[Being the righteousness of God by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ upon all who “believe”]
Romans3:22
Not all presented in this chapter is a direct result of the spiritual encounter that resulted in this book. Partly I am drawing together the reflections of various theologians and traditions such as from the Catholic side the Vatican II Constitution Lumen Gentium (Light of the World) concerning the mystery of the Church which outlined a more inclusive perspective on God’s plan to reconcile the world to Himself through the Church. The Council had clearly been influenced (as was I) by the earlier reflections of Bl. John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801-1890) especially his understanding of the role of conscience as a universal means of revelation and an impulse for individual “faith” and morality. I also take on board the new interpretation of some within Evangelicalism regarding the teaching of Paul on justification, faith and works, referred to as the “New Perspective on Paul”; also that apostle’s various references to “the faithfulness of Christ” (pisteos christou) which had previously remained indistinguishable in English and Latin translation from cognisant faith in Christ. That theologically crucial distinction is now reflected in some of the more recent Protestant English Bible translations. For some years I had wondered why someone with ten times my ability had not attempted to draw these strands together to construct a workable and biblical theological schema: one that indicated how people of good will outside the churches benefit from the atonement of Christ and are ultimately to be reconciled to God through Him. If such has been developed I am not aware of it. What is presented here is I believe very much in the spirit of Vatican II yet undermines some of the foundational biblical theology of Augustine (but then so in effect did the Council with regard to the fate of those outside the Church), whilst from an Evangelical perspective my solution will be too philanthropic, sacramental and synergistic ever to be countenanced within their mainstream; thus nobody entrenched within a particular Christian tradition would ever be inclined to draw all the necessary strands together. Yet such a synthesis can now be made, and it is an essential piece in the biblical jigsaw which when taken alongside what personally speaking were entirely new concepts can now be completed.
The nature of justification and faith
Since the Eden incident, justification in the sense of being accepted by God (like Abel) as opposed to being under God’s condemnation (like Cain) has been by faith as a result of grace through the trans-historical merits of Christ’s faithfulness [dia pisteos Christou]. But what in this context do the terms justification, faith and grace mean, for much ink (and blood) has been spilt about each. Reviewing Hebrews chapter 11, I am quite clear that I understand what the Bible means by faith. Returning to some of my old Reformed text books on the subject, I am bemused as ever I was. They define saving faith along the lines of a “fiduciary apprehension of gospel mercy”, or “the act of closing with Christ’s offers of mercy”, better understood to be a confident persuasion that Jesus Christ had died for me as an individual and that I was to trust in Christ’s merits alone for eternal salvation. It was also deemed necessary by the truly Reformed to be convinced in one’s mind of the deep depravity of man’s nature, such a conviction, according to Louis Berkhov, being a necessary component of the intellectual element of saving faith1. Yet reckoning in one’s heart that one is devoid of any God-pleasing virtue is a hard work indeed requiring the undoubted virtue of humility. It is an intriguing circle but genuinely endeavours to be self-effacing and give all the glory to God; yet it is neither what Scripture means by “faith”, nor will it suffice for gospel salvation, though it served to provide some peace and satisfaction for Luther’s troubled conscience to believe that he would not be judged for his own life, character and legacy but (effectively) for the life and character of the One who was to be his Judge, whose personal justice he believed had been imputed to him. The disposition of moral impotency deemed necessary to respond to such a gospel can be a specious piety indeed, souring one’s genuine regard and respect for those outside the faith; it certainly did in my case as my parents could have testified. More to the point it opposes Christ’s teaching and the witness of such direct evangelism as exists within the New Testament. Perhaps most tellingly of all, the idea that to be accepted by God one needed to cease from one’s own efforts to be righteous and rely on God’s mercy and the merits of Christ had not been expressed in such terms by any second and third generation churches that had been founded by the apostles according to their surviving writings. Given the counter-intuitive nature of such concepts, that simply could not be the case if it had been the teaching of the apostles. As for the rest of the package, far from Christ’s good works ever being credited to the believer’s moral account, our acceptance into His Kingdom is dependent on whether we have practiced works of compassion towards “Christ”, equating Himself as Son of Man with all those in need (Mt25:37-40). It is to be observed throughout Scripture that divine judgement, punishments and rewards pertain more to individuals’ lifetime dealings with their fellow man rather than their perceived devotion to God (especially Mt25; 1Jn4:12,20); those who truly understand the nature of holiness will already discern why that might be.
