Does God Require Obedience To Be Justified？ - Dale Partridge
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Summary
In this episode of Real Christianity, Dale Partridge discusses the difference between obedience and legalism in the Christian life, and how they differ from each other in the context of Romans 1:18-20, and why they are so important in the life of a Christian.
Transcript
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In this episode of Real Christianity, I discuss the difference between obedience and legalism.
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This is an essential distinction for every Christian. In fact, without it, you're often
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going to mix up these two and make the gospel confusing. So get ready, all that and more coming
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Welcome to Real Christianity. My name is Dale Partridge. Now, as you know, this show is an
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audio and video ministry of relearn.org, where our mission is to bring the church back to the
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Bible. Question for you. Have you picked up a copy of my new bestselling children's book,
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forward slash gender. Let's go ahead and get started. We are still in Romans, which is an
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incredible book. And for the past several months, we've had the privilege to hear Paul's Holy Spirit
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inspired presentation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now in chapter one, Paul says that the
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gospel is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes equally with the Jews and
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the Gentiles. Then he goes on to really defend that claim in this multi-chapter coordinated
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argument from Romans chapter 1, 18, all the way to chapter 3, verse 20. In those three chapters,
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we learned a handful of things. I'm just going to do a little bit of a review and then we'll move
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on. So we learned the impartiality of God's wrath towards sinners. We learned the universal
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jurisdiction of the moral law over all people, Jew and Gentile. We learned that none are righteous,
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not even one. And we learned that just because the Jews were the seed of Abraham, that they had
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the possession of the moral law and that they were marked with circumcision did not necessarily mean
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that those things brought about justification or salvation as a result. So we learned that
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every person's central need is to be found righteous and to have their sin taken away,
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to be justified or to be guiltless before their maker. And the great dilemma is that no person
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can justify themselves through obedience to the law because we can't keep the law. And even if we
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fail in keeping the law at one point, we're guilty of all of it. James 2.10 says, for whoever keeps
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the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it, end quote. In other words,
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because we've all sinned, both in our original sin and our acts of sin, obedience will never be
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enough to make an unrighteous person righteous. And this is why Paul says that by works of the
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law, no human being will be justified. And so these words left both the Jews and the Gentiles
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with an inward sense of hopelessness. And Paul was essentially cutting off every possible way
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that a person might attempt to justify themselves before God. And so Paul did this so that he could
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stop people from looking to themselves for salvation and looking up to Christ for salvation,
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which leads to the climactic portion of the chapter in chapter three, which is the end of
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the chapter in verse 28, which says, for we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works
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of the law. So because justification was not by works of the law, but by the workless means of
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faith, Paul closes chapter three by demonstrating how the gospel essentially eliminates all boasting.
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And so because of faith and faith is the means by which God has saved man and faith is not a work,
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but it's actually a gift of God. Man cannot boast in his salvation. And so this is the immediate
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context for our passage right now. And I'm going to go ahead and read here in a minute our passage,
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but we have to realize that Paul is a master of argumentation. And several times throughout the
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letter, you're going to see him anticipate a response from his readers, and he's going to
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provide a rebuttal to his somewhat provocative claims. And so the claim we're going to be dealing
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with today is that salvation is by faith alone in Christ alone and boasting is excluded before God.
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So to us, it might seem unnecessary to see what Paul is doing, but to a Pharisaical culture of
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the Jews, justification apart from works is like a knife to the jugular. That's like the whole
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Jewish culture is about justifying yourself by works. And so this is something pretty profound
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It's really an attack on the Jewish way of legalism.
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And so this is exactly what Paul is expecting from the Jews.
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And his expectation is that someone might use Abraham.
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He might use Abraham, the father of their nation,
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through the obedience to circumcision. And so to a Jew, if anyone could claim
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that they were justified by works, it was Abraham. And here in chapter four, verses one through eight,
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Paul demonstrates how even Abraham is justified by the workless gift of faith. And as a result,
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even the venerated patriarch of the Jews was not an exception to the way of justification before God
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under the dispensation of the gospel. So to grasp the concept, I'm going to read
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Romans chapter 3, 26 through chapter 4, verse 3. So it's a decent chunk of scripture. You just
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follow along with me for a second. It says, it was to show his righteousness at the present time
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so that he might be the just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Then what comes
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of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith.
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For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Or is God the God of the
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Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one who will
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justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Do we then overthrow
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the law by this faith? By no means. On the contrary, we uphold the law. What then shall
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we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather, according to the flesh? For if Abraham was
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justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the
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scripture say, Abraham believed and it was counted to him as righteousness. All right. So let's go
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ahead and work through chapter four, verses one through three, verse by verse here. In verse one,
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it says, what then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather, according to the flesh.
