Salvation By Faith Alone (Part 1 of 2)

By George E. Meisinger [1]

George Meisinger is dean of Chafer Theological Seminary and teaches in the Old and New Testament departments. He earned a B.A. from Biola University, a Th.M. in Old Testament Literature and Exegesis from Dallas Theological Seminary, a D.Min. in Biblical Studies from Western Seminary, and presently pursues a Ph.D. in Systematic Theology. He also pastors Grace Church in Orange, California. His email address is: cts@school.com.

Introduction

Solomon revealed that there is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Times have not changed! As we enter a third millennium, contrary currents of theological thought continue as they have since Christianity burst on the scene in the first century.

This article addresses an essential subject, “How does man receive eternal life?” In general, there are three answers given. The first is that God saves a man according to his good works. Thus, if in the end one’s good works outweigh his bad works, he earns access to heaven. The second answer is that God saves a man according to his faith coupled with good works. He must believe in Jesus Christ (or Buddha, or Allah, etc.) and do good deeds. The third is that God saves a man by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

The First Century

Controversy raged over this matter in the first century. Paul entered the debate frontally with the Galatians. He marveled that they turned away so soon from the grace Christians have in Christ (Galatians 1:6). In Titus’ case, the apostle firmly resisted a ritual, a good work, that would confuse the issue of “true grace” [2]—refusing to circumcise him lest grace no longer be grace3 (Galatians 2:3).

The Galatians alarmed Paul for someone had bewitched them (Galatians 3:1), leading them to suppose that somehow they must supply good works along side their faith (Galatians 3:2–6). To the contrary, we are all sons of God through faith [alone] in Christ Jesus [alone] (Galatians 3:26). They started out well enough, but someone hindered them from following the truth as regards the nature of grace and the nature of works (Galatians 5:7).

Is this matter weighty? Yes, in three ways! (a) Anyone who seeks justification by good works (“the works of the law”) “is a debtor to keep the whole law”—an impossibility for man whether born-again or not (Galatians 5:3). (b) He alienates himself from Christ, from all the benefits His death and resurrection aim to provide (Galatians 5:4a). (c) He falls from grace (Galatians 5:4b). That is, in keeping with the nautical terminology Paul employs, the one who seeks justification by works finds himself blown off course—the one and only grace course—to God. For the unbeliever, so long as he remains off course, disoriented to grace, he cannot arrive at the port of imputed righteousness, eternal life, and justification before God. For the believer, so long as he turns off course, blurring grace and works, he cannot arrive at the port of abundant life and eternal reward.

Paul’s conclusion? Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage (Galatians 5:1).

Recent Examples Of The Controversy

The Gospel according to the Cults

The Jehovah Witnesses

Compliance with God’s laws, principles, and standards should move us to repent, expressing godly sorrow over our past sins. This leads to conversion, that is, to a turning around and abandoning any wrong course we followed when we did not have the knowledge of God. (Acts 3:19) Naturally, if we are still secretly practicing some sin instead of doing what is righteous, we have not really turned around, nor have we fooled God. [4] 

Although baptism is vitally important, it is not a guarantee of salvation. Jesus did not say: “Everyone baptized will be saved.” Instead, he said: “He that has endured to the end is the one that will be saved.” (Matthew 24:13) [5]

We do not read that faith alone in Christ alone results in eternal life. In light of what the author does say, that could not be said. His viewpoint is that faith cannot stand-alone, it must be accompanied by (a) “godly sorrow over our past sins,” (b) abandonment of “any wrong course we followed,” and (c) endurance to the end.

The Mormons

What is it, then, that the Lord asks of us to show our acceptance of his offer of salvation? [p. 39] … repentance, means turning away from a sin and turning toward righteousness. Forsaking sin involves both an emotional and a physical break from transgression, giving rise to sorrow and regret. It also involves trying to repair the damage done by one’s sins, as far as that is possible. Thus, in many instances, confession is necessary, as in going to a person one has wronged and confessing one’s wrongdoing. The marvelous thing about repentance is forgiveness. Not only may we obtain forgiveness from others, but more important, God himself will forgive us. [6] 

