Biblical Foundations 2012-2013 Bible School Course

Lesson 14 – March 10, 17, 24, 2013Turning Points in the Life of Abraham – God's CovenantsBiblical Foundations – Christians And The Law Biblical Foundations 2012-2013 Bible School Course

Outline Review • Introduction • God promises freedom from pleasures of sin, penalty of sin, power of sin and presence of sin. How is this achieved? • Range in ideas on covenants, law and righteous living • Biblical Foundations • The Godhead is eternally the same • God’s relationship to man has always been the same – grace through faith • Purposes of the law are: • To teach us that sin is exceedingly sinful and thus act as a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ • To point toward Jesus Christ • To keep Israel together as a nation • Today’s Topic • Is the Law necessary for Christians to live a righteous life?

Christians and the Law Ps 55:17 Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice. Will this ‘law’ help me to pray more effectively?

Christians and the Law 1 Cor 6:9-12 9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, 10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. 12 All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

Differing Ideas Of The Law For Christians • You must keep the Law to be saved. • We are not under the penalty of the Law; in fact once you become a Christian you have nothing more to do with the Law. • We are not under the penalty of the Law, but the law is necessary as a rule and guide for us to live a righteous life. • We are not under the penalty of the Law, but that the law is useful for instruction in our life and can gives us power to live a righteous life.

A. Must You Keep The Law To Be Saved? • Triadelphia Seventh-day Adventist Church (http://www.triadelphiachurch.org/article/37/bible-study-helps-and-lessons/law-and-grace-the-dynamic-duo) “On the basis of what has been said to this point, we can make the following observation, You cannot be saved by keeping the law, but you cannot be saved unless you keep the law.” • Catholics http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/apologetics/ap0027.html “The Catholic Church taught that we are saved by faith and good works, while Luther taught that we are saved by faith alone (sola fide). But appearances may be deceiving.…. When Luther taught that we are saved by faith alone, he meant by salvation only the initial step, justification, being put right with God. But when Trent said we are saved by good works as well as faith, they meant by salvation the whole process by which God brings us to our eternal destiny and that process includes repentance, faith, hope, and charity, the works of love.”

A. Must You Keep The Law To Be Saved? There Is No Justification By Faith Plus Works – It Is By Grace Through Faith Eph 2:8-9 • For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. Acts 13:38-39 • Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: 39 And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. Rom 4:4-5 • Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Rom 9:31-32 • But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. 32 Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone; Rom 11:6 • And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.

B. Once you become a Christian you have nothing more to do with the Law “You can’t judge me, I am not under the law but under grace!”

B. Once you become a Christian you have nothing more to do with the Law (cont.) Supporting Verses John 1:17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Rom 7:4 • Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ Rom 6:14 • For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. Gal 2:19 • For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. Col 2:14 • Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; No more Law for Christians? Is this concept correct? Let’s look at whether the law is needed for instruction or power to live righteously. If so, then the law is useful for Christians. If not, then Christians have nothing to do with the Law.

C & D. Is The Law Necessary Instruction and For Christians to Live Righteously? Those that believe Christians should use the Law for instruction point out that Christians should be righteous and flee from sin – there are 13 different verses in the Bible where sin is contrasted with righteousness. They ask the following: • How are we to know what is righteousness without God’s Word and Law? • God does not change so why would the principles of His holy Law change? Supporting Verses Rom 6:1-2 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 God forbid. Matt 5:17-19 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

C & D. Is The Law Necessary For Instruction and For Christians To Live A Righteous Life? 1 John 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. 1 Peter 2:23 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed Titus 2:12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. 1 John 3:7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. • The question we all have is – How do we live righteous lives?? Is the Law necessary or is it a distraction?

C & D. Is The Law Necessary For Instruction and For Christians To Live A Righteous Life? Many (most) people say yes. Reformed • The reformed people say the law had three parts: ceremonial law, civil law and law for instruction such as 10 commandments. “after they are regenerate. . .they might. . .have a fixed rule according to which they are to regulate and direct their whole life” William MacDonald (Believers’ Bible Commentary) “A common question in a discussion of the believer’s relation to the law is, ‘should I obey the Ten Commandments?’…The answer is that certain principles contained in the law are of lasting relevance.”

