Chapter Four

JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH


The Bible teaches we are justified by faith, and by faith alone. "To justify" means "to declare righteous." God Almighty, Himself, declares us to be righteous on the basis of what Christ has done for us in His death and resurrection; and then He starts the process of making us righteous in every aspect of our daily living.

The Book of Romans, chapters three, four and five, is the central place in the Bible where the doctrine of justification by faith is taught. There is no room for misunderstanding. We either accept what the Bible says, or we twist the Scripture to fit our doctrine. These chapters tell us how lost, sinful, condemned men are declared to be righteous.

"Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation [an atoning sacrifice] by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might bejust and thejustifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law" (Rom. 3:19-28).

I do not understand how anything could be clearer than this passage of Scripture. Notice verse 22, "the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ," and "him that believes." Nothing is said about baptism or the necessity of good works. As I read these verses again checking for typographical errors, I was strongly impressed by the clarity of God's word. How great is the sin of any man regardless of how sincere he may be, who perverts the word of God by seeking to add conditions other than faith as the means of enabling God to declare men to be righteous in His sight.

Verse 24, "being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus," is considered by many theologians to be the key verse of the Bible.

Verse 25 speaks of "the remission of sins," but says nothing about being baptized for the remission of sins. If being baptized "for the remission of sins" has the importance which the Church of Christ teaches and people attach to it, surely the Holy Spirit of God would have made this abundantly clear in this verse.

Verse 26 answers the problem of how God can be just and righteous, and at the same time justify ungodly sinners. He solved the problem by giving His Son to die on the Cross in their place and stead.

In chapter four we read, "What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it [his faith] was accounted to him for righteousness. Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies [declares righteous] the ungodly, his faith [not faith plus other things] is accounted for righteousness, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: 'Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin'" (Rom. 4:1-8).

These verses sound the death knell to the doctrine of salvation by works, but some Church of Christ people are not content to accept the Word of God for what it says, but seek to combine these verses with other Scripture in an attempt to harmonize them with the Church of Christ method of salvation.

I repeat, God Almighty, Himself, declares us to be righteous, not on the basis of who we are or what we have done, but on the basis of what Christ has done for us in His death and resurrection. This is the Gospel of the Grace of God.

Baptism and good works follow as a result of salvation, they are not a requirement for being saved. If we are saved we will be glad to be baptized, and good works will follow as a result of having new life in Christ, but we will do these things because we are saved, and not in order to be saved. The curse of God rests on all those who preach any other Gospel (Gal. 1:8). When we add conditions to the Gospel, it ceases to be "Good News." It is not good news to tell me that I must work in order to be saved, because I would never know when I had worked enough.

It is sad to note that almost 100 percent of Church of Christ ministers deny that justification is by faith and by faith alone. In his book, Why I am a Member of The Church of Christ, LeRoy Brownlow states he is a member of the Church of Christ because it teaches that a man is saved by faith, but not by faith only. When Church of Christ people join with Brownlow in saying that they believe in salvation by faith and by works, by their own admission they place themselves in the same category of all of the pagan religions and all of the false cults. Judge for yourself whether or not what I say is true.

When grace is mixed with works it ceases to be grace. "Even so then, at this present time, there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then is it no longer of works: otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, then is it no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work" (Rom. 11:5,6).

I received many letters in response to a review I wrote on Brownlow's book. The writers of these letters insisted they did believe in justification by faith, but not by faith only. One brother sent me a list of 35 items to which the Bible ascribes salvation. Another sent me a tract on working out your own salvation. All this is in keeping with the ideas of Brownlow, who wrote, "Thus the lost in sin are justified by grace, by Christ, by blood, by the name or authority of Christ, by faith and by works. When a man assumes that faith is the only agent in man's salvation to the exclusion of all other agents, surely he has been misled. Faith is a part of the plan of salvation, but not the whole of it. Every agent in its own place is indispensable to man's justification. "

One brother asked, "Does faith move God in some way?" This is the very crux of the matter. Indeed, faith does move God. This is what God is saying to us in Romans 4:3-5, "For what does the Scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.'" This is what Paul is saying to us in Romans 4:16, "Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all." When God sees our faith, He has not merely brought us to the place where He can save us, but it is by our act of saving faith God Almighty Himself declares us to be righteous.

Prayerfully study the Book of Romans; it is not good Church of Christ doctrine.

The Bible says faith is counted for righteousness. The word "counted" is also translated "imputed," or today we could use the word "credited". True faith is credited for righteousness. This is good news. This is THE Gospel. Faith is not merely the first step that leads to salvation. True faith gives eternal salvation. We are not talking about lip service, we are not talking about making a profession of faith. God made a statement to Abraham, and the very moment that Abraham believed what God said, his faith was imputed to him for righteousness. I pray this is what my good Church of Christ friends will "see"; and when they do "see" this wonderful truth, they will begin to "see" many of the other wonderful truths in the Word of God. Saving faith will produce good works. If it does not, it is a dead faith, and a dead faith cannot save. Saving faith will cause the believer to be glad to confess Christ initially and continually. Those who have saving faith will be glad to follow their Lord in baptism. They will be baptized because they are saved, and not in order to be saved. Throughout the New Testament baptism always follows belief and salvation. In discussing justification by faith we are not nit-picking over some non-essential doctrine. If you do not understand that justification is by faith entirely apart from baptism and good works, you do not understand the Gospel of the Grace of God.