Works of the Law, or Works of Faith.

In the military, soldiers can follow a leader because they fear them, or because they trust them and have faith in them. The ones that obey out of fear of punishment usually just do what they are told, just doing the bare minimum. They also usually are the ones that just complete their contract, and are out of the military after that. The ones that obey their leaders because they trust them and have faith in them, are always the ones with the best looking uniforms, and do more than what they are asked, and go above and beyond the call of duty. They are the ones that, once their contract is at its end, will usually re-enlist for a few more years. Some may even become leaders themselves and stay in until they retire.

What does that have to do with theology?  Well, those that obey out of fear are like those that preform works of the law, or good works in order to obtain and maintain salvation.  Those that obey out of faith, are like those that do works of faith, like repentance and baptism, because we have a saving faith in Christ.  They both obey, but their motives are different, and as a result, when their contracts were at their end, there were different results.  Lets take a look at these types of "good works".

Works of the law are a bit more than just obeying the commandments, but can be seen as any step of obedience in order to gain and/or maintain salvation.  The issues with these types of works is that it takes the glory away from God.  In a way it is insulting to God by saying that what Jesus did on the cross wasn't good enough to pay the punishment for our sins.  It is also in violation of scripture; Ephesians 2:8-9 "8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast."  Trying to be saved through works of the law is saying that we are saved by what we do, so that we can boast.

Works of faith are works that we do because of the faith that we have in Christ.  Yes, works of faith do involve obeying the 10 Commandments, but our motive for obeying is different.  We are not obeying through a fear of punishment, or so that we can earn our way into Heaven, and not even to so that we may keep our salvation.  We obey God through our faith in Him and want to do His will.  Abraham, David, etc... had faith in God, and because of that faith they did His will, and obeyed Him.  Baptism is a step of obedience that we do because we have a saving faith.  In James 2:26 when he said "For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead." he is talking these works of faith, like keeping the commandments, like confessing our sins, like repentance, and baptism. 


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