All these glorious gifts, and many more that could be mentioned, come to us through his grace as free gifts and not of works, lest any man should boast. (See Ephesians 2:8–9.) Nevertheless, to obtain these “graces,” and the gift of eternal salvation, we must remember that this gift is only to “all them that obey him.” (Hebrews 5:9) [7] 

We are saved by grace through faith. We are also saved by grace through works, because we know that where there are no works, there is no faith. James’s point in his discussion of faith and works is that they are inseparable. He said, “by works was faith made perfect.” (James 2:22) [8] 

In short, it is not a choice of either faith or works. The two are integral parts of a single whole, and, for reasons stated above, the writings of both Paul and James show this. Faith is the foundation on which we build, but it is not a foundation that springs into full-blown existence by pure chance. [9]

According to the above quotations, God does not grant eternal life and forgiveness by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Instead, one receives forgiveness by (a) repentance that is both an emotional and physical breaking away from sin, (b) sorrow and regret for one’s sin against God and man, and (c) obedience, or resolute conformity to all of the laws of God. Furthermore, though Ephesians 2:8–9 say that we are saved “not of works,” it is maintained that salvation is by both grace through faith and grace through works.

The Gospel according to modern Reformers

The message of Jesus cannot be made to accommodate any kind of cheap grace or easy-believism. The kingdom is not for people who want Jesus without any change in their lives. It is only for those who seek it with all their hearts. [10] 

[Jesus] is Lord, and those who refuse Him as Lord cannot use Him as Savior. Everyone who receives Him must surrender to His authority, for to say we receive Christ when in fact we reject His right to reign over us is utter absurdity. It is a futile attempt to hold onto sin with one hand and take Jesus with the other. What kind of salvation is it if we are left in bondage to sin? 

This then is the gospel we are to proclaim: That Jesus Christ, who is God incarnate, humbled Himself to die on our behalf. Thus He became the sinless sacrifice to pay the penalty of our guilt. He rose from the dead to declare with power that He is Lord over all, and He offers eternal life freely to sinners who will surrender to Him in humble, repentant faith. This gospel promises nothing to the haughty rebel, but for broken, penitent sinners, it graciously offers everything that pertains to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). [11]

According to this author, one does not receive eternal life by faith alone (contemptuously called “easy believism”), but (a) by commitment to obey Him as Lord, (b) by seeking it with all of one’s heart, and (c) by surrender to the Lord’s authority in a humble, emotionally broken, repentant faith.

Another writer asserts:

Even as works must be the fruit of true repentance (Matt. 3:7–10; Acts 26:20), so also works are the fruit of true faith (James 2:14–26; Eph. 2:10). No person is ever justified apart from works — not as the basis or reason for, but as the necessary fruit of, justification. We are justified by faith alone, but the kind of faith that justifies is never alone; faith is like an acorn that produces a tree, or like a seed that grows into a melon. If the seed is good, it will produce good fruit. [12]

This writer dismisses the notion of faith alone because (a) good works “must” follow the act of faith, (b) justification never happens “apart from works,” and (c) works are the “necessary” result of faith. To say “must” and “necessary” inseparably marries works to faith. According to this author, God, then, justifies people through their faith and because He foresees that they will do the required works.

Two additional authors say the following:

Good works may be said to be a condition for obtaining salvation in that they inevitably accompany genuine faith … The question is not whether good works are necessary. As the inevitable outworking of saving faith, they are necessary for salvation. [13] 

Lordship teaching does not “add works,” as if faith were not sufficient. The “works” are part of the definition of faith. [14] 

Evangelical obedience is an absolute necessity, a “condition” in man’s justification. [15]

Two Observations

In all the above quotations, we observe two things the authors hold in common: (1) they indispensably link good works and faith, thus a faith without works is not a faith that saves eternally. (2) They unitedly oppose those who claim that receiving eternal life and forgiveness is by faith alone, without consideration of future good works.

The authors quoted above are strange bedfellows indeed, but objectively they teach the same thing: Salvation is by faith plus works, regardless of how they with dexterity link works to faith. Some frontload the gospel requiring works with faith from the beginning. Others back-load the gospel requiring that works follow one’s act of faith. Neither requirement is biblical.

Accordingly, the fundamental issue Paul confronted in the first century has swung full circle as we make passage into the Third Millennium: Is a man saved by faith alone, or by a faith that produces good works? Some attempt to finesse the issue claiming that works are not the basis, but necessary fruit, of faith. This is sophistry. Whether one integrates works at the beginning of the act of faith, or following after, it strips the grace of God of its glory.

