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Grace Vs. Works?
by Eric V. Snow
Does the Bible contradict
itself? Are Christians “justified by
grace alone by faith alone by Christ alone”?
Or do Christians have to literally obey God at some level in order to be
saved?
Consider the message of Gal.
2:16: “[T]hat we may be justified by
faith in Christ, and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law
shall no flesh be justified (NASB throughout, unless otherwise noted).” So then--works have nothing to do with
salvation. But what about Matt. 19:17: “[B]ut if you wish to enter into life, keep
the commandments”? Or Heb. 5:9: “And having been made perfect, He [Jesus]
became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation.” So what then--are works a condition for
salvation in the latter verses, but are not in Galatians?
First of all, to solve this seeming
contradiction, we must realize that justification is not the same thing
as salvation. Surprising? Consider Romans 5:9: “Much more then, having now been justified
[past tense] by His blood, we shall be saved [future tense] from the wrath of
God through Him.” Justification,
meaning the wiping away of all past sins, has already occurred in Christians’
lives when we repented and placed our faith in Jesus’ sacrifice. By contrast, salvation, meaning having our
lives lasting forever because we have bodies made of spirit, has not
occurred yet since we have not entered the kingdom of God yet. So Gal. 2:16, which talks about
justification, need not conflict with Hebrews 5:9, which talks about salvation.
Of course in some cases the word
“saved” does mean the same as “justified.” One meaning for the word “saved” is that the death penalty of our
sins has been removed by Jesus’ sacrifice, which is the same thing as
justification. But another meaning is
being given eternal life through an immortal spirit body when Jesus comes back,
since then we could never die.
The word “saved” is applied to Christians in three different tenses in
the Bible. In Acts 15:11, it is used in
the past tense: “But we believe that we
are saved through the grace of Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also
are.” Salvation is a process in I Cor.
1:18 since it is in the present, progressive tense: “For the word of the cross is to those who are perishing
foolishness, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” Finally, in a familiar text, it is used in
the future tense: “But the one who
endures to the end, he shall be saved” (Matt. 24:13). Obviously, the Bible uses the word “saved”
in several different ways about Christians, or else the Bible would contradict
itself!
A useful schema (employed by the
Seventh-day Adventists) in analyzing salvation’s three different definitions
uses the terms “justification,” “sanctification,” and “glorification.” “Justification” has the basic definition
that Christians are given a right standing before God through having all their
sins forgiven through faith in Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf. “Sanctification” is the process by which
Christians actually become righteous through developing holy righteous
character through the Holy Spirit living in them. “Glorification” occurs when we enter the kingdom of God and are
given a spirit body at the first resurrection when Jesus returns (Phil.
3:20-21; I Cor. 15:49). Here justification
is gained by faith through grace alone, but sanctification involves Christians
actually obeying God literally in order for them to be made actually holy. Justification is gained by men and women
accepting Jesus’ sacrifice by faith, baptism, and repentance (Acts 2:38). “Works” have nothing to do with it
here. In contrast, for humans to
actually become holy, they must gain the Holy Spirit and then follow its lead
in obeying God. Sanctification involves
human effort and participation in a way that neither justification nor
glorification involve, for the latter two are fundamentally just “done” to
humans by God, while the former requires the effort of continually yielding our
will to God’s will.
It’s important to realize that while
literal works aren’t a requirement for an imputed or forensic justification (as
per Romans 3:21, 28; 4:1-8; 10:10), they are a requirement for
sanctification. This is a similar
concept to what Roman Catholics call “infused grace,” as supported by the ninth
canon of the sixteenth-century Council of Trent, which condemned the Reformers
who said men and women could gain grace by faith alone without any cooperation
between man and God in order to gain it.
For example, good works will determine who will be a “sheep” or a “goat”
in Matthew 25:31-46, while faith remains unmentioned in this context. The preceding Parable of the Talents
describes a man so lacking in good works that he was denied admittance to the
kingdom of God (Matt. 25:15, 18, 24-30) when he saved but did nothing with his
one talent that he had received from God.