So what according to Scripture is the true nature of saving faith? Firstly, regarding faith itself:
Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Heb11:1ASV)
The subsequent verses in Hebrews give examples of how that faith was exercised by various people in the Old Testament, but given that justification, being the great gift of the Lord’s passion functions at two levels, the matter needs to be considered at both the universal (common) and special covenantal levels, although this chapter will be focussing more on the former, being a new concept for many.
Effectual common grace and faith
Faith is man’s positive response to God as He is in various ways revealed to the individual. At the universal level it is most definitively a positive response to conscience. Given that the human’s spirit (not to be confused with the human spirit) is planted by God and will one day return to Him it would be surprising if it did not incorporate (so to speak) a blueprint for human behaviour and so it does: the law of God written on the “heart” (Rom2:15) which is also described (but sometimes mistranslated) as the light of Christ that enlightens every man coming into the world (Jn1:9 Greek). [It is hardly likely that St John writing in the late first century would be informing us that the Light (Christ) “is coming into the world” (some translations)]. The atheist and agnostic, whenever they perform an action they know to be right because it’s right, not merely for the praise of others or to be accepted within society are effectively exercising faith, responding positively to God (actually to the will of Christ as Logos) as He has revealed Himself and His law (the principles of humane living and sound reason) in their conscience. In that instant, they are choosing to do a good for in their innermost being they sense it is good and should be practiced (cf. Rom7:22,23). It is not entirely altruistic for they receive inner gratification by performing it, for in their inner being they are concurring with a natural precept, ultimately an Eternal Law. It is no different from a Christian receiving a measure of peace when he knows he is being obedient to Christ’s will; it is how conscience functions. In the language of second century Clement of Alexandria it is that common faith which lies beneath as a foundation that is built upon and consummated in those who come to faith in Christ2. The law is spiritual (Rom7:14) and so is the human spirit for it is spirit. But infused within a degenerative vessel which is ever inclined to concupiscence (worldly lust), the instincts of that earthly tent look to override the inner light of conscience. Having planted human souls in such a disordered vessel (Paul’s “body of death” ultimately derived from fallen Adam) it is no surprise given God’s compassionate nature that He has made both provision and allowance for the resultant human weakness. In terms of provision, at the greatest personal cost God has provided a means by which our inevitable failures and misconduct might be pardoned through reference to an atoning Sacrifice; and in terms of allowance He is prepared to accept someone as “justified” on the basis of their exercising faith by responding positively or “faithfully” to the divine light that He has provided to them. Such common faith or faithfulness [same word in Biblical Greek] is proven to be present when love (agape) is exercised, being a genuine concern and care for another person, which is the heart of God’s law (Rom13:10). Since love is the efflux of faith (cf. Gal5:6 cf. Greek), faith must be present for that love (agape) to flow out from it; love and faith being quite inseparable3, faith being the agent of love and love being the product of faith (Gal5:6 again). A person is justified within the Universal Covenant by responding positively to God’s witness to them through creed or conscience regardless of the degree of accomplishment. Providing the person demonstrates agape they are accepted by God, for He knows that agape was derived from Him, being His Own nature (1Jn4:7). This aligns perfectly with Jesus’s teaching in Matthew 25 concerning the sheep and goats. In serving the weakest of humanity through any act of compassion, the “sheep” are regarded as serving Christ Himself even though they have no personal knowledge of Him:
In truth I tell you in so far as you did this (act of kindness) to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to Me (see Mat25:31-45)
It might appear to some that Jesus is here teaching justification by works. Not as such; Matthew25:31-45 is demonstrating justification through faith with reference to works. No mention is made of how consistently or perfectly the “sheep” showed compassion, they just demonstrated they possessed it and were justified by exercising it regardless of measure. They therefore demonstrated they possessed the quality called faith whose product is agape, being the essence of true humanity. On the other hand, faith alone if it be merely a passive belief, trust or reliance on someone or something is dead if it does not result in positive action; it can be possessed by devils (cf. Jam2:17-19). The “sheep” had not been passive; they showed compassion because they had responded positively to their “heart” motivating them to act in such a way out of sympathy, empathy and to be at peace with themselves. Jesus was thereby affirming that final salvation is not all of grace for fruit must be produced, yet it is entirely dependent on grace since the “sheep” are accepted by exercising the quality called faith, being an innate faculty provided through common grace, rather than having perfectly fulfilled God’s law or lived a sinless life. Thus at the universal level justification is granted on the basis of such common faith, being a positive response to conscience (the light of Christ in the spirit) evinced by compassion, through the kindly favour (grace) by which pardon for sin has been granted to all producing the fruit of faith through the all-sufficient merits of Christ’s atonement.
