“God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’” -1 Corinthians 1:28-30 (ESV)
When it comes to salvation, we as believers rest in the work of Christ alone. It is His righteousness that redeemed us from the penalty of sin; His work that secures our salvation. We have no ground for boasting in our own righteousness, because as the prophet Isaiah said, “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.” (Isaiah 64:6) You see, it is not that good deeds have become evil for us, it is that our evil trumps all of our good deeds, so that they become worthless, stained and defiled, an insulting thing to present to the Lord as a tribute to Him. Will He accept an offering of a few good deeds from a soul that stands in rebellion to Him, as payment to wash away all of the wrongs that we have done? Absolutely not. Scripture is clear that it is only through the work of Christ, not of ourselves, that we can be accepted by God.
Where does this leave us then? If we are saved solely by the righteousness and grace of God, of what use is personal purity and good deeds? If we are referring only to salvation, the answer is clear: absolutely nothing. It is of no use to use to be good, pure and righteous in ourselves as this will in no way secure salvation for us. We are as lost if we do evil as we are if we, being evil, make every effort to do good, for “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, “ (Romans 3:23) and “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).
Is there any value then in living righteously? If the believer is altogether saved by the work of Christ, then it follows that his salvation is also secured and maintained by Christ, not himself. If this were not so, and a man, having once been lifted out of the depth of his depravity strictly by the saving work of Christ and the grace of God, could then lose that salvation by his deeds, then it follows that the deeds of man are greater than the work of Christ, as they can undo it. But this cannot be, for if God will stoop himself to save what cannot save itself, and to apply his own righteousness to that which has no righteousness of its own, then certainly it follows that once His divine merit has been applied to a life that had none, that life’s own lack of righteousness is not suddenly in a better position to incur the wrath of God, wrath which was its sole and just reward prior to the saving act of God.
This being the case, does it not also follow that as Christ’s righteousness is the only righteousness that is of value when we stand before God as our divine Judge, that we may therefore take no further thought for our own personal purity, seeing as it can neither increase nor decrease our standing before Him? Taken in a vacuum, this is true: our salvation is not dependent upon our works, neither for the saving nor for the keeping, and therefore those works are irrelevant. However, the truth of God’s salvation does not occur in a vacuum. You see, God did not save us as a man might save a turtle that he finds lying on its back by flipping it over and then walking away, unconcerned with the rest of its life. No, God saved us, not merely from the penalty of sin, but he saved us for Himself. Jesus did not die solely so that we might escape the punishment of Hell, He died so that we might be adopted as the sons and daughters of God Himself. He died because He loves us, and loving us, He does not turn away from the souls that He has saved.
Paul deals with a similar question in his letter to the Romans. Coming to the end of a discourse of how the righteousness and grace of God trumps the sin of man, so that “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Romans 5:20), he begs the question: “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?” (Romans 6:1). We may be tempted to think that this is a ridiculous argument. Who can think like this? Who can imagine intentionally living in sin so that God’s grace can shine? Consider it well, though, because Paul’s reasoning is very sound. You see, God is glorified through the work of salvation; His love for us burns brightly in salvation, visible to all, because “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8). His act of saving those who have nothing to recommend themselves to Him clearly illustrate the incredible, unknowable depth of His love and grace. Therefore, as Paul notes, there may be temptation to say that since God is glorified in showing this grace to sinners, we ought to continue in sin, so that He may continue in showing grace. This, however, is a terrible heresy, as Paul answers “By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” (Romans 6:2-4) We can see, then, that as believers we are not only saved from the penalty of our sins, but raised to a new life. What does this mean for us?
Consider Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” When we are saved, we are not only forgiven, but we are made new; we have a new life, with God, in Christ. The old life, of sin and death, is now gone. This is not merely a matter of starting over with a clean slate, as it were, but is a true newness of life, illustrated by the presence of the Spirit of God as He personally indwells each believer whom He has redeemed. God revealed this in the times before Christ came when He bade the Prophet Ezekiel to proclaim “I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.” (Ezekiel 36:27) Paul reiterated this truth, admonishing the believers in 1 Corinthians 3:17, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” If then we have been created new, it is certain that this newness will shine forth in our lives, or else these are just words on a page. How does it shine? Jesus Himself answers pretty clearly: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40). Again He says “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (John 14:15) and yet again, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35). If God has saved us, made us knew, and placed His Spirit within us, then it is unquestionable that love and gratitude will follow this divine act. If love for God, then obedience to God. If obedience to God, then love for each other. If love for each other, then it will be clearly seen by all that we have been saved by God. Apart from this, there is no evidence that salvation has ever taken place, and therefore we find ourselves on perilous ground should we defend sinfulness by some weak argument that it is irrelevant seeing as how we have been saved, and cannot be un-saved. To make such an argument is like meeting the advances of a beautiful woman (or man, if you’re female) with a slap in the face. They’ve offered love, and you’ve offered cruelty and rejection in return. You cannot love God if you turn your back on His commandments, and if you cannot love God, then you cannot have been saved by Him. In this we can clearly see that our righteous deeds are of no value whatsoever securing or maintaining our salvation, but that their presence will certainly stand as a testimony to it, if indeed we have been saved.
What then of the sins that we commit as believers? As Christ’s righteousness has been applied to our account before God, erasing all the debt of our sins and redeeming us from the penalty due, we see that we continue to contain the potential for unrighteousness within us. Each of us sins every day, and if we do wrong, does this mean that we ourselves are lost? No, and Scripture addresses this directly. Throughout we see that God refers to Himself as our Father. This is not merely a reference to God as Father in the sense that all things came from Him, as though the role of a Father and that of Creator were one and the same. God is the Creator of all, but He is not the Father of all. Jesus pointed this out when addressed by a group of Pharisees who argued that God was their Father, a statement He rejected by stating “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here.” He then went on to say “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires.” (See John 8:42-44) As believers, though, we are the children of God, and He is our Father, as Paul states in Galatians 4:4-7, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.”
If then we have been created new, indwelt by God and adopted into His family, we can expect to be treated as His children. This involves full expectation of blessing as God’s children, but also full expectation of discipline. The author of Hebrews addresses this, pointing to Proverbs 3:11-12 when he states “’My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.’ It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?” (See Hebrews 12:5-7). If we are the children of God and we do what is sinful, we may certainly expect the correcting discipline of our Father, just as we would expect it from our earthly parents. We cannot continue living in sin, because God will not allow this, and will certainly discipline us should we insist upon it. Moreover, not only will he discipline us for sin, but He Himself will work within us to do what is good, as Paul points out in Philippians 2:13 when he says “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” This certainly connects with Jesus’ statement in Matthew 7:16, when he warns His followers about those who claim to be from God but are false, stating “You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?” What is the fruit of a true believer? As he is indwelt by the Spirit, he will show evidence of that which Paul points out in Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”
So we can clearly see that salvation is the work of God, dependent upon the righteousness of Christ alone, not of ourselves. We cannot add to it, nor can we take away from it by our deeds, whether good or bad. Yet at the same time we see clearly that good deeds are not irrelevant in the life of the believer, as the true believer, the one who has been adopted, indwelt and made new, will certainly and inevitably begin to show signs of that salvation through the fruit that the indwelling Spirit will begin to grow in his or her life, as well as through the discipline of God in those areas that require correcting.
