Delivered From the Law

[Dave]

Only those who are following Christ’s example of walking in obedience to God’s law are in Christ (1 John 2:6).

Hi @Soyeong

We should only look to our works as an evidence. Once we cross the line and look to our works to justify ourselves, this parable in Luke applies.

Luke 18:9-14 Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank You that I am not like other men--extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.' And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

The sinner was justified. The tax collector who obeyed God's Law perfectly (at least in his own mind) wasn't. Obeying God wasn't the sin. It was trusting in obeying God that made the tax collector not justified. The sinner who trusted in Jesus was justified.

The merits that justify us before God are all from Jesus.

Dave

 

[Soyeong]

Hi @Soyeong

We should only look to our works as an evidence. Once we cross the line and look to our works to justify ourselves, this parable in Luke applies.

Luke 18:9-14 Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, 'God, I thank You that I am not like other men--extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.' And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

The sinner was justified. The tax collector who obeyed God's Law perfectly (at least in his own mind) wasn't. Obeying God wasn't the sin. It was trusting in obeying God that made the tax collector not justified. The sinner who trusted in Jesus was justified.

The merits that justify us before God are all from Jesus.

Dave

Hello,

For someone who have a character trait means that they are a doer of that trait, so God being a doer of righteous works is not evidence that He righteous so much as it is what it means for God to be righteous.

God is trustworthy, therefore His instructions are also trustworthy (Psalms19:7), so the way to trust in God is by obediently trusting in His instructions and it it would be contradictory for someone to think that they should trust in God instead of trusting in His instructions. Likewise, relying on ourselves for our justification would involve doing something other than relying on God's instructions because it would be contradictory to rely on ourselves by relying on God. It would also be contradictory for someone to think that we should trust in God's word made flesh instead of in God's word.

Jesus set a sinless example for us to follow of how to walk in obedience to God's law, so he was much more zealous for obedience to it than the Pharisees were and he never criticized the for being zealous for obeying it, but he did criticize them for not obeying it or for not obeying it correctly. For example, in Mark 7:6-9, Jesus criticized Pharisees as being hypocrites for setting aside the commands of God in order to establish their own traditions. In Matthew 23:23, Jesus said that tithing was that they ought to be doing while not neglecting weightier matters of the law, so he was not opposing their obedience to it, but was calling them to have a higher level of obedience to it in a manner that is in accordance with its weightier matters. Jesus also criticized Pharisees for their pride and hypocrisy of doing things for show, but again the fault was never with relying on God's instructions.

 

[prism]

Doing good works has nothing to do with trying to be good enough to be acceptable to God.

So why did you mention this?...
"We can do works that express faith, such as with all of the examples of faith listed in Hebrews 11 or with James 2:18 saying that he would show his faith by his works."
The way I understand you, faith is manifested by our works works which expresses our faith. Very confusing.

 

[Soyeong]

So why did you mention this?...
"We can do works that express faith, such as with all of the examples of faith listed in Hebrews 11 or with James 2:18 saying that he would show his faith by his works."
The way I understand you, faith is manifested by our works works which expresses our faith. Very confusing.

In Titus 2:11-13, our salvation is described as being trained by grace to do what is godly, righteous, and good, and to renounce doing what is ungodly, so we are not required to have first done enough of those works in order to earn our salvation as the result, but rather God graciously teaching us to be a doer of those works is part of His gift of salvation.

If you came across a bridge that someone told you was safe, then the way for you to trust them would be by crossing the bridge. If you said that you trusted them, but you refused to cross the bridge, then your acts would be showing that you don't actually trust them. You don't have to cross the bridge enough times in order to prove that you trust them, but rather crossing it is simply the way to trust them. Likewise, the way to have faith in God to guide us in how to rightly live is by following His instructions, which is why James said that he would show his faith by his works.

 

[prism]

If you came across a bridge that someone told you was safe, then the way for you to trust them would be by crossing the bridge. If you said that you trusted them, but you refused to cross the bridge, then your acts would be showing that you don't actually trust them. You don't have to cross the bridge enough times in order to prove that you trust them, but rather crossing it is simply the way to trust them. Likewise, the way to have faith in God to guide us in how to rightly live is by following His instructions, which is why James said that he would show his faith by his works.

That may be true in the natural way of thinking, but I'm glad and trusting that Jesus crossed that bridge in our place (faith in Him).