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So at this point, Paul is speaking to the Jews in the Jewish paradigm. What I mean by that is that
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Paul understands that Abraham is the father of everyone who has faith. But as a hypothetical
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question coming from a Jewish paradigm, the Jews really essentially view themselves as the only
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legitimate children of Abraham. And so when it asks this question, what was gained according to
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the flesh? It's speaking to Abraham's circumcision. That's what, what was gained according to the
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flesh? Well, the flesh is talking about his work of circumcision. So to the Jews, they viewed
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circumcision as an act of justification and making themselves right before God, or at the very least
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as the means which to procure salvific blessings.
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And so the question that Paul is anticipating from the Jew
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is really, of what use was the obedience of circumcision
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if it doesn't give a man the right to salvation?
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And possibly another way of thinking about these questions is,
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and to the law or to, you know, being the father of the faith? And this is an important question,
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even for us, because if baptism or the Lord's table or obedience or God's word does not secure
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salvation, then what value do they have? I mean, that's a valid question for us to ask. If these
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things don't procure salvation, are they really even valuable to us? And that's really the Jewish
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paradigm that's been asking, well, if justification is by faith alone, then what value do these
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sacramental things, you know, Passover or keeping the Sabbath or having the law or being marked by
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certain, do these things have any value? And so first we have to understand that obedience
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is always good for us. We are always the beneficiaries of obedience to God. God is
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not the beneficiary to obedience. We're the beneficiary to obedience. And so second, we have
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to understand that God extends to us a certain degree of grace through the sacraments of baptism
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and the Lord's Supper in the same way that he extended a certain degree of grace in circumcision
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and the Lord's in Passover. These become essentially physical practices of spiritual
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realities that teach us important truths about the promises of God. And so for the Jews, it was
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pointing forward to the cross. And for the Christian, it's pointing back, baptism in the
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Lord's Supper is pointing back to the things that were fulfilled on the cross by Christ. And so these
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things are important. So while our obedience to these things doesn't produce salvation, it does
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absolutely have a benefit. There's a value in this, in pleasing God and reaping the benefits
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of obedience, of learning spiritual truths, of being reminded by these physical practices that
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they're a value to us. And so 2 Corinthians 5.9 says, so whether we are at home or away,
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we make it our aim to please him. So there's a distinguishing matter that we have to talk about
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for a second. Our job as Christians, as people that are saved by grace, isn't to obey the law
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or to be obedient to whatever passage of scripture simply because those things bring about
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justification. That's our salvation is not resting upon our own righteousness. No, we obey because we
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want to please God. And that's a beautiful thing. That means that our motive for obedience at that
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point is love instead of fear or duty. And so we do want to obey, but it's to please the Lord.
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It's not to actually secure ourselves and our salvation and our justification before God.
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So ultimately, Paul is preparing in this passage to address the Jews' poor covenant theology.
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They need to distinguish the difference between the sacramental practices and the way that we're justified.
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Paul actually dealt with this a little bit in chapter 3, verses 1.
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It says, then what advantage has the Jew or what value is of circumcision?
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Again, he was already doing the same thing he's doing here.
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anticipating those responses to the idea that you're saved by faith alone. And so Paul is
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trying to disconnect this outward administrations of the covenant, circumcision, Passover,
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these elements from the inward administrations of justification by faith. He doesn't want to
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have the Jews just throw out that these things are just absolutely like they were meaningless.
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Just the same way we don't throw out baptism in the Lord's Supper.
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And so we don't throw them out, but they aren't the things that save you,
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which is an important distinction because there's a lot of people in Christianity
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that think that their baptism or their church membership
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that prepared them for and pointed them to Christ.
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They weren't the thing that actually secured salvation.
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He says, for if Abraham was justified by works,
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he has something to boast about, but not before God.
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So again, the works that Paul is speaking to primarily here
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and obedience to the law, et cetera, could be included here. And Paul is clarifying that even
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Abraham, the man known for his obedience to God, was not justified by his works, but justified by
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his faith. Now, it's difficult to convey the degree of veneration that the Jews had regarding
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Abraham. The Mishnah, which is a collection of rabbinical writings on the law, I found some
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quotes that said, quote, we find that Abraham, our forefather, had performed the whole law
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before it was given. For it is written because that Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge,
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my commandments, my statutes, and my laws, end quote. So there's this view of Abraham that was
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almost messianic in terms of fulfilling the entire law, which Paul is declaring that that is false.
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for Abraham was perfect in all his deeds with the Lord
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and well-pleasing in righteousness all the days of his life.
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to compare the Jews' false view of Abraham
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is to compare it to the Catholics' false view of Mary.
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This is a highly inflated, unbiblical, and untruthful view of Abraham.
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And so the perception of Abraham was so inflated that Paul had to bring some painful clarification.
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And so first, Paul needed to remove the perception that the Jews had of Abraham.
