Is Obedience to Jesus Works Righteousness?

In a recent sermon (preached October 25, 2009 on John 8: 12) I made the statement “Faith plus works doesn’t equal salvation but faith plus works does equal saving faith.” I then proceeded to explain that true, saving faith in Jesus always results in obedience to Him and that obedience to Jesus commands is a part of following him. Granted, a more accurate way to have said this would have been to say “Saving faith is a faith that results/produces works or obedience to Jesus” but hopefully the explanation which followed the statement made clear what my meaning was.

After the message, one of our men approached me and told me that he has always had a problem with being told he must obey Jesus commands. I asked him why and his answer was, “To say obedience is necessary sounds like works righteousness”. He and I both concurred that this was a common hang up among 21st century followers of Jesus~and so the question became, why is this? It is really clear from Jesus teachings that obedience to His commands proves our love for Him. He says as much in places like John 14: 21-24, going so far as to say that if we don’t keep His words we don’t love Him. So how have we come to a place where many 21st century Christians see obedience as works righteousness and therefore not important?

We have come to the place we are today, where people view obedience to Jesus teachings as works righteousness because for years, in many Christian circles, an incomplete or even false gospel has taught. And where ever a false or incomplete gospel is taught there follows an incomplete or false view of salvation with the result that wrong or false conclusions are drawn, leading to faulty living~and faulty living places the soul in peril. So what is this false, faulty, incomplete view of the gospel and salvation I speak of?

The faulty gospel~the incomplete gospel~sees salvation as consisting in a single event~justification~which happens at a point in time and results in Christ’s righteousness being imputed/awarded to the believers account. Because the advocates of this position define salvation in this way it is further said that any activity~any action~any work we may do before or after justification is an addition to the alien righteousness of Christ, and therefore compromises the gospel. Works, in this scheme are simply unnecessary.

Those who understand this to be the gospel consistently use words and language the Bible uses to describe the wicked and unsaved to describe themselves and other Christians. And why shouldn’t they. After all, the justified sinner in their view has no righteousness of his or her own either before or after justification and is essentially the same after being justified as they were before being justified. No wonder we hear them say of themselves or other Christians that they’re bad, evil, wicked, sinful, unworthy and deserving of hell. This was the state they were in prior to faith in Christ and this is the state they are in after believing on Christ (according to them)~but they are nevertheless saved as a result of Christ’s alien righteousness, which lies strictly outside themselves and which was awarded to them when they believed.

With this view of the gospel, it should come as no surprise that people see obedience to Jesus commands as works righteousness, adding to Christ’s finished work on the cross. Thus, the struggle of the friend I mentioned who approached me after my sermon several weeks ago. But the view explained above is markedly different from what is revealed in Scripture; and while it contains elements of truth we must keep in mind that this doesn’t make it an accurate representation of salvation. After all, a broken clock is right twice a day~but this fact doesn’t make it a working clock.

What then is the difference between what is taught and preached across the spectrum of evangelicalism today versus the true salvation that is in Jesus Christ? Much in every way.

1) Salvation in scripture is presented as a process that begins with an event and continues, in much the same way physical life is a process that begins with an event and continues; and in one respect, the view mentioned above is accurate. Physical life begins with an event known as conception followed by gestation/live birth; and salvation, on a human level begins the same way~with an event known as regeneration resulting in a person turning away from sin to God as they place faith in Jesus Christ. Justification (which is simply God declaring the believer righteous on the basis of his/her faith in Jesus Christ) takes place at this time in response to our faith. Regeneration is what Jesus called being ‘born again’ by the Spirit of God in the John 3 dialogue with Nicodemus; and the justification that takes place after regeneration is the beginning of the salvation process (along with other elements such as adoption by the Father into His family, the sealing of the believer by the Holy Spirit and so forth). Justification  saves people from sins penalty, and takes a person through the wicket gate (to use a term from Pilgrim’s Progress), placing them on the road to the Celestial City. It is justification that gives us ‘entrance into the grace in which we stand (Rom. 5: 1-2)

2) The second aspect or phase of salvation involves growth~growth toward maturity. In keeping with our earlier analogy growth toward maturity begins physically as soon as physical conception takes place; and spiritual growth toward maturity begins as soon as regeneration takes place. This growth toward maturity is called sanctification in the Bible and is the process where we are being saved from the power of sin. Sanctification is growth in holiness and in obedience to Jesus. It is as necessary a part of the salvation process as justification is~so necessary and important, in fact, that Jesus and the apostles say that without it, no one will see the Lord. Some examples from scripture are Matthew 5: 17-20; 7: 21-23; John 14: 23-24; Romans 6: 22; Hebrews 12: 14; 2 Peter 1: 10-11 (this list is representative; and each should be read in it’s context).

