Let me put a proposition before you: Salvation depends on doing what is right in God’s eyes. Controversial? Not really, borne out as it is by Biblical testimony from the very first chapters of Genesis.
In fact, if we were to ask: Why does salvation depend on doing what is right in God’s eyes? The truth of this proposition becomes immediately evident in Genesis 3. There, all that is wrong in this world is shown to come from not doing what is right with God, from seeking to go our own way, seeking our independence from God and His wisdom. The tragic result was the introduction of death into the world. This was to cut short the evil and destructiveness of those determined to go their own way. The world of Genesis 6 is the dramatic proof of man’s capacity for evil when he abandons doing what is right in God’s eyes.
Clearly, salvation does depend on our willingness to listen to God and to do what He asks! But, what exactly does He want us to do?
Searching for an answer for what is “Right”
This might seem to be an easy question to answer, but it has always been a problem for religious people. The natural tendency is to look for things we must “do”: A list of right things to be done that will assure us of salvation.
- In the Catholic system, salvation begins at baptism (one of the seven sacraments) by which God makes the sinner (even if an infant) righteous. Then, throughout his life, God helps the believer to maintain and increase this righteousness by good works. Ultimately, a person is accounted to have satisfied the divine law by his works done by God’s help, and thus he merits eternal life.1
- The Protestant Church, though founded on the principle of “justification by faith,” in practice emphasizes good works as the essential accompaniment of faith. So, for most Christians, a great deal of spiritual satisfaction is found in the performance of good works, and there is the implicit feeling that these good works will win God’s approval.
- Judaism felt their system of rules and ordinances (The Law of Moses) defined the list of things they must “do” to be acceptable to God. But it was their righteousness, what they thought was right, not what God saw as right. Paul in Romans provides the most explicit description in all Scripture of the absolute failure of a religion of rules to make us acceptable to God. “O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death” is Paul’s final, frustrated cry (Rom 7:242).
So, what is right in God’s eyes? What does He want us to do?
This was the very question Jesus was asked: “What must we do to be doing the works of God?” He replied: “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom He (God) sent” (John. 6:28-29). The “work” God desires us to perform is to “believe” in His son. Paul develops this thought further “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes…” (Rom 1:16). The power of God for salvation operates only for those who believe the Gospel. Believing another gospel, no matter how sincerely or devoutly held, will never have this power to save.
More importantly, the Gospel has no inherent, mystical power. It is mere words on a page, a voice hanging in the air. The Gospel becomes powerful, able to move us to do extraordinary things, when it is believed. This is the explanation behind the radically changed lives in Hebrews 11. But it is even more than this: Believing the Gospel is also the basis of our righteousness. “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith’ ”(Rom 1: 17).
It is difficult to make sense of these words as normally translated, so consider this paraphrase that tries to catch the spirit of the underlying phrasing: What God has set forth as being “right” in His eyes is revealed “out of” the faith of those who have believed, and by this means is revealed “unto” those who will believe. This is as God has declared in Habakkuk that the one He sees to be righteous (“just”) is the one who lives “by faith.”
In Romans Paul further elaborates this theme: “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe” (Rom 3: 21-22). What God deems to be “right” is not manifested by those who keep the Law, it is manifested by those who believe in Jesus Christ. Paul now leads us to his powerful, culminating exposition of what God declares to be right in His eyes: “What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness’ ” (Rom 4:1-3).
This reference by Paul to Genesis 15:6 sets before us the most powerful declaration of the “righteousness” God seeks. And yet it is the most misunderstood declaration! Time and time again we hear or read that God counted Abraham to be a righteous man because he believed God. Righteousness was something God “imputed” to Abraham because he had “faith.” Brethren pursue this thought by asking whose righteousness was imputed. Then elaborate explanations are developed about how Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us.
