Results Attained: Preliminary Issues & Justification by Faith

Let’s pause for a moment and take stock of what we’ve established so far.

Looking at the visible universe, we saw strong evidence pointing beyond it to an unseen, intelligent Creator and Ruler. And within human moral awareness, we found an expectation that all people will ultimately be repaid according to their actions. The uneven justice we observe in this life makes it clear that a final and complete reckoning must lie beyond death.

Faith and Works

In The Moral Teaching of Christ we saw that each of the four Gospels presents Christ as teaching — clearly, repeatedly, and without apology — that God opposes all sin and shows favor only to those who obey his commands. And we saw that Paul echoes that same point with equal clarity and force. Yet we also saw something else: both Christ and Paul say, just as plainly, that God welcomes into his favor as heirs of eternal life all who believe the good news Christ announces. Put side by side, those statements can sound like a contradiction — and that tension is what we need to face now.

Because the New Testament teaches both truths so strongly, we cannot accept any “solution” that weakens either one. The first claim is demanded by the supreme authority of the moral law, which will not tolerate any violation of its rights. The second is just as necessary, because only full pardon can meet the deep need of guilty and helpless humanity. So we now look for the underlying harmony between the claims of justice and the message of mercy.

The Gospel of Christ

Our next question is a crucial one: Did Christ Himself actually teach the doctrine of justification by faith — the doctrine Paul so clearly proclaims? Or did Paul, however sincerely, reshape Christ’s message through his own way of thinking and the world he lived in?

Put differently, did Paul truly understand and faithfully represent the mind and purpose of the One whose messenger he claimed to be? And to what extent might Paul’s own background and habits of thought have influenced the way he expressed Christ’s teaching?

The Nature of Faith

By now we have clear historical evidence that Paul taught a central claim: God welcomes into His favor all who believe the good news announced by Christ. This teaching is often summed up as Justification through Faith.

Because this doctrine plays such a foundational role in the apostle Paul’s theology, we need to look carefully at what we mean by faith and belief, and at the kind of mental state these words describe. I will begin by examining how these words are used in modern English. Before we can understand their Hebrew and Greek counterparts, we must first understand what goes on in our own minds when we use them. The best way to do that is to reflect on our everyday thinking as expressed in our native language. Once we have done this, we can then compare our usage with that found in the biblical languages.

Righteousness Through Faith

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, 'The one who is righteous will live by faith.'”  — Romans 1:16, 17 NRSV.   

We now turn, in our search for salvation, to the gospel Paul announces in Romans 1:16. What Paul means here is fairly clear: the good news proclaimed by Christ is the means by which God’s infinite power acts to rescue people — Jews and Gentiles alike — from both the guilt and the grip of sin, provided they believe that message.

Paul goes on to explain this by saying that in the gospel a righteousness of God is revealed — by faith and for faith. He supports this claim by pointing to an ancient prophecy, spoken in the face of looming disaster, which declares that the righteous person will live by faith. In other words, as the gospel is preached, a veil is lifted. Something previously hidden is now made visible: a righteousness that comes from God. This unveiling happens through faith and is meant to lead people into faith. Through it, God’s saving power is released for everyone who believes.

Universal Sin and Moral Ruin

In our last post on "Righteousness and Law", we saw that people across cultures share a deep sense of personal sin and a fearful awareness of punishment beyond death. Alongside this is another powerful experience: the feeling of being morally trapped. We sense what is right, we even approve of it — but something within us holds us back. It is like a chain we cannot break. When we look honestly at ourselves, we find this inner condemnation and bondage clearly present in our own hearts. And when we look outward, we see the same reality vividly reflected throughout human literature.

This same understanding of the human moral condition appears clearly in the letters of Paul. In Romans, Paul pauses his explanation of the Gospel to give a careful description of humanity’s condition apart from it — both Gentiles and Jews alike. In Romans 1:18–32, he explains that God made Himself known to the Gentiles through creation, so that they would have no excuse for their sin. Their moral collapse, he says, shows God’s righteous anger against them for turning away from that revelation and embracing idolatry instead.