C & D. Is The Law Necessary For Instruction and For Christians To Live A Righteous Life? Calvin “With respect to doctrine, we must not imagine that the coming of Christ has freed us from the authority of the law: for it is the eternal rule of a devout and holy life, and must, therefore, be as unchangeable, as the justice of God. With respect to ceremonies, there is some appearance of a change having taken place; but it was only the use of them that was abolished, for their meaning was more fully confirmed. The coming of Christ has taken nothing away even from ceremonies, but, on the contrary, confirms them by exhibiting the truth of shadows: for, when we see their full effect, we acknowledge that they are not vain or useless.”

Who or What Do Christians Look To So That We Can Live Righteously? • The Law? • Christ?

The Role Of The Law In Helping Christians Be Righteous • We agree that we must not follow the law to be saved (in contrast to doctrine of Catholics and Seventh Day Adventists) • Many believe, though, that we need the Law for at least instruction in righteous living even though Scripture says we are dead to the Law. Is this true? • The questions for today then are: • Does the Law help us live righteously? • Do we NEED the Law for instruction and guidance? • Are we Dead to the Law? The Problem of Looking to the Law - LitaCosner interview Dr. Emir Caner (Creation 2013. Vol. 35 no 2 p 15) • “Man is not inherently sinful – Islam says that man is born weak and forgetful, but not sinful. So there is no salvation in Islam as such, but the belief that what man needs is guidance.” • Gal 2:19 For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.

The Role Of The Law In Helping Christians Be Righteous Major Ian Thomas in The Indwelling Life of Christ (pp 18-21) “God Himself must be the origin of this activity within us, which is called righteousness. God is the author of all righteousness, and for you and me to produce it, He must be within us the origin of His own image, the source of His own activity, the dynamic of His own demands, and the cause of His own effect.” “Man cannot produce righteousness on his own, however, any more than a car can to or an oil lamp can shine without fuel….” “Simply urging them to be good, telling them to draw from the depths of their personality, introducing them to behavioral science, trying to legislate their actions with rules, regulations, and religion, and threatening them with punishment or prison – ultimately none of these can succeed in producing righteousness in human beings.” “It takes God to be a man, and that is why it takes Christ to be a Christian, because Christ puts God back into a man, the only way we can again become functional.”

C & D. Is The Law Necessary For Instruction and For Christians To Live A Righteous Life? What we must get through our heads and hearts is: • The concept of justification by faith, and no righteousness is possible through the law, applies both before and after we become Christians. Rom 3:10-11 • As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. Isa 64:6 • But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; Rom 7:18 • For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing:

C & D. Law Cannot Help Us Live Righteously Gal 2:21 • I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Gal 3:1-3 • O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? 2 This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? Gal 5:2-4 • 2 Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. 3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. 4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified [present tense – ‘are being/trying to be’ Robertson's Word Pictures] by the law; ye are fallen from grace. Col 2:20-23 • Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, 21 (Touch not; taste not; handle not; 22 Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men? 23 Which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.

C & D. Law Cannot Help Us Live Righteously Rom 7:15-24; Rom 8:2 • 15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. • 16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. • 17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. • 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. • 19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. • 20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. • 21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. • 22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: • 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. • 24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? • 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. • 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

C & D. Law Cannot Help Us Live Righteously • Nine reasons why we can’t use the Law to help us live righteously…….

C & D. Why Can't Law Help Us Live Righteously? – It was Never Designed For This Purpose! • Justification and Righteousness Are Basically The Same Concept Justified and Righteous are from the same root word – what applies before salvation thus also applies after salvation • Verb: Justified/justifieth = to declare to be right of just, treat as just, vindicate δικαιόω (dikaioō) NT 1344 (40 times) • Noun: Righteousness/uprightness/rightwiseness = The character or quality of being right or just (Vine) δικαιοσύνη(dikaiosunē) NT 1343; (92 times) • Adjective: Righteous = Upright, just, fair (BDAG); observing divine and human laws; δίκαιος(dikaios) NT1342; (81 times) The question is – if justified and righteous are from the same word, how can we be righteous by our own works if we can’t be justified by our own works?