If by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work (Romans 11:6). [16]

Essential Passages

Faith, works, and Abraham (Romans 4)

Paul makes two profound points in Romans 3: (1) that an unbeliever’s works count for nothing in heaven, so human boasting is out of the question and (2) that an unbeliever’s non-meritorious faith counts for everything in heaven, giving God the credit.

Many Jews in the first century considered that God’s relationship to Abraham was such that if anyone had a reason to boast, surely he did. Abraham was the first Hebrew and from him God raised up a great nation with covenants that carry-on into eternity. He was a man of vigorous faith. Moreover, Abraham was a man of great works, keeping the commandments (Genesis 26:5). In addition, the Lord called Abraham His “friend” (Isaiah 41:8). Here was a man of extraordinary qualities, faith, and good works, so is it possible he could boast a little about his eternal salvation? One commentator put it this way: “If it is a man’s works that justify him in God’s sight, Abraham would have a better chance than most—and he would be entitled to take some credit for it.” [17]

In Romans 4, Paul uses Abraham to show that, according to the Jewish Scriptures, even Abraham has no right to boast; we should conclude that no one has a right to vaunt himself before God. [18] The plan of God excludes all boasting before the Lord.

Paul’s opening question (Romans 4:1)

What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh?

That is, “What shall we say about Abraham who seems to have human grounds for boasting?” The text reads “Abraham the father of us,” emphasizing that of all the forefathers of Israel, he was the unique one God chose to originate the nation. An implication one might draw is that Abraham was special in God’s eyes, otherwise the Lord would not have selected him to be “the” father of the Jews.

Yet, what was it that Abraham “has found,” or obtained? [19] The answer of context is that Abraham obtained nothing by works. He did not find righteousness before God based on how much good he did, either before or after the point of regeneration, as the next verse expands.

Abraham has no boast before God (Romans 4:2)

For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something of which to boast, but not before God.

To be justified is to have God declare one to be innocent before heaven’s tribunal, before the divine standards of right and wrong. Justification is the “winning of a favorable verdict … the sentence of acquittal, or the sentence of vindicated right.” [20] Justification is not an improvement of one’s moral condition. Deuteronomy 25:1 talks about a dispute between men, and they come to court, that the judges may judge them, and they justify the righteous and condemn the wicked ….” The decision of the judges does not alter the character or integrity of the accused. “The judges are not to make the righteous man better. They are to vindicate his position as satisfactory to the law.” [21]

In regard of “us men and our salvation” it stands related not so much, not so directly, to our need of spiritual revolution, amendment, purification, holiness, as to our need of getting, somehow—in spite of our guilt, our liability, our debt, our deserved condemnation —a sentence of acquittal, a sentence of acceptance, at the judgment seat of a holy God. [22] 

The direct concern of Justification is with man’s need of a divine deliverance, not from the power of his sin, but from its guilt. [23]

To be justified by works is to have God declare one innocent “by means of” works. That is, one does enough, or the right kind of, works to merit a position of acceptance in heaven. It has been the position of many Jews that God justified Abraham because he was outstanding in good works. Paul does not build a straw man here. For example, listen to what Jewish rabbis wrote over several centuries:

Thou therefore, O Lord, that art the God of the just, hast not appointed repentance to the just, as to Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, which have not sinned against thee. [24] 

Abraham was perfect in all of his actions with the Lord and pleasing through righteousness all the days of his life. [25] 

Abraham our father had performed the whole Law before it was given, as it is said … Abraham hearkened to My voice, and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws. [26]

With that exalted view of Abraham, many felt he had grounds to boast before God. Paul goes on to say that if God justified him by works, then he has ‘something of which’ to boast. If the Lord justified Abraham by works, then in heaven he has a basis for pride, for a sense of self-achievement and personal accomplishment. Yet, the apostle quickly adds but not before God, where but is a strong contrasting conjunction serving to cut off any notion of legitimate boasting. Before God, Abraham has no grounds for boasting.