Now consider the problems supposedly
created by contrasting Gal. 2:16 with Rom. 2:13: “[F]or not the hearers of the Law are just before God, but the
doers of the Law will be justified.”
Then, as always, Martin Luther’s
“book of straw” poses its own wrinkle on the subject of justification: “You see that a man is justified by works,
and not by faith alone” (James 2:24).
This contrast seems to be a blatant contradiction, but is not when the
context of James’ statement more carefully scrutinized. First, if we have not works, we did not really
have any faith to begin with. “[F]aith
without works is dead” (James 2:26).
Thus, if we do not obey God, we are not justified because we would have
shown we never truly repented (which always must involve the determination to
obey God in the future). For if we
truly repent, we will begin to obey God because we have an overall obedient
attitude (Acts 26:20), even if we may continue to sin now and then. Thus, when James says (v. 21), “was not
Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered up Isaac his son on the
altar,” he means that Abraham showed he had an overall obedient attitude (the
proof of true repentance) by doing a literal work of righteousness. Through this repentant attitude, Abraham
fulfilled one of the conditions for being justified (Acts 5:31; Luke 24:47;
compare II Cor. 7:10; Acts 13:24). So
now we know justification, by its main definition, comes only from faith
ultimately.
Also, in resolving the seeming
contradiction between James and Paul concerning justification, we need to
realize “justification” and “sanctification” have secondary meanings to those
found in the three-definition schema of salvation described above. Since we humans keep sinning all the time,
including after we have confessed our sins to God and accepted Jesus as our
personal Savior at some definite point in the past, we continually need to keep
getting justified as we keep sinning.
But, contrary to what those who accept “once saved, always saved”
maintain, justification should not be seen as a one-time event that forgives in
advance all the sins we will commit in the future. Paul’s own terminology using the language of
athletic contests, which means, of all the contestants involved, some win and
some lose, shows that Christians can lose salvation even after having sincerely
repenting and accepting Jesus as their personal Savior (notice I Cor. 9:24-27;
II Tim. 4:7). This view can turn God’s
grace into a license for sin, since no matter how much we may sin, it is
automatically already forgiven at the moment we initially accepted Jesus as our
personal Savior. As for sanctification,
in one sense we are “sanctified” (made holy) all at once, which is when we
receive the Spirit of God after baptism and the laying on of hands (Acts
8:14-19; 19:6). But becoming obedient
in the habits of daily living is a gradual, life-long process, so
sanctification should be mainly seen as a process rather than something
instantaneous (Rom. 6:13, 16, 19, 22; I John 3:7). Hence, one solution to the seeming contradiction between Paul and
James on justification is to see the former as normally talking about the
initial moment of conversion, while the latter discusses how it needs to be maintained
by a continuously repentant and faithful relationship with God.
Now--what is the relationship between
righteousness and faith? Since
justification literally means “to be declared righteous,” it is obvious that
righteousness must also be gained by faith, just like justification (the
removing of sin) is. The Bible shows
that two types of righteousness come from God, since that word is used two
different ways. The first type of
righteousness is forensic or imputed, meaning it is attributed to us by God due
to our faith only (Rom. 10:10), without any merit involved. We find this type in Rom. 4:6: “[J]ust as David also speaks of the blessing
upon the man to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works.” The second type of righteousness--imparted
righteousness--is gradually gained as spiritual character is developed through
using the Holy Spirit to overcome through various trials (Phil. 3:12-13). This type is described in Rom. 6:16: “[Y]ou are slaves of the one whom you obey,
either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?” This second type is actual
righteousness, composed of acquired habits of obedience, and is not something
God just arbitrarily asserts we have.
Imputed righteousness corresponds with justification’s normal
definition, while imparted righteousness corresponds with sanctification.
A Christian receives imputed
righteousness when he places his faith in Jesus’ sacrifice. As Paul put it in Romans 4:5: “But to the one who does not work, but believes
in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned [regarded] as
righteousness.” Or, as the Old
Testament put it (Gen. 15:6): “Then he
[Abraham] believed in the Eternal, and He reckoned it to him as
righteousness.” When imputed
righteousness is given to a Christian, he has still has to overcome all his old
evil habits from his life prior to repentance.