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And second, he needed to teach them that there's a right relationship between faith and works.
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Sproul, R.C. Sproul, who's one of my favorite theologians, said,
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quote, salvation is by faith alone, but not by faith that is alone. Namely, saving faith
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will always be accompanied by good works. That's a reality. Saved people obey. Those good works
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are not the means of your justification. They are the means to please God. And you may have heard
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the other famous saying, good works are the fruit of salvation, but they are not the root of
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salvation. We know that the fruit of salvation is good works because it's coming from the motive
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of a saved heart and a desire to please God and a desire to save yourself. But the root of
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salvation is the perfect obedience of Christ who kept the law and fulfilled the righteous demands
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of the law on your behalf. And his righteousness was imputed to you by faith. So essentially,
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Paul is demonstrating the great equalizing power of justification by faith alone. He's continuing
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to prove his point regarding the exclusion of boasting by showing that even the greatest man
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known to the Jews, had no grounds for boasting because he was not justified by his obedience to
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circumcision or obedience to the law. He was justified by his faith in his belief of God's
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promise. And so as it pertains to being found right before God, Abraham and the thief on the
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cross, they're the same. Peter and the Philippian jailer, they're the same. The former slave trader,
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John Newton, who wrote the song Amazing Grace, and the theologian Jonathan Edwards, they're the same.
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have no better standing than the weakest saints
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is a lesson that is difficult for all of us.
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that the great Abraham has nothing in the flesh,
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Like any other sinner is a great shock," end quote.
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Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.
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So first, let's just take note that Paul appeals to scripture here,
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which indirectly affirms that Paul trusts the infallibility of the Old Testament.
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And in particular, he's talking about the book of Genesis,
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essentially sets the stage for the entire Bible.
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But second, Paul is referring to Genesis 15, 6,
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which says, quote, and he believed the Lord and he counted it to him as righteousness, end quote.
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So it's easy to minimize the degree of faith that we see in Abraham if we forget the context of the
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promise that was made to Abraham and the reality of Abraham's life at the time. And so this is
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important because it demonstrates a magnitude of faith that is supernatural and significant.
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Genesis 15, Abraham believed from a vision that God was going to make his descendants as numerous
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as the stars. Now, this promise was made to a man who had no child and was married to a woman
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who was way beyond the years of procreation. In other words, Abraham believed in the impossible.
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I mean, this is a miracle that is going to occur here in Abraham's life because God gave him the
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gift of supernatural faith. In Romans 4, 16 through 22, which we'll get to in a few episodes,
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Paul illustrates the degree of this faith and affirms us that our faith as Abraham's children
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will be like his faith, which is important because he is the father of the faith and our faith will
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be like his faith. And we all have the same faith because our faith is given to us as a gift of God.
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And I'll read this passage for you. Again, it's chapter 4, 16 through 22. It says,
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this is why it depends on faith in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all
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his offspring, not only to the adherent of the law, but also to the ones who share the faith
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of Abraham, who is the father of us all. As it is written, I have made you the father of many
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nations in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls
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into existence the things that do not exist. In hope, he believed against hope that he should
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become the father of many nations. As he had been told, quote, so shall your offspring be.
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He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead since he was
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about a hundred years old, or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No, unbelief
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This is why his faith was counted to him as righteousness,
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We're going to eat it all up once we get there later in Romans chapter four.
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Ultimately, Paul is reaffirming that it's not just,
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or it's not man's work that brings about justification.
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Now, to be clear, faith itself is not what makes anyone righteous.
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It's simply the means or the vehicle or the channel
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The thing that makes us saved is the righteousness of Christ.
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He who began a good work and you will finish it.
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When that channel of faith remains by God's power,
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This is part of the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints
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If you're truly saved, you won't lose your salvation because the faith that actually makes your salvation possible, the channel that receives the righteousness of Christ is not going to go away because the faith is a gift of God that's being sustained by God and kept on your behalf.
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And we see this plainly in the sinfulness of Abraham.
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and the many sinful acts that he did in his life
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And so again, it wasn't resting upon his obedience.
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his righteousness was secured by the just and the justifier of the one who has faith. And for us,
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it's faith in Christ. For him, it was faith in the promise of God. Essentially, the Old Testament
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and the New Testament were both saved by faith. Just the content of our faith is slightly
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different. The faith is the promises that God made regarding the Messiah. And for us, it's in
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the righteousness and trust of Jesus Christ himself. And so again, all this points back to
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the mega theme of Romans, that justification is by faith alone in Christ alone. And for that reason,
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no man, including Abraham or you or me, can boast. So hopefully that's helpful and edifying for your
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walk with the Lord, giving you a better understanding of the gospel so that you have
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greater biblical and theological literacy. We need that in the church. If you're a regular listener
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