Why Abraham cannot boast (Romans 4:3)

For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

Paul quotes Genesis 15:6 (LXX), which does not say Abraham did good works that God credited to him for righteousness. Nor does it say that Abraham was an outstanding example of a decent person, a good husband and father, and motivated to serve the true and living God with good works, thus God imputed righteousness to him. That Scripture does not say! What the Holy Spirit does say is that Abraham believed God! “To believe” is to be persuaded of the gospel’s message, placing one’s trust in what God says in His Word. It is to believe God, even as a small child believes in his parent. Belief is not hocuspocus, or mystical. It requires no necessary feeling or emotion. Nor is genuine faith blind—a believing in nothing really, just a leap into the dark.

To believe is to trust an object—a Person, in this case God. Faith must always have an object. We should not merely equate faith with a practical confidence.

To have faith in a commander does not mean merely to entertain a conviction, a belief, however positive, that he is skillful and competent. We may entertain such a belief about the commander of the enemy—with very unpleasant impressions on our minds in consequence. We may be confident that he is a great general in a sense the very opposite to personal confidence in him. No, to have faith in a commander implies a view of him, in which we either actually do, or are quite ready to, trust ourselves and our cause to his command. 

And just the same is true of faith in a divine Promise, faith in a divine Redeemer…. It means a putting of ourselves and our needs, in personal reliance, into His hands. [27]

Paul sharply contrasts “believed” (vs. 3) with “works” (vs. 2). Why? Because faith and works are antithetical, or opposites, like water and oil that do not mix. To do good works is one thing; to believe God is another thing. What did Abraham believe according to Genesis 15? He put himself, in personal reliance, into God’s hands, trusting the Lord who promised I am your shield (Genesis 15:1) and I will give you descendants as innumerable as the stars (Genesis 15:3–5). How did the Lord respond to Abraham’s act of trust? It was accounted to him for righteousness. God credited Abraham’s faith to his account for righteousness. The preposition “for” expresses here equivalence. [28]

Before he believed, God accounted Abraham to be an unrighteous man. However, with his first act of faith, God forever declared his faith non-meritoriously equivalent to righteousness; He accounted him a righteous man. This does not mean that Abraham was made righteous so from that point on he no longer sinned. Yet in the heavenly bookkeeping system, God took Abraham’s act of faith and credited it to his account as righteousness that forever prepared him to live in heaven.

Abraham had no righteousness of his own to offer to God, at least none that God found acceptable. All he had to offer was faith. Thus God took Abraham’s non-meritorious faith and converted it to righteousness in heaven’s books.

Now, what is the fundamental nature of good works and faith? The next two verses exhort people not to mingle faith and works when seeking eternal life and forgiveness.

The operating principle that excludes boasting (Romans 4:4–5)

Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.

The negative side of the principle is that a person who works receives what is due, or owed, which is contrary to grace. Now to him who works speaks of one who expends energy being motivated to produce. His employer rewards his efforts with wages that denote a payment for the work accomplished. The laborer is worthy of his hire. He deserves to be paid for his efforts.

In addition, since he has earned a wage, one does not count it as grace. That is, his boss did not give the wage to him out of grace or good will. Compensation is a matter of what one deserves. A worker earns what he gets and he does not consider it a favor/grace that his employer pays him for his work. However, if his boss goes beyond their contractual agreement, and gives him a turkey for Thanksgiving, that turkey is an expression of grace. The employee did not earn or deserve the turkey; it was a token of the employer’s grace attitude. However, when an employee puts in a day’s labor, his boss owes him something—a day’s pay, which Paul alludes to next. His pay is not counted as grace but [counted] as debt, or as what is owed. “It is considered not as a favor, but as his due.” [29]

Accordingly, when an employee receives his paycheck, he can boast that he earned it. The boss owed him for services rendered and, therefore, that paycheck was rightfully his. In the spiritual realm, if a man could earn eternal life, he may arrive in heaven and say “Make room, Lord, I am here to claim my due place in heaven.” However, one does not earn a place in heaven; no man has a due spot behind the pearly gates. Justification is an expression of God’s grace to believers, not to workers.

