Saved By Law or Faith?
Philippians 3:4b-14; Matthew 5: 17-20
by Rev. Frank Schaefer
Phil 3:4b-14
…though I myself have reasons for such confidence.
If someone else thinks they have reasons to put
confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5
circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of
Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee;
6 as for zeal, persecuting
the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.
7 But whatever were
gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.
8 What is more, I consider
everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage,
that I may gain Christ 9
and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from
the law, but that which is through faith in[a]
Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.
10 I want to know
Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his
sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11
and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have
already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press
on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
13 Brothers and sisters, I
do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do:
Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
14 I press on toward the goal
to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Matthew 5:17-20
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the
Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
18 For truly I tell you,
until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least
stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything
is accomplished. 19
Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and
teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven,
but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in
the kingdom of heaven. 20
For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the
Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the
kingdom of heaven.
Introduction:
Today’s topic pits the two major Christian denominations
against each other: Catholic vs. Protestant. Works-righteousness vs.
Righteousness based on faith. Let’s start this with some humor.
There was recently a debate between a RC and a
Presbyterian church over whether Dogs go to Heaven. The interesting thing
was that this argument was carried out on their church marquees. These two
churches are facing each other across a busy street. Someone photographed
the marquees as the argument unfolded.
[show slides 1-10 ]
Our scripture lessons today present us with two
different paths to salvation--one is through God’s law, the other is
through faith in God.
God’s Law requires of us to
live according to it, it requires us to avoid sinning and to do good
deeds. Living by the law of God certainly falls under the “Human Choice”
category we identified before. It is something we should be able to
do—theoretically. Keeping the law is something that God expects of us
according to Gen 4:7: “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if
you do not do well, sin crouches at your door; its desire is for you, but
you must master it.”
What exactly is the law we’re talking about? For Jewish
believers in the 1st century it was certainly the Law of
Moses—all 613 of them. More generally speaking, we think of the 10
commandments, and that is certainly the basis of God’s Law in a nutshell
from which all others can be derived.
At a more general level, God’s law is certainly written
on the tablets of our heart, often called the human conscience. In that
sense “keeping God’s law” can certainly be equated with refraining from
bad deeds and doing good instead.
We will hear more about the law and how it relates to
salvation later. Let’s look at what the apostle Paul says about faith
first.
Faith, when it comes to salvation, is defined by
the belief that God's grace and forgiveness is the basis for our salvation
and in some sense that sets us free from the law.
Paul writes in our text (Phil 3:9) “…, not having a
righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through
faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of
faith.”
The way Paul defines salvation through faith here is
that our righteousness is no longer based on our own efforts (trying to
keep the law), but that we are made righteous before the law by faith in
Christ’s atoning death, that we can be forgiven from breaking the law, and
be considered righteous even though our track record is not perfect.
As I said last week, faith is definitely something that
comes from God, faith is inspired in us. We simply cannot rationally
decide to have faith in something we cannot see.
The great theologian Karl Barth described the origin of
faith as the moment when God lifts a veil from our spiritual eyes to allow
us to see the truth. This is also captured in one song line of Amazing
Grace: “I once was lost, but now I see.”
Faith certainly originates with God, it is inspired by
God, and the only part the human being has in it is to “exercise” it and
“keep” it.
So, in effect the apostle Paul advocates salvation by
faith, thus defining salvation as something that originates with God (“the
righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith“)—salvation must
be ascribed to God, it is an act of a mighty and sovereign God. There is
little to no room in his theology for earning your salvation by keeping
the law—no pulling yourself up on your own bootstraps in that theology.
But where does that leave God’s law?Is he saying that
God’s law no longer applies to us? Does it mean that we should NOT do our
best to fulfill it?
I honestly think that God still expects us to keep the
law as I cited from Genesis earlier. Jesus himself says this in Matthew
5:17-20
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or
the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
18 For
truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest
letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from
the Law until everything is accomplished.
19 Therefore anyone who sets aside
one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be
called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches
these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
20 For I tell
you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the
teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
And there we have it again: two poles. Paul talks about
the importance of Faith, Jesus (in this passage) talks about the
importance of God’s Law.