C & D. Why Can't Law Help Us Live Righteously? – It was Never Designed For This Purpose! • Because “It is God that justifieth” (Rom 8:33) Scripture makes it clear that neither Law nor works cannot justify. You cannot justify yourself to God. ‘Justified’ (δικαιόω (dikaioō) NT 1344) occurs 40 time in the New Testament. It means that someone or something ‘declares to be right of just, treat as just, vindicates’ • Justified’ is in the passive voice 31/40 times in the New Testament (i.e. the person is being acted upon for justification rather than carrying out the action. Examples would be justified by the law, works or God). • God is doing the justifying in 6 instances (active voice). • People are justifying God in 1 instance (active voice; Luke 7:29) • In only 2 instances in the NT is the talk of someone justifying himself or themselves (Luke 10:29; 16:15) (i.e. making themselves righteous!) Thus, because of the relationship between the words ‘justified’ (i.e.something God does) and ‘righteousness’, you also cannot make yourself righteous before God either before or after salvation. It has to be God that makes you righteous! • We Can’t Keep the Law Perfectly James 2:10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

C & D. Why Can't Law Help Us Live Righteously? – It was Never Designed For This Purpose! • It cannot help us over flesh Rom 7:21-23 • I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. Rom 8:3 • For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: • It cannot help us if we don’t know the law – if we are ignorant of it Lev 4:2 • Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a soul shall sin through ignorance against any of the commandments of the Lord concerning things which ought not to be done, and shall do against any of them: Ps 19:12 • Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults. 1 Tim 1:13 • Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.

C & D. Why Can't The Law Help Us Live Righteously? – It was Never Designed For This Purpose! • Law does not work for moral and internal issues. The Law may work for specific transgressions such as murder, stealing, etc. because specific penalties can be imposed for specific transgressions. In contrast, how does the law judge and assess penalties for transgressions in the following examples? Ex 20:12 • Honour thy father and thy mother Ex 20:17 • Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's. Deut 6:5 • And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

C & D. Why Can't The Law Help Us Live Righteously? – It was Never Designed For This Purpose! • The Law cannot change our heart Matt 6:21 • For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Matt 15:19-20 • For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: 20 These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man. Mark 7:6-7 • He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. 7 Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Luke 6:45 • A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.

4. Why Can't The Law Help Us Live Righteously? – It was Never Designed For This Purpose! • We are now to live not according to the letter, but according to the spirit of the law. This is a much higher standard than the standard of the law! Heb 8:10-13 • For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: 11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. 12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. 13 In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. Implications – Our Lord Jesus showed us the Spirit of the Law Matt 5:21-22 • Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment Matt 5:23-24 • Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; 24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

C & D. Why Can’t The Law Help Us? – It Was Not Designed For This Purpose • We are now to live, not according to the letter, but according to the spirit of the law (continued) Rom 7:6 • But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter. Rom 2:29 • But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. 2 Cor 3:6 • Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

C & D. Why Can’t The Law Help Us? – It Was Not Designed For This Purpose • The Law is not God If we look at the law as God and follow it slavishly to be righteous, it becomes an idol to us as it did to the Jews. Isa 47:4 As for our redeemer, the Lord of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel. Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. If I am made righteous by keeping the law, who is my saviour – me or the law? Certainly not the Lord!

‘CC & D. Why Can’t The Law Help Us? – It Was Not Designed For This PurposeCollected Writings of F.G. Patterson’. Prior to 1870. Present Truth Publishers. 1998.. John 14:21, 23 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me:…..[and] if a man love me, he will keep my words “This is characteristic of Christianity. It is intelligent obedience rendered to a person, not to a law. The time was when the faithful and undefiled in the way were blessed, who walked in the law of the Lord (Psalm 119:1)…. He was hidden, and had sent forth His claims to men in the law; and although it had said, “thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might” (Deut 6:5) still it did not reveal a person to attract the heart…. Christ has come…..and to Him we owe the love of our hearts and the obedience of our lives — one whose love constrains us to live henceforth, "not unto themselves, but unto him who died for them and rose again" (2 Cor. 5:15). It is a person we are thus called upon to live for and to love; one who has sanctified us unto obedience such as that which characterized His own, surrendering self, life, all, for those who hated Him. The law proposed that a man should love his neighbor as himself. The obedience of Christ was the surrendering of self altogether for His enemies.”

Major Ian Thomas. The Indwelling Life of Christ. Pp 28-29, 31 • “What is the substance of this moral law? • Well, among other things, “Do not lie.” You might respond, “Why not lie? Sometimes lying gets me out of trouble. Was God’s law given simply to make by life difficult?” • No, the law was given simply that you and I might know what the Holy God demands from human beings created to advertise His Deity. So when the law states, “Do not lie,” God is simply saying, “You were made to reflect My glory as God, and I am not a liar.” • When God’s law says, “Do not steal,” He is telling us, “I created you in My image so that all creation can look at you and know what God is like, and I am not a thief.”…. • These demands and the kind of life they reflect are called in Scripture “the righteousness of God (Romans 3:21-22); 10:3; 2 Cor 5:21), for it is the action of God Himself. There is no other righteousness on our part that God recognizes – only His own.” • “Righteousness is doing right in God’s eyes, and God alone is the author of righteousness. For any activity of yours or mine to produce righteousness, God Himself must be the source of it.”