The two ideas of grace and works; of gift and debt; of undeserved favour and what is merited; of what is to be referred to the good pleasure of the giver, and what to the character or state of the receiver, are antithetical. The one excludes the other. [30]

The positive side of the divine operating principle is that an ungodly person who does not work, but antithetically believes, his faith is accounted for righteousness (which is God’s grace at work). To him who does not work says that no amount of good deeds, by any one, at any time, give that person a claim on God. Nor are one’s good works a cause for boasting as though works contribute to his justification, including every good work performed after regeneration. To the contrary, God declares righteous, or innocent, each one who believes on Him who justifies the ungodly.

The Lord does not justify do-gooders. The decent people! Religious types and legalists! Or, those who turn-over-a-new-leaf! He justifies the ungodly who have no merit before God. Their thought-life and conduct do not measure up to God’s standards of righteousness. Yet, regardless of their absence of personal righteousness, each believer discovers that his faith [not his works] is accounted [31] for righteousness, which implies forgiveness. Luther said:

He who works properly receives a reward; but he receives the reward of debt, and not of grace. On the other hand, to him who does not rely on his works nor regards them as (necessary for salvation), righteousness is given freely by faith, which relies on God. [32]

An Old Testament Illustration

(Romans 4:6–8)

Just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.

David is an Old Testament illustration of the blessing of receiving righteousness freely. Just as [33] introduces Old Testament evidence (Psalm 32:1–2) to show that God does not ground righteousness in one’s works, but makes it a free gift of His grace. Upon a person with such righteousness, God has conferred a great benefit, thus his blessedness. Imputed righteousness is apart from works, repeating the clause found in 3:21, 28. Why is it important to repeat that justification is apart from works? Because if a right standing before God depends on works, we are hopelessly lost since no one can do enough good works to satisfy a holy God, including all the works one does following the new birth.

The next two verses (7–8) are parallel, elaborating on God’s bestowal of righteousness apart from works. The bottom line is that when God imputes righteousness to an individual, it goes hand-in-glove with forgiveness. Here is a strong platform for the assurance of one’s eternal relationship with God. We could never have assurance of a righteous standing and forgiveness if our relationship to God required good works. Why? —Because one would never know when he had done enough good works? Nevertheless, when we are persuaded that God imputes righteousness to believers, not to workers, genuine happiness is ours.

David is a potent example of the blessing of forgiveness. God forgave his lawless deeds—his “deliberate and open violation[s] of God’s commandment.” [34] Yet, he turned to the Lord, confessed, and found his sins “forgiven.” The Lord graciously “cancelled, pardoned” [35] his transgressions. God did not cover David’s sin immediately because he did not immediately confess. The lapse cost him much: Severed fellowship with the Lord. A troubled conscience, or guilt feelings! Depression! And, finally, severe psychosomatic distress (see Psalm 38)! For nearly a year the king endured this state-of-affairs that weighed heavily upon him. His soul cried-out for relief from the burden of guilt that was crushing him, destroying his happiness. Then he confessed and experienced the blessing of God’s forgiveness.

Luther says, “Blessed are they who by grace are freed from the burden of iniquity, namely, [liberated] of the actual sins which they have committed.” [36] Accordingly, David illustrates the blessing of a man whose sin God does not impute (4:8). Bruce says:

[David is one] of whose sin there could be no question, who yet has received God’s free pardon and who is pronounced ‘not guilty’ before the tribunal of heaven. And if we examine the remainder of the psalm to discover the ground on which he was acquitted, it appears that he simply acknowledged his guilt and cast himself in faith upon the mercy of God. [37]

Now do you know what the most terrifying news for people is, especially for a person without illusions? It is that his works have something to do with forgiveness and heaven. It may not initially alarm him, but it will eventually turn his knees to jelly. Any man who reflects about how many good works he has to do to get into heaven will emotionally melt down, particularly if he tries to do enough good works.

If one supposes that good works are necessary, it will compel a candid person to high anxiety because deep inside he knows that he is not good enough. His thoughts are too often evil. His attempts to control his tongue are too often defeated. Moreover, keeping injurious emotions under control is like trying to press down a balloon: About the time he gets down part of it, another section pops up again. He may suppress anger, but covetousness pops up. In addition, these questions plague a sincere person: “How many good works are enough! When have I done enough? Do I have to do a 1000? 10,000? A million? Moreover, are the kind of works I do pleasing to God, or only to me and someone else?” On the other hand, God forbid, have I committed one sin too many, so that God will not forgive me?

