Chapter Six
Those that endeavour to perform sincere obedience to all the commands of Christ hose who strive to obey all of Christ's commands sincerely, believing that by doing so they can earn their salvation and have a solid foundation to trust in Him, are seeking salvation through works of the law rather than through faith in Christ as revealed in the gospel. They will never be able to achieve sincere and genuinely holy obedience through such efforts.
To understand the terms used in this discussion, it should be noted that salvation is understood here to include justification, along with other saving benefits, and sincere obedience encompasses both heartfelt intentions and their fulfilment. Many people who have a sense of religion tend to believe that the most reliable way to establish a life of holiness and righteousness is to make it the condition for obtaining God's favour and eternal happiness.
This can be seen in the prevalence of various false religions throughout history. The heathens, for example, were motivated to practice their best devotion and morality by their knowledge of God's judgment, understanding that those who fail to uphold their obligations to God and their fellow human beings deserve punishment, as their consciences either accuse or excuse them based on their conduct (Rom. 1:32; 2:14, 15).
Through the common light of natural reason, our consciences inform us that it is just for God to expect us to fulfill these duties in order to avoid His wrath and experience His favour. Without divine revelation, we cannot find a better way to attain happiness or motivate ourselves to perform our duties.
However, because our consciences also bear witness to our frequent failures in fulfilling these duties, we are inclined, out of self-love, to convince ourselves that our sincere efforts to do our best will be enough to secure
God's favour and obtain forgiveness for our shortcomings.
Thus, we can see that our belief in salvation through the condition of sincere obedience originates from our corrupt natural reasoning and is part of the wisdom of this world. It is not part of "the wisdom of God in a mystery, that hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world to our glory." It is not one of those things of the Spirit of God that "have not entered the heart of man," and that the "natural man cannot receive; for they are foolishness to him; neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned" (1 Cor. 2:6, 7, 9, 14). It is not part of "the foolishness of preaching," through which God was pleased "to save those who believe" (1
Cor. 1:21). Although a better way has been revealed to us in the gospel, a way to enjoy God's favour, holiness, and salvation without any requirement of works, through the free gift of God's grace received by faith in Christ, it is very difficult to persuade people to abandon the path they are naturally inclined to. This belief has taken hold of their judgments and has become ingrained in them, making it hard to change. Most of those who live under the hearing and profession of the gospel have not come to hate sin for what it is, and to love godliness for its own sake, even though they understand its necessity for salvation. Therefore, they cannot truly love it. The only way they can try to achieve it is by hypocritically practising their old natural ways, in the hope of avoiding hell and earning heaven through their works.
Their consciences bear witness that their zeal and love for God and godliness, their self-denial, sorrow for sin, and strictness of life are, in a way, forced and coerced by slavish fear and selfish hope. They fear that if they were to trust in Christ for salvation through free grace without works, the fire of their zeal and devotion would quickly fade, and they would become careless in their religion, allowing their lusts to run wild and bringing damnation upon themselves. This leads them to regard as the only true and powerful preachers those who preach little or nothing about the doctrine of free grace, but instead focus on rebuking sin and urging people to attain Christ and His salvation through their works, while thundering hell and damnation against sinners.
It has also been observed that some who have strongly advocated for salvation by free grace, without any condition of works, have fallen into Antinomian opinions and licentious practices. The experience of these things has influenced some learned and zealous individuals among us to step back from the doctrine of justification by faith without works, which was previously unanimously professed and vigorously defended by Protestants against the Catholics as a key tenet of true religion. They have convinced themselves that such a path of justification is ineffective and even detrimental to sanctification. They believe that the practice of sincere obedience cannot be established against Antinomian errors and prevailing sinful desires unless it is made the necessary condition for our justification and, consequently, our eternal salvation. Therefore, they conclude that God has certainly made sincere obedience the condition for our salvation. They have endeavoured to reshape Protestant doctrine and interpret the Holy
Scriptures in a manner that aligns with and supports this foundation of holiness, which they consider to be their only reliable one.
However, I intend to demonstrate that this imagined foundation of holiness they hold onto was never established by the holy God. Instead, it is an erroneous foundation that is harmful to true faith and holiness of life. I consider it an error that should be particularly abhorred and detested because we are so prone to be deceived by it. Moreover, it is an error through which Satan, disguising himself as an angel of light and a supporter of holiness, vehemently opposed the gospel in the time of the apostles. He incited people to persecute it out of zeal for the law. This error has also prevailed in establishing and maintaining Popery, which in these days corrupts the purity of the gospel among Protestants and attempts to heal the fatal wound inflicted upon Popery by preaching the doctrine of justification by faith without works.
One aspect emphasized in the directive against this fundamental error is that it promotes a salvation based on the works of the law rather than the faith of Christ as revealed in the gospel. However, its proponents want us to believe that it is the only way of the gospel, so that we may not doubt its power and efficacy for our justification, sanctification, and overall salvation. Their argument is that the law, as a covenant of works, requires us to perfectly fulfill all its commandments in order to live. They, on the other hand, argue for a milder condition of sincere obedience for our life.
