MOTIVATION

'We should not avoid good actions because of the infirmities attending them. Christ looks more at the good in them which he means to cherish than the ill in them which he means to abolish.'

Richard Sibbes, The Bruised Reed, p.50.

FAITH & WORKS

'The tree must be first, and then the fruit. For the apples make not the tree, but the tree makes the apples. So faith first makes the person, who afterwards brings forth works.'

Martin Luther in John Stott, The Cross of Christ, p.220.

FAITH OR WORKS?

'Are we considered worthy to enter the kingdom because of faith in Christ's death or because of our persevering good works? Are we saved by faith in Christ plus good works? An analogy might help explain.

You must pay money in order to obtain entry to a professional football game. In order to enter the stadium, however, you must present a ticket at the gate. Is it the money that provides access to the game or the ticket? Both! But are the money and the ticket equal "causes" that get you in? Ultimately, the money paid is what really gets you in, but you must have the ticket as evidence that you really paid the price for the game. Likewise, true Christians are those on behalf of whom Christ has paid the penalty of sin, but they must have the badge of good works as evidence that Christ paid their purchase price in order to be considered worthy of passing through the final judgment and entering the kingdom. Therefore, both faith in Christ and human good works are absolutely necessary for being considered worthy of salvation, but the former is the ultimate cause of the latter. At the last judgment people will not be able to say that they have benefitted from Christ's redemptive work only because they have believed; they will have to show evidence of their belief through their good works (Mt 7:21).'

GK Beale, 1-2 Thessalonians (The IVP New Testament Commentary Series), p.184.

JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH

'...justification by faith. Many religions teach that if you live as you ought, then God will accept and bless you. But Paul taught that if you receive God's acceptance and blessing as a free gift through Jesus Christ, then you can and will live as you ought.'

Timothy Keller, Generous Justice, p.97.

OBEDIENCE & BELIEF

'The truth is that so long as we hold both sides of the proposition together they contain nothing inconsistent with right belief, but as soon as one is divorced from the other, it is bound to prove a stumbling block. "Only those who believe obey" is what we say to that part of a believer's soul which obeys, and "only those who obey believe" is what we say to that part of the soul of the obedient who believes. If the first half of the proposition stands alone, the believer is exposed to the danger of cheap grace, which is another word for damnation. If the second half stands alone, the believer is exposed to the danger of salvation through works, which is also another word for damnation.'

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, p.25.

GOOD WORKS

'Our mind-set toward our own good works must always be: These works depend on God being totally for us. That's what the blood and righteousness of Christ have secured and guaranteed forever. Therefore, we must resist every tendency to think of our works as establishing or securing the fact that God is for us forever. It is always the other way around. Because he is for us, he sustains our faith. And through that faith-sustaining work, the Holy Spirit bears the fruit of love.'

John Piper, The Future of Justification, p.186.

FAITH

'The faith of the individual must be seen as having no value in itself, but as discovering value wholly and solely through movement towards and commital to Christ. It must be seen as simply a means of finding all one's hope outside oneself in the person and work of another; and not as in any sense an orginating cause or objective ground of justification. For true faith is active only in the man who is wholly occupied with Christ; its practice means that every blessing is received from another. For this reason faith is exclusive and intolerant of company; it is only truly present when any and every contribution towards his salvation on the part of the believer himself or on the part of the church is unequivocally shut out.'

Alan Stibbs, 'Justification by Faith: The Reinstatement of the Doctrine Today' in Andrew Atherstone (Ed.), Such a Great Salvation, p.92.

FAITH

'O it is a living, busy, active, mighty thing, this faith. It is impossible for it not to be doing good works incessantly.'

Martin Luther in Richard B Gaffin Jr. By Faith, Not By Sight: Paul and the Order of Salvation, p.105.

LEGALISM & GRACE

'In Greek mythology, the Sirens would sing enchanting songs drawing sailors irresistably towards the rocks and certain shipwreck. Odysseus filled his crew's ears with wax and had them tie him to the mast. This is like the approach of legalism. We bind ourselves up with laws and disciplines in a vain attempt to resist temptation. Orpheus, on the other hand, played such beautiful music on his harp that his sailors ignored the Siren song. This is the way of faith. The grace of the gospel sings a far more glorious song than the enticements of sin, if only we have faith to hear its music.'

Tim Chester, You Can Change, p. 64.