Count on it, people who get into a works-oriented system for eternal life, will either seek to lower the standards of God’s Word so that they measure up, or they build up their self-image to whatever height it takes to quiet their consciences. They keep murder, adultery, and bank robbery on their list of standards. However, is it not interesting how they dismiss pride, fear, short-fused tempers, implacability, and lust from their lists? Alternatively, if they do not whittle down God’s norms, they build up their estimation of their own goodness, a sure prescription for spiritual disaster.

Now Paul goes head-to-head with the self-righteous and religious people who claim that works are part of the package of eternal life. He does not say that those who are born-again should not do good works. He does not say that good works do not have a place in the Christian way of life. However, if any suppose that even one good work is necessary to receive God’s justification, then that man terribly misunderstands Scripture. Such a person does not grasp the significance of Abraham’s salvation. Thus in Romans 4, Paul illustrates by the life of Abraham that God justifies a man through faith alone and never by works.

Abraham’s righteousness came by faith before circumcision

(Romans 4:9–10)

Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised.

Another rhetorical question, regarding blessedness, begins this section. Paul asks Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also, linking back to 4:6–8 where the author featured blessedness apart from works.

It is a magnificent blessing, an inner sense of joy and gratitude, knowing that God graciously forgives without demanding payment, or a pound of flesh.

It was the position of many rabbis that God only blessed Israel. For example:

On the day of Atonement God cleanses Israel and atones for its guilt, as it is written, “For on this day shall atonement be made for you, to cleanse you”, Lev. 16.30. And, if you wouldst say, “Another nation too [he cleanses, know that] it is not so, but it is only Israel; for so spake the prophet Micah (7:18): “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage?” It is only Israel that he forgives. When David saw how God forgives the sins of the Israelites and has mercy upon them, he began to pronounce them blessed and to glorify them: “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, etc.”, Ps 32.1. [38]

That is clear enough. They supposed that God forgave only Jews; the Gentiles were on a free-fall to hell. Yet just a moment Paul says: “How can we say that God only blesses the Jews with forgiveness and righteousness?” This, he goes on to show does not line up with one of the most, if not the most, revered Jew of all.

For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. For (γάρ [39]), or “How can we say that God only blesses circumcised Jews when Genesis 15 says that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness?” This does not make sense when one examines the facts about Abraham himself—facts Paul spells out in a moment.

The apostle has two more rapid-fire questions: First, how then was it accounted, or “under what circumstances was righteousness accounted to Abraham?” Second, did it happen while he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Paul quickly answers by asserting not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. According to the Jewish chronology of Abraham’s life, the Lord ordered his circumcision about 24 years after the promise of Genesis 15:6. Thus, God imputed righteousness to his account not after, but well before, the operation. When Abraham believed God’s Word and the Lord imputed righteousness to his account, Abraham was uncircumcised even as Gentiles are uncircumcised. So if the Lord forgave and credited righteousness to Abraham while uncircumcised, then it makes sense to conclude that God may forgive and declare righteous an uncircumcised Gentile.

Accordingly, since Abraham possessed imputed righteousness for a quarter of a century before God ordered his circumcision, his forgiveness and righteousness did not depend on the good work or ritual of circumcision.

God’s purposes for Abraham’s circumcision

(Romans 4:11–12)

And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also, and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised.

Despite justification being by grace through faith, the Jews were inclined to treat circumcision as a means to merit righteousness before God. The Lord never intended circumcision to serve such an end. Therefore, Paul explains that the true purposes of circumcision were to accomplish certain post-justification benefits.

The first purpose was to grant Abraham a sign and seal. The sign, according to Genesis 17:11, was a “sign of the covenant” between God and Abraham where the Lord promised to multiply Abraham’s descendants, make him the father of many nations, add kings to his posterity, and grant him the land of Canaan. The affirming sign of this promise was circumcision, i.e., “the sign [that] consists in circumcision.” [40] “Circumcision is an outward sign, a pointer to the reality of that which it signifies, namely (according to Gen 17:11) the covenant made by God with Abraham and his seed.” [41]

Circumcision was not only a sign, but also a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised. A “seal” is something that confirms [42] what God did for Abraham. The seal was the Lord’s visible guarantee to Abraham of the righteousness he acquired by faith. God granted both the seal and imputed righteousness to Abraham while he was still uncircumcised, [43] implying circumcision did not confer a status of righteousness on him, but was valuable as an outward and visible attestation of the righteous standing he already possessed. [44]

Hence, the seal was not the means of obtaining righteousness, but an accessory after the fact. Bruce says:

Circumcision is thus treated as a subsequent and external seal of that righteous status which Abraham already possessed as God’s gift; it neither created nor enhanced that righteous status. [45]

The first purpose of Abraham’s circumcision, then, was to give him a sign and a seal. Circumcision was a personal blessing to Abraham for his faith—a faith he exercised long before he had an operation.

