Key Verse:
“For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.”
—Romans 3:28
Four hundred years ago on the continent of Europe a battle raged within the Roman Catholic Church (the largest and most powerful Christian body in Western Europe) over the issue of how a man is justified or made right in the sight of a holy God. The Catholic Church had long taught and believed that justification is based on a combination of God’s grace and man’s meritorious works. By the time the sixteenth century had dawned, there had already been a number of notable dissenters to this and comparable doctrines from within the ranks of Catholic leadership and ministry, many who met their demise or were severely persecuted because of their objections to these areas of Catholic teaching. These “pre-Reformers” had paved the way for others to consider such objections, based on the Word of God alone rather than the authority of the teaching magisterium or upon Holy Tradition as the Catholics had claimed. Now, such Protestant luminaries such as Martin Luther, John Calvin and others promoted the proposition that a man is not justified by grace and works but by grace alone by faith alone in Christ alone. These three assertions became known as the three Solas of the Reformation: Sola Gratia (grace alone), Sola Fide (faith alone) and Solus Christus (Christ alone). [Add to this Sola Scriptura: Scripture alone and Soli Deo Gloria: Glory to God alone].
Now “fast forward” to the present day and we find that this debate still rages among people of faith with regards to justification. I believe that there is a very natural tendency among human beings to perceive God’s favor to men as a matter of personal merit; albeit partially [most like to believe that their meritorious works are assisted by divine help or “grace”] but nonetheless certainly [people find it difficult to conceive of favor freely given without any sense of merit]. The real issue here is whether the favor we receive from God is truly gracious or meritorious (whether it is something we receive that we did not earn or something we receive based on something we somehow deserve, even if not completely).
Having grown up playing ice hockey, I am aware of two ways of earning “points” during a season as a player: goals and assists. Interestingly enough, in hockey, the man who physically puts the puck in the net and the man who passes the puck to the man who puts it in the net (for a goal) both receive one point toward their personal average for the season. Of the millions of folks who attend many churches around the world today, I would have to say that most if not all of them desire (and pursue) the favor of God. Because every church possesses numerous worship and service activities available to its people, it is so easy to confuse these activities as being opportunities to either merit or prove one’s merit in receiving God’s favor. For those who feel tempted to do this, consider the words of our Lord Himself:
“The Pharisee stood and was praying to himself, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I pay tithes of all that I get. But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.” —Luke 18:11-14
In the work of justification, there are no assists on the part of the justified. There is no boasting, there is no sense of self-satisfaction, there is no sense of accomplishment in having “cooperated with God” and hence, somehow merited the grace of being put into a right relationship with God. I love what Paul says about this dimension of justification in Romans 3:27 – he puts it into the form of a question: “where is boasting? It is excluded.” There is no place for it, no possibility for its inclusion into the whole scheme of justification.
Those who would oppose Sola Gratia or Sola Fide could say, “Although I cooperate with God in His grace, I take no credit for my part in the equation because I only receive what God has freely given me,” or “my obedience and faith does not cause me to deserve any credit.” Nice try, but this is both arbitrary and the willful forfeiture on the part of the saved. Let me explain: if someone chooses not to accept credit for their faith or their works that cooperate with the grace of God in justification (as they would claim), this amounts to a personal decision not to accept any credit for the fact that they have received God’s justifying grace; that they are in a right relationship with God. However, Paul repeatedly paints a very different picture. Human nature is consistently plagued with the penchant to feel ourselves “worthy” of something, even if it is something we feel was given us by “grace” (clearly not understanding the true nature of grace itself: something given yet utterly undeserved). Grace is not a wage that is deserved (Romans 4:4ff) but something utterly humbling to receive and miraculous to consider ours. There is nothing we have done to place ourselves in a place of “worthy receptivity;” no preconditions we choose to meet to receive the free gift of God in justification – yes, we believed the gospel, but the faith to believe itself is a free gift of God apart from our cooperation to have received (Philippians 1:29). The Scripture paints the picture of justification as wholly a work of God (Jonah 2:9). This understanding of justification alone places its recipient in a position to plead with the Creator for mercy and not demand payment for a set of conditions we ourselves have been faithful to meet on our own.
Is man capable then to receive this gift? The answer is, “yes” and “no” – in himself, he is not; with God, he is made capable through the same grace that justifies. More on that next time.
—Larry Carrino
Post By: Dr. Larry Carrino, Educational Director of The Omega Institute. ©2008 The Omega Institute, Inc.
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