The Law is Not of Faith But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith, but, “The man that does them shall live in them.” (Gal. 3:11-12) Note the sentence: “The law is not of faith.” It could read, “The ability to keep God’s law and be justified thereby is not the outcome of faith.” There have always been those who have taught that faith in Christ gives us the power to keep God’s law – and that this is HOW we are then justified. Indeed, I have heard GRACE wrongly defined as, “The desire and power to do God’s will.” But hidden within this error is really justification by works: For if faith enables us to be justified by works then faith is nothing more than the means by which we become justified by works. This is not the Truth. Faith -- rather than enable us to keep God’s law and thus be justified by works -- is the means by which we are justified BY CHRIST HIMSELF – completely independent of our works. Yes, all good works in the Christian life are supposed to be the outcome of real faith – but this does not mean that those works justify us. No. We are solely justified by faith in Christ. Good works are the outcome – not the means unto justification – and not a means to complete our justification. Again – “the law is not OF faith,” but rather, “justification in Christ is solely by faith.” This is a world of difference. But we will never grasp that difference unless we know what it means to be born again.
Posted on: Fri, 19 Sep 2014 18:42:03 +0000
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