Last week, we talked about how the Bible at times seems
to contain a tension between two opposite concepts or poles. And I
already shared with you that I believe that these poles are there for a
purpose.
I likened them to guardrails. We are supposed to stay
clear of the guardrails. They are there to guide us through the middle of
the road. We are supposed to live in the tension between those poles.
Faith is not like rational science. There is an element of mystery to all
faith and theology.
The important thing is that God understands it all.
Faith contains an element of humility that says to God: “I trust you, even
if I don’t fully understand.” This is certainly true of life’s hardships
and it is true of understanding theology as well.
So….what is the way to salvation then--law or faith? Or
better asked: what is the middle way here?
I think deep down, most every Christian would agree that
both aspects of salvation are very important, faith and law. Often this
argument is phrased in terms of faith righteousness vs. works
righteousness. Our works are equated with the Law, particularly our good
works.
I think, even the apostle Paul in our text from
Philippians had a role for keeping the law / human works in his concept of
salvation. I think we need to see the context into which he is writing to
understand what he truly means.
First, we need to understand that he came from a
background where keeping the Mosaic Law was considered salvation.
In Verse 6 we hear him say: “…as for righteousness based
on the law, [I was] faultless.”
Paul, before becoming a Christian, living as a Jew,
never broke the law! That’s remarkable. Just as remarkable as the rich
young ruler who came to Jesus asking about salvation and telling Jesus: I
have kept all of the law, all my life! But just as there was something
wrong in his life, so there was something wrong in Paul’s (or should I
say, Saul’s) life.
For all the keeping of the law in his life, he still did
something terribly wrong: he persecuted the church (“as for zeal,
persecuting the church” V6)
So, in Paul’s experience, even keeping the whole law all
his life did not lead him to salvation. We know how he found salvation,
don’t we? It was on the road to Damascus. Christ himself blinded him with
a bright light; which was perhaps to symbolize Saul’s spiritual blindness.
And he asked in an audible voice: “Saul, why are you persecuting me.”
On the other hand, we need to consider that Paul didn’t
say in this passage: forget about the law! In fact, at the end of our
passage he talks about pressing on toward the goal in Verse 16 (“I press
on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward
in Christ Jesus”).
Paul is not discrediting good works or God’s law; the
purpose for his writing is to teach the church at Philippi
an important lesson: His intent is to correct an arrogant
attitude some of the folks had. They were bragging about their righteous
works and thought that they had earned their salvation. They thought they
were better than others, who were struggling in their Christian walk.
That’s why Paul opens this passage by saying: if anyone
has reason to brag, it would be me. I have kept the whole law. But that’s
not what ultimately saved Paul. He was saved by God’s grace, by faith
that came after his eyes were opened by Christ himself. Now, that puts
things in perspective. Don’t brag about earning your salvation, Paul
says, rather do good works, keep the law, run the race based on the
strength that comes from being saved by faith.
The difference between what various sections of
Christianity say about salvation lies in the emphasis. I don’t think many
of our Catholic brothers and sisters would say that faith is not important
in the salvation process, although the emphasis of the Roman church seems
to lie on works righteousness.
So, both aspects are important, faith and works are
connected. I think the difference is often that of emphasis. Some
emphasize works, others emphasize faith.
As a good Protestant, I find myself being closer to the
pole of faith. One of the original reformers in the 16th
century used an analogy that I find very helpful in this regard: that of a
fruit tree.
Before a tree can be productive and bear fruit it must
grow into a healthy and strong tree. Once the roots are deeply
established the fruit is a natural outgrowth much like good works and an
adherence to God’s law comes naturally to those who have been saved and
made into a new creation by God.
Good works, God’s law is still important, but to
Protestants faith is primary. In this theology we avoid the pitfall of
becoming modern-day Pharisees while at the same time giving credit where
credit is due: to our Creator God, our Savior and Redeemer. Praise be to
God who continues to draw all men unto him, who reveals his plan of
salvation to us. And let’s not forget: He who began the good work of
faith in us will be faithful to complete it until the day of his glorious
return. Amen |
