Romans
4:4-5 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of
debt. 5But
to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness.
Galatians
2:21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come
by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
There
is much discussion and conflict among Christians concerning the
relationship between law, grace, and works. Is it by grace or works of the
law that we are made righteous? Is it by grace or works of the law that we
maintain our righteous standing with the Lord? We should let scripture
answer our questions.
Frankly,
many churches promote salvation by grace, and then switch the child of God
to “works to be kept in good standing.” They won’t come out and say
you lose your salvation, but the implication is that you certainly
aren’t pleasing to God, and are then somehow less of a Christians than
the others who do all the works. They miss the fact that only the Son
pleases the Father – and now, only the Son in us can please the Father.
Again, they put the monkey on the believer’s back – they miss grace.
Galatians
2:21 I do not frustrate (atheteo, set-aside) the grace of God: for if
righteousness come by the
law, then Christ is dead in vain.
Galatians
2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the
faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Let
us examine now where there is conflict in law, grace, and works and where
these may, if they at all come together. Law and works together belong to
another dispensation – The Law. Today, in the dispensation of the grace
of God (Eph 3:2), grace and works come together, but only in their proper
order and by the work of the spirit, not by works that man may
conceive in order to make or keep himself righteous. The answer
then is found in understanding our intimate relationship with God, by
Christ, as the indwelling spirit of life (Rom 8:2a).
First,
we must see that our eternally righteous standing before the Lord is
wholly dependent upon the Lord’s work on our behalf, quite apart from
any doing of ours – that is grace. Let’s consider some simple
statements defining grace, law and works, as they pertain to our righteous
standing before the Lord.
Titus
3:5 Not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us,
by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
2
Cor. 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him.
What is grace? Grace is
God's great work accomplished freely in His unconditional and limitless
love for helpless, unworthy, and sinful man. God's grace is God working
for man.
What is the law? The Law
actually was given to Israel not the Gentiles. Wrongfully most Christians
take the things of Israel as though they were their own. Nevertheless, the
law is God's demand for man to do something for God, or as result of
God’s demand.
What is work? Work in response
to law is man's effort to do something for God, to meet his demand.
What is grace? Grace is neither
God requiring something, nor God receiving man's work at all, but grace is
… God doing His own work. When God comes forth to do something for and
on behalf of man, this is grace. This is the essence of the grace of God
lavished upon us in the dispensation of the grace of God, far beyond the
kind of grace was manifested in the Old Testament times. We today live
under the pure 100% grace of God.
Again, how does this contrast
with the law? The law is God requiring man to work for Him, standing in
contrast with the grace that is God working for man.
Is God giving something to man … or is He asking for something from man?
If God is asking for something
from man, we are still in the age of the law.
- If God is giving something to man,
we are in the age of grace.
You would not go to someone's
home to give him money while you are there to collect money. Likewise, law
and grace are opposite principles; they cannot be put together. If man is
to receive grace, he must put the law aside totally. On the other hand, if
he follows the law, he will fall from grace.
Thus, the Apostle Paul speaks
here of work and grace as total opposites.
Romans
11:6 And if by grace, then is it
no (“0”) more of works:
otherwise grace is no (“0”)
more grace. But if it be
of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.
I believe Rom 11:6 speaks of
the basis of our standing before the Lord. Regarding our standing with
God, works cannot be any part of it at any time, before or after we are
regenerated.
Some would say, “How can this
be, we must do something?” Yet we know from Scripture that Abraham was
declared righteous, apart from the works of the law, before the law was
given.
Romans
4:3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham
believed God, and it was
counted unto him for righteousness.
Now,
what about works for the Christian?
First,
like Abraham, our work is based on a non-work of simply trusting God.
Jesus told us the work of God is to believer (trust
in, cling to and rely upon) Him whom the Father has sent.
John
6:29b … This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
Regarding
our daily walk and any work we might do unto the Lord, we first must
realize that we walk also in total grace, totally apart from earning
anything that may pertain to maintaining or keeping our righteous standing
in the Lord. Paul makes this clear here in Col 2:6 that we are to walk
just as we received Christ - by
grace alone (Eph 2:8-9)
Col.