They claim that they are not advocating for the performance of duties out of obligation to the authority of the law given by God through Moses, but solely in obedience to the commands of Christ in the gospel. They also assert that they do not advocate for salvation through sincere obedience without Christ, but only through Christ and His merit and righteousness.
They acknowledge that both salvation itself and sincere obedience are freely given to them by the grace of Christ, so that everything is based on grace. They also acknowledge that their salvation is by faith because sincere obedience is produced in them through believing the gospel and is inherent in the nature of that faith, which constitutes the complete condition for our salvation. Some even refer to it as the act of surrendering in faith.
However, all these arguments are nothing more than deceptive illusions disguising a legalistic way of salvation to make it appear as pure gospel, as I will demonstrate in the following explanations.
1. The apostle Paul condemns all those who seek salvation through the sincere performance of good works as the means to obtain it. He states that they are seeking righteousness by the works of the law rather than by faith (Romans 9:32). Additionally, he warns that those who seek justification by the law are falling from the grace of Christ (Galatians 5:4). This single assertion, if proven, is enough to expose the fallacy of relying on sincere obedience as a procuring condition and to make people detest it as a damning legalistic doctrine that deprives its followers of salvation through Christ. The proof of this assertion is not difficult for those who carefully consider a matter of such great importance for their salvation.
The Jews and Judaizing Christians, with whom the apostle primarily engages in his dispute, did not claim to be justified by perfect obedience according to the strictness of the law. They believed that their obedience needed to be sincere and not hypocritical. We have no reason to doubt that the Judaizing Galatians, who had been exposed to the gospel, also understood the distinction between sincere obedience and hypocrisy. The Jewish religion compelled its adherents to acknowledge their sinfulness, as evident from their annual humiliation on the day of atonement, various rituals of the law, and numerous clear testimonies in the Scriptures entrusted to them (Psalm 143:2; Proverbs 20:9; Ecclesiastes 7:20).
However, they knew that they were required to turn to the Lord with all their hearts in sincerity and uprightness, and they believed that God would accept sincere obedience. Consequently, they could view it as a condition of the law, even more so than we can regard it as a condition of the gospel (Psalm 51:6, 10; Deuteronomy 6:5; 30:10). Therefore, if the apostle had argued against those who believed that only perfect obedience was necessary for justification, he would have been contending with a mere illusion. They could just as easily consider sincere obedience to be the condition of justification under the law, just as we consider it to be the condition under the gospel.
Furthermore, the apostle does not solely condemn them for regarding sincere obedience to the law given by Moses as the condition of their justification. Rather, he condemns them more generally for seeking salvation through their own works. He cites the examples of Abraham, who lived before the law of Moses, and David, who lived under the law, to illustrate his point. Despite their sincere obedience, neither Abraham nor David was justified by their works. The apostle demonstrates that even those who performed sincere obedience were not justified by it. David, in particular, was devoted to obeying the commands of the law given by Moses, just as we are committed to obeying the commands of Christ in the gospel (Romans 4:2, 3, 5, 6).
Neither does he condemn them for seeking their salvation solely through works, without acknowledging the grace and salvation offered through Christ. The judaizing Galatians still professed belief in the grace and salvation of Christ, although they believed that obedience to the law was a necessary condition for partaking in it. This belief was also held by many other judaizing believers. Undoubtedly, they considered themselves obligated to both Moses and Christ, whom they recognised as their Lord and Saviour. It was not a damning error to view Moses' law as binding at that time, as many thousands of Jews who were true believers regarded the ceremonies of Moses as still in force. Paul was understanding and accommodating towards them in this regard. Other Jews sought justification not only through sincere works but also by placing their trust in the promise made to Abraham, as well as in their priesthood and sacrifices, which were types foreshadowing Christ. Even the most legalistic Pharisees thanked God for their works, attributing them to His grace. They could acknowledge that their salvation was by faith, just as those who assert salvation through sincere obedience do in present times. They believed that their sincere obedience was a result of believing in the Word of God, which encompassed both the gospel and legal teachings. Therefore, they believed it to be encompassed within the nature of faith if faith was considered the condition for their entire salvation.
Let them not rebuild the Judaism that the apostle Paul dismantled, which caused the Jews to stumble at Christ, and put the Galatians at risk of falling from Christ and grace. They must beware of falling under the curse that the apostle has pronounced against anyone, even angels, who preach any other gospel than the one he preached.
1. The distinction between the law and the gospel does not lie in the requirement of perfect obedience versus sincere obedience. Rather, it lies in the fact that the law requires doing, while the gospel does not require doing but believing for life and salvation. The terms themselves differ not only in degree but in their entire nature.
The apostle Paul contrasts the belief required in the gospel with any form of doing for life, as the appropriate condition under the law. The law is not based on faith, but rather on the principle that those who do the commandments shall live by them. However, for the one who does not work but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, their faith is accounted as righteousness. Therefore, even if we seek salvation through an easy and lenient condition of works, we inadvertently subject ourselves to the terms of the law and become obligated to fulfill the entire law perfectly, even if our initial intention was to fulfill only part of it. The law serves as a comprehensive declaration of the only terms by which God will judge those who have not reached the point of despairing over their ability to earn salvation through their own works, and who are willing to receive it as a freely given gift of grace from God in Christ. Consequently, all who seek salvation, whether knowingly or unknowingly, rightly or wrongly, through any amount of works, be it the product of their own superstition or commanded by God in the Old or New Testament, will ultimately stand or fall according to these terms.