Some Christians will regard such insinuations of God’s loving kindness towards wider humanity as disturbing and heretical; others will have sensed in their bones that it could never really have been the case that many of their relatives, friends and work colleagues who did not share their particular faith were destined for eternal punishment but couldn’t have supported such a hope from Scripture. What is affirmed here should provide such people with much joy, without detracting at all from the purpose and urgency of the gospel message. Indeed, if the stupendous nature and benefits of service in God’s Kingdom also come to be appreciated, all and sundry may wish to force their way into it once again (cf. Mt11:12). That is why certain inessential mysteries of the Kingdom have been veiled through much of the gospel age even from the Church: so that the rich, the mighty, the proud and the glory-hunters might be detracted by the shame of the cross of Christ and humble cruciform service as His disciples; whilst the humble, the gentle, the poor in spirit and in material possessions who are rich in faith will be the true inheritors of the Kingdom and the Earth. It is the wisdom of God. But how does this broader benevolence come about; is not Jesus Christ and His atoning death the key to all human salvation? That is absolutely the case.
The two-fold benefits of the Atonement
We saw in chapter two that Abel was justified within an overarching Universal Covenant that has applied throughout history. Yet the “faithfulness of Christ” in the centre of history is indispensable to both the Old and New Testament periods; it avails for two ages and, since its occurrence within history, at two levels: the forensic and participatory.
For the love of Christ constrains us; because we judge that if One died for all then all were dead. And He died for all that those which live should no longer live for themselves but unto Him which died for them and rose again (2Cor5:14,15).
The Bible does not teach a “limited atonement” in which pardon for the sin of falling short of God’s glory is exclusively provided to those elected to suffer and reign with the Atoner. It is insistent and consistent: all were dead so the One died for all and atoned for all (cf. 1Jn2:2). However, “He died for all… that those which live…”. He died for all but not all shall “live”. For what is limited is those who will be saved by His life by coming to participate in it (Rom5:10). In terms of the atonement, God is reconciling the whole world to Himself by not reckoning their sins (2Cor5:19). Note also from these verses that “those that live should no longer live for themselves but for Christ”; it is and always has been the small minority who no longer live for themselves and their families but are truly devoted to the Saviour. Those who share my conviction that it is God’s intention to restore the bulk of humanity must keep that reality in mind; such a hope must be reconciled with Scripture or it is mere wishful thinking. Yet so it can be, for peace, pardon and universal reconciliation has been made possible for all by the blood of the cross (cf. Col1:19,20) where Christ became sin (2Cor5:21 Greek). The sin of humanity was expiated at Calvary; not my sin, sin. That is consistently how Scripture presents the matter. Jesus had come in the likeness of sinful flesh so that sin (not the sinner!) in the flesh should be condemned (Rom8:3). But through His resurrection I as a Christian can be set free from the domination and bondage of sin by sharing in Christ’s life. “If the Son shall make you free then you shall be free indeed” (Jn8:36). So for the many, including those living before its historical occurrence (cf. Rom3:25) the benefit of the atonement is expiatory, annulling the penalty of universal sin; for the “few” (proportionately speaking) it is both expiatory and cathartic through sacramental participation (1Jn1:7). For the latter it cleanses from sin’s guilt and power by being able to purify the soul and unite it with the life of Christ (Rom5:10; 1Cor6:17). For Jesus came to save His own people from their sins, not merely from the punishment for sinning (Mt1:21); they are to be cleansed from sin, not just the guilt of sin. Christ had offered Himself “in order to ransom (Christians) from all their faults and to purify a people to be His very own, and eager to do good works” (Tit2:14). Through such good works, the Church as God’s instrument of salvation declares His saving intentions for the whole world through its message as well as by the lives of her individual members: “abounding in love towards each other and all men (1Thes3:12). Thereby the Church fulfils its commission to “announce the Good News to every creature under Heaven” (Col1:23); for when men and women acknowledge the rule of Christ (i.e. obey the gospel) they themselves become faithful stewards caring for the welfare of all that is set under them, being (for the moment) the natural world (cf. Heb2:8). In the spirit of St Francis of Assisi may this joyful news of the gospel be preached, if necessary even using words. He was alleged to have preached the Good News to animals and birds; the prophet Joel certainly did (Jl2:21-23).
