What's the Difference Between Faith & Works？ - Dale Partridge
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Summary
In this episode of Real Christianity, Dale Partridge talks about the distinction of faith and works, how they relate to one another, and if we re saved by faith, what role do works play? But more than that, how can we push for works without being called a legalist? All that and more coming up right now on Real Christianity.
Transcript
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I talk about the distinction of faith and works.
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And if we're saved by faith, what role do works play?
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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
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back to the Bible. I wanted to tell you about one resource on how we're helping
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men get back to the Bible, which is the manliness of Christ. If you haven't picked up this small
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book, you can do so at relearn.org forward slash man. This book is a short, simple book you could
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read in less than an hour, probably, or maybe about an hour. And it's a great book for men
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to go through together. We also have a accompanying study guide that you can pick up again at
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relearn.org forward slash man. The book is also available on Amazon if you wanted to pick it up
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there. The book is really talking about how the masculinity of Jesus eradicates effeminate
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Christianity. It's a great resource. Again, you can go through it in just about an hour.
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And if you have a small group or a men's group that you'd like to go through, we'd love to have
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you guys do that. It would be a blessing to our ministry to have you do that. All right, guys,
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Let's go ahead and jump in to this episode, talking about Romans 4, chapter 4, verses 13 through 17.
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We have had a little bit of a push through this book of Romans.
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We've made our way through it consistently now.
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I'm going to walk you through about the three sections that we have gone through so far.
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So section one is really the prologue of the book, which is Romans 1.1 through 1.17.
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Section two is Romans chapter one, verse 18 through 3.21.
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And this is really talking about how everybody is under the jurisdiction and the condemnation
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The phrase, you know, there is none righteous, no, not one is in that section talking about
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that our central need is to be found righteous.
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And the only way we can do that is by faith in Christ.
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It's the revelation of justification by faith alone.
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the Great Reformation doctrine. Section three is the defense of what Paul just said in section two.
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And so it's really this beautiful section that runs from 321 to the middle of chapter five
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that is using Paul's defense for justification by faith alone by leveraging the testimony of
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the Old Testament. And as we learn, Paul anticipates the resistance of the Jews to this
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doctrine of justification by faith alone. And he references Genesis 15, 6, which says of Abraham,
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and he believed the Lord and he counted it to him as righteousness. That is, Paul uses the evidence
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of the Old Testament to validate the gospel in the New Testament. This is a really important
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example, an ethic that we need to understand, leveraging the Old Testament or leveraging the
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Old Testament to validate the New Testament. But Paul doesn't stop with Abraham. He continues to
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use the testimony of the Old Testament to prove his doctrine of justification by faith alone by
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leveraging the testimony of David. He references the 32nd Psalm. We see that a couple episodes ago,
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if you wanted to go back and listen to it. The central issue, however, that Paul is dealing with
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is he's correcting the Jews' poor covenant theology. This is really what's going on in the
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vast majority of this section that we're in here in Romans. They thought that the physical signs
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and seals, think of circumcision or law keeping or blood descendancy, or some of the sacrificial
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systems, were the means to bring about salvation. Paul has to clarify this by explaining that
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circumcision was simply the formalization or the certification of the covenant promise. It wasn't
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anything that would brought about justification or salvation. So circumcision in a real sense
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was God's mark of ownership upon his people,
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kind of like a farmer would necessarily brand an animal.
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but ultimately circumcision became a means of assurance
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for Abraham and all of those who had the promise of the covenant applied to their body.
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And the same principle is true for us in baptism, right? While circumcised or the circumcision
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pointed forward to the bloody sacrifice that was to come in Christ, baptism points backward to
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the cleansing of sin through the work that Christ had done. And so that's all it is though. These
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are sacraments. These are sacraments. They're signs, they're seals, they're a blessing of God's
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promise applied to your body. They're a grace in the form of assurance and spiritual identity,
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but in and of themselves, they cannot save. So at some point, the Jews' physical circumcision
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needed to become spiritual circumcision. And our baptism needs to become, it can't just be
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physical baptism. It must also be spiritual baptism, which is another way of saying,
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be born again. And so depending on where you're at, if you're a Baptist or if you're a Presbyterian,
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you're going to interpret that differently. But the reality is that these are signs and seals
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that do not save. The major takeaway of this section was Abraham was made righteous by faith
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before he was circumcised. In fact, it was the promise of the covenant was made to him 14 years
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prior to his circumcision. And that covenant sign that was applied to his body is important.
