THE PASTOR'S PEN
RIGHTEOUSNESS
WITHOUT WORKS
by
Stephen Benton
The subject of Righteousness
without works has caused much furor in Christian circles because it is misunderstood even though it is a simple
truth. Let me take another stab at
clarifying this truth once again.
First,
let there be no mistake about the fact that works of righteousness are a
definite part of salvation. Here I
somewhat agree with James where he wrote, "...faith without works is dead." Works of righteousness will sooner or later
accompany the life of the individual who has placed his faith in Jesus
Christ. But James' entire line of
reasoning is wrong where he writes about works being the issue by which one is
made righteous. Note what he says:
"Was
not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son
upon the altar:
Seest thou how faith wrought with
his works, and by works was faith made perfect?
And the scripture was fulfilled
which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for
righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God." James 2:21-24.
No, Abraham was not
justified by his works. We are told in
Genesis 15:6 that Abraham was justified by his faith which was accomplished
about 25 years before the sacrifice of Isaac.
According
to James' epistle, Abraham was justified by his works, not by his faith. Paul's writings are diametric to what James
wrote. Watch!
In
Antioch Paul had a showdown with Peter because Peter was eating freely with the
Gentile converts until a certain group appeared:
"For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. " Galatians 2:12
Notice,
the group came from James, the 'James Gang',
and they are called the circumcision. Let me tell
you, they are legalists, those who think
salvation is accomplished by the keeping laws which is the same as works of
righteousness accomplished through
fleshly effort.
The issue of works is
not the works themselves but the source of the works, whether they be generated
by the flesh, personal effort, or by the Spirit. That is the issue. Remember the opening question of Romans
chapter four:
"What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found?"
For if Abraham were
justified by works.
he hath whereof
to glory; but not before God.
" Romans 4:1&2
What
works? Works done in the flesh and not produced by the Spirit. People who are
motivated by fleshly works are continually pointing the finger at those whose
fleshly works do not measure up to their own. I know people who do not smoke, drink, lie, cheat, swear, cheat on their spouse and do not
believe in God. Where do they appear in the scheme of salvation? They don't because they have never exercised
faith in God but relied on their own code of ethics and fleshly ability to keep
a standard for themselves. Without faith
in Christ they will live a life of sobriety and die in their sins and go to
hell. Now notice how Paul directly contradicts the doctrine
that is being peddled by James.
"Knowing
that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus
Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by
the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for the works of the law
shall no flesh be justified."
Galatians 2:16
I
have read a lot of commentators who try to reconcile the writings of Paul and
James but they cannot be made
harmonious. Why not? Because James is a false apostle. Jude, the brother of James, wrote about his own brother in his epistle when he talked
about those who had crept in unawares.
James did not meet the requirements of an apostle laid down by Peter
before the Holy Ghost came; James the half-brother of Jesus, was not a disciple
of Jesus during his earthly ministry and yet we find him clearly in charge of
the Church n Jerusalem. He is the
forerunner of those who sit in the seats of authority in churches who have no
business being there. Not what F. Dake
has to say about James' epistle:
"James is more Jewish in content than the
gospel of Matthew, the gospel for the Jews; than Jude and Revelation, and even
Hebrews. There are only two references
to Christ and apart from these the book of James could take a place with the
O.T. canon as far as doctrine is concerned.
There is no mention of the gospel, the incarnation, life death, or
resurrection of Jesus Christ. There is
no suggestion as to the Messiah having come or of redemption through him. There is no trace of early Christian
controversies."
In short, James preached
salvation through works of the flesh and a large percentage of those preaching
the gospel today are patterned after the doctrine of James and not Paul's.
My doctrine is purely Pauline.
And here I will add
another statement of Paul's:
"I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
Which is not
another: but there be some that trouble
you, and would pervert
the gospel of Christ.
But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach another gospel unto
you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
As we said before,
so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that
ye have received, let
him be accursed. "
Galatians 1: 6-9
If you continue reading in that chapter
you will see the clear contrast Paul makes between Peter and James in verses 18
and 19. Later in chapter two he sounds like Jude in verse four and I
believe his reference is to the James gang.
He continues his denouncement of
that faction in verses 5 and 6. The
question you might ask now is how or why
did the book of James come to be a part
of the canon of scriptures? I believe God allowed it in order that we
might fully grasp the contrast of the two systems being preached in the early church. One, James' doctrine, leads to bondage, the other, Paul's, led one
to freedom and life in Christ Jesus. Beware, Paul's language is spoken in the House of Good News.
