We maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. Rom 3:28

This verse, for some, stands at the heart of Paul’s letter to the Romans, Pauline Theology, even the Gospel itself. I used to think it meant “we (Christians) get saved because we believe in something (Jesus, the Resurrection, the Gospel) instead of by doing any meritorious works”. Indeed that is how many Gospel presentations run in showing how Christianity is different from all other “striving” religions.

This sounds like Great News, an easier way to heaven, but I’ve been reading and studying Romans in detail and find four mistakes in this interpretation.

  1. Justification, for Paul, is not the same as salvation
  2. Paul does not say “because of faith” but “by faith” which calls into question faith’s role
  3. Whilst Paul is clear that justification is not earned (merited) he is certainly not pitting faith against good deeds (obedience) here
  4. “Law”, for Paul, often means “Torah” and “works of the Law” always means to Torah

Justified…

Justification, for Paul, is something God does. When someone today says “I got saved” what they really should say is “God justified me”. The concept of “justification” only makes sense within Paul’s law-court metaphor in Romans 1-3 in which humanity stands condemned by the “law” so that every mouth is silent and all the world is guilty before God because all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. Thus, Gentile and Jew alike deserve condemnation because of “the law” when God reveals amazing grace and “justifies” freely through “the redemption that is in Jesus Christ”.

The point is this: justification is free, from God (v. 24) and it’s the opposite of condemnation. Indeed to justify is to “declare righteous”. Forgiveness is implicit.

How on earth can God call sinners righteous and still be righteous? I’m still puzzled by atonement (all Paul gives us is one verse: “an atoning sacrifice through faith in his blood” (v. 25) and moves on.) and I reject a simplistic imputation of righteousness whereby God looks at us and magically sees only Jesus’ goodness. I therefore conclude that this verdict of justification is tentative, a forerunner, because Paul is clear that there will be a final verdict (Rom 2:6-7, 2 Cor 5:10) in which the justified (Christians) will truly be judged on the basis of their entire life. This positive verdict will be made possible by God’s Spirit sanctifying believers through their faith (allegiance) to the Messiah. We are declared righteous, we will be found righteous.

…By Faith…

In Christianity, faith is a Good Thing. Some have thought that in the Old Testament (OT) God looked for Good Works to reward and, in the New, Easier and Better Testament (NEBT) God is looking around for Good Faith to reward because works are too hard for us. But is faith any easier? Is faith a simple concept? Is “having faith” (our beliefs) the same as “being faithful” (our loyal actions)?

I have come to doubt that we choose our beliefs which means that accepting propositional faith (believing facts) is largely, but not totally (we find what we seek), out of our ability to choose. However, if I understand Jesus’ teachings correctly (particularly Matt 25), saving faith is trusting, active allegiance – i.e. faithfulness – which is indeed something we can bring and is worthy of reward.

But Paul cannot mean this loyal faithfulness because it is something we do which, says Jesus, earnsreward and, logically, requires no grace. Paul is clear that justification by faith is graciously given and not earned (e.g. Rom 4:1-16). This must mean that, the kind of faith he means, is also a gift. Here is how I see it:

  1. Trusting Faith
    We can choose to trust Jesus, this is what we can bring as part of our acceptance of the Gospel message to repent and believe (turn and trust).
  2. Believing Faith
    God then promises to graciously reveal Himself to us. In the new birth, our eyes are opened to spiritual truths and God’s reality.

I am convinced that, as regards justification, Paul is referring to the second type of faith, believing faith, which is the conviction which results when God graciously reveals Himself and you cannot help but believe what you have experienced. You see this faith in people who know, with all their hearts, that God is real because they’ve experienced Him. This faith grows as God graciously reveals Himself progressively.

…Apart From Works of the Law…

Traditionally this phrase has been used to combat the perceived evils of moralism, legalism, and any other form of “earning salvation” by good deeds. The assumption that Paul was writing to moralists, whether Jew or Gentile, however has been seriously called into question by scholars (especially within the New Perspective on Paul). There is good evidence both extra-biblically and within Paul’s own writings that he is not talking about good deeds here. The Romans were not moralists (far from it) and E.P. Sanders has shown that Judaism was not legalistic (depending on man’s works), although certain Pharisaic strains were, but covenantal (depending on God’s grace). Although Paul does condemn works without faith (Rom 10:2-4) we need to learn to read the rest whilst blocking out ages of theological preconceptions of what he must be saying or our own demands for questions he should be answering e.g. How can I get saved?

