Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!rex!ukma!seismo!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: hall@vice.ico.tek.com (Hal Lillywhite) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Faith and Works (was None) Message-ID: Date: 30 Mar 91 07:52:48 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Tektronix Inc., Beaverton, Or. Lines: 60 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article gdsimpson@amherst.bitnet writes: > How do Protestants interpret Matthew 7:21 where Jesus says "Not everyone >who says to me Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who >does the will of my Father who is in heaven"? > Doesn't this verse say that Jesus believed in good works as a means of > salvation rather than faith alone, or there another way to read this? > -Gilberto Simpson (The moderator comments) >[The simplest response would be simply to cite John 6:40: "For this is >the will of my Father, that every one who sees the Son and believes in >him should have eternal life." That is, doing the will of the Father >means in the first place to have faith in Christ. While I agree that it is the will of the Father that we have faith in Christ, I think this statement is incomplete by itself. In the first place I think when we want to understand a scriptural quotation we should look at its immediate context before trying to find other scriptures on the subject. The context of Gilberto's quote is the "Sermon on the Mount." I consider this to be the greatest sermon on true righteousness ever given. So what is the context of this statement? Give alms to the poor, but don't do it to be seen of men. Be a peacemaker. Suffer persecution without reviling, in fact turn the other cheek and love your enemies. Not only must we refrain from adultery but even from lust. Avoid divorce. Don't judge your brother but work on the "beam in your own eye." Be perfect! (A rather tall order deserving of a thread all its own.) etc. etc. Further, Gilberto's quote immediately precedes the "Parable of the Wise and Foolish Men" with which Jesus closes this sermon. Hearing these sayings (certainly including the teachings in this sermon) and *doing* them is likened to building a house on a rock. Not doing them is likened to building on sand. Clearly Jesus wants us to do what he tells us to. I think we can say that Jesus is the rock and we build on that foundation by doing what he asks. He asks us to both have faith in him and to obey his commandments. (cf John 14:15) Faith, in fact, is probably more of a verb than a noun. It must be active. As the moderator comments it is far more than intellectual assent. Maybe James gives us the key when he urges us to show our faith by our works (James 2:18). I think it is foolish to talk of a faith without works, the term includes works. With this understanding the controversy of salvation by faith or works ceases to exist. We are saved by the grace of Jesus through our faith. That faith must include loving obedience to the Lord or it is not faith. (I should add that there are some comparisons of faith and works in Paul's letters wherein he seems to oppose the 2. However, in every case I can think of the works he is talking about are not the sort of works described in Matthew 5-7. Instead they are the works of the Law of Moses. I think Paul is saying that the ceremonies etc. of the Mosaic law are now useless. Paul himself often admonishes us to live righteously.)