Saved by Faith or Faith Plus Obedience?

Most Christians understand that we are saved by grace through faith. The disconnect occurs because we don't always understand what saving faith is. Are we saved by faith alone? or are we saved by faith plus obedience? 

I can understand why we would think that salvation is predicated on our faith in Christ as well as our obedience to what He asks of us in his Word. It makes sense, Jesus offers us eternal life and all we have to do is trust him and obey. Right?

We need to make sure that we have the right answer to this question because our salvation depends on us having a proper understanding of the gospel.

Paul wrote to the church in Galatia astonished that they had so quickly been led astray into “another gospel”. He calls them out and corrects their false gospel. So I want to look at this book and see how Paul addresses this issue of the gospel.

Galatians 1:6-9 “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel, not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we are an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.”

Paul takes the gospel so seriously that he says that if anyone, including himself, preaches a different gospel than the one they had already received, let them be accursed. That is the strongest of rebukes that you could give to someone!

So what was this different gospel that Paul was so furious with? Did someone try to lead them after a false god? No. Did someone try to alter who Jesus was? No. Then what was the issue? Judaizers had come in and taught the gentile Galatians that if they wanted to be saved they needed to have faith AND they needed to be circumcised.

Is that it? Paul was ready to condemn people over trying to get people circumcised? Circumcision does no harm to people! Even today babies are still being circumcised.

But notice the real problem, they added circumcision to the plan of salvation.

Salvation was no longer solely dependent on Christ, now salvation was dependent on their faith in Christ as well as their obedience. If they were unwilling to obey the teaching of circumcision they were not considered saved by these Judaizers.

Some will argue and say, “Yeah, but the problem wasn’t the teaching that they needed to be obedient, it was that they were teaching them to be obedient to Old Testament law.

Yes, part of the issue was these Judaizers were trying to bring part of the Law back to these Gentiles and Paul says in Galatians 3:10 “For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.”

James also addresses the issue of trying to pick and choose parts of the law as a Christian. James 2:10 “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.”

Whenever we try to hold on to things from the Old Covenant Law of Moses, we are willingly placing ourselves back under a curse that Christ died to free us from! Not only that, we try to pick only certain things from the Law to hold onto we are going to be held accountable to the whole Law! 613 Laws that no human outside the life of Jesus Christ has ever been able to keep!

But I want to make it clear, Paul isn’t just upset about them adding the law with the gospel, it was adding anything to what Christ did for us that Paul was worked up about.

Paul does a brilliant job explaining all of this in his letter to the Galatians so let’s continue looking into it.

Galatians 2:15-16 “We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.”

Paul is doing here the same thing that Jesus himself did in Matthew 5, he is demonstrating that no amount of obedience to laws could ever make someone right with God. It is only through faith in Jesus Christ that we can be justified.

Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, no an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”

Jesus is telling the crowd that he didn’t come to simply destroy or throw down the law, but he came to fulfill it! The Greek word for fulfill is ‘pleroo’ which means fulfill, complete, fill. 

This word is used repeatedly in the book of Matthew to describe Jesus fulfilling the Old Testament prophecies. Here are only a few of those passages.

Matthew 1:22-23 “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us).”

Matthew 2:14-15 “And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I called my son.’”

Matthew 4:12-15 “Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: ‘The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.’ From that time forward Jesus began to preach, saying, Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.”

Matthew 8:16-17 “That evening they brought to him many who were oppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”

Matthew 13:34-35 “All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet: I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.”

Just like he fulfilled Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah, he likewise fulfilled the law. This means that nobody before or after him would be able to do what he did, obey the law completely.

Now, look at what Jesus tells the crowd,

Matthew 5:21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, You fool! Will be liable to the hell of fire.”

Again, in Matthew 5:27-28 “You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

Then he caps all of this off with this in verse 48, You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Ouch, have you been perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect? I haven’t. I still make mistakes, still do things I shouldn’t do. We all do, that’s why none of us were ever able to live up to the Law. 

I’ve heard it argued, and at times have even argued it myself, that grace requires more of you than the law did. I would make this argument by using the passages in Matthew. But was Jesus really teaching that? When we try to study Scripture we must take careful consideration of the context and the audience.

Jesus is preaching this sermon to Jews. People who were convinced that they were saved based on their adherence to the law. Jesus comes along and wants to show them just how impossible it is to be justified in God’s eyes by following rules.