God’s royal priesthood: Elected through unmerited grace
In terms of those who are “appointed to eternal life” (Acts13:48) and brought into a living relationship with God in the present, fulfilling the role intended according to earlier prophecy exclusively for the Jewish nation, it is a matter of elective grace at the individual level just as it had been for Israel at the racial level. Those predestined to Christian salvation were chosen to perform good works and become holy, not because they had performed good works or were foreseen to be holy (Eph2:8-10). Their calling to participate in the royal priesthood of God for the salvation of the world was therefore nothing whatsoever to do with personal merit; justification being a gift (Rom3:24). God gives to some the ears to hear and the eyes to see Jesus and proclaim with Peter “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”. If that has had happened to you then “Blessed are you, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but the Father who is in Heaven” (cf. Mt16:17). So election and calling is God’s work alone but thereafter the Christian having been pardoned and cleansed through baptism is required to run a course, maintaining holiness through the divine provision made available to him through the supreme gifts of grace provided in the Church and by exercising self-discipline. In spite of such a glorious and holy calling there can be no cause for boasting; and any who do boast or gloat would be showing themselves to be profoundly unholy, as well as ignorant of the fact that:
(God) is saving us and calling us to a holy calling, not on the basis of our works but according to His own purpose and grace that was given to us in Christ Jesus before the times of the ages (2Tim1:9)
That is, our calling is not on the basis of our works, yet we are to provide fruit in the form of good works; that is why we were called, to bring light, healing and truth to the world and become conformed to the image of Christ. Just as JHWE had chosen Isaac’s physical descendants to form the nation with whom He would especially relate and prepare for Kingdom service, so through the fellowship of the secret it was disclosed that He had also foreknown and predestined individuals to be drawn from all nations to be set apart for sacral service in that same priesthood (1Pet2:9). That was the role and destiny consistently foretold in Old Testament Scripture to be for the Jewish nation as we shall now briefly review.
Israel – the intended light of nations
The physical descendants of Abraham and Sarah’s union were intended to be the “holy nation” that God called to be His priesthood for the world. They would learn the ways of JHWE and thus be equipped to enlighten other nations. His exclusive covenant with them had been as follows:
So now, if you are really prepared to obey me and keep my covenant, you (Israelites) out of all peoples shall be my personal possession, for the whole world is mine. For Me you shall be a Kingdom of priests, a holy nation. (Ex19:5,6)
So in due course He gave them the Decalogue along with more detailed requirements concerning how they were to conduct themselves, set out in the Torah of Moses or Pentateuch which Scripture generally refers to as “the Law”. It was to be their schoolmaster up until Christ, for contrary to the teaching of many, justification by faith in a Saviour was not disclosed even to God’s chosen people before His coming, as a careful reading of Gal3:23-27 affirms. When Paul asserts in that passage that justification on the basis of the faithfulness of Christ for those who had exercised faith had “not yet been disclosed” (v23) he was not saying it had not availed for those Jews who had been faithful, but their instruction had always been to “keep Torah” not to acknowledge their moral impotence and trust in the grace and merits of the coming Saviour or suchlike as Augustine and later the Reformers had indicated. At the same time Paul was making it clear that no one had ever been justified by perfectly fulfilling the Law (v21); it had always been on the basis of Christ’s faithfulness availing for those with “faith”. Yet once that was disclosed, the Torah as schoolmaster would be filled out by the teaching of Christ, and with the enabling that would be provided through an interior participation with Himself and the Spirit, the children of God would come to obey what James referred to as the “Royal Law” of love for God and neighbour (cf. Jam2:8) and would do so in spirit and in truth rather than the deadness of the letter.
In the meantime, it is quite clear from the above quote from Exodus that the chosen nation was to be obedient to their covenant with JHWE if they were to occupy a land that He had promised to Abraham. The occupants to be displaced were the polluted seed pool of Canaan, the accursed son of Ham that we considered earlier. Their supplanters were to become a divinely disciplined and holy nation to act as a salvific bridgehead to the rest of creation (Dt4:5,6). It had never been intended that the whole world become Jewish, but neither was it destined for the cosmic waste-paper basket; many in the world would be enlightened by the Jews and come to revere JHWE. King Solomon, still exercising great wisdom at this point, having completed the building of the Temple prayed not just for his own people but the whole world:
Even the foreigner, not belonging to your people Israel but coming from a distant country attracted by your name – for they too will hear of your name, of your mighty hand and outstretched arm – if a foreigner comes and prays in this temple, listen from Heaven where you reside, and grant all that the foreigner asks of You, so that all the peoples of the Earth may acknowledge your name and, like your people Israel revere You (1Kings8:41-43 New Jerusalem Bible)
Note, those “foreigners” who would come to revere JHWE would not become a part of “Your people” to do so (v43). As for the Jews, the Covenant was entirely do-able, for moral perfection was not expected; provision being made for human weakness through the system of animal sacrifices. Such sacrifices were only a figure of the Eucharist to be established under the Covenant of Christ’s Blood, but contrary to the understanding of many, the blood of bulls and goats did expiate the day to day inadvertent sin of God’s people (e.g. Lev16:15-22), which is why JHWE commanded them to be performed:
If through inadvertence you fail in any of the orders which JHWE has given to Moses… this is what must be done: If it is an advertence on the part of the community, the community as a whole will offer a young bull as a burnt offering as a smell pleasing to JHWE with the prescribed accompanying cereal offering and libation and a he-goat as a sacrifice for sin. The priest will perform the rite of expiation for the entire community of Israelites and they will be forgiven for it is an inadvertence (Num15:22-25).
