Faith, Works, and Abraham’s Call to Sacrifice Isaac

[newton3005]

Ephesians 2:8-10 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Some may see a contradiction in the way that works is addressed in the above passage. On the one hand it says that works has nothing to do with being saved, yet on the other hand it says that God created us for good works. One might ask, ‘What’s the point in performing good works if the works we perform won’t save us?’

Keeping in mind that no one Verse in the Bible contradicts another, the only interpretation of the above Passage that makes sense is that our own works, that is, works having nothing to do with God, will not save us, but the “good works” that we perform, which are works that God intends for us to perform, will save us.

We are each equipped to perform the particular good works that God wants us to perform. To that point, Psalms 139:14 says “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” By virtue of Ephesians 2:8-10, we each have a calling to perform the particular works of God. Most of us will answer that calling with a good outcome; others will either ignore or not be aware of what God expects them to do with the way that God made them.

Given that we are in Baseball season, take Jackie Robinson. God equipped him to not only play baseball very well, but He also equipped him to endure the taunts of others as he breaks the color barrier in Major League Baseball and setting an example for others. Considering that God intended from His creation of Adam that all be fruitful, His bigger objective for Robinson was not just to break the color barrier in baseball, but to show that there are others aside from ourselves that have the same abilities we have, and by regarding those others as neighbors who can help us in whatever endeavor we’re involved in, including baseball, the whole of the fruit would be greater than the sum of the parts. Jackie Robinson answered to God’s calling, and we could venture that as far as God was concerned, Robinson was just the man to do what he did.

It must be presumed that whatever good works that God wants us to do, is to further mankind and to draw mankind to worshipping Him. So, you would not think that God would want us to perform works that turn out to be destructive. We should keep this in mind when we come across a Verse in the Bible such as Romans 8:28 which says that for those who love God, all things turn out for good for those who are called according to His Purpose. It doesn’t say that all GOOD things turn out for good, it just says all things. Does that leave the door open for bad things to work together with good things for a good outcome?

Take, for example, how World War Two ended. The U.S. dropped two atomic bombs on Japan, killing hundreds of thousands of civilians. But in doing so, it resulted in Japan’s ending its war with the U.S., thereby saving at least a million more people, soldiers as well as civilians, from death if the war were to continue. Did God intend that those hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians be sacrificed for the sake of saving millions more, on both sides of the war? And consider that many of the millions that were saved from further fighting and being killed went on to have families and produce offspring, thereby helping the continuance of mankind. (We don’t know what God’s intentions are, all the time. Isaiah 55:8 says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.”)

Which brings us to Abraham’s call by God to sacrifice his son Isaac, as he almost does in Genesis 22:10. As God knows everything, we can presume that He knows the future before it happens. So, He must have known that Abraham would do what He wanted him to do. Abraham, on the other hand, didn’t know that God would stop him just as he was about to sacrifice Isaac, so we can only presume that the whole incident was for Abraham’s benefit, or perhaps for ours in seeing to what extent we should be willing to sacrifice to show our faith in Him.

At the end of the day, the Work of God that Abraham performed was, perhaps, to illustrate for us what faith in God amounts to, that we would be willing to even sacrifice our own kin to show we have faith in Him.

James 2:21-23 infers that we are justified in righteousness by the works God wants us to perform. Verse 23 says that Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac was in fulfilment of the Scripture which says “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” That Scripture is Genesis 15:6.

The Book of James discusses the relationship between faith and works. It says in James 2:20, for instance, that faith without works is useless. It may be presumed that, in the context of Ephesians 2:8-10, the works he is talking about are the works that God calls on us to do. It is ironic that many people who attend services or mass in a house of worship, are oblivious to the works that God calls on them to perform. They believe that by just going to a house of worship, they will enter the Kingdom of God. But like th Pharisees who allowed gambling and trade to be conducted in a synagogue on the Sabbath day in Jerusalem, who on other days grandly come in with flowing robes, making sure that others see them, these people may not have a clue as to what works God wants them to perform. Furthermore, they are not inclined to find out.