Righteousness and Law

Because the New Testament was written in an ancient language that we know only through ancient texts, understanding the precise meaning of Paul’s words requires careful linguistic study — especially of the Greek in which they were written. Theology, which, as we have seen, has already drawn insight from natural science, ethics, and history, now needs help from philology and grammar as well.

Two clusters of words immediately stand out in the passages we are examining: righteous, righteousness, and the righteousness of God on the one hand, and faith, belief, and believe on the other. These terms appear repeatedly in Paul’s teaching and are central to his thought. That alone makes them worth careful and sustained attention.

When we study New Testament language, we must remember that these words come from two very different worlds of thought. They are Greek words, shaped by Greek life, culture, and philosophy, and they draw meaning from the rich body of classical Greek literature. At the same time, the authors who used them were Jews, deeply immersed in the Hebrew Scriptures and shaped by Hebrew ways of thinking. The Septuagint — the Greek translation of the Old Testament — forms a crucial bridge between these worlds, translating Hebrew ideas into Greek language. Any serious study of New Testament terms must therefore consider both their use in classical Greek and their role as Greek equivalents of familiar Hebrew concepts.

The Foundational Principles of Paul's Gospel

When we look for freedom — from the consequences of past sin and from the moral struggles that still bind us — we are led beyond the ethical teachings of Christ we have already briefly examined. We now turn to another set of ideas found in Christ’s message and in the New Testament. These ideas are closely connected to moral teaching, yet clearly distinct from it. They are also strikingly unique within the broader history of religious thought, belonging in a special way to Christ and to those who followed Him.

Because we have no writings directly from Jesus Himself, the most reliable way to understand His teaching is to look at the letters written by the earliest Christian leaders. Among these, we can say with confidence which letters come from the hand of the most prominent early preacher of the Gospel. These writings place us face to face with a remarkable Christian who lived in the same generation as Christ. By studying them, we can attempt to reconstruct Paul’s understanding of both the Gospel and of Christ Himself.

The Moral Teaching of Christ

Before turning to what most clearly sets New Testament teaching apart, it is important to look at several elements it shares with the Old Testament — and, to some extent, with other ancient religious writings. These shared ideas matter because they directly shape the conclusions reached in the earlier posts in this series.

Throughout the Four Gospels, Christ repeatedly and emphatically speaks of a Father in heaven: the unseen Creator and Ruler of humanity and of the universe. This idea is not incidental; it shapes and colors everything Christ teaches. 

God is presented as deeply interested in human life, drawing near to save and bless, inviting trust and affection, and offering hope and joy. These same ideas run through the entire New Testament and are strongly present in the Old Testament as well — especially when compared with other religious writings of the same era. What we ourselves infer from the natural world and from the authority of our moral sense is therefore strongly confirmed and powerfully applied to human life by the explicit teaching of the One who launched a religious movement that has profoundly shaped the course of history.

The Christian Documents

Few figures in history have shaped human thought and life as deeply as Jesus of Nazareth. His influence on the spiritual life — and indirectly on the material well being of the world — is so vast that it naturally draws our closest attention. As we have already seen, what humanity most needs is a teacher who can lift the veil hiding the mysterious Source of the universe, of life, and of our moral sense — a teacher who can point the way to forgiveness and moral freedom. No one else even claims to do this. And no spiritual teacher can be meaningfully compared with the one who sparked the great spiritual movement that has shaped and elevated what is best in human life. For this reason, we search eagerly for every trustworthy source of information about the Founder of Christianity.

Because Christ lived many centuries ago, the only sources available to us are written documents. It is to these documents that we now turn.

Christianity and Christ

When we reflect on the unseen side of life, we quickly realize that we are far from alone. Across history, and in every culture, countless people have wrestled with the same thoughts. These reflections have taken shape in the world’s many religions. They show themselves visibly in temples, shrines, and sacrifices — acts of devotion offered to beings no one has physically seen and whose voices no one has heard. The sheer cost and effort behind these acts reveal a deep conviction: that beyond the visible world lies a greater, unseen reality.

