He has Himself prepared these works for us, wrought them out, and laid them up for all who trust in Him. Ps. 31:19. “This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.” John 6:29. Good works are commended, but we can not do them. They can be performed only by the One who is good, and that is God. If there be ever any good in us, it is God who worketh in us. There is no disparagement of anything that He does. “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.” Heb. 13:20, 21.
Who Are the Just?
When we read the frequent statement, “The just shall live by faith,” it is necessary to have a clear idea of what the word “just” means. If we read the same text in the Revised Version, we shall learn. It has it, “The righteous shall live by faith.” To be justified by faith is to be made righteous by faith. “All unrighteousness is sin” (1 John 5:17), and “sin is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4). Therefore, all unrighteousness is transgression of the law, and of course all righteousness is obedience to the law. So we see that the just, or righteous, man is the man who obeys the law, and to be justified is to be made a keeper of the law.
How to Become Just.
Righteousness is the end to be obtained, and the law of God is the standard. “The law worketh wrath,” because “all have sinned,” and “the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience.” How shall we become doers of the law, and thus escape wrath, or the curse? The answer is, “The righteous shall live by faith.” By faith, not by works, we become doers of the law. “With the heart man believeth unto righteousness.” Rom. 10:10. That no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident. From what does it appear?—From this,—that “the just shall live by faith.” If righteousness came by works, then it would not be by faith; “if by grace, then is it no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace.” Rom. 11:6. “To him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” Rom. 4:4, 5. There is no exception, no half-way working. It is not said that some of the just shall live by faith, or that they shall live by faith and works, but, simply, “the just shall live by faith,” and that proves that it is not by their own works. All of the just are made and kept just by faith alone. This is because the law is so holy. It is greater than can be done by man; only Divine power can accomplish it; so by faith we receive the Lord Jesus, and He lives the perfect law in us.
The Law Not of Faith.
“The law is not of faith.” Of course it is the written law, no matter whether in a book or on tables of stone, that is here referred to. That law simply says, “Do this,” or, “Do not do that.” “The man that doeth them shall live in them.” That is the sole condition on which the written law offers life. Works, and works only, commend themselves to it. How those works are obtained is of no consequence to it, provided they are present. But none have done the requirements of the law, and so there can be no doers of the law, that is, none who in their own lives can present a record of perfect obedience.
Life Is Action.
“The man that doeth them shall live in them.” But one must be alive in order to do. A dead man can do nothing, and he who is “dead in trespasses and sins” can do no righteousness. Christ is the only one in whom there is life, for He is the life, and He alone has done and can do the righteousness of the law. When, instead of being denied and repressed, He is acknowledged and received, He lives in us all the fulness of His life, so that it is no more we but Christ living in us, and then His obedience in us makes us righteous. Our faith is counted for righteousness, simply because our faith appropriates the living Christ. In trust we yield our bodies as temples of God; Christ, the Living Stone, is enshrined in the heart, which becomes God’s throne, and so the living law is our life; for out of the heart are the issues of life.
The Real Question at Issue.