1. J. Gresham Machen, The Christian View of Man (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1937), 186 – 87.
Appendix 1
manifestation of God's law which was found in the Old Testament, have God's law written upon their hearts and are without excuse when they disobey. Chris tians, in particular, Paul insists, are far indeed from being emancipated from the duty of obedience to God's commands. The Apostle regards any such notion as the deadliest of errors. "Now the works of the flesh," says Paul, "are manifest, which are these: Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God."1
It is a mistake of the worst sort to set the teachings of Paul and the apostles over against the words of our Lord and imagine that they contradict one another or speak to different dispensations. The Gospels are the foundation on which the Epistles build. The entire book of James, for example, reads like a commentary on the Sermon on the Mount. Those who want to consign the Sermon to another age must still deal with the fact that all its principles are repeated and expanded upon by later New Testament writers.
Those who wish to do away with "lordship salvation" gain no ground by trying to limit discussion of the gospel message to the Epistles. While Jesus' gospel was not yet fully completed until His death and resurrection, the elements of it were all clear in His teaching. Each of the apostles who wrote under inspiration underscored and amplified the truth of the gospel according to Jesus.
Paul
The apostle Paul in particular was a champion of the great doctrine of justification by faith. Yet he recognized the lordship of Christ (Rom. 10:9 – 10) and the place of works in a believer's life (Eph. 2:10). For him, faith was not a dormant quality that might fail to produce righ teous fruit. He saw practical righ teous ness as the necessary and inevitable result of true faith.
It has often been imagined that Paul's view of justification differed from James's, because Paul wrote, "For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the Law" (Rom. 3:28); while James wrote, "You see that a man is justified by works, and not by faith alone" (James 2:24). But there is no contradiction. Paul was saying that human works cannot earn favor with God, and James was saying that true faith must always result in good works.
1. J. Gresham Machen, Th e Chris tian View of Man (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1937), 186 – 87.