People have often been willing to give up wealth, comfort, and even life itself in hopes of gaining the blessings of that unseen world. And in many cases, this belief has had a powerful moral effect. It has lifted people upward. It has encouraged righteousness. Religion, in all its varied forms, is therefore a phenomenon that deserves serious and careful study.

Evidence of Retribution Beyond the Grave.

If we pay attention to our own inner lives, one thing becomes clear very quickly: whenever we go against our moral sense, the result is always moral decline. We lose strength of character, and with it, self-respect. That inner damage immediately triggers a powerful expectation that harmful results are coming. 

 

We find it almost impossible to shake the feeling that some sort of retribution awaits every person. The moral law carries an authority that commands our respect at the deepest level. Because of that authority, we are compelled to believe that it can enforce its demands through reward and punishment. In other words, sin and suffering, righteousness and well-being, are bound together in ways that cannot ultimately be broken.

Evidence from the Visible World, Confirmed by the Moral Sense

So far we’ve been looking at facts drawn from the visible, external world. Now we need to turn to a very different set of facts — ones we know just as surely, but through direct awareness of our own inner lives.

Every day, we find ourselves judging the actions and character of other people. We pass verdicts on what they do and who they are. These judgments are unlike any others we make. You can see the difference clearly if you compare how we respond to a great tragedy versus a great crime. We mourn the one; we condemn the other. And that act of condemnation — along with our admiration for noble behavior — stands in a category of its own. No other judgments we make carry quite the same weight.

The Visible Reveals the Invisible Beyond and Above It

The first thing that naturally draws human attention is the visible world around us. It is filled with an endless variety of things — lifeless and living, irrational and rational. Many of these things are beautiful in a way that delights us; others show such clear usefulness and purpose that they stir deep admiration. The more closely we observe this world, the more our sense of wonder grows. Everywhere we look, we find objects that reward careful and thoughtful study.

This complexity, combined with the constant change we see in the universe, strongly suggests — indeed, almost forces us to conclude — that the universe is not self-existent, but derived. And so we naturally ask: Where did this astonishing panorama come from — this world that often fills us with such delight?

Among the natural objects that no human hand has made, we also notice the works of human beings. And when we look at these works, we see a clear pattern: the best of them are always the result of deliberate design. Before a great work exists outwardly, it exists first as an idea in the mind. Often that idea develops gradually before it is ever brought into reality. We see this in the many sketches that lead up to a great painting, or in the slowly refined plan behind a major literary work. Humanity’s finest achievements are always the result of careful thought combined with patient effort. And in every case, the creator is far greater than the creation. When we admire a painting, what we are really admiring is the painter.

Religion and Theology

Few words carry more weight in modern life than the word religion. We generally feel we know exactly what it means. We recognize religious people and religious questions, and we speak easily of the world’s many religions. Yet it is striking that the word itself appears only rarely in the English Bible — and when it does appear, it does not always mean what we now mean by it.

In a few passages, such as Acts 25:5 and James 1:26–27, the word refers mainly to outward forms of worship. In Galatians 1:13-14, “the Jews’ religion” corresponds to what we would call Judaism. Elsewhere, as in Acts 13:43, the word religious is better translated simply as devout. This contrast is telling. While Scripture uses the term sparingly and inconsistently, modern speech uses it often and with confidence. That modern usage, therefore, should guide our definition. There is little to gain by forcing the word back into meanings it held only occasionally in biblical translation.

Even so, clearly defining religion is harder than it looks. Although the term feels familiar, popular abstract words tend to be slippery. Different people use them in slightly different ways, which makes precision difficult. In practice, most definitions of religion tell us more about the author’s perspective than about any settled meaning of the word itself. Almost every new book or article on religion offers a new definition. This one will be no exception.

Still, I must explain what I mean by religion before going further. I believe the definition I propose captures what is always meant when the word is used seriously, and that it includes what is common to all its legitimate uses. It is neither broader nor narrower than ordinary usage allows.