Doing Good, and the Resurrection 4

Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? (James 2:21—NIV)

To then view Divine grace and imputed righteousness as a new way in which God relates to man, so man can be accepted of God independently of any real transformation of his personality, is totally unacceptable. Such an interpretation completely defeats God's plan for a better covenant, a covenant more effective in creating righteous people than was true of the old covenant.

The only person to whom God imputes righteousness is the one who is performing His will at any given time. In the days of Abraham there was no Law of Moses. Abraham believed God when God promised him a seed. This was God's will and so God ascribed righteousness to him. Paul used this to show that a person could be counted righteous apart from the works of the Law.

Then God spoke to Abraham and commanded him to walk before God and be perfect. If Abraham had refused to do this God would not have ascribed righteousness to him.

Later God ordered Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. Because Abraham did this God ascribed righteousness to him. If Abraham had refused to offer Isaac, Abraham would have been treated as a disobedient servant. The righteousness he had gained originally by belief in God's promise would not have carried over when further demands were made on him, had he decided to be disobedient.

Paul's point is that diligent adherence to the Law of Moses is not enough to gain righteousness. It is faith and obedience that result in righteousness, not the works of the Law.

However, when God commanded the Jews to obey the Law, then righteousness came as they obeyed the Law. It was not the Law itself that brought righteousness but the faith and obedience of the worshiper.

When God supersedes the Law by giving us Jesus Christ, we are not to keep on obeying the Law. We are to receive Christ and keep His commandments. It is not the receiving of Christ that brings righteousness, it is the faith and obedience of receiving Christ that results in righteousness being ascribed to us.

We are making the same mistake of the Jews. They thought it was doing the works of the Law that brought righteousness. This never was the case. It was faith and obedience that brought righteousness. We of today believe it is our confession of faith in Christ that brings righteousness. It is not. It is faith and obedience that bring righteousness.

If we accept Christ, and then do not keep His commandments, we are not acting in faith and obedience toward God. So our faith in Christ is actually not faith at all but our attempt to follow a formula that will insure our righteousness. We are as incorrect as were the Jews.

This is a tremendous error in Evangelical thinking. If we have faith in Jesus we will keep His commandments and those of His Apostles. If we do not, we do not have saving faith in Jesus. We may have a head knowledge about the things of Christ and may assent to this knowledge as being true, but there is no salvation, no eternal life, in subscribing to the things of Christ as being true.

Continued. Doing Good, and the Resurrection 5