Likewise, Abraham, in Rom. 4:10-11 was declared righteous before he was
circumcised: “How then was it
reckoned? While he was circumcised, or
uncircumcised? Not while circumcised,
but while uncircumcised; and he received the sign of circumcision [not the
actual reality--it was only imputed spiritually], a seal of the righteousness
of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, that righteousness might be
reckoned [to be looked upon as having] to them . . .” Notice also Rom. 4:22 (KJV):
“And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.” Then Phil. 3:9 says: “[A]nd may be found in Him, not having a
righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith [only--without works]
may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law
[i.e. from coming under the Old Covenant by being circumcised], but what which
is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis
of faith [without the physical act--”work”--of being circumcised].” Thus, there is one kind of righteousness
which is attributed (imputed) to us purely on the basis of faith, without having
overcome any evil habits we may have, or obeying various physical rituals (such
as circumcision) found in the Old Testament.
Imparted righteousness--the “second”
type of righteousness--is gradually developed as a Christian progresses in his
spiritual life as he overcomes sins with the Holy Spirit’s help (Rom.
8:13). For God does not just intend to
only say (declare) that we are righteousness by removing our sins from
us (which constitutes imputed righteousness), but He wants us to actually
become righteous by overcoming sinful ways of life. Note Rom. 8:3-4: “He
condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the requirement of the law might be
fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the
Spirit.” We are to become holy
(sanctified): “Be holy, for I am holy”
(Lev. 11:44).
We must never think, as many
professing Christians do, that we are not to work hard to actually become
righteous, since they think being declared righteous is enough with an initial
conversion experience which they might call “being born again.” They want imputed righteousness without
striving to actually become righteous by obeying the law, which is imparted
righteousness. But Paul says we
shouldn’t be casual about working with God to gain salvation! “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always
obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out
your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both
to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:12-13). How much is this opposed to the idea of
resting in Jesus and being fully confident in our salvation and relationship
with God? To the contrary, we must put
effort into becoming sanctified (holy):
“[D]o not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as
instruments of unrighteousness; but
present your selves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members of
instruments of righteousness” (Rom. 6:13).
“[Y]ou are the slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting
in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness” (Rom. 6:16). Then, what does righteousness result
in? “[S]o now present you members as
slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification” (Rom. 6:19). Then, what does sanctification result
in? “But now having been freed from sin
and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification,
and the outcome, eternal life” (Rom. 6:22). Observe how imparted righteousness is linked sanctification, and
in turn how sanctification is made a condition to salvation! Thus, at first we are declared righteous
because Jesus took away our sins, but later we are actually to become righteous
by overcoming sinful habits with God’s help.
In order to become truly righteous, we
need more than just our faith IN Jesus, which only allows us to be declared
righteous (justified). Instead, we need
also to have to actual faith OF Jesus, not just IN Jesus, since we must have
God’s help in order to become truly obedient in all the habits of our life. “For in it the righteousness of God is
revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, ‘But the righteous man shall
live by faith’” (Rom. 1:17). To have
the death penalty removed from us by being justified does not make our
old sinful habits go away automatically.
We must have God’s help to overcome our carnal ways of life, through the
faith OF Christ. Since Jesus needed
God’s help in order to resist sin (Heb. 5:7), then surely we do also (Rom.
8:13). We are to learn how to live a
righteous life by Jesus’ own faith coming into us, becoming a part of us: “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I
live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me:
and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith OF the Son
of God” (Gal. 2:20, KJV). We could
never become actually righteous by our own efforts alone: “And all our righteous deeds are like a
filthy garment” (Isa. 64:6).
One stumbling block to various
professing Christians attempting to become actually righteous is the common
belief that the law is done away such that there is no need to obey God. But this confuses the law as a guide to
conduct with the law as a source of salvation.