On the other hand, those who sinned wilfully would be treated as aliens and “bear the consequences of their guilt” (v31). So moving forward in time to some of Paul’s polemics it was not the case that Jews believed they had perfectly to keep Torah in order to be accepted by God; forgiveness for day-to-day sins was provided. Neither was it their “human initiative” or “pride” to endeavour to keep the Law but a response to divine teaching; indeed, JHWE wished they had tried all the harder to honour their side of the Covenant (Ex19:5,6).
The teaching of Hebrews
The writer to the Hebrews was not contradicting the above. He taught that although bulls’ and goats’ blood could purify the flesh (Heb9:13), it could not sanctify the soul by taking away sin and thereby cleanse the conscience (Heb9:13-14). Pardon for sin is one thing; cleansing from sinfulness is another; this has been an area of confusion for many. The shedding of an animal’s blood under the Old Covenant enabled sin to be pardoned as we have just observed from the Pentateuch but it did nothing to progress the partaker towards moral rectitude (Heb10:1). The Old Law made no one perfect (Heb7:19); only the blood of Christ can “save to the uttermost” (Heb7:25) by “purging the conscience of dead works so as to serve the living God” (Heb9:14). [Note how the faculty of conscience directly impacts upon our relationship with God, i.e. our spiritual life]. One can also get confused by passages such as the first chapter of Isaiah where JHWE appears to indicate that He is sick to the back teeth with Israel’s animal sacrifice offerings and their solemn ceremonies. But He had instigated them: what He required of His rebellious people was to cease doing evil, search for justice, discipline the violent, show justice to the orphan and compassion for the widow (Is1:16,17), then bring their sacrifices to the altar (see also Mt5:24 and Amos5:24). The nation of Israel had been JHWE’s vineyard; He had looked for a crop of good fruit but was receiving only bad. He had looked for justice and righteousness amongst His people but observed only bloodshed and distress (Is5:7). What He assuredly did not observe were people “desperately seeking to keep the Law in order to justify themselves in His sight”. That is complete nonsense as even a cursory reading of the Old Testament should affirm. God’s complaint was their lack of effort to keep His Laws and be faithful to Him and the prophets and kings he had appointed over them. Tracing the history of God’s Covenant people through the Old Testament one cannot but be amazed at JHWE’s patience and tolerance towards them. But there is a limit and His chosen people exceeded it. Paul, quoting Isaiah, says of his fellow Israelites:
All day long I have been stretching out my hands to a disobedient and rebellious people (Rom10:21)
As with our first parents, privileged individuals had been given their opportunity for a glorious inheritance but wilfully defaulted. Of course, this was in accordance with God’s foreknowledge, and a “Plan B” (from our perspective, not from God’s) was firmly set in place. His Son was always going to be at the centre of His salvific plans; the supporting cast may have to be changed. God’s purpose and aim remained the same: the long-term salvation of the world through the redeeming action of His Son, the Saviour of the World (1Jn4:14), supported by a people God would give to Him (Jn17:6) to be cleansed from their sinfulness through His blood (Mt1:21). These were no longer restricted to the Jewish race:
And with Your blood you bought people for God of every race, language, people and nation and made them a line of kings and priests for God, to rule the World (Rev5:9-10 New Jerusalem Bible)
So in the fullness of time, the Son of God, takes on our humanity, teaches whoever will listen about the Good News of the Kingdom, and disciples a group of twelve men to lead His work after Him, knowing He was shortly to die, be resurrected and ascend to Heaven. He shed His precious blood, acting out within history the righteous act by which Adam’s sin had been nullified throughout history (Rom3:25). As Scripture also testified:
And He himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world (1Jn2:2)
Propitiation (hilasmos) is provided for the who