1. Sincere obedience cannot be rendered to all the commands of Christ in the gospel unless it is also applied to the moral law as given by Moses, which obliges us through its authority. Some proponents of the condition of salvation through sincere obedience to the commands of Christ would prefer to be exempt from the authority of the Mosaic law, since it justifies no one and instead pronounces a curse upon all who seek salvation through its works. However, if they were justified at all by sincere works, their regard for Moses' authority would not hinder their success. In fact, many devout
Christians believed they were bound to obey not only the moral law but also the ceremonial law, and if they sought justification through works, it would have been through those works. They were unaware of any justification through sincere works exclusively commanded in the gospel. Yet, if they had erred in something absolutely necessary for salvation, the apostles would not have tolerated their error. Whether they like it or not, they must seek their salvation through the works of the moral law as given by Moses, or else they can never attain it through sincere obedience to the commands of Christ. Christ did not cherish their new condition to the extent of abolishing the Mosaic authority of the moral law for its establishment. He did not come to abolish the law and the prophets but to fulfill them, in the practice that they demanded. He declared that anyone who breaks even the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so shall be considered least in the kingdom of Heaven, while those who practice and teach them shall be called great in the kingdom of Heaven. He commands us to treat others as we would like to be treated, stating that this encompasses the law and the prophets. This is sufficient evidence to demonstrate that He wants us to acknowledge the authority of the law in obliging us in this matter. He also instructs His disciples to observe and do whatever the scribes and Pharisees command, for they sit in Moses' seat.
And, to address the matter at hand, when Christ was asked by those who were guilty of the same error of seeking salvation through their own works, He directed them to obey the commands that were already established by the authority of Moses in the Scriptures of the Old Testament. He asked them, "What is written in the law? How do you read it? This is what you must do in order to live" (Luke 10:26, 28). He emphasized that if they desired eternal life, they should keep the commandments, such as "You shall not murder" and "You shall not commit adultery."
Similarly, the apostles of Christ also urged believers to fulfil moral duties based on the authority of the law given by Moses. The apostle Paul encouraged them to love one another, stating that the one who loves others has fulfilled the law (Rom. 13:8), and to honour their parents, which is the first commandment with a promise (Eph. 6:2). The apostle John exhorted them to love one another, not as a new commandment, but as an old one.
The apostle James urged them to uphold the royal law, as stated in the Scriptures: "Love your neighbour as yourself" and to keep all the commandments of the law, for the one who said, "Do not commit adultery" also said, "Do not murder" (James 2:8, 10, 11). Faithful Protestants have regarded the denial of the authority of the moral law given by Moses as an Antinomian error. Although those who recently opposed Antinomianism do not maintain this error, they establish an even worse error: justification through their sincere works based on the gospel. I believe the term "Antinomian" originated from this error. The authority of the law of Moses initially came from Christ Himself, for Christ was the Lord God of Israel who ordained the law through angels on Mount Sinai, with Moses acting as the mediator for the Israelites, who were then His chosen people. We, as believing Gentiles, are now joined with them as fellow members of the same body (Eph. 3:6). While Christ has since abolished certain commandments given by Moses, particularly those relating to ceremonial and judicial matters, He has not nullified the binding authority of the moral law. He has left it in full force to obligate us in moral duties that are still to be practised. It is similar to how, when certain acts of a parliament are repealed, the authority of that same parliament remains intact for other unrepealed acts.
I understand that they object by saying that the Ten Commandments of the moral law, which were written and engraved on stones, have also been abolished by Christ (2 Cor. 3:7). However, this argument completely contradicts their conditional covenant. The Ten Commandments are referred to as the "ministration of death" and have been done away with, not because they commanded perfect obedience (since even Christ Himself commands us to be perfect - Matt. 5:48), but because they served as conditions for obtaining life and avoiding death. They were established with a promise of life for those who kept them and a curse for those who broke them (Gal. 3:10, 12). The covenant made with Israel on Mount Sinai has been abolished by Christ, who is the Mediator of the new covenant (Heb.
8:8, 9, 13). The Ten Commandments do not bind us in the same way as they did under that covenant (Exod. 34:28). By this, I mean that they do not bind us as conditions of that covenant, unless we seek justification through our works. The law, as a covenant, still holds the power to bring a curse upon those who seek salvation through their own works (Gal. 3:10). If it has been abolished, it is only for those who are in Christ by faith (Gal. 2:16, 20; Acts
3:22-25; 15:10, 11). However, the Ten Commandments still bind us because they were given to a people who, at that time, were under the covenant of grace made with Abraham. They serve to show us what duties are holy, just, and good, pleasing to God, and to provide a rule for our conduct. In conclusion, we must continue to practice moral duties as commanded by Moses, but we must not seek justification through our obedience. If we view them as a guide for our lives, rather than as conditions for justification, they cannot be seen as a "ministration of death" or a condemning letter to us. Although their perfection may make it more challenging for us to obtain life through them, they serve as a better rule to reveal our imperfections and guide us towards the perfection we should strive for. It would be wise not to dismiss the authority of Moses' Ten
Commandments until our modern theologians can present us with a morality system that is as complete and excellently composed, ordered by the wisdom of God, and more authentic than the decalogue.