The Second purpose of Abraham’s circumcision was to make him a “father” of believers. Looking at the totality of a person’s life, we may say that at phase one—which is an individual’s personal entrance into God’s family—the Lord made Abraham the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised.

The next clause, that he might be the father, is a purpose clause expressing what God’s will was. [46] From eternity past God designed that Abraham would be a special kind of father, in the sense a prototype of a category of mankind. For all believers who come after, he would be the individual who exhibits the essential feature of those in God’s family: faith in the gospel. Abraham is a “father,” in the sense that he is the example, model, or exemplar of what it means to believe. Emphasis is on what unbelievers should become—believers!—when they encounter the gospel. Why? That righteousness might be imputed to them also, denoting the result [47] of faith, in the same way God imputed righteousness to Abraham through faith.

Before a person believes in Christ, and this is true of Jews too, there is a sense in which Abraham is not their father. He is not their prototype of faith resulting in imputed righteousness because they have not yet believed as Abraham believed. Remember that in John 8:39, the Jews said to Jesus Abraham is our father. However, Jesus did not say, “Yes, that’s right.” Instead, He said, You are of your father the devil (8:44). That was a hard counter-punch! It means that physical descent and circumcision are not determinative matters for entrance into heaven.

There must be faith alone, which is persuasion of the gospel’s truthfulness and personal applicability. This kind of single-minded faith in Christ results in the circumcision of the heart, which is what matters. That is why elsewhere Paul says, we are of the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh (Philippians 3:3).

Now Abraham is a father or prototype for another group. Not only is he the father of those who by one initial act of faith become the sons of God, but he is the father of a certain category of Christians. That is, he is the father of those believers who continue to believe the exceedingly great and precious promises: the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised.

Those who also walk in the steps of faith are Abraham’s natural descendants who also believe. Why? Because walking in the steps of the faith is possible only for those who have been born-again and whom the Holy Spirit enables.

Hebrews 11 reveals that Abraham took three noteworthy steps of faith:

1. First, He left Ur, obeying by faith and going to Canaan, not knowing where he was going (11:8).
2. Second, by faith he lived as an alien in Canaan. He was willing to by-pass the securities and status symbols of life with an eye toward God’s promise of provision (11:9–10).
3. Third, by faith he committed to offer up Isaac during the major test of his life (11:17–18).

Now there are those who walk in Abraham’s steps of faith. The term walk is literally to march in line, or file, like soldiers on a drill field. It speaks of the decisions and steps one takes in life that flow from obeying God’s Word. If Abraham is our father or prototype in practice—in personal experience—we too will:

• Obey God’s Word once we grasp its meaning, even if we have unanswered questions.
• We will believe God when He says that He will provide for all our needs in Christ Jesus, and thus not become anxious over the material things of life.
• In addition, when God’s will is clear, we will move forward to do it to the best of ability regardless of dangers, trials, and opposition.

This obedience is not what saves a person. It is what should happen in the life of a Christian, but only does happen as he walks in the light and by means of the Spirit. Now context shows that God declared Abraham righteous many years before he obediently had himself circumcised. Thus the rite of circumcision—or any rite for that matter— is not important to a person’s right standing before God. It was faith alone, independent of all works, that justified Abraham: The faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised.