Christians should look to the law as if it was a mirror helping reveal what
is wrong in their lives (James 2:23-25):
“For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man
who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself
and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But the one who looks intently at the
perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a
forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he
does.” The law defines what is
righteousness since sin occurs when it is disobeyed. “Sin is the transgression of the law” (I John 3:4, KJV). “Sin is not imputed when there is no law”
(Rom. 5:13). “Shall we say, then, that
the Law itself is sinful? Of course
not! But it was the Law that made me
know what sin is. If the Law had not
said, ‘Do not desire what belongs to someone else,’ I would not have know such
a desire [was sin] “(Rom. 7:7).
“Through the law comes the knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:20). The law convicts us since when we disobey
it, it condemns us (Rom. 4:15): “[F]or
the Law brings about wrath.” “[F]or
sin, taking opportunity through the commandment deceived me, and through it
killed me” (Rom. 7:11). Obviously, that
which is the source of condemnation cannot be a source of salvation! Yet, the law is still a Christian’s compass
as to what God wants us to do in our lives.
Furthermore, the law is clearly still
in force: “Do we nullify the law
through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the law” (Rom. 3:31). “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet
stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. For he who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not
commit murder.’ Now if you do not
commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law”
(James 2:10-11). Obviously, you cannot
transgress what has been abolished!
“For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man . . . “
(Rom. 7:22). How could Paul “joyfully
concur” with something that has been abolished? He certainly did not in Galatians! In Eph. 6:1-3, he says the Fifth Commandment is still in force. Of course, some aspects of the law have been
abolished (Eph. 2:15; Heb. 9:10; l0:8-9).
But the moral law, which is codified by the Ten Commandments, must still
be in force, or else the Bible contradicts itself. Thus, the dual law theory is true.
The law does not contradict grace so
long as we realize specifically how each has a different role. The law is the great sin detector--it tells
us what to do and not do. Grace describes
the attitude God has towards mankind’s sins:
He forgives us through unmerited favor.
This results in an overall relationship or state in God’s sight, not a
moment-by-moment condition in which we are judged sinners and lose salvation
each time we sin, only to confess and repent in order to regain salvation
again. Obedience does not earn
salvation, since only by grace, not by the merit of lawkeeping, is salvation
ultimately saved. Without Jesus’ death
on behalf of our sins, nobody could be saved.
But if one routinely sins without repentance or an overall obedient
attitude, one will lose salvation.
Lawkeeping earns nothing concerning salvation, but lawbreaking without
repentance costs salvation since “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23)
before and after baptism.
However, so long as one has an overall obedient attitude, which
will inevitably manifest itself in works, one will still be saved. So long as a Christian has the Holy Spirit,
which is the presence of salvation conditionally, he or she will still be saved
(II Cor. 5:5; Eph. 4:30; l:l3-l4).
But how do we explain about being
saved by grace when we encounter such scriptures as Matt. 16:27 (KJV): “For the Son of Man shall come in the glory
of His Faith with His angels; and then He shall reward every man according to
his works.” Or Rev. 20:12: “[T]he dead were judged from the things
which were written in the books, according to their deeds”?
What we need to realize here is that
our “reward” is not salvation, but rather how high or low a position we
will have in the kingdom of God. The
parable of the pounds (Luke 19:11-27), which has servants receiving positions
of rule over ten (v. 17) and five (v. 19) cities, plainly shows different ranks
will exist in the kingdom of God. The
servants were rewarded due to their differing efforts, differing positions,
relative to their ability (Matt. 25:14).
Obviously, getting into the kingdom of God is not based on ability or
what is earned, but with whether you repent, have faith in Jesus’ sacrifice,
and accept God’s grace. [True, such faith must manifest works to be real (James
2:26)]. A reward is something given in
exchange for some service, good work, achievement, or accomplishment, such as
being put on the honor roll at school in exchange for having good grades, while
grace is something given completely freely, in exchange for nothing, and is
totally undeserved. Thus grace is the
opposite of a reward, and since eternal life is a gift (Rom. 6:23), it can
NEVER be a reward in exchange for services (works) rendered.
Since getting into the kingdom of God
is by grace, the amount of time you are a Christian in the process of
sanctification has nothing to do with whether you are saved (Matt.