Furthermore, those who seek to obtain Christ's salvation through their sincere obedience to all His commands are acting contrary to the way of salvation by Christ, free grace, and faith that is revealed in the gospel, despite their high profession of it.
1. They act in opposition to the way of salvation through Christ, for they attempt to heal and save themselves from the power and defilement of sin and earn God's favour through their sincere obedience before coming to Christ, the only Physician and Saviour.
They place their own obedience as the lowest foundation of their salvation and build the experience of Christ upon it, whereas Christ
Himself should be the only foundation. They try to sanctify themselves before having a sure claim on Christ, and in their effort to establish their own righteousness, they do not submit to the righteousness of God in Christ (Rom. 10:3, 4). Sometimes they refer to the righteousness of Christ as their legal righteousness, in order to make room for their own works as the immediate cause of their justification by Christ, thus disregarding the fact that the apostle
Paul acknowledged no evangelical righteousness other than that of Christ, which he called the righteousness of faith without the law (Rom. 3:21, 22) and not of the law (Phil. 3:9). In doing so, they render Christ's salvation void while claiming to acknowledge it, and Christ becomes of no benefit to them. Christ is rendered ineffective for them as they seek to be justified by the law (Gal. 5:2, 4). If we desire to be saved by Christ, we must acknowledge ourselves as dead, lost sinners who possess no righteousness for justification except His, and have no life or ability to do good until God unites us with Him in fellowship.
2. They also act in opposition to salvation by grace, as understood in the true meaning of the gospel. We are not saved by grace as the supreme cause of salvation through the intervention of works that are given and accepted by grace as the procuring cause. In such a sense, we might be saved by grace, yet still by a covenant of works.
It is comparable to a servant who receives money from his master to purchase an annuity from the master at a reduced rate. The servant may profess that he received the annuity freely, but he has acquired it through his own purchase and can claim it as a rightful debt.
However, we are saved by grace as the immediate and complete cause of our entire salvation, excluding any procurement of our salvation through the condition of works or claiming it as a debt owed according to any law.
The Scripture teaches us that there is a complete opposition and irreconcilability between salvation by grace and works: "But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace" (Rom. 11:6). Likewise, there is an opposition between a reward based on grace and one based on obligation (Rom. 4:4), and between a promise of happiness based on the law and one based on grace (Rom. 4:13, 16). God is so protective of the glory of His free grace that He will not save us through any works, even if they are His own works within us, in order to prevent anyone from boasting (Eph. 2:9). He knows that when He heals people through medicine or sustains them through their own labour, they are inclined to attribute the glory more to the means they employ rather than to His sole generosity and goodness.
1. They also act in opposition to the way of salvation by faith. As I have already demonstrated, the faith required for our salvation in the gospel should be understood in a sense that contradicts the notion of doing good works as a condition to earn our salvation. This maintains the true distinction between the terms of the law and the gospel. Believing is opposed to any effort to work for salvation, and the law of works is contrasted with the law of faith (Rom. 4:5; 3:27; Eph. 2:8, 9). Therefore, we must not view faith as a righteous deed encompassing any works performed as a means to secure a right and claim to Christ. Rather, it is simply the hand by which we receive
Christ, freely given to us, or the mouth through which we partake of Him, as has been previously established. God grants us the right to receive Christ and His salvation through the free offer and invitation of the gospel, leaving nothing for our faith to accomplish other than accepting Him as a free gift. In this way, the glory of our salvation is not attributed to our faith or works, but solely to the free grace of God in Christ: "It is by faith, that it might be according to grace"
2. Christ and His apostles never taught a gospel that required such a condition of works for salvation as advocated by them. The Scripture passages they usually cite in support of their argument are either contradictory to it or significantly different from it – as they would discover from many Protestant interpreters if their attachment to a Popish belief had not blinded them. I will briefly mention just a few of those texts, which will shed some light on the true meaning of the others. The "obedience of faith" mentioned by the apostle
Paul as the central aim of gospel preaching (Rom. 1:5) is in direct opposition to their condition of sincere obedience for salvation, just as the law of faith opposes the law of works (Rom. 3:27). This obedience consists of believing the message of the gospel, as the apostle explains: "But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, 'Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?'"
(Rom. 10:16). Faith is imputed as righteousness, not because it is a righteous work in itself, but because through it, we renounce all confidence in any righteous works and rely on the One who justifies the ungodly, as made clear by the very text they often distort for their purposes (Rom. 4:5). They greatly distort the words of Paul: "He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life" (Rom. 2:6, 7), where they claim that Paul is declaring the terms of the gospel when he is clearly stating the terms of the law to demonstrate that both Jews and Gentiles are under sin.
This is evident from the content of his subsequent discourse (Rom.