—To be continued—

Notes

1. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version (NKJV), 1982.
2. Peter exhorts his readers regarding the true grace of God in which you stand (1 Peter 5:12). The implication is that some promote a grace that is not genuine, which this article addresses.
3. If [God’s election through faith is] by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work (Romans 11:6).
4. Knowledge That Leads to Everlasting Life, Chapter 18, “Make It Your Aim to Serve God Forever” (Brooklyn, New York: WatchTower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc., 1995), 173.
5. Knowledge that Leads to Everlasting Life, 178.
6. Rex E. Lee, What Do Mormons Believe? (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1992), 39, 42.
7. LeGrande Richards, A Marvelous Work and a Wonder (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1976), 266.
8. Lee, 38.
9. Lee, 42.
10. John F. MacArthur, Jr., The Gospel According to Jesus (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1988), 207.
11. MacArthur, Faith Works: The Gospel According to the Apostles (Dallas: Word Publishing, 1993), 211–212, who quotes from his earlier work the Gospel According to Jesus, 210.
12. Curtis I. Crenshaw, Lordship Salvation: The Only Kind There Is (Memphis, TN: Footstool Publications, 1994), 67–68.
13. John Gerstner, Wrongly Dividing the Word of Truth: A Critique of Dispensationalism (Brentwood, TN: Wolgemuth and Hyatt, 1991), 210.
14. Gerstner, 225–227.
15. Samuel Logan, “The Doctrine of Justification in the Theology of Jonathan Edwards,” Westminster Theological Journal 46 (1984) [Logos CD-ROM].
16. Biblical quotations are from The New King James Version [CD-ROM, Logos Library System 2.1e] unless otherwise noted.
17. F. F. Bruce, The Epistle of Paul to the Romans (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1963), 110.
18. C. E. B. Cranfield, “The Epistle to the Romans,” The International Critical Commentary (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1990), 1:224.
19. William F. Arndt and F. Wilbur Gingrich [BAG], A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1974), 325, #3, offer find (for oneself), obtain, giving Mt. 10:39; 11:29; Hebrews 4:16; 12:17, etc. as references.
20. H. C. G. Moule, “Justification by Faith,” The Fundamentals: A Testimony to the Truth, volume 3 (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1917/1998), 142.
21. Ibid., 143.
22. Ibid., 144.
23. Ibid.
24. The King James Version Apocrypha, “Prayer of Manasseh,” verse 8 [CDROM] (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2:1e), 1995.
25. The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, vol. 2, edited by James H. Charlesworth, Jubilees 23:10 (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1985), 100.
26. Philip Blackman, Mishnayoth, second edition, vol. 3, Kiddushim 4:14 (New York: Judaica Press, 1977); 483.
27. Moule, 147.
28. Note the same preposition in Hebrews 1:5, I will be to him as a father. See also Mark 10:8; Psalm 106:31.
29. BAG, 603.
30. Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology [Logos CD-ROM] (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos research Systems, 2.1e), 1997.
31. The verb λογίζεται [“is accounted”] must signify a counting which is not a rewarding of merit, but a free and unmerited decision of divine grace (Cranfield 1:233).
32. Martin Luther, Commentary on Romans (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1976), 82.
33. By means of this relative clause Paul gathers up the thought of vv. 4 and 5, making the connection between the passage he is about to quote and Gen 15:6, identifying the forgiving of sins with the reckoning of righteousness apart from works (Cranfield, Romans, 1:233).
34. Cranfield, Romans, 1:233.
35. BAG, 125.
36. Luther, 83.
37. Bruce, Romans, 111.
38. Cranfield, Romans, 1:234–35, note 4.
39. Γάρ implies an unexpressed answer (and upon the uncircumcision) to the foregoing question (Cranfield, Romans, 1:235).
40. Daniel B. Wallace, Greek Grammar beyond the Basics (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 33; A. T. Robertson, A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in Light of Historical Research (Nashville: Broadman, 1934), 498; Cranfield, Romans, 1:236. Bruce calls it a “genitive of definition,” 116. (Bruce, Romans)
41. Cranfield, Romans, 1:236.
42. Ibid.
43. Ibid.
44. Ibid.
45. Bruce, Romans, 116.
46. “It was God’s intention in causing Abraham to be circumcised that he should be the point of union between all who believe, whether circumcised or uncircumcised, being, on the one hand, by virtue of his having been justified while still uncircumcised, the father of all those who as uncircumcised believe, and, on the other hand, by virtue of the fact that he subsequently received circumcision, the father of all those who, being circumcised are not only circumcised but are also believers” (Cranfield, Romans, 1:236–37).
47. Cranfield, Romans, 1:237, note 2.