Our first hurdle is that the word “law” goes mostly unqualified in Paul’s writings (the only exception I can find is 1 Cor 9:9 “the law of Moses”). I have studied Romans and now have no doubt that it mostly refers to the Jewish Law namely, Torah. In fact, when Paul speaks of “works of the law” it always means Torah and to interpret it as anything else, a Universal Divine Ethic say, leads to nonsense.

This becomes obvious when one considers reads those passages where Paul is obviously speaking of Jewish Law but simply calls it “law” allowing the context to define his terms. Indeed, “Torah” is the Jewish word for “law” so this makes perfect sense: for Paul, “the law”, “nomos”, is, in general, ”the Torah”. The context therefore, must determine where Jewish Law is meant (e.g. Rom 2:17) and where a general law or ethic is meant (e.g. Rom 7:21) and where we have both (Rom 2:14) combined in one passage.

Searching through the 100 or so occurrences of “law” in Paul’s letters makes it clear that the cases where Torah is not meant are few indeed and we should prefer the interpretation “Torah” in cases of uncertainty (e.g. Rom 2:12 or 3:28).

But what are “works of the Law”? The context is clear: when Paul speaks of works of the Law, it is always works of Torah. The question now becomes: does he mean obedience to all or part of the Jewish Law? We know there were ethical laws which were expected of everyone and ethnic laws which were for Jews only. No Jew expected or even desired that a pagan get circumcised or keep the food laws unless that pagan wished to become a proselyte (convert).

If we look at the context we see, again and again, that Paul refers explicitly to these ethnic laws. In Romans it’s often circumcision, in Galatians the food laws. Paul is saying: the badge of covenant membership is no longer these “works of Torah” but faith. These things, for Paul, do not (or no longer) serve (see esp. Rom 2:28-29) as the true mark of God’s people: faith does.

What of Good Works

I have shown that Paul is not referring to good works when he writes “works of the law” but instead the ethnic markers of judaism. No clear-thinking Jew considered circumcision a morally good deed and Paul is very serious that “good works” are critical in the life of a Christian spending a good of his letters exhorting churches to living as such. He has not shown that Torah’s requirements have been cancelled but fulfilled by the new covenant in Jesus (spirit-filled lives fulfil the command to love God, self and neighbour). Although he is not explicit about this, it seems clear to me that we do not work for justification: it is given freely, by grace, to those who would repent and believe the gospel resulting in the sign (badge) of faith which marks out believers.

Justification by Faith

Thus, I have come to understand Paul’s justification “by faith” not to mean, “because of faith”, which would deny grace, but, rather, “evidenced by faith”. He is talking about the sign and not the means: Faith is the badge of one who has been justified just as circumcision was thought (by Jews) to be the “badge” of being Jewish. This ethnic privilege is deconstructed by Paul in Romans 4 where he shows that Abraham was declared righteous before (and apart from) circumcision and that this was on the basis of faith (Rom 4:9) centuries before Torah.

This shows a remarkable continuity in the way God deals with and accepts people into His family: it’s always been (marked out) by faith. Thus faith is the HOW of justification in the personal sense namely, you know you are justified if you have faith. James goes further and explains how other people know you are justified: by seeing your deeds.

Having faith is neither how you get nor how you stay justified. We do not “get ourselves” justified, nor do we “earn justification” by having faith. The idea that God rewards faith with justification because he promised justification to all who have faith is tempting, widespread, but, I think, incorrect. Jesus message was “repent and believe” and I think the emphasis lies on the sinner repenting and trusting so that faith (belief) can move in as a gift of God marking them out as justified! This makes sense of that puzzling cry to Jesus: “Lord I believe. Help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24). We trust and repent, He justifies and shows this by giving faith. This faith is our assurance that we are included in God’s family and He will save us.