3:9, 10). They are evidently aligned with the Papists against the prevailing opinion of the best Protestant theologians in their interpretation of the text: "You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone" (James 2:24), where they assert that James presents a more accurate expression of the doctrine of justification than the apostle Paul, who teaches justification by faith without works. However, Paul discusses this doctrine as his primary subject, while James only mentions it incidentally as a motivation for the practice of good works, allowing us to easily discern which expressions should be considered most appropriate.
Protestants have adequately demonstrated that James is not speaking of a true saving faith, but rather of a dead faith that even demons possess. He is not discussing justification in the proper sense, but rather the manifestation and declaration of it through its fruits. Furthermore, when he mentions justification by works, he refers to the commandments given in the law of Moses, as evidenced by his citation of the commandments (James 2:8, 11), which the proponents of the new theological ideas want nothing to do with in their justification doctrine.
Another text they often cite is "Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city" (Rev. 22:14). However, the Greek word translated as "right" here is translated as "power" or "privilege" in other instances (John 1:12). In this context, it signifies a rightful possession of the fruit of the tree of life, rather than a mere claim to it. Therefore, this text proves no more than what most Protestants acknowledge, that good works are the path we are to walk in order to partake in and possess the glory of Christ. However, the title to Christ and His glorious salvation is freely given to us without any requirement of works.
They also argue that when the happiness of heaven is referred to as a reward, it must necessarily imply a condition of works. They point to verses such as Revelation 22:12 and Matthew 5:12. Although it is called a reward because it is granted after the performance of good works, and it compensates the works better than any earthly wages can compensate a labourer, it is still a reward of grace and not of obligation (Rom. 4:4). It is not a proper wage, but rather a free gift. As the Scripture states, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 6:23).
Another point emphasized in this discussion is that those who strive to perform sincere obedience as a condition to obtain a right and title to Christ and His salvation will never be able to sincerely fulfil any true obedience through such efforts. Despite their earnest labour, fervent prayers, frequent fasting, and commitments to holiness through numerous vows, driven by powerful motives drawn from the infinite power, justice, and knowledge of God, the righteousness and goodness of His commands, the salvation of Christ, eternal happiness and misery, or any other motive contemplated with utmost affection, they will never achieve the desired outcome through such a misguided approach. They may restrain their sinful inclinations and engage in many hypocritical and servile acts, which may earn them a reputation as exemplary saints among people, but they will be unable to mortify a single sinful inclination or perform a single duty in a manner that pleases God. However, I am critiquing only an error, not the lives of those who hold this belief. I have heard that some preach in a legalistic manner but pray with an evangelical spirit. I have no doubt that their hearts and lives align more with their prayers than their sermons. Although Peter temporarily conformed to Judaism in an outward act of profession, he still lived as a Christian (Gal. 2:11, 14). I only affirm that no godly person did or could attain to godliness through this erroneous path. What a lamentable disappointment this is for those who have attempted to alter Protestant doctrine, perverting and confusing the distinction between law and gospel, causing much contention within the church, all in an effort to secure the practice of sincere obedience against Antinomian errors by making it the procuring condition of salvation. Yet, after all their efforts, the remedy is found to be as ineffective and detrimental to the intended purpose as the disease itself, exerting an Antinomian influence and effect contrary to the power of true godliness!
Much more could be said to refute this novel doctrine. However, if this one point is well established, it should suffice to make the zealous proponents of this belief ashamed of their craft, angry with themselves, and remorseful for investing so much effort and stretching their intellects to uphold such an unprofitable and unsanctifying opinion. It will be enough to prove this by demonstrating that the practice of true holiness cannot possibly be attained by seeking to be saved by the works of the law. I have already established that this doctrine of salvation through sincere obedience aligns with the terms of the law, not the gospel. Those who attribute justification solely to the gospel and sanctification to the law should also recognize their error. However, because those who advocate for the condition of sincere obedience may not easily be persuaded by what has been said thus far, that it aligns with the law of works, I will further substantiate my argument to sufficiently reveal that "it possesses no other nature and effect than any other doctrine inherent to the law, and produces no better fruit." This will demonstrate that seeking holiness through the law of works is not worthy to be called gospel doctrine.
1. The path of salvation through the works of the law contradicts and undermines the necessary means for a holy life that have been discussed in the preceding instructions and clearly proven from the Scriptures. I have demonstrated that a genuine inclination towards a holy life cannot be achieved without a firm conviction of our reconciliation with God through justification, our eternal happiness, and the sufficient strength to both desire and carry out our duties.
Moreover, I have shown that all these and other necessary qualities can only be found in Christ through our union and fellowship with Him. And Christ Himself, along with His fullness, is united to us through faith, which is not a condition to earn a right and claim to Christ, but a means by which we actually receive Him into our hearts, relying on Him for the freely promised salvation in the gospel. These means for a holy life are the very essence of our spiritual existence and joy. Therefore, if we possess them, eternal life has already commenced within us. Since they are the necessary means for a holy life, the beginning of eternal life within us should not be positioned after such a life, as its fruit and consequence, but rather it must precede it as the cause before the effect. Now, the terms of the law directly oppose this approach. They place the practice of holiness before life and make it the means and cause for obtaining life, as Moses describes: "The person who does these things shall live by them" (Rom. 10:5). According to these terms, one must first perform the prescribed holy duties before having any claim to the promised life or any right to embrace it through faith.