You think you are righteous because you have never murdered? Well, have you been angry with your brother? You’ll be judged for that too. You think you are good because you have never committed adultery? Well, have you ever had a lustful thought? You’ll be judged for that too! Then he says, be perfect, like your heavenly Father is perfect.

Who could live up to that? Luckily Jesus did that for us! 

In Galatians 3 Paul shows that the law was a curse to us and that Jesus freed us from it.

Galatians 3:13-14 “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree, so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.”

Again in verse 23, Paul is still contrasting faith and law, “Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.”

This justification by faith is a consistent theme for Paul, he refers to this repeatedly in his writings.

Romans 3:21-28 “But now the righteousness of God has been manifest apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who had faith in Jesus. Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.”

According to Paul, we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. This is terrible news considering Jesus told us in Matthew 5 to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. If we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, how are we to rectify that? 

Paul says in verse 24, we are justified by his grace as a gift. How is that possible? He continues, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.

That's incredible! We were hopeless, we had fallen short and could not do anything to save ourselves, but Jesus Christ died for us and gave us salvation as a free gift! Paul confirms this in the next chapter!

Romans 4:1-4 “What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as a due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,”

Notice a few things that relate to what Paul was dealing with in Galatians. First, the example that Paul uses over and over again to explain justification by faith is Abraham. In Galatians 3 he was the one God made a covenant with, this covenant was the promise of Christ.

In Romans 4 Paul mentions a story from Genesis 15 before the law was given to Moses. He says in verse 2, For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. These works are not simply the Old Testament Jewish Law, Abraham pre-dates that. Paul is showing that Abraham was saved purely on his faith and the work of God.

Genesis 15:5-6 “And he brought him outside and said, Look toward the heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them. Then he said to him, So shall your offspring be. And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.”

So we see God gave Abraham a promise, Abraham believed and his faith was counted as righteousness. Abraham didn’t have to obey God first, he simply believed.

Now I want to walk through some more verses in this chapter. I think it is extremely important to understanding this promise and this covenant God made with Abraham.

Let’s look at verses 7-18 “And he said to him, “I am the Lord who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” But he said, “O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried in a good old age. And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land,”

This seems unusual. God asked for a heifer, a goat, a ram, a turtledove, and a pigeon. He cuts the animals in half, except for the birds, and laid them opposite of each other. Abraham falls asleep and the Lord makes a covenant with him.

Why is this significant? Jeremiah 34:18-20 “And the men who transgressed my covenant and did not keep the terms of the covenant that they made before me, I will make them like the calf that they cut in two and passed between its parts—the officials of Judah, the officials of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf. And I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their lives. Their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.”

The Jewish people had something called Covenant-Ratification ceremonies, which often included cutting a sacrifice in two and having the parties walk between the halves of the sacrifice. Presumably, the cutting of the sacrifice would warn the parties of the consequences of breaking the covenant. 

Notice, when God performed this ceremony with Abraham to ratify his covenant, he caused Abraham to fall asleep and then God passed between the sacrifices by himself, signifying that he alone was responsible for the covenant and therefore only he could break it! 

In other words, Abraham played no significant part in this covenant between him and God except for believing God! This is the precedent set by God all the way in Genesis on what salvation was going to look like! That's why Paul could write what he wrote in Galatians 3:8 “And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, In you shall all the nations be blessed. So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.”

This theme is consistent with the writings of Paul.

Philippians 3:9 “and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.”

2nd Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Romans 5:19 For as by one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.”

This last passage is powerful, none of us are sinners simply because we are bad people. We are born with a sin nature because of the disobedience of one person, Adam.

Because of the fall, we are all born sinners! But just like we didn’t have to disobey to be born with this nature, we don’t have to obey to be made righteous. By ONE MAN’S OBEDIENCE, the many will be made righteous!

So we can see clearly that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, by Christ Alone! Obedience is not a condition of our salvation. It is completely dependent on the work of Christ. He fulfilled all righteousness for us and when he died on the cross he took our sinful nature and offers us his righteousness. That is the beauty of the gospel. Anytime we try to add anything to it, we diminish Christ’s sacrifice and create another gospel. If we have to obey to be saved, we are saying what Christ did on the Cross wasn’t enough. 

We are saying that the covenant God made with Abraham doesn’t really apply to us. But when we believe God, just like Abraham, God will count that as righteousness as well and we will be justified by our faith!