Keeping the law is easy.
Walking after the dictates of the
Spirit is much more difficult but
produces a quality of salvation far superior to that of the legalistic, do and
don't doctrine. We would be much more effective in bringing people to Christ if
we preached the power of the Holy Ghost in their lives instead of
hammering them with a list of personal,
fleshly responsibility.
All
of that was the introduction to today's message, Beware of the
Concision. Paul employs a play on words here as he denounces the group in the new testament known as the
circumcision.
I
intended last Sunday to bring out the
difference of two groups known as the circumcision so let's do it right
here. Turn to Philippians 3:3.
"For
we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ
Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh"
Here
Paul makes a distinction between his converts and those identified earlier who
were with the James gang. The latter was called the circumcision in a negative
sense because they were not worshipping God in the spirit but in their own
ability to keep the law. Let me digress
again. Go to Acts chapter 15. There we have a recording of the first
Council. (Originally counsels were held
in the church to doctrinal issues; nothing like the carnal circuses they are
today.) The issue was circumcision.
There were those, (no doubt James' group) who preached that unless one
was circumcised he could not be saved. Notice a little remark made by James
during this meeting and it will tell you clearly where his head was.
"For Moses of old time hath in every
city them that preach him, being read n the synagogues every sabbath
day." Acts 15:21
WHAT?
Did you see it? James is advocating the
reading of the law of Moses in Gentile congregations every sabbath day. I can just about assure you that James also
had a problem with meeting on Sundays.
For
all of the reasons I have pointed out, Paul warns the Philippians with the
following words:
"Beware of dogs, beware of evil
workers, beware of the concision."
Philippians 3:2
Regarding
the term dogs, Jesus once made reference to dogs when addressing the woman who
sought healing for her daughter. She was
a Gentile. He told her that it was not
proper to take the children's bread and cast it to the dogs. That statement has offended many but it
shouldn't. There Jesus used the term
dogs in the sense of household pets who sat under the table while the family
ate and received scraps of food from the hands of the children. Jesus was not calling the woman a dog. But here, the use of the word dogs refers
to the mangy, flea ridden, rabid infested, vicious dogs; the junkyard type of dog.
The term is symbolic and speaks of an element within the church and the
effects of their false doctrine. It is the same group we have referred to
earlier.
Paul further identifies them as evil
workers. Why are they evil? Because essentially, they make the grace of God
of none effect because if
salvation is accomplished through the works of the flesh then grace is made void!
The reward of salvation becomes the
payment of a debt because the individual earned it by working and that act
nullified the need of salvation by grace (unmerited favor) through faith.
Therefore, teaching that righteousness
comes about by works is itself an evil
work.
We
come now to the third term, the concision. The idea behind this word
is that of a surgeon operating on someone with a dull knife, like a butter knife. The result is not a
clean cutting around of the flesh but an unsightly, gashing wound which would
surely result in the painful,
infectious death of the individual being
operated on. That's what the works doctrine is equivalent to. Most saints
are under the scalpel of "concisionists."
They preach every Sunday and Wednesday
about your sins. Their message is often generated from your own confession or
from the confession of someone else involving you. Put another way, many preachers
are in the business of
dissecting sin every Sunday, a message
that only depresses the hearer and never brings him to victory in Christ Jesus. The believer goes to church and hears
another installment on his shortcomings.
Those who preach that message think that they are
perfecting the saints. No, they are only making the saints aware of
their dilemma of sinfulness and their own personal helplessness of being able
to live perfectly. Naturally, those who are concerned will
resort to self effort to make themselves acceptable with God and that
act opens up a whole new can of worms.
First
and foremost, it leads directly to self-righteousness. When I accomplish the perfection of that which I can see is wrong, I
then have the right to point my finger
at those who have not risen to my own personal level. More, I am deceiving myself into believing
that I have arrived spiritually. That brings me into an ego problem, the same thing that caused
Satan to be ejected from the presence of God. Understand that God is not
accepting any standard of righteousness
except his very own.
Who
can come up to that standard through self-effort?
If
you would like to probe further into the issue of the works of the Holy Ghost
versus the worthless, righteous works of the flesh, tune into YouTube: "Consider
Jesus" on the House of Good Newz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpv_xmU5_3E
Written in the THE WEEKLY
WORD OF THE HOUSE OF GOOD NEWS
12/29/1996
To
read more current revelations from Pastor Steve, check out his book published
September of 2017 on Amazon.com
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