And you must pursue holiness without the aforementioned means, or else you will never attain them. Thus, the true means are stripped of their role and, instead of being causes, they are made to be effects and outcomes of a holy life. However, it would be futile to expect such effects and outcomes when the necessary causes are removed.
Therefore, the apostle Paul testifies that the way of salvation through the works of the law nullifies faith, renders the promises ineffective, frustrates the grace of God, treats Christ's sacrifice as meaningless, and renders Christ useless and ineffective to us, as if we have fallen from grace (Rom. 4:14; Gal. 2:21; 5:2, 4).
Let us now examine the contemporary doctrine of salvation through the condition of sincere obedience to all the commands of Christ, and we will quickly discover that it is cut from the same cloth as the former legal way of salvation, and it is just as destructive to the means of holiness and holiness itself. It demands from us the performance of sincere obedience before we possess the means necessary to accomplish it. It places obedience as a prerequisite to our justification, assurance of eternal happiness, our actual experience of union and fellowship with Christ, and the acquisition of the new nature that can only be found in Him through faith. This doctrine undermines the essence of saving faith, through which we truly receive and enjoy Christ and all His blessings. It discourages us from laying hold of Christ and His salvation by telling us, much like Christ told the legalistic worker after all his efforts, that we still lack something (Mark 10:21). It suggests that it would be presumptuous to claim Him as our own until we have fulfilled the condition for our right and entitlement to Him, which is another form of saving faith commonly known as sincere obedience.
Through this imposed conditional faith, Satan keeps many troubled souls at a distance, causing them to scrutinise their hearts for many years, trying to determine whether they have fulfilled the condition and whether they possess any right to Christ for their salvation, hesitating to take Him as their own. It acts as a formidable barrier, preventing the soul from approaching
Christ until it is demolished by the knowledge of salvation by grace, without any requirement of works to procure it. Though it may be considered as a trivial payment for a vast estate, it is enough to break even the most capable person, because it hinders them from laying hold of the only effective means of holiness, by which that seemingly insignificant payment can be obtained.
1. Those who seek salvation through the works of the law are acting in accordance with their natural state. They live and walk according to the flesh or the old self, rather than the new state of having Christ living within them. I have no doubt that many of them who live under the light of the gospel are participants in the new state in Christ and walk in holiness. However, even the best individuals in this world have both flesh and spirit within them, and to some extent, they may act in accordance with either state. In this matter, they are acting according to their carnal and natural state. When the Galatians, who initially believed, were led astray to a legalistic approach to salvation, the Apostle Paul rebuked them for their foolishness in seeking to be "perfected by the flesh" after beginning in the Spirit (Gal. 3:3). He likened those who desired to be under the law to Hagar, the bondwoman and mother of Abraham's son, to illustrate that they were walking in the manner of those born according to the flesh, rather than the Spirit (Gal. 4:22, 23, 29). The law was first given to Adam in his original state of innocence to set the terms for his continued enjoyment of the happiness he then possessed. Since then, the flesh or the natural man has been bound to the law, and the law holds dominion over a person as long as they live, that is, until they die to their fleshly state through the body of Christ and are united with Him who is raised from the dead (Rom.
7:1, 4). We are not under the law as a covenant of works in our new state in Christ, as the Apostle testifies: "For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace" (Rom. 6:14), and "But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law" (Gal. 5:18). From this, we can firmly conclude that it is impossible to attain true godliness by acting according to legalistic terms. I have already fully proven that it is impossible to be godly while we are in the flesh or in a natural state, and as long as we act according to it, we can do nothing but sin. The law is weakened by the flesh to such an extent that it cannot bring us to fulfill its own righteousness (Rom. 8:3, 4). It is joined to a rebellious nature that is hostile towards it and can never submit to it (Rom. 8:7). It demands from the natural person a debt of obedience that they are completely unable to repay since the Fall, and as a result, it receives nothing.
Neither do those who attempt to attain holiness by making sincere obedience to Christ's commands a condition for their salvation take a better approach. Their way is essentially the same as that of the previously mentioned Galatians who sought to be perfected in the flesh, not through perfect obedience, but sincere obedience, as has been explained before.
Their efforts to secure an interest in Christ through their sincere obedience testify against themselves, revealing that they do not act as people who are in Christ, but rather as people who consider themselves to be without an interest in Christ and still in need of it. And sincere obedience is just as impossible to attain as perfect obedience when we act according to our spiritually dead natural state.
As the law deprives us of all the means of strength that can be obtained through faith in Christ and finds us without strength in our natural state, it, by itself, does not provide us with the strength to fulfill its own commands.
"If a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law" (Gal. 3:21). It does not even promise life until we have performed the obedience it requires. "The person who does these things will live by them" (Rom. 10:5). It is aptly called a voice of words (Heb. 12:19) because its lofty and grand words are not accompanied by a life-giving power. And the doctrine of life and salvation through sincere obedience is no more gracious or generous towards us, as it demands the performance of the condition before granting us any life or salvation through Christ. Can anyone reasonably expect the strength to sincerely obey by following a doctrine that does not even promise it? The true gospel is of a more benevolent nature, for it promises that God will pour out His Spirit on all flesh (Acts 2:17), that He will put His laws into our minds and write them on our hearts (Heb. 8:10), and that He will enable us to walk in His statutes, keeping His judgments and doing them (Ezek.