Obedience to Jesus commands as well as good works are one aspect of sanctification. Further, the works we do as Christians as we grow toward maturity fill four roles in our lives:

First, they are one of the purposes for our salvation according to Ephesians 2: 8-10;

Second, works of obedience done as we grow to maturity are the only real proof that we love Jesus (John 14: 21, 23-24);

Third, works of obedience bring faith to completion. James makes this point very, very clear in chapter 2: 14-26 of his letter. In this text verses 21-24 are especially important.

Fourth, future judgment will be based on our works  (see Matthew 25: 31-46; John 5: 28-29; Rev. 20: 12c) because works prove whether we have faith in God and whether we love Him or not (John 14: 23-24). Obedience and works are the natural outflow of true faith~which is illustrated clearly in Hebrews 11. Life always has a result and life from God is no different.

When we consider the passage in James 2 we see that James speaks of Abraham being “justified by works when he offered up Isaac” in obedience to God on Mt. Moriah. The Greek word translated ‘justified’ is the same word used by Paul, writing of justification by faith, in such places as Romans 4. James uses the same word here and goes so far as to say that Abraham’s “faith was active along with his works and faith was completed by his works; and the scripture was fulfilled that says “Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness” (emphasis added). In other words, his obedience to God in sacrificing Isaac proved his faith and completed it. Faith and obedience are seen, in passages such as this, as two sides to the same coin.

Advocates of the faulty salvation mentioned above will be quick to say that the Greek word for ‘justify’ in the New Testament is used in various ways in scripture and cannot be used here as Paul uses it in Romans Romans 3:21 to 5: 1. Martin Luther, on the other hand, understood the word in the same light Paul uses it and thus, called James the ‘epistle of straw’ and rejected it’s canonicity~to which I say, ‘At least Luther was honest and saw the text in the right light’. I don’t agree with his solution but I can’t fault him for seeing the text as James intended.

My question to those who try to say that James uses the word ‘justify’ in a different way than Paul is simply ‘On what ground do you make this assertion?’ James discussion centers on faith alone versus faith with (not plus) works~the exact error propagated by those who hold to the false view of salvation mentioned above. The context is very clear that James is speaking of justifying faith and how works proves and completes it and he goes so far as to cite Genesis 15:6, a classic text about justification by faith, to prove his point.  James speaks of justification in the same way Paul does, stating very clearly that works proves and completes faith; and if works prove and complete faith, then a lack of works (which is the real point of the passage) shows faith to be dead~and dead faith cannot save!

3) Finally, the process of salvation, as laid out in the Bible, also has an end point as does physical life. The end of our salvation is called glorification by Paul in Romans 8 and is said to be an entrance into the eternal kingdom by Peter in 2 Peter 1: 11. At glorification we are saved from sins presence.

And so, the Bible presents a picture of a salvation in three parts: justification (which takes place when we believe and is perpetuated by our faith), sanctification (which in part includes obedience~the obedience of faith~resulting in growth in holiness according to the Fathers will) and glorification (where our bodies are perfected to be like Jesus glorious body) and we are finally and fully with the Lord.

When we understand salvation in this way, and that the greatest part of salvation is sanctification, it then makes sense:

1) why Jesus would say what He said about obedience and would give parables such as the talents in Matthew 25: 14-30;

2) why Paul ‘beat his body and brought it under subjection lest after he had preached to others he himself might be a castaway’

3) why he would write to the Colossians the words of chapter 1: 21-23: “And you, who were once alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, He has now reconciled in his body of flesh through death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before Him, if indeed you continue in the faith stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel you heard… (emphasis added)”;

4) why he would write to the Philippians to ‘work out their own salvation with fear and trembling’ and to Timothy, a man already in the faith, to take heed to himself and to the teaching for by doing so he would both save himself and those who heard him;

5) why the writer to the Hebrews would fill his book with warnings against drawing back and falling away while exhorting us to run with patience the race set before us;

6) why Peter would instruct us to make every effort to make our calling and election sure;

7) and why men like John Bunyan and the Puritans would understand the Christian life as being like that described in Bunyan’s Pilgrims Progress.

From this, the answer to the question in the title of this article seems clear. Obedience to Christ is NOT works righteousness. Rather, obedience to Christ’s commands is a necessary proof of salvation, completes faith and is the outflow of true love for Jesus. He who has Jesus commands and keeps them is the one who loves Jesus while the one who does not keep Jesus words does not love Him. Jesus said that, simply and clearly. You see, there is a huge difference between works before faith which are designed to commend us to God and works as a result of faith as a response to God.

And so, what should we do in light of all this? Paul’s instruction to the church at Corinth is worth pondering. After warning the Corinthians not to receive the grace of God in vain (2 Cor. 6: 1), which implies it is possible to do so, he goes on to write in 7: 1 “Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of the Lord” for without holiness~without sanctification, as the NASB says~no one will see the Lord.

Therefore, lets us run so as to receive the prize, fighting the good fight of faith to the end, for he who endures to the end will be saved !