faith for faith

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Eph. 2:8-10).

To a particular extent, it is easy for most of us to grasp that our salvation is not to be credited to us. We understand it was Christ Jesus who died and who lived righteously that we might be righteous before a Judge who is holy and just and therefore demands perfection. And whether we credit our faith to God or to our own free volition, most of us recognize that apart from Christ and faith in him there is no salvation, and therefore we have no cause boast, except, as the apostle Paul declared, in the cross of Christ (cf. Gal. 6:14).

But what of our religious and righteous deeds after our salvation? Do we have reason to credit our own personal volition or to glory in our own sanctification? No, not at all. For Scripture declares that it is the Holy Spirit who not only began in us the good work of salvation, but it is he who finishes it (cf. Ph. 1:6). Furthermore the apostle declares elsewhere that in the Church–in those who are called by God, among them there are appointments of different measures of faith so that no one should “think of himself more highly than he ought to think” (Rm. 12:3). And it is by the Spirit, not by our selves, that we are commanded to put to death the deeds of the body (cf. Rm. 8:13), and it is God who has prepared beforehand good works for us to walk in. Therefore our question and our answer must be just as the apostle’s: “What then becomes of our boasting? It is excluded” (Rm. 3:27).

At the end of Romans 10 and going into Romans 11, there is this idea that a person can at the same time hear the Gospel and not hear the Gospel. That is, God and his Gospel can be rightly perceived on the one hand and yet totally missed on the other. In other words, evangelism is as much based upon the work of God as it is upon the glorious commission of the church outlined in vv. 10:14, 15, namely sending out preachers, preachers preaching the Gospel, persons hearing it, believing it, and then calling upon the Lord. The reason that Paul brings up this point is because of the subject of his present discourse, namely “They have not all obeyed the Gospel” (v. 10:16). Israel has heard more than any other people of the Messiah, of God’s redemption and patience and lovingkindness, and yet they have not believed. For this reason, the apostle writes, “So faith comes from hearing, but hearing comes by the word of Christ. In other words, faith never comes about apart from the hearing of the preaching of the Gospel, but genuine hearing, hearing as a living man instead of as a dead man, comes from the word of Christ. For it is the Spirit of Christ who speaks life to soul and causes him to be born again (cf. 1Pet. 1:3) and to believe in his heart that Jesus Christ is Lord and from the abundance of his heart to confess that truth with his mouth.

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The great theologians of centuries past were correct when they saw in the Scriptures two covenants–the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace. Both have existed since before the fall of man in the Garden, and both continue to exist to this day. Moses, after writing of both covenants in the historical account of Adam’s Transgression of the Commandment and the Promise of a Crusher of the Serpent’s head, continues to write of both after he has received from Yahweh the Law. Concerning this, the apostle Paul writes in Romans 10, “For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them” (v. 10:5). This is, by Moses, the acknowledgement of the perpetuation of the Covenant of Works, viz. that he who obeys the Law will be declared “just” by the Law. However, since it is made quite clear by the apostle in the preceding chapters of his letter that no one has kept the Law, the apostle appeals to Moses’ appeal to the Righteousness that comes by faith. For Moses writes and the apostle adds:

But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (i.e. to bring Christ down) or “‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (i.e. to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (i.e. the word of faith that we proclaim) (vv. 10:6-8). 

The apostle’s appeal to the revelation given to Moses demonstrates that there are, even now, two methods to approach Jesus Christ (i.e. God) and his righteousness. The first way is the way of works. This method is a declaration by the heart that one will pull himself up by his own boot straps and rise to meet God halfway. It is rule keeping that manifests itself in self-righteousness based upon tithing, wearing nice suits on Sundays, and not being a drain on the government as other low-lifes are. These might acknowledge with their lips that Jesus Christ is God and that he came down to Earth and dwelt among men and died and rose up from the dead, but they do not base their righteousness upon him. They instead look to themselves and their own law-keeping and think that they are right with God simply because ten percent of their gross income goes to the local church.

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Before we continue further in our text in Romans 10, it would beneficial to look at the essence of belief and faith (which shall for all intents and purposes be here considered synonymous, for they are English variations of a single root in the Greek). As my Theology professor, Dr. David Hogg, accurately pointed out in a lecture, faith and belief cannot be reduced to a list of mental assents to the nature of the work and person of Jesus Christ. In other words, granting our natural state, belief in Jesus Christ is by necessity a supernatural work of God that brings about genuine change, not a checklist of doctrinal affirmations. This by no means diminishes the necessity for doctrinal orthodoxy by the renewal of one’s mind by the Spirit to the Scriptures, but it does highlight the simplicity of original faith in Jesus Christ.