36:27). This word of God's grace, which does not require holiness from us as a condition but promises it to us as a free gift, must surely be the only doctrine capable of building us up and granting us an inheritance among those who are sanctified (Acts 20:32). Since it pleases God to bring us to holiness through believing a doctrine, it is reasonable to expect that God would work in us in accordance with the nature of the doctrine we believe, giving by a giving doctrine and demanding by a demanding doctrine.
1. The approach of attaining life and happiness through the condition of perfect or sincere works is not a rational method for the restoration of fallen humanity, although it may have been suitable for preserving life before the Fall. It prescribes the immediate practice of holiness to revive a person dead in sin - as if one were to say to someone paralysed, "Rise and walk, and then you will be whole and able to walk." We sometimes jokingly say to a child who has fallen on the ground, "Come here, and I will help you up." But if we were to say the same to someone bedridden with paralysis, we would be guilty of mocking and cruelly insulting the afflicted.
Those who are humbled and aware of their original sin and spiritual deadness know that they must first live by the Spirit before they can live a holy life (Gal. 5:25). They would inquire, "How will we have the strength to perform the required duty?" If you answer that they must trust in God and Christ to assist them, they may readily respond that they have no solid basis to trust in God or Christ for any saving grace according to this doctrine, until they have fulfilled this condition, at least in a sincere resolution of obedience. And they assert that they are as incapable of bringing their hearts to such a resolution as a dead person is of raising themselves out of the grave.
Let's consider another example. The approach of the doctrine of works is "You must love God first, and then, on that condition, He will love you in return." However, on the contrary, "We love God because He loved us first" (1 John 4:19). And if God withholds His love from us based on any condition, our love for Him will not be absolute but suspended upon the same condition, and it will in no way be contrary to actually hating Him.
2. The law does not heal our sinful corruption; instead, it becomes a cause of sinful desires and actions in those who seek salvation through their works. This happens because our natural corruption is stirred up and intensified when the holy and just law of God is set against it. The fault lies not with the law itself, but with our own hearts. Those who have not experienced this personally should believe the plain teaching of the apostle Paul, who speaks from his own experience (Rom. 7:5, 14). He affirms that sinful desires are provoked by the law in a carnal state, and that sin, taking advantage of the commandment "You shall not covet," produced all kinds of covetousness in him, deceived him, brought death upon him, and became exceedingly sinful. He also declares that he was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and he died. The apostle explains the reason for this irreconcilable enmity and conflict between his sinful nature and the law: "The law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin." From the explanation given by the apostle, it should be noted that the doctrine of salvation through sincere obedience will yield the same result. Corrupt nature is opposed to both sincere and perfect obedience, and if we make it the condition for our salvation, sin will take advantage of it to become exceedingly sinful in its desires and actions. The effect of the legal doctrine on the natural man can be understood through the proverb, "Do not reprove a scorner, or he will hate you" (Prov. 9:8).
Rebuking a madman only serves to enrage him, and such is the condition of the natural man in spiritual matters since the fall of Adam.
We have observed through various experiences that while people generally cling to the idea of salvation through works, many of them despise strict preachers and true advocates of holiness because they trouble their consciences. They try to shield themselves in ignorance of the law, thinking that the less they know, the less accountable they will be. They do not want to hear the truth proclaimed to them (Isa. 30:10). Their influence has, for the most part, obscured the natural understanding of moral duties to such an extent that divine revelation from the Scriptures is necessary to learn them. We can see how inclined legalistic writers are to corrupt the meaning of the law in order to leave room for their own corruptions, just as the scribes and Pharisees did with their distorted interpretations, which Jesus corrected (Matt. 5). From what I have observed, those who seek holiness and salvation without any legalistic conditions, solely relying on the free grace of God in Christ, are the ones who most diligently strive to understand the purity and perfection of the law. The doctrine of salvation through sincere obedience merely diminishes the perfection required by the law. Yet even this doctrine is further diminished and diluted to the point where the essence of true obedience is lost. A willingness to be saved according to Christ's terms, or an agreement that Christ should be our Lord, or a determination to obey His commandments (which is little more than what ignorant people rely on when they say they hope God will save them because they have good intentions, despite neglecting all religious practice) without any actual pursuit of holiness, is considered by many to be sufficient sincere obedience to enter into a state of salvation and to remain in it. As long as they can make such claims, they will never be regarded as violators of the gospel covenant. The only thing deemed necessary for salvation is to make an effort to do what we can to obey Christ's commands, even though the best we can do is nothing truly good. Those who are more zealous in seeking salvation through works are prone to engaging in superstitious practices because they are more in line with their worldly nature than the spiritual commands of God and Christ. I have no doubt that this has contributed to the prevalence of pagan, Jewish, and Roman
Catholic superstitions in the world. We have witnessed how the influence of Roman Catholicism has declined in several nations in recent years, particularly when the central pillar of its doctrine, justification by works, was overthrown by the Protestant doctrine of justification by faith alone.