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But Paul tells us in 4.11-12, he was justified before he was circumcised, before, because
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that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that the righteousness
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might be credited to them, that is the uncircumcised.
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And he also was the father of the circumcision to those who are not only of the circumcision,
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but also who walk of the steps of the faith of our forefather Abraham, which he had while
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So essentially what he's saying here is the reason Abraham was circumcised after he'd been made
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righteous is so that he could be the father of those who are uncircumcised. And he can also be
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the father of the Jews who were circumcised, but also had faith like Abraham. So ultimately,
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Paul is communicating that it's not physical descendants or physical circumcision that makes
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a person a child of Abraham. It's a descendants of faith and a circumcision of the heart
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that truly matters. That's what he's trying to communicate here. So Paul is emphasizing the
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importance of a spiritual connection, a born again resurrection over any external or physical
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markers of identity or belonging. And so this is the point that he's getting at. He's highlighting
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the fact that true salvation and righteousness comes not from observing the law or adhering to
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sacramental rights, but from a genuine and sincere faith in Christ alone. And that's the
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landscape for the passage today. So it's Romans 4, 13 through 17. I'm going to read it right now.
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It says, for the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be the heir of the
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world was not through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of
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the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise is nullified. For the law brings about
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wrath. But where there is no law, there also is no violation. Okay, so I want to talk about the
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promise to Abraham from God and how it was threefold. So number one is he promised that the
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serpent crusher of Genesis 3.16 would come through his line or his family line. Number two is that
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he promised that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through that serpent crusher
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and that his children would be as numerous as the stars.
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And so the first promise, the first part of the promise,
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was fulfilled in the birth of Abraham's son, Isaac,
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and ultimately fulfilled in the birth and death
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as we see more and more Christians being born again
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And every time essentially God brings a new person
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end quote. So that's a really important distinction to understand that we are children of Abraham,
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not by descendancy, by blood, how the Jews thought, but by faith. The third part of the
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promise was fulfilled when the Israelites conquered the promised land and settled in the land of Canaan
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under the leadership of Joshua. So there's things that have been fulfilled and things that are
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being fulfilled still in this covenantal promise with Abraham, which again, Abraham's covenant is
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even within the covenant of grace that was established in Genesis 3.16. So there's greater
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theological understanding there that needs to happen, but we're not going to talk about that
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now. However, the Bible does speak of a broader promise that has to do similar to this covenant
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with Abraham. And it's an inheritance that extends beyond the land of Canaan. In the New Testament,
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for example, Jesus teaches that the meek shall inherit the earth. That's Matthew 5.5. And in the
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book of Revelation, it's written that God's people will reign with Christ on the earth. That's
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Revelation 5.10. That is that the promised land of the Israelites was the foreshadow of the promised
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land to the church. I'm going to say that again. I want you to understand that. The promised land
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of the Israelites was a foreshadow of the promised land to the church. They inherited Canaan,
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and the church will inherit the earth. They conquered Canaan by God's power.
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We will conquer the earth by Christ's gospel. And so when you think about how all these wars that
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were happening in the Old Testament, and they were coming into these different lands, and
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they were inheriting vineyards that they did not plant, and wells that they did not dig,
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They were inheriting these things by God's power.
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the serpent crusher has essentially crushed the head of the serpent. And he is our general. And
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by his gospel, now God is conquering, not through physical war, but he's conquering his enemies
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through conversion. He's actually converting people to the gospel. And now it started with
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12 guys. Now it's 36% of the world population professes to follow Christ. We have millions
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upon millions upon millions of Christians that are converting all across the world.
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and the gates of hell will not prevail against the church,
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we can trust that the church will continue to conquer
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in the same way that the Old Testament saints did.
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But the central point that Paul is trying to make is really in regards to how Abraham and his descendants would be heirs to these promises of inheriting the earth or numerous as the stars as these promises in the Old Testament to the covenant of Abraham.