Finding The ‘Right Track’ For God’s Righteousness As Christians Which Track? ‘Doing’ the Law? Loving God? Service? Faith?

Can We Live Out Righteous Because Of Our Love For The Saviour?

Can We Become Righteous By Love? • Obedience to the Law? or • Christ has come…..and to Him we owe the love of our hearts, the dependency of our actions, and the obedience of our lives (Major Ian Thomas) -- (OR?) John 14:15 • If ye love me, keep my commandments (KJV) • If ye love me, keep my commandments (Darby) • If ye love me, my commands keep (YLT) Does this mean -- Keep my commandments to show you love me? • If you love Me, you will keep My commandments (NASU) • If you love me, you will obey what I command (NIV) • If you love me, you will keep my commandments (ESV) Does this verse mean – If you love me you will keep my commandments? • Keep – NT 5083: teresate τηρησατε - Persist in obedience, observe, keep • (keep = verb is future indicative active) - Future tense describes an action that is anticipated or that will occur in the future in the indicative mood. • In older English this tense is signified by using ‘shall’ for first person and ‘will’ for second and third person. • The future tense often represents simple or undefined aspect but can sometimes represent continuous aspect depending upon the context. • In Conclusion, the natural outcome of our love will be to keep His commandments –not keeping His commandments to show our love! (Love » Keep Not Keep » Love)

Can We Become Righteous By Love? We would not serve in a marriage according to the law but rather do things to please the other person. In Scripture we are seen as Christ’s bride. Rom 7:4 • Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. Isa 54:5 • For thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called. Isa 62:5 • as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. Hos 2:19 • And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. 2 Cor 11:2 • For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. Rev 19:7 • Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready

Can We Use Love Of God To Help Us Be Righteous? Matt 22:37-40 • Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Gal 5:14 • For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. James 2:8 • If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: Rom 13:8-10 • Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. 9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Can We Use Love Of God To Help Us Be Righteous? There is power in love 2 Cor 5:14-15 • For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: 15 And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.(Constraineth NT:4912: to provide impulse for some activity, urge on, impel) Rom 12:1 • I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Luke 7:42 • And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most?

But Does Loving God Give Us The Strength and Power To Live Righteously? • My problem is that I don’t feel love like I should. Thus I don’t live like I should. • I then must love more and better. • In the end, this approach simply means that I will work harder to love more. • Is not this by works? Can I be made righteous this way? • I thus don’t think trying to love more is the key to living a godly and righteous life.

Why Can’t We Be Made Righteous By Love? Gal 5:4-6 • Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. • 5 For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. • 6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love. What does this mean? Is it the faith which comes from love or the love which comes from faith? • The noun ‘faith’ is in the nominative case, thus it is the subject of the sentence. • The noun ‘love’ is in the genitive case. A noun in the genitive case helps to qualify another noun by showing its "class" or "kind". Thus ‘love’ is telling us something about faith – faith which is giving rise to love. • The present participle ‘working’ is in the middle voice which means that the action ‘working’ is in the interest of the subject (faith). An example is: ‘I am washing myself’: The ‘I’ is the subject of the sentence (performing the action of the verb) and yet ‘I’ also is receiving the action of the verb. • In conclusion, it is the kind of faith which gives rise to the love; it is faith which is working by love.

Why Can’t We Be Made Righteous By Love? Gal 5:6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love. Galatians 5:6 (Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary) • Love is not joined with faith in justifying, but is the principle of the works which follow after justification by faith. Galatians 5:6 (Calvin's Commentaries) • There would be no difficulty in this passage, were it not for the dishonest manner in which it has been tortured by the Papists to uphold the righteousness of works. • When they attempt to refute our doctrine, that we are justified by faith alone, they take this line of argument. If the faith which justifies us be that "which worketh by love," then faith alone does not justify. • I answer ….. It is not our doctrine that the faith which justifies is alone; we maintain that it is invariably accompanied by good works; only we contend that faith alone is sufficient for justification.

Biblical Foundations 2012-2013 Bible School Course