In a beautiful analogy, John Piper likened original faith to the cry of baby at birth. Just as a baby springs forth from his mother’s womb into new life and cries because he is alive, so the child of God at regeneration simultaneously cries out in faith, believing with his fleshly heart upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Just as it could be said on the one hand that a baby is alive because his mother borne him and on the other that a baby is alive because he cries, so on the one hand it is said that we are alive in Christ because the Spirit borne us and on the other that we are alive in Christ because we believe in Jesus Christ and confess him as Lord.

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Oftentimes, we in the church tend to oversimplify the canon of Scripture. Some look upon the Old Testament and the Nation Israel and consider it a particular dispensation of salvation through sacrifices, rituals, etc. and look at the New Testament and the time following it as a dispensation of Grace whereby God saves men by grace through faith in Jesus Christ–his death, burial, and resurrection.

The Apostle Paul, however, will not allow us to think in such neat divisions and dispensations. Thus, throughout his letter to the Roman church, the apostle has instructed us with phrases such as, “Not all Israel is Israel” (v. 9:5), “a Jew is one who is one inwardly” (v. 2:29), there is no distinction between Jew and Greek (v. 3:22), Abraham was saved by faith alone (v. 4:3), and, now, Moses writes both about a righteousness based on the law and a righteousness based upon faith (vv. 10:6-8).

For salvific dispensations to be true (i.e. that men at different points in history are justified before God by different means), the means by obtaining righteousness must be singular in each dispensation. The apostle, writing to the Roman church, demonstrates that this notion of salvific dispensations is false in vv. 10:5-9:

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In the past two posts, we have looked at the Universal aspects of Christ’s death on the cross for humanity, viz. its propitiatory and gift-giving aspects. Though today’s post on the particular aspect of his death will likely be the last on the subject, this is not to say that Christ’s work is even limited to these three aspects. We could, for example, look at how Christ’s death is the source of eschatological regeneration for the whole Creation as is seen in Romans 8:19-22. The work of Christ is clearly bigger than men and extends beyond them, but it finds its greatest glory and declaration in the redemption of the elect.

As I noted in the introduction, when we speak of Particular Redemption or Limited Atonement, we are not placing a value on the death of Christ but intention. In other words, Christ’s death is not limited because of the nature of his sacrifice, but it is limited in its design and its redemptive application. This is to say that when Christ died on the cross that there was a particular people that he was redeeming and buying out of bondage to be the sons of God.

This idea of Christ’s decisive and particular work of redemption is seen throughout Scripture and is tied intimately to the nature of his Coming. It is for this reason the Angel declares before Christ’s birth when he speaks to Joseph, “[Mary] will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). And the Prophet Isaiah declares concerning the work of Christ:

He poured out his soul to death
…and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
…and makes intercession for the transgressors (v. 53:12).

These declarations and numerous others demonstrate that Christ died to save sinners not to possibly save sinners.

Indeed this is main thrust of the doctrine of Particular Redemption, viz. that when Christ died on the cross he accomplished the salvation of his people. Most Christians today do not believe this concerning the death of Christ. They instead believe in a “Christ meets you half-way” doctrine of salvation. No, they will not use these exact words, but they will mean precisely that. Their belief manifests itself in such sayings as, “Christ died for your sins, but you must exercise your faith to receive his gift of salvation for which he has paid.” The emphasis is on the word exercise. Though the above sentence sounds orthodox, it subtly makes faith a work. It says in essence, “Christ has done his part on the cross; you must do your part and believe.”

This is not to say at all that Scripture does not declare to sinners, “Believe and repent,” but it is to say that we have misunderstood the source of our faith. We, in our ignorance, think that our faith is our own doing and then form doctrines on the Gospel and atonement according to our misconceptions rather than go to Scripture and learn from it. For Scripture declares, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8), and elsewhere, “For the righteousness of God has been revealed from faith for faith; [namely], the righteousness of God through the faith of Jesus Christ for those who have faith” (Rom. 1:17; 3:22, translation mine). Furthermore, the Apostle declares in his letter to the Hebrews that Christ is the “Author and Finisher of our faith” (v. 12:2).