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He wants them to see that the heirs are not going to receive the substance of the promises
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through obedience to the law, but through faith, that the channel, essentially, the river or the
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channel by which we receive the material promises of God come by faith. That's what it is. And so
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Paul goes on to cross-examine the alternative position. If you didn't agree with what I just
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said. He cross-examines that in verse 14. He says, for if those who are of the law are heirs,
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faith is made void and the promise is nullified. For the law brings about wrath, but where there
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is no law, there is also no violation. So in other words, if obedience to the law
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is the means to obtain the substance of the promise to Abraham, then faith is worthless
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because, and I would even say the promise would be repealed
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because the promise, as we clearly see in Genesis,
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And that's the point that Paul is trying to make.
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Essentially, Paul is showing that there's faulty logic here.
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It doesn't function according to the testimony of the Old Testament.
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And I believe that Paul also is guarding against the idea
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He wants to demonstrate how they are mutually exclusive paths to the promise or to inheriting
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the substance of the promise. And so the law, what does the law do? It tells us about our sin
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and it brings about God's wrath. It's the means of exposing and condemning our sins. That's what
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the law does. Faith on the other side brings about grace because it's the means by which we receive
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the substance of the promise of the covenant. And so there are two mutually exclusive paths
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that are happening here. Paul is teaching that the promises of God are strictly by faith. It's
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not a blend of faith and works. You don't keep yourself saved by maintaining your obedience to
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the law. And a lot of people operate that way even today. No, it's inherited strictly by faith.
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If the first can only deliver condemnation towards sinners, which all are sinners, then the second is the only valid option.
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For example, imagine you just traveled to a foreign country, you wanted to get dinner, and you're about to pay for the check, and you attempt to pay for your meal with the wrong currency.
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No matter how much money you have, it's not the correct currency, and you're not going to be able to satisfy the bill.
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If it's 10 euros and you got $5 and you got five euros,
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it's not going to be sufficient to cover the expense.
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You don't need dollars and euros, you need euros.
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It simply means that our works are not the means
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of procuring the promise of God in this covenant.
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but the faith that saves is never alone, end quote.
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or to make them maybe more secure in their salvation,
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It's the channel by which the righteousness of Christ
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about these distinctions between these two works and faith.
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It's how we receive the promises and blessings of God.
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Works are the fruit of faith, but they don't secure justification or the substance of the
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promises. Our faith establishes our relationship with God. It's the means that reconciles us to
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God because through that faith, we receive the righteousness of Christ, making us righteous
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before God, being able to be reconciled to him. But our works demonstrate the vitality of that
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faith or the vitality of that relationship? Vitality, I mean, is it alive? Do you have
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living faith? Do you have the true faith that's a gift of God? If you've been born again, you've
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been given the gift of faith. You will never fall away because it's not you that sustains that faith.
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It's God that sustains that faith. He who began a good work in you will finish it. Jesus is the
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author and finisher of your faith. So if our faith is real, the works will be abundant. If our faith
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is false, the works will be flat. Ultimately, by keeping faith and works in their proper place,
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what you do is you get a beautiful reality here. You avoid both the dangers of legalism on one side,
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and you also avoid the antinomianism on the other side. So the legalism is that you earn
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your justification by works, and antinomianism is separating obedience from faith. And so we need
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both. We don't want to have faith and no obedience and righteous living because that would be no
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fruit. And we don't want to have legalism, which says that you do certain things and those things
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are the things that make you justified before God. And so the distinction between faith and
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works is absolutely essential. In the end, Paul points out that faith is the means to the promise.
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this is how God's people will receive the substance of those promises. And if faith is the
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way, don't put your hope in works. Have works, rest in faith, work from faith, but whatever you
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do, don't turn from faith, right? Faith is something that, again, God gives you, but you
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rest in that is what I'm talking about. Rest in that faith. Don't turn from the rest that can be
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found only in faith. Don't think that God is essentially condemning you based off of your,
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if you've sinned. No, that sin was already paid for. And you can rest in the righteousness of
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Christ. And yes, you should have works. These works are designed to please God. So we can please
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God when we're saved. Now, if you're not saved, your good works are like filthy rags to God.
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They don't even matter. You're all condemned because you're in sin. You have no righteousness
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through faith. And so when you're sitting there as a Christian, you go, why have good works? Well,
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your motive needs to be to please God. It's not to justify yourself or to keep yourself saved.
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It's so that God might be pleased with you. And he's not pleased necessarily with
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All the good works that you do is Christ in you,
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because the only reason you're doing these good things
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but just wanted to help you understand the distinction