Made Righteous By Faith

by Pastor Chad

Hard work is an American virtue. To accomplish anything great, hard work is required. This notion is immensely valuable in any job or academic pursuit. Furthermore, such a mindset is a Christian virtue. To defend such a statement, there are passages like Proverbs 14:23, “In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty.” Being a hard worker, in other words, is a good character quality. Yet, there is a spiritual danger such a mindset may produce. 

Work as hard as you like, one can never earn or merit his or her salvation. When it comes to earning our salvation, our works are but filthy rags before a holy and righteous God. Faith is the means by which God distributes Christ’s righteousness. To put it more simply, we are made righteous by faith. We discussed this Sunday morning from Hebrews 11:7, “...and [Noah] became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.” Noah became righteous by faith. The same applies to anyone today. 

You and I were born unrighteous. We were born separated from God. We were born with a problem. We do not become righteous through our own merit or work. Justification is a gift from God. And in His providence, God has chosen faith as the instrumental means by which one receives a clean and righteous life. As the Reformation Father, John Calvin, writes, “A man will be justified by faith when, excluded from the righteousness of works, he by faith lays hold of the righteousness of Christ, and clothed in it appears in the sight of God not as a sinner, but as righteous. Thus we simply interpret justification, as the acceptance with which God receives us into his favor as if we were righteous; and we say that this justification consists in the forgiveness of sins and the imputation of the righteousness of Christ” (Institutes, III.11.2). Thus, we rightly declare that one is saved not by following a set of religious regulations or standards; we are saved by faith in Jesus Christ.

This faith is a rational belief that Jesus Christ died for our sins and rose again three days later. It is the belief that He is the Son of God who takes away the sins of the world. It is the belief that His redemptive work is sufficient to pay the penalty for our sins and satisfy the wrath of God. 

Furthermore, the righteousness we are given is not our own, it is the righteousness of Christ. Jesus’ righteousness is given to us by God. It is reckoned to or imputed to us. Thus, we are not made righteous by our works but by Jesus’ works. 

Now, this is not to say that good works are unimportant. As we will discuss next Sunday morning, one is saved by faith alone, but a true faith is never alone. It is very important, however, that we understand how one is saved. One is saved by faith. And yet, a true faith always expresses itself in good works. Those good works, though, do not save us. If they did, salvation wouldn’t be a gift. Good works are a mere outpouring of the faith one holds.