Justification by Faith versus Justification by Works
When my two sisters and I were very, very young, my mom’s close friend, Janice, lost twins just one week after their birth. Mom decided to take some food over to her house and try to offer some encouragement.
Mom dreaded going. She was so distraught at just the thought of what all Janice must be going through. And she knew if it were her little children, she would be a total emotional wreck. Mom could not begin to imagine the soul pain and the despair that Janice must be suffering after losing her babies.
When Mom arrived at Janice’s home, she was shocked at the tranquility of soul that Janice exhibited. Janice told mom, “I know this was God’s plan and I know I will see my baby girls again in eternity.” She was sorrowful but very much in control and not emotionally distraught.
When Mom left and went back home, she could not stop thinking about how relaxed Janice was and how well she was handling the entire situation. Mom thought “What am I missing? I am in just about every program our church has to offer, and yet I do not have solutions like Janice has.” So a few days later, Mom went back and asked her how she could be so composed under such a horrific circumstance. Janice told her it was because of the Word of God implanted in her soul.
Janice is a great example of justification by works, a concept that we are going to develop, and the evidence that an advancing believer can provide of the power the Word of God and the spiritual life. That led my mom and dad to quietly leave the church we were attending and start attending the same church where Janice was getting her Bible teaching.
So what is justification by works, and how does it differ from justification by faith?
If someone asked you, “What is the value of faith? What would your answer be? This may shock you, but faith in and of itself has no value; it has zero value with God. Faith must always have an object.
As Christians, the object of our faith for salvation is the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith alone in Christ alone is the only way to eternal life. Acts 16:31 and John 3:16 state that very plainly, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.” “God loved the world so much that He gave His uniquely born Son that whosoever believes in Him shall never perish but have eternal life.”
Faith in Christ results in justification. Paul in Romans calls this justification by faith (Romans 3:28; 4:3; 5:1). At that moment, God gives the believer His perfect righteousness. It is a grace gift. And at the same time, God declares the believer to be righteous. It is all God’s grace. And from that point forward, God loves the believer and blesses the believer because he or she possesses God’s own righteousness. That righteousness can never lose. We did nothing to earn it and we can do nothing to lose it.
Even though we as believer eternally possess God’s perfect righteousness, we still have a sin nature and will continue to sin and thus not live a righteous life. However, as we grow up spiritually, we gain more and more control over our sin nature, so that we sin less. We will still sin, but the frequency will be less and less. We will in essence experience more and more righteousness in our life because the Word of God that we implant into our souls will be making a difference in our lives. In James 2:21 & 25, this is called justification by works.
As believers in Christ, the faith that we possess for living the Christian life must also have an object. The object of that faith is the Word of God as it becomes firmly embedded in our souls. As we internalized the content of Scripture, it becomes reflexive in our thinking. For our faith to be effective in support of our life as Christians, it must have as its object Bible doctrine on stand-by in our soul for application. This is justification by works.
Works are thinking with the mind of Christ, which in turn affects our motivation, our decisions, and our actions. Works are divine good produced in the power of the filling of the Holy Spirit as opposed to human good that is produced under the control of the sin nature.
James provides two examples of justification by works: Abraham when he went to sacrifice Isaac (James 2:21-23) and Rahab the prostitute when she hid the spies (James 2:25). Both were not only already believers, but both had the Word of God firmly embedded in their souls. Their faith had a strong object and it gave them not only confidence and poise in adversity, but it provided evidence for all in their periphery of the power of God’s Word when it is inculcated and becomes a part of one’s thinking.
The unbeliever, and even believers who are not living the spiritual life, cannot see your faith, and they cannot see the Word of God in your soul; but they can see your calm attitude and demeanor under pressure, your poise and confidence in the face of adversity, your contentment and tranquility in the worst of circumstances. When they do, your attitude has a tremendous impact on them; it is a testimony to them. You are producing evidence of the power of God and the power of His Word.
But never confuse justification by works with salvation. It has nothing to do with salvation. Ephesians 2:8-9 makes this point very clear. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; it is a gift from God not of works lest anyone should boast.”