If these legalistic enthusiasts are compelled by strong conviction to strive for the practice of spiritual duties in order to pacify their guilty consciences, they may exert great effort and even afflict their bodies through fasting in an attempt to kill their sinful desires. However, their desires remain alive and just as strong as ever, and they display their enmity towards God's law through inward irritation, discontentment, and resentment, viewing it as a burdensome taskmaster, even though a fear of punishment restrains their outward sinful actions. And once these zealots are enlightened with the understanding that God rejects their slavish service and does not consider it sincere obedience, they fall into despair regarding their salvation. They realize that they have failed in their highest efforts to meet the required conditions, and they can easily discern that their hearts are filled with anger and open hatred towards the law, God, and Christ for prescribing such difficult conditions of salvation that they cannot fulfill, yet must expect to be eternally damned for breaking them. This fills them with blasphemous thoughts against God and Christ, and they can hardly restrain themselves from uttering blasphemy. When they reach this dreadful state, if God does not in His mercy reveal to them the way of salvation by free grace through faith alone, they will attempt, if possible, to numb their consciences to the feeling of sin and completely abandon all religion, which has proven to be an unbearable torment for them. If they cannot numb their consciences, some of them are easily persuaded by Satan to contemplate self-destruction rather than continue living in their hatred towards God, with a spirit of blasphemy and perpetual torment of conscience.
This is the destructive effect of legalistic doctrine on a carnal heart; instead of killing the sleeping lion of our sinful corruption, it only rouses it and fills it with terrible rage. This is evident through the sorrowful experiences of many who have exerted their utmost efforts to follow it, and it is supported by Scripture, which provides a sufficient explanation as to why it cannot be otherwise. Therefore, the doctrine of salvation through sincere obedience, which was devised as a response to Antinomianism, can rightly be classified among the most pernicious Antinomian errors. As for myself, I detest it with complete aversion and consider it my enemy, as I have experienced its harmful effects. Through some valuable experiences, I have confirmed the truth of the lesson taught by the apostle, that the way to be freed from the mastery and dominion of sin is not to be under the law, but under grace (Rom. 6:14).
1. The way of salvation through works was ruined by the curse pronounced on Adam's initial sin, so that now it cannot bring forth life or holiness in us, but only death. The law, which demands both sincere and perfect obedience to God in all things, was revealed to Adam at his creation as the means of maintaining the happy life bestowed upon him. It would have been effective for this purpose if he had not transgressed by eating the forbidden fruit. However, once he subjected himself and his descendants to the dreadful sentence, "You shall surely die" (Gen. 2:17), all the knowledge of God and His law that had previously contributed to the preservation of life turned in the opposite direction. It now worked towards his death, both the death of the soul in sin and the death of his physical body.
Consequently, Adam was compelled to hide himself from God as an enemy. It was as if God were saying, "All the light and knowledge you possess will not be able to sustain or restore your life; instead, it will contribute to your death." Therefore, as long as we remain in our natural state, burdened by the guilt and curse of Adam, any knowledge of the law or of God's attributes that the natural man may acquire is likewise cursed for us. Since man did not employ his natural knowledge and wisdom correctly, God resolved to avenge its misuse by providing salvation through a way that opposes it, which appears foolish to the natural man. God completely abolished the notion of living by our works or by any wisdom or knowledge that the natural man can attain. As it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe" (1 Corinthians 1:19-21).
2. From this, we can conclude that God's purpose in giving the law to Moses was not for anyone to ever attain holiness or salvation through perfect or sincere obedience to it. Although if there had been such a means of salvation at that time, it would have consisted of fulfilling that law, which was given to the church as both a rule of life and a covenant. There was a previous covenant made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, a covenant of grace, which promised all blessings freely through Christ, the promised seed, through whom they alone would be saved. The covenant of the law was added so that they would recognize their sinfulness, their subjection to death and wrath, and the impossibility of attaining life or holiness through their works. They would be compelled to rely solely on the free promise for their salvation, and sin would be restrained by the spirit of bondage until the coming of the promised seed, Jesus Christ, and the abundant outpouring of the sanctifying Spirit through Him. The apostle Paul extensively explains this (Galatians 3:15-24; Romans
5:20, 21; 10:3, 4). None of the Israelites under the Old Testament were ever saved by the Sinai covenant, nor did any of them attain holiness through its terms. Some of them sincerely, albeit imperfectly, followed its commandments, but they were first justified and made partakers of life and holiness through the better covenant made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, which is essentially the same as the new covenant or testament established through the blood of Christ. Without that better covenant, the Sinai covenant would have brought them no happiness but only sin, despair, and destruction. By itself, it was merely a letter that kills, the ministry of death and condemnation, and therefore it has now been abolished (2
Corinthians 3:6, 8, 9, 11).
We have reason to give thanks to God for delivering His church, through the sacrifice of Christ, from this oppressive yoke of bondage. Furthermore, we should strongly condemn the scheme of those who would impose upon us an even more burdensome and dreadful yoke by transforming our very new covenant into a covenant of sincere works. They offer us no better covenant, similar to what the Israelites had during their time of enslavement, to provide relief in our time of need.