The measure of
the authenticity and efficacy of our faith is its object: Jesus Christ.
It is not the
production of good works, in either intensity or volume, that saves a man or
"transforms the culture,” an extra-biblical but common refrain of modern,
“social justice” infused evangelicalism.
Salvation and
transformation are categories uniquely under the power and will of the Holy
Spirit, but you might not get that when listening to the “Just Do Something”
culture of today. The need, contrary to the tone of many streams in evangelical
culture today, is to let the fruit of our salvation be that and that alone,
recognizing that it is God who is at work in us both to will and to work for
his good pleasure (Phil. 2:13).
"These good works, done in obedience
to God's commandments, are the fruits and evidences [emphasis added] of a true
and lively faith: and by them believers manifest their thankfulness, strengthen
their assurance, edify their brethren, adorn the profession of the gospel, stop
the mouths of the adversaries, and glorify God, whose workmanship they are,
created in Christ Jesus thereunto, that, having their fruit unto holiness, they
may have the end, eternal life." Westminster Confession of Faith, 16.2
If we understand
or preach or teach good works as anything other than a consequence of
our justification and sanctification, we will invariably make them an instrument
of our greater salvation. Here, we will fall into the error of neonomianism,
that is, a new type of law (i.e. the production of good works) by which a
person is made or remains right with God in addition to faith. This is
the heart of the error by which so many in our day confuse law and gospel.
In counseling, I
frequently encounter this confusion. It can be identified as a source of much
emotional and spiritual angst experienced by believers, who can never know if
they have produced an acceptable amount or intensity of good
works, or, for that matter, if their efforts were directed at the proper cause
(an arbitrary matter usually adjudicated by fellow believers who typically
demand that the entire church walk in the same direction and pace as they do).
These believers
have, whether of their own accord or through errant teaching, come to confess
justification by faith alone, while holding to a subtle sanctification by
faith and good works. When this happens, the gospel, that message of
salvation by grace alone through faith in Christ alone, is at risk of being
lost altogether.
The heart that
has embraced neonomianism or that confuses law and gospel cannot rest in Christ
because it is trusting in something other than, or in addition to the
grace and promises of God. Here, the Christian life becomes a burden, rather
than a joy, and that is no Christian life at all. Here, the yoke of slavery to
law is taken up once more, and the only fruit is the bitterness of failure and
inability.
How then can we
know if we are at risk of these errors?
There would be
the obvious testimony of our conscience, witnessing to us the reality that we
have been holding to good works as an instrument of salvation, whether
in justification or sanctification. A more subtle indication would be if in any
of what has been said here is the thought or concern that the intended
message is the degradation of good works.
Nothing could be
farther from the truth!
The desire has
been to guide or nudge us back toward a proper understanding of the role
and nature of good works. The more faithful our understanding of these
matters to the teaching of Scripture, the more freedom, joy, and rest we will
encounter in Christ, as he alone becomes and is our sole righteousness and
hope.
“For the Law
has its terminus, defining how far it is to go and what it is to achieve,
namely, to terrify the impenitent with the wrath and displeasure of God and
drive them to Christ. Likewise the Gospel has its unique office and function:
to preach the forgiveness of sins to troubled consciences. Let doctrine then
not be falsified, either by mingling these two into one, or by mistaking the
one for the other. For the Law and the Gospel are indeed both God's word; but
they are not the same kind of doctrine.” Martin Luther, 1532