Scripture declares elsewhere that our state is so dire and severe that we have no ability to believe in the Gospel on our own accord. We are said to be blind to the glory of God, deaf to the Gospel call, and dead in our trespasses, and there is nothing in us that would cause us to believe in the Gospel on our own accord. The Apostle writes:

If our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. . . . For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2Cor. 4:3, 4, 6).

Here the Apostle declares that our salvation and our faith is as much a work of God as was the calling forth of light by the power of his Word at Creation’s beginning.

This is all to say that faith is a fruit of the Spirit rather than a work by which we receive the benefits of Christ’s work. In actuality the reverse is true, viz. Christ’s work on the cross is what afforded the Spirit the power for regeneration that opened our eyes to the Gospel of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ that caused us to cry out, “I believe!”

Since faith is not the means by which we meet God half-way for our salvation, Christ’s death was not a mere opportunity for all who would simply believe to come and receive the potential saving power of the work of Christ. For faith is not simple, it is impossible without God’s prevenient work. God must be the Initiator and the Accomplisher of our salvation and our faith. Thus the Lord declares to Isaiah concerning his preaching of the Gospel, “Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive. Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed” (vv 6:9, 10). For this reason also the Lord declared to Jeremiah that he would preach to an obstinate Israel and to Jonah that he would preach to a repentant Nineveh.

On the other hand, faith is simple in a way. After being born again by the will of the Spirit, the act of faith is as natural and simple to the child of God as crying is to a baby at his birth.

Our misconception of the source of our faith has also manifested itself in our practices. Instead of believing that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation, we believe that it is a simple decision that anyone can make, just like deciding to make a sandwich for lunch instead of going out to eat. Therefore, instead of finding those who boldly preach the Gospel and its demands, we find those who use their cunning and the wisdom of men to trick people into praying a prayer for salvation. But, I digress.

Coming back to Christ’s work on the cross, we must look at the intentions and goals of his work. Did Christ intend to bear the guilt and eternal consequences of every person who had ever lived, even those to whom he did not grant the gift of faith? If you say that he did, there will be some serious questions come Judgment Day. Scripture clearly declares that all men outside of Christ will be judged and damned according to their deeds, but if Christ died for those deeds, why then are they being condemned? You might say, “They are condemned because they must believe that Christ bore their sins in order for Christ to have born their sins.” But then, are you not making faith a work? Are you not making yourself your savior rather than Jesus Christ?

We are taught in Scripture that imputation does not happen by choice but by headship. In Romans 5 we are taught by the Apostle that humanity has had two heads—Adam and the second Adam, Jesus Christ. Through the first Adam all men, having him as their father, were imputed his deed of disobedience and were thereby condemned (hence the necessity of the virgin birth, but I digress again). Jesus Christ came into the world as a second head, one who imputed to us who are in him his righteousness. The Apostle writes, “For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ” (v. 5:17).

Faith as a gift and the imputation of Christ’s righteousness both point to the doctrine of election, which by its nature demands a particular redemption, for God, having ordained the Fall of Adam before the foundation of the world and the subsequent need of a Redeemer, predestined some for glory and some for condemnation. God’s predestination of those who are vessels for glory and his forbearance of sins is based totally in the work of Christ, for we who are saved were not merely chosen before the foundation of the world, but we were chosen in him before the foundation of the world. The Apostle writes:

He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth (Eph. 1:4-10).

All these are good and glorious things that God grants to his children through the special and particular work of Christ on their behalf.

You might ask, “Even if this is true, what is the practical benefit of this doctrine? For those who are in Christ, this doctrine has great benefit. First, it helps us understand the ways of God and his purposes in Creation. Second, it encourages us to preach the Gospel with great boldness knowing that God will save his people from their sins. Thirdly and most importantly, it will cause us to glorify God more for his particular and unmerited mercy toward us. Through our election and redemption and our witnessing the wicked’s condemnation, God will make known to us, his vessels of mercy, the riches of his glory and grace (cf. Rom. 9:23).

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
For who has known the mind of the Lord,
…or who has been his counselor?”
Or who has given a gift to him
…that he might be repaid?”
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen (Rom. 11:33-36).

Next: Concerning Particular Redemption, Part V. The Work of Christ for the Infantile