20:1-16). Instead, the issues are: Have you repented? Did you have faith in God’s grace? Did you receive the Holy Spirit, which is what makes you a
Christian (Rom. 8:9)? For if you die
the day after having gained the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands, you
are every bit as much saved as if you were a Christian for fifty years and then
died. For instance, those who repent
and believe during the Great Tribulation will be saved despite having only
believed for a brief period before being martyred in it. But the person who is a Christian for fifty
years before dying has a chance to gain a higher position in the kingdom of God
if he works hard to overcome his past bad and sinful ways. Thus, besides the benefits of being happier
in this life due to obeying God’s law lifelong, there also can be a great
spiritual benefit (rank in the kingdom of God), even though everyone receives
by grace the same basic benefit and gift:
eternal life (Matt. 20:12-16).
Are Christians qualifying for the
kingdom of God now? The answer is yes
or no, depending on the definition of the word “qualify” used. If
“qualify” is taken to mean “to be fitted or competent for something,”
the answer is no, because Christians on their own will never be fit enough or
competent enough for God’s kingdom. On
the other hand, if the word “qualify” is taken to mean “to get authority,
license, power etc. (i.e. something) as by fulfilling required conditions,”
then the answers is yes. If Christians
fulfill the required conditions of repentance and faith, they will enter the
kingdom of God due to God’s grace. Thus
Christians either are or aren’t qualifying for the kingdom of God, depending on
how the word “qualify” is used.
A key point in reconciling grace and
works is that an obedient attitude is a condition to salvation. Grace is undeserved and unmerited, but it is
not unconditional. As someone
once pointed out, “We have to be eligible for grace.” God lays down certain requirements for anyone who wishes to
receive salvation: Repentance and faith
in Jesus’ sacrifice, which must be expressed by baptism (Acts 2:38, John 3:5;
Mark 16:16). Repentance literally means
“a change of mind” or “having another mind.”
And since repentance involves not only the confessions of sins to God,
but also the will to try to obey God in the future, you must have an
overall obedient attitude if you wish to be saved. Naturally, if you have
this obedient, repentant attitude, you will produce good works matching
it. For a faith that produces no works
cannot save: “You believe that God is
one. You do well; the demons also
believe, and shudder” (James 2:19).
Those who truly repent, are baptized, and then receive the gift of
the Holy Spirit will strive to obey God.
The Holy Spirit is not passive within you, but it will flow out in
righteous works if you allow it to. The
branches (Christians) will produce fruit (righteous works) if you allow the
Holy Spirit to work within you (John 15:1-8).
Thus, if one is repentant, one had better be trying to obey God, or else
one’s “repentance” or “faith” were delusions.
Occasional slip-ups can be expected, and are routinely forgiven
(“justified”), but they should decrease as one grows spiritually (II Pet.
3:18). Those who strive to gain more of
the same faith Jesus had, the faith OF Christ, will establish the law (Rom.
3:31) in their lives, and avoid sinning as much as possible. Of course, our sins can always be forgiven
even after baptism (I John 1:8), but may we minimize them! Repentance without works is just as dead as
faith is without works.
Notice
that the fact God has conditions to his grace does not mean we earn
salvation by fulfilling those conditions.
Rather, through repentance and faith, we are doing only what was
required of us already (Luke 17:10). No
amount of lawkeeping today can take away a single sin committed yesterday. Only through Jesus’ sacrifice, and not through
commandment keeping, can any sin be forgiven.
And surely no one has “earned” the right to have Jesus’ innocent life
slain for himself or herself!
Consider: If God had no conditions to salvation, then anybody could demand the
benefits of God’s grace, which is eternal life. It would become a right.
Even a criminal who never repented or believed in Jesus’ sacrifice could
whine to God, “I want eternal life and forgiveness now!,” and God would
have to give it to him if He imposed no conditions. On the contrary, notice Gal. 5:21 and I Cor. 6:9-11. We must have an obedient, repentant attitude
if we wish to be saved. Only by laying
down conditions can God keep His impartial grace from being abused.
In a very important sense, we can
always be confident of our salvation so long as we have an overall repentant
and obedient attitude, which will be a manifestation of our faith. Literal obedience will then be a natural
outflow of our faith and obedient attitude.
