TRUSTING IN OBEDIENCE TO MERIT SALVATION?

There is a lot in the Bible that can be confusing. Consequently, one young man asked me about the confusion that he was experiencing. On the one hand, the Bible requires us to be obedient. However, he feared becoming legalistic - trusting in obedience to make himself acceptable before God.

I explained that in order to resolve this problem, we have to distinguish between performing works of obedience – something required (John 14:21-24) – and trusting in them to merit or earn salvation. To illustrate this crucial distinction, Paul forbade circumcision:

·       If you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. (Galatians 5:2-4)

However, Paul had Timothy circumcised (Acts 16:3). Wouldn’t this have caused Timothy to “fall away from grace?” No! The physical act of circumcision wasn’t the problem, but instead, trusting in the act “to be justified by law.” The Circumcision Party had been insisting that in addition to trusting in the Gospel for salvation, the believer had to be circumcised to become a Jew and a law-keeper. This belief rejects the sufficiency of the Cross and the teaching that salvation is a free gift.

Paul had Timothy circumcised, not to save him, but to enable him to minister among the Jews - a matter of a physical act, which did not detract from Timothy’s faith in Christ.

Many other apparent contradictions can be resolved by making this same distinction better the physical act and what we believe about this act. For example, Paul had taught that remaining single for the sake of devoting oneself to the Lord was commendable, but he also had warned against those who were forbidding marriage:

·       The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. (1 Timothy 4:1-3)

These teachings merely “forbid people to marry” and “to abstain from certain foods.” What can be so wrong with them? Isn’t self-denial a godly thing? Paul even advised against marriage:

·       Now for the matters you wrote about: It is good for a man not to marry. (1 Corinthians 7:1)

Is this a contradiction? On the one hand, Paul says it’s good to not marry, but he also identifies this same teaching as a doctrine “taught by demons!”

However, this paradox can be easily resolved. While Paul taught that it is prudent to not marry in favor of devotion to the Lord, it is evident that abstaining from marriage served as a means of self-righteousness for some. Instead of trusting in the Good News of salvation, they were trusting in their own sacrifice to make themselves righteous in God’s eyes.

We are called to Biblical obedience but not to an unbiblical trust in our obedience. However, obedience to the Word is a sign that we truly believe. If we trust in Christ, we will do as He instructs. If we do not trust in Him, we will not. Therefore, many verses instruct us that where there is no obedience, there is also no faith. A good tree will bear good fruit, even if that only means humbly confessing our sins.