But this reads the statement in reverse! God didn’t say that righteousness was imputed to him who believed: God said that Abraham’s faith was counted to be his righteousness. It is vital we understand this simple, yet utterly profound equation based on the grace of God:
Our Faith = Our Righteousness
“He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. And therefore ‘it (this unwavering conviction) was accounted to him for righteousness’ ” (Rom 4:20-22).
We can give God no greater honor than to believe Him, and this, says God, is our righteousness in His sight! This is why the writer of the letter to the Hebrews says “without faith it is impossible to please God” and then goes on to detail a long list of those who became “heirs of the righteousness that is by faith” (Heb 11:6-7).
Righteousness in Faith and Deed
Pause for a moment to truly absorb the utter wonder of this Divine declaration. God does not want us to spend our lives like His own people did, or like Catholics or Protestants do, seeking to come up with a list of things we must do to please Him for our salvation. At the very beginning of the preaching of the Gospel, God in essence proclaims, “The right thing I’m looking for is your faith, your trust in what I say.” Doesn’t this make the whole focus of our lives one of learning to believe God? Learning to trust Him steadfastly in every way, and then, living according to this faith?
“But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ And he was called the friend of God” (James 2:20-23).
The good works or deeds Abraham did were those actions that fulfilled his faith/ trust in the word God had declared to him. These deeds completed his faith, making Abraham’s righteousness tangible and living. These are the same ‘good works’ we are called to perform.
God at work in us
This leads to a crucial observation: If God is telling us that faith is what is right in His eyes, then isn’t the most important work of God in our lives the development of such faith? And, on this foundation, the building and shaping of our character and our lives? Isn’t this the point of all our trials, our difficulties, all our experiences? It is as if God is saying to us: “Trust me, hold on to Me and I will give you life. If you yield to me, I will shape you in My hands, I will form you into that person you very much want to be before Me. Just trust Me.” Everything that God does with us is directed to this end.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope… In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1Pet 1:3-7).
And it is our faith that will bring about our salvation (v.9), not our good works, no matter how wonderful they may be.
God at work in His Son
Jesus is the supreme example of God’s mighty work in building faith in those who love Him and seek after Him. He is the true “righteous one” who “lives by faith.” God was building Jesus’ faith throughout his life: When at 12 he was eager to be about his Father’s business, he had to learn to wait for the appointed time. When God led him into the wilderness after his baptism, the trials he faced strengthened his trust in his Father and in his Father’s purpose. The culmination of this Divine labor is seen finally in the garden, where the fullness of our Lord’s faith is forged. Linger for a few moments with our Lord in the garden. “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Take this cup away from me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what you will” (Mark 14:36).
And then comes a most remarkable statement by our Lord. Finding Simon weary from the high stress of this situation, Jesus gently rebukes him: “Simon, are you sleeping? Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mark 14:37-38). The echo is unmistakable! These are the very words of the prayer he taught his disciples early in his ministry. “Lead me not into temptation…” Why? Because “the flesh is weak”, the strength to overcome any temptation will never be found within us, no matter how willing we are in spirit!
Even more remarkably, this is exactly what Jesus himself had just prayed when he pleaded with his Father to take the cup away. Paraphrasing: ‘Father, don’t lead me into this trial! My flesh is weak; the strength to face this is not in me… But if this is your will, please, Father, deliver me out of this evil as you have promised.’ This is what faith is all about. This is why the writer of Hebrews said of Jesus: “Who, in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save him from death” (Heb 5:7). His cries and tears were directed to the One who alone could save him. And God heard His son because of this godly fear. He did learn obedience “by the things which He suffered.” And at last, that which was imperfect, that which was weak, was perfected and made strong forever through the mighty work of God. “And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;” (Heb 5:9).
When we look upon our Lord Jesus in the bread and the wine, we see the pattern of God’s mighty work with all His Children: The development of a powerful bond of trust between Father and child, a faith so pleasing that God marks it out as what is right in His eyes. Here, then, is where we will find the explanation for all our struggles, all our difficulties. Here is where our faith will be nourished and strengthened. And, here, is where we will find the courage to say to our Father, “I do trust you.”
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One