If we sin, now and then, we can always be forgiven so long as we repent
and strive to keep that overall obedient attitude. Occasionally, of course, we have bad attitudes, especially when
under stress, but so long as we repent of these mental slips there is no danger
to our salvation since our overall attitude would still be correct, and we
still would have the Holy Spirit, which is what guarantees eternal life so long
as it is within us (Rom. 8:11; II Cor. 5:5).
Those who worry about having committed the unpardonable sin almost
certainly have not committed it, if
they still wish to repent. Let
us never give up being a Christian because we sin occasionally, for with
God’s help and forgiveness we will triumph:
“If God is for us, who is against us?” (Rom. 8:31).
Eric
V. Snow
The
Revolutionary Implications of the MMT for Interpreting Paul’s “Works of the
Law”
by
Eric V. Snow
One of the great puzzles in Paul’s
writings is the meaning of the term “the works of the law.” For example, Paul wrote: “For we maintain that a man is justified by
faith apart from works of the law” (Rom. 3:28). The term appears again in Gal. 3:5: “Does He [God] then, who provides you with the Spirit and works
miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?” A long time problem in interpreting this
term is that it appeared absolutely nowhere in ancient Jewish literature
outside the New Testament. IF this term
means all acts of lawkeeping and obeying God, whether it be caring for the
poor, avoiding stealing, keeping the Sabbath, or getting circumcised, then the
classical Protestant Reformation’s view of how Christians are saved is
fundamentally correct: works--literal
acts of obedience--have nothing to do with being saved (except, perhaps, as
being evidence of having saving faith).
However, IF this term has a narrow meaning, as referring to rituals of
the ceremonial law, or various Old Testament judgments not tied to the Ten
Commandments (i.e. the moral law), then this opens the door to the view that
Paul merely condemned obeying the CEREMONIAL law as a condition to salvation,
with particular emphasis on circumcision.
For various gentiles were seriously tempted to be circumcised because
standard Jewish theology said that one could not enter the Old Covenant
relationship with God, and thus be saved, without being circumcised (compare
Acts 15:1). For the Jews, circumcision
was seen to be the equivalent of baptism for Christians--as absolutely
necessary to gain an initial relationship with God, and thus necessary for
salvation. So, when Paul wrote (say)
Gal. 2:16 or Rom. 3:28, did he mean no acts of obedience were a condition to
salvation, or just no acts of obedience to the ceremonial law were a condition
to salvation, such as circumcision?
As described in Martin Abegg’s article, “Paul, ‘Works of the Law,’ and MMT,” in the November/December 1995 Biblical Archeology Review, there has been uncovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls an ancient Jewish document using this term for the first time outside the Bible. This document is known as the MMT (Hebrew for Miqsat Ma’ase Ha-Torah, “Pertinent Works of the Law” by one translation). It describes the works of the law in a list based upon ceremonial rituals, or various judgments, but not upon the Ten Commandments, including the Sabbath. Examples of laws listed in it are: cleansing lepers, letting blind and deaf people into the Temple, carrying gentile corn into the inside of the Temple, intermarrying with Ammonite and Moabites (i.e. gentile) converts, plowing with different animal simultaneously, mixing wool and linen in cloth together, and presenting gentile offerings. Since none of these “works of the law” concern the great precepts of the Ten Commandments, or such duties as caring for the poor, or even tithing, keeping the Sabbath, Holy Days, etc., the MMT’s definition of “the works of the law” radically narrows the meaning of what Paul was condemning in Gal. 2-3 and Rom. 3-4. It means literal works obeying the moral law can be a condition (not that they earn) to salvation, which is in accordance with certain always troubling scriptures like Matt. 19:17 or Rom. 2:13: “[I]f you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” “[F]or not the hearers of the Law are just before God (contrast Gal. 3:2, 5), but the doers of the Law will be justified.” Hence, Paul can be seen as generally dealing with the initial stage of salvation--”justification”--and seen as denying repeatedly circumcision as being what reconciles you to God in this first stage of the salvation process. In contrast, “sanctification” can be seen as requiring some literal works of obedience to the moral law, as the chain link of logic in Rom. 6: 13, 16, 19, 22 would indicate.
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