2:6 As ye have therefore
received Christ Jesus the Lord, so
walk ye in him:
Any
proper doing of work by us is based solely upon God’s doing, in and
through us. Paul confirms this here. Philip.
2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his
good pleasure. This doing then is the result of living “by
receiving” Christ and then trusting Him continually, as the grace of God
continually giving and supplying us according to His indwelling life and
will.
Will
a Christian do what may appear to be righteous works in the Lord?
Yes,
but some of the works we may do will be genuine works of righteousness
(Christ’s work through us) and some will be false works (self-effort). Neither
the genuine or false works still have anything to do with our righteous
standing with the Lord – that was settled at the cross once and for all.
Our proper works have all to do with whether or not we walk in an intimate
union with the Lord.
Union,
what do I mean?
We
as a soul must abide in union with Christ in our spirit if any works are
truly righteous works. Such works are a matter of that Christians love and
walk in union with Christ, who is our indwelling life (Col 3:4). That
union permits the Lords life to flow through and out of the believer’s
soul in whatever way the Lord may desire, as the Lord speaks and moves the
believer from within his spirit.
I
refer to the indwelling Lord as the source of our righteous doing because
He alone is the Spirit of life (Rom 8:2) who indwells every child of God,
in their human spirit. Some Christians worship the Scripture more than the
indwelling Lord, to whom the Scripture points. The Scripture is not always
“life” to man; Paul said “the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.” The Scripture
is true and right but it must be rightly divided to apply it correctly.
Unless the Scripture is made alive to us by the spirit it will not be life
to man, but death. Scripture by itself, that is, apart from the spirit of
life of the indwelling Lord, promulgates what Paul calls “dead works.”
The
concept of mimicry or imitation, as with WWJD, promotes is just such
independent works that then are dead works. Works done apart from the life
and inward guidance of the indwelling Christ are dead works.
It
is by the indwelling Lord that we “hear” His voice and we follow. We
may hear with spiritual ears as we read scripture and also as Christ in us
speaks to us, convicting and guiding us. We are to walk by the inward
sense of His indwelling life – we hear by the sense of His indwelling
life – a sort of sixth sense. To take scripture, apart from the
indwelling voice of the Lord is to walk apart from the indwelling Lord.
Jesus said “my sheep hear my voice
and they follow me.” (Jn 10:27).
Conversely,
walking apart from or separated from Christ in us is the opposite of
walking in union with Christ the Lord. When we deny the inner voice of the
Lord we walk apart from Christ – often trying to do works of
righteousness on our own. These works in fact then are not works of
righteousness but of self-interest; perhaps for reputation or to be seen
as righteous. Works done by demand of law or fiat of the Scripture, apart
from the indwelling sense of the Lord, are dead works, since they are
apart from the One who is life. We are to maintain union with the
indwelling Lord learning to hear His inward voice and by submitting to His
promptings, or inward restraining.
Paul
tells us in Ephesians 2:8-10 that we are “saved
by grace through faith” alone. I believe the embodiment of this
grace that saves us is Christ life deposited into man’s spirit at
regeneration. Works done out of love and union with the indwelling life of
Christ are in fact works
of grace. Having partaken of the grace of God, Christ in us (2Tim
4:22), Paul then goes onto tells us that we are saved “unto
good (or genuine) works” Eph
2:10.
You
see, since it is Christ Himself who dwells in us as our new life (Gal
2:20, Col 3:4) and it was Jesus Christ who in the Gospels says He only
desires and does the will of the Father (John 5:30), then it is He in us
who will work through us to do the will of the Father. This working of
Christ through us is the result of His continuing union with and obedience
to the Father and made possible only as we abide in union with the
indwelling Christ – walking in Him (Col 2:6). We are His incarnation on
earth today and are the only body He has upon the earth today. As we
maintain our union with Christ by abiding in that union, walking according
to the indwelling spirit of life, we will be the vehicles by which Christ
will flow out to others. This is Christ continuing to do the will of the
Father. In this union, we then fulfill Jesus’ John 17 prayer for union -
we are in Him, and He and the Father are in us.
John
17:23a I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one;
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