One of the most puzzling things about justification to many people is the issue of faith. We want to know exactly what faith is. We want to know just how much faith I have to have. We want to know why God saves or justifies through faith. We want to know where faith comes from. We want to know so many things about faith, and we are quite uncomfortable when the discussion is about something that man cannot do for himself and is really beyond the intellectual capabilities of man to even comprehend with certainty and clarity. We must assert with Scripture that faith is a spiritual action and is something that is beyond the ability of the natural man who is dead in the spiritual realm. One must be born of the Spirit and made alive by the Spirit.To some people faith is not really apart from works, but it tells them that the works must come from faith. So when they say that they are justified by faith, what they mean is that they are justified by the works that come from faith. Others have a mixture of works that flow from faith while still others are honest and just put it plainly by saying that works themselves either save or assist in the salvation. Some (Roman Catholicism) say that the issue is that when one has faith then Christ Himself works in the human recipient the grace needed to do the works needed to be justified. However, they run into the same problem that they accused the Reformers of. If the biblical teaching of the imputation of the righteousness of Christ is considered a legal fiction, then how can they escape the same charge since it is Christ actually doing the work in human beings in order that they may be justified? We must also remember the teachings from Romans 4 that God justifies the ungodly. When a human being is declared just by God that human being is in and of himself ungodly. God declares people just only on the basis of Christ and no other basis at all. There is only one way to the Father (John 14:6) and this is through the life, works, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. There is only one way to the Father and that is because we have the Lamb of God as our sacrifice and the risen Lord as our High Priest and Mediator. Justification is by faith without works (faith alone) because human beings are only declared just on the basis of Christ alone.
In a very real sense to say that one is saved by faith and works is to say that one is saved by grace and works. In other words, any attempt to add works to faith is to add works to grace. Even more, to go to the heart of the issue, to say that one is saved by faith and works is to say that one is saved by Christ and works. Whenever we hear of a person wanting to add works to justification, we should hear them saying that salvation is by Christ to some degree and the rest by our works. That should clear the issue. Anyone who recognizes his own spiritual impotence should know from the depths of his own heart that he has no strength in the spiritual realm in and of himself. Anyone who has seen the glory of what Christ has done wants nothing to do with his own works for salvation. Anyone who has drunk at the well of living water does not want the foul water of his own works. Anyone who has delighted his soul in the glory of His grace does not want to pollute the beauty of the Gospel of grace by adding works to that. How obnoxious works are when we try to add merit for justification to them.
But this still leaves many other questions about faith itself. Many want to make faith out to be a work that they do. In other words, they think that God required works in the Old Testament but now He simply requires you to believe certain things. In the Gospel of John, for example, most translations use the word “believe” rather than the word “faith.” The word is the same in the Greek, but it is not correct in English to speak of a person “faithing.” We would have to change John 3:16 to read like this: “so that whosoever faiths would not perish.” We must not think that to believe the Gospel is the same thing as to believe a report on the news. “So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine” (John 8:31). Here we see that some of the Jews really believed in one sense, but Jesus told them that they must continue in His word it then were truly disciples of His. We see the same issue in several places in John. We see many believing according to the text but then we see that they never really believed when they fell away. We see the same issue in Luke 8.
“Those beside the road are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart, so that they will not believe and be saved.13 “Those on the rocky soil are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no firm root; they believe for a while, and in time of temptation fall away. 14 “The seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity. 15 “But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance” (Luke 8:12-15).
In the interpretation of the parable given by Jesus we notice that the people in v. 12 heard the word but the devil took the word from their heart so that they would not believe. In v. 13 we see that some believed for a while, but temptation is too much for them and they fall away. In v. 14 we see that some hear but the word is choked out. In v. 15 we see the truly converted people and they are also said to hear with honest and good hearts which holds the word fast and bears fruit with perseverance. Now we can see many things from this parable. One, it appears that all believe in some way. Only the one with the good heart heard in such a way that he held it fast and bore fruit with perseverance. The text appears to be using the words “heard” and “hear” (same word in the Greek) as synonyms for believe or at least in a way to include belief. V. 15 speaks of those who have “heard the word in an honest and good heart,” but it never says that they believed. On the other hand, we see from v. 13 (the only one that the text says believed) that these believe but only for a while.
We can only conclude after seeing how Jesus uses the words in Luke 8 that to hear the word in that way is to believe. Some believe but do not persevere, while others hear the word in a good heart and do persevere. The issue, then, is certainly beyond a mere cognitive belief, but is a hearing the word from the heart. The others, to generalize, did not hear the word with anything but their ears. Whatever faith is, then, requires it to be correlated with hearing the word and also holding to it from a good and honest heart. It is not just that one has a belief that comes from an intellectual hearing and has an intellectual grasp of the facts, but it is a belief or faith that comes from hearing the word and hears from a heart that has been changed by God. After all, only God can take a fallen heart and change it to where it is good and honest.
Now, to stand back and look at the teachings of Scripture on this subject is to understand that things are different than what is commonly presented. It is not just up to man to make himself believe, but instead man must hear from an honest and good heart. Only God can give a heart like that so a true belief/faith must come from a heart that God has changed. Belief/faith, then, must have something that precedes it for a person to be able to believe. Some refer to this a “regeneration precedes faith,” but whatever one calls it we must deal with the issue that the heart has to be changed in some way for a person to hear the word and hold it fast. We must deal with faith in a way where we honestly deal with many texts of Scripture and take them all, shall we say, to heart. While thinking about faith sounds easy to many, the issue is not really all that easy.
The reason that God justifies by faith is not left to the guesswork of men. Paul gives us the answer in Romans 4: “For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants, 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” (v. 16). Paul tells us that God justifies by faith for two reasons. One, He justifies by faith in order that justification would be in accordance with grace. Two, He justifies by grace so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants. Just to be clear, we must note that whatever faith is it must magnify the grace of God and be in accordance with grace. What does that mean? “But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace” (Rom 11:6). Whatever is by grace is not on the basis of works because that would make grace out to be something other than grace. A justification that includes even some works as the basis for justification destroys grace altogether. Grace is no longer grace when mixed with works.
Second, it is so that the promise would be guaranteed to all the descendants. This is a powerful reason given for why justification is by faith. This also instructs us as to the nature of justification if we will look at this and think it over carefully. How could justification be guaranteed to all the descendants if by faith but not by another way? One, if God changes the heart and gives faith then He can do this to all those that He is pleased to do so. In that way justification is guaranteed because God brings them all to faith. Two, if the promise has to be guaranteed by a means that it takes God to work then this type of faith is beyond the natural human power and capability. Justification by faith without works does not tell us how easy salvation is, it tells us that it is impossible except for God. Jesus instructed the disciples after He spoke with the rich young ruler in this manner, “The things that are impossible with people are possible with God” (Luke 18:27). Faith is not easy. In fact, it is impossible for man. We must learn that to be justified by faith is to destroy all human merit and works at all. It is all by grace, that is, by Christ. Any works added to justification for merit destroys the true Gospel of grace alone through faith alone.
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