But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I." He said, "Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me." (Bereshit / Genesis 22:11, 12; ESV)
Perhaps one of the most confusing issues in the Bible is that of the relationship between faith and works. The more I hear the issue discussed the more it seems to me that it is rife with misunderstanding. It should strike us as curious that evangelicals, who claim to take the Bible more seriously than anyone, rally around the cry of "justification by faith alone" - when we read in the New Covenant Scriptures, "a person is justified by works and not by faith alone." Here it is in context:
Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"—and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. (James 2:21-24; ESV)
Justification is a biblical term that means "being made right with God." How one is made right with God is a major issue throughout the whole Bible that becomes most controversial in the New Covenant Scriptures. This is because it was essential to determine the basis upon which non-Jews could be included in the messianic community. Many Jewish Believers in Yeshua assumed that the embracing of Torah as given by God at Mt. Sinai through Moses and as understood by the Prophets and Sages of old was that which established right standing with God. The New Covenant writers rejected this notion. While Torah was God's true and holy revelation to Israel, it had two fundamental functions. First, it was designed to prepare Israel and the world for the coming of the Messiah. And second, it stood as an indictment against Israel and the world that we all fall short of God's requirements and need God to rescue us.
When the New Covenant writers speak against justification by works they are opposing the rabbinical claim held by some messianics of their day that Israel finds right standing with God through the Torah as a system. The rabbis knew that no one could keep Torah perfectly, but by adhering to Torah to the best of one's ability, one could be confident that he was in good stead with God. Contrary to this the New Covenant writers appeal to the example of Abraham and others whose right standing with God was clearly on the basis of their trust in him (faith, belief, and trust are the same words in the biblical languages).
It would be many years later that the faith/works controversy would take a new twist and help spawn Protestantism and affect how most Bible believers view this issue today. By the Middle Ages the Church began to regard good deeds and religious rituals as the basis of right standing with God. The rediscovery of the importance of the Bible coincided with this misguided approach to justification. Thankfully there arose those who stood for biblical truth and reestablished the correct understanding that no system of moral or ritualistic effort could ever satisfy God's requirements. Right standing with God could only come about through faith in the Messiah.
While the Protestant remedy rightly redirected us to the Biblical teaching of justification by faith, it tended to play down the place of works so much that today many Bible believers get nervous whenever someone seeks to restore works to their proper biblical place.
It is possible that this was already happening in the first century, which would explain why James addresses it. The balance between faith and works is actually all through the pages of the Bible. Right standing with God cannot be achieved by anything we do. God is the one who justifies us. Trusting in him and what he has done through Yeshua the Messiah is what makes us right with him. Good works and religious activities are the necessary fruit of real faith. Works don't produce right relationship with God, but those who claim right relationship with God yet lack the resulting fruit are most likely hypocrites.
5 comments:
What is faith? What is works.
These 2 words have sent me on a quest for several years. James has one thing to say about faith and works in James 3:14-26 and John 6:28 and 29. In both scriptures it is always best to read the verses before as well as the verses after those verses, because many times when people take and pull out a scripture it can change in meaning if not read in the entire context of the whole chapter.
Romans 4;2 again to read all of the verses in this chapter to understand in the entirety of that chapter.
We receive Yeshua by faith NOT based on our own works. Also I am thinking Ephesians 2:10 about the works of God that we are to be working.
many agree to disagree based on how they have been taught how to interpret Scriptures.
I decided to search them for myself and ask God and He has come through every time in the answer. So The best way is by demonstration , and that is living the same lifestyle Yeshua left for us to follow. I recently just learned God gives to me His Word and I take His Word and pray it back to Him or speak it back to Him and this gives Him something for him TO work with. We are part of His being able to get His Word in to the earth. So we must have Romans 10:17 and then act on Romans 10:8, 9 and 10. It took me awhile to connect all of the dots together, but in the end, it was God that showed me His answer on faith and works.
The whole faith/works issue is more a reaction to "things Catholic" than a right understanding of Scripture. Protestantism arose in a politically charged atmosphere and in its rejection of the Roman church threw the baby out with the bath water. Certainly the Catholic church's emphasis on indulgences and other such practices were as "bad" as our reaction.
Salvation is God's mercy active in the world. Faith is our response and what we do/how we live our lives (works) bears witness to our faith. To paraphrase John Wesley, "We are not save by good works, but for good works."
this has been taught so bad, there is no works when it comes to obience to Hashem, this is the first false teaching on this, second one is where do you ever show in Tanakh that we can't return to HAshem by our self, please show it to me, this is why most Jewish people fill the way they do, and really most all people.
Response to question, "where do you ever show in Tanakh that we can't return to HAshem by our self"
This is a pretty big question. The overall view of Scripture is that life and the power to live resides in God not in his creation.
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