I still think it is wrong to know that God is the “author and finisher of our faith”, which ends the hall of fame discourse in Hebrews, and say every faith action is “justification.”. It is clear from Paul there is a beginning and an end, all by faith. That does not contradict terminologies of justification and sanctification. That is not what Paul is addressing. He does not mention either term in Hebrew 11,12 .
Oh I agree whole heartedly. It is for God to determine which acts of ours leave us “justified” or in “right relationship” with him. Doing the good works that He has ordained for us does work to keep us “justified” (in a state of grace) and also to sanctify us.
9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.Eph. 2:10
Peter is clear that “making every effort” does serve to increase our movement toward salvation.
5For this very reason,
make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.
10Therefore, my brothers and sisters,a
make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, 11and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.2 Pet. 1:5
Pursuit of virtues of the Spirit will confirm our calling, and make us more useful to Christ.
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Was Abraham justified in ch12 ? He certainly pleased God by faith, Abraham certainly was justified in ch 15 finally knowing and resting in the messiah promise. Maybe it is like the Lord leading an unbeliever to start attending religious classes.By faith he yields to the prompting.
I was taught this is “drawing grace”, Catholics call it “prevenient grace”, but whatever the name, it is that grace that is extended to everyone in order that they may be saved. People either respond to it, and become elected, or not.
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faith in the Son (and for C's baptism), then he is justified, found righteous....All of our actions in the faith are considered righteous, and we one with them. That then does not mean every righteous faith action then forgives us of our sin and puts us back in right standing with God.
But there are many actions that we can have confidence will do this, because God has already revealed that they do.
8Above all, love each other deeply, because** love covers over a multitude of sins**. 9Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.( I Peter 4)
The text is not clear if it covers one’s own sins, or those of others? Perhaps both?
It only shows a “witness” from God to us and or others, as Heb 11:4 state, “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous,”…Again all this stems from are we* saved by works* and of course we all say no.
I think a more clear distinction is that we are saved by grace, through faith, and the quality of that saving faith is a faith that works. Otherwise, it is a dead faith.
Then are we saved by *faith alone *and some say no but by faith and works I say all this points to saved by faith, but that faith is “the work of God” in a double sense, for us and the Lord, by grace . Faith is not alone, in that it has an object (Person).
This is really the only reason that the CC rejects these “solas” - they are not alone. Saving faith is never separated from the grace that we access through it. Saving faith is never separated from the works that it produces in the saved person. And most especially, the witness of Scripture:
“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” I Cor 13:13.
So we cannot separate them and leave any of them “alone”.
Justifying faith is alone in that it is apart from any righteous act we do (baptism or circumcision).
The Apostles did not see these as separated as you do. Justifying faith, being faith that “works” finds it’s expression in certain acts. I do agree, though, the acts are only connected to salvaiton to the extent that they express the faith that justifies. An interesting perspective on justification can be seen in Luke 1:5
“In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. 6**Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. **”
Since we know that one cannot become blameless and righteous in the sight of God by observance of the Law, we must understand this passage to mean that Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteoues because they lived by grace, through faith. Their observance of the Lord’s commands were an expression of their saving faith, but not the cause of it.
Had to chop up your post to “fit”.
This is one of my favorite topics, but it is WAY off the thread topic I think.
