniversary of living in faith.  That's something to look back on.  Wow, is all I can say.  True faith brings lots of ups and downs, but faith is much deeper today than it was at the beginning.  We are saved by Christ, by grace and through faith.

Soli Deo gloria.

The Cost of Discipleship

Dietrich Bonhoeffer's classic book, The Cost of Discipleship, is perhaps one of the most challenging books any Christian can read.  It is a challenging book because discipleship is a challenging subject, one that is at the center of our understanding of salvation in Christ.

The question of discipleship has to do with the relationship of grace and faith in the believer's life.  These two topics may seem at first to be one and the same and synonymous with each other, but the issue becomes a little complex as we understand the meaning of the words.  For saving grace is the work of God to regenerate our hearts and faith is the response we exercise as we walk obediently to him.  Grace always produces faith and so they are sometimes used synonymously.

Becoming a Christian means accepting Jesus Christ into our hearts in faith as the Savior and Lord of our lives.  It is an individual decision we must make based upon the belief that the Jesus of the Bible is who he truly claims to be, the Savior of all who call upon his name.  He alone can atone for our sins through his substitutionary sacrifice on the cross for us.  This belief that Jesus is Lord however must be manifested in obedience as walk with him.  Without our obedience our belief is worthless as James teaches us.  Faith without works or obedience is dead, and even the demons believe, and shudder.

With the faith and obedience that Jesus is Savior and Lord we see in Scripture that Jesus calls believers to himself to become disciples.  And what is a disciple but simply a follower or a student of somebody else.  A disciple in particular is a student who obeys the teachings and becomes like his teacher.  He is one who walks in faith and takes on the life that his Master exhibits.

The are many aspects of the Christian faith as we come to understand discipleship.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer challenges us with a view of faith that goes beyond simply saying we believe in Jesus.  He describes discipleship as a step of obedience that stands against the ungodliness of the world.  This obedience may cost us everything we have.  Or at least it is a call that will require us to relinquish our own selfish desires, and to grow in sanctifying grace as we pick up our own cross daily to follow Christ.

Discipleship is genuine Christian faith and transforms our lives to become like Jesus.  In this life of obedience and service we may suffer in this world, but we will discover the greatest joy in following Christ that we could ever imagine.  Bonhoeffer knew the peace of the Lord from this dying with Christ.  The cost of discipleship could cost us our very lives but the blessings of discipleship is our eternal fellowship with Christ.