In terms of the faith and works issue, Lord Jesus says in Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but THE ONE WHO DOES THE WILL of my Father who is in heaven.

 

[Soyeong]

Ephesians 2:8-10 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Some may see a contradiction in the way that works is addressed in the above passage. On the one hand it says that works has nothing to do with being saved, yet on the other hand it says that God created us for good works. One might ask, ‘What’s the point in performing good works if the works we perform won’t save us?’

Keeping in mind that no one Verse in the Bible contradicts another, the only interpretation of the above Passage that makes sense is that our own works, that is, works having nothing to do with God, will not save us, but the “good works” that we perform, which are works that God intends for us to perform, will save us.

We are each equipped to perform the particular good works that God wants us to perform. To that point, Psalms 139:14 says “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” By virtue of Ephesians 2:8-10, we each have a calling to perform the particular works of God. Most of us will answer that calling with a good outcome; others will either ignore or not be aware of what God expects them to do with the way that God made them.

Given that we are in Baseball season, take Jackie Robinson. God equipped him to not only play baseball very well, but He also equipped him to endure the taunts of others as he breaks the color barrier in Major League Baseball and setting an example for others. Considering that God intended from His creation of Adam that all be fruitful, His bigger objective for Robinson was not just to break the color barrier in baseball, but to show that there are others aside from ourselves that have the same abilities we have, and by regarding those others as neighbors who can help us in whatever endeavor we’re involved in, including baseball, the whole of the fruit would be greater than the sum of the parts. Jackie Robinson answered to God’s calling, and we could venture that as far as God was concerned, Robinson was just the man to do what he did.

It must be presumed that whatever good works that God wants us to do, is to further mankind and to draw mankind to worshipping Him. So, you would not think that God would want us to perform works that turn out to be destructive. We should keep this in mind when we come across a Verse in the Bible such as Romans 8:28 which says that for those who love God, all things turn out for good for those who are called according to His Purpose. It doesn’t say that all GOOD things turn out for good, it just says all things. Does that leave the door open for bad things to work together with good things for a good outcome?

Take, for example, how World War Two ended. The U.S. dropped two atomic bombs on Japan, killing hundreds of thousands of civilians. But in doing so, it resulted in Japan’s ending its war with the U.S., thereby saving at least a million more people, soldiers as well as civilians, from death if the war were to continue. Did God intend that those hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians be sacrificed for the sake of saving millions more, on both sides of the war? And consider that many of the millions that were saved from further fighting and being killed went on to have families and produce offspring, thereby helping the continuance of mankind. (We don’t know what God’s intentions are, all the time. Isaiah 55:8 says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.”)

Which brings us to Abraham’s call by God to sacrifice his son Isaac, as he almost does in Genesis 22:10. As God knows everything, we can presume that He knows the future before it happens. So, He must have known that Abraham would do what He wanted him to do. Abraham, on the other hand, didn’t know that God would stop him just as he was about to sacrifice Isaac, so we can only presume that the whole incident was for Abraham’s benefit, or perhaps for ours in seeing to what extent we should be willing to sacrifice to show our faith in Him.

At the end of the day, the Work of God that Abraham performed was, perhaps, to illustrate for us what faith in God amounts to, that we would be willing to even sacrifice our own kin to show we have faith in Him.

James 2:21-23 infers that we are justified in righteousness by the works God wants us to perform. Verse 23 says that Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac was in fulfilment of the Scripture which says “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” That Scripture is Genesis 15:6.

The Book of James discusses the relationship between faith and works. It says in James 2:20, for instance, that faith without works is useless. It may be presumed that, in the context of Ephesians 2:8-10, the works he is talking about are the works that God calls on us to do. It is ironic that many people who attend services or mass in a house of worship, are oblivious to the works that God calls on them to perform. They believe that by just going to a house of worship, they will enter the Kingdom of God. But like th Pharisees who allowed gambling and trade to be conducted in a synagogue on the Sabbath day in Jerusalem, who on other days grandly come in with flowing robes, making sure that others see them, these people may not have a clue as to what works God wants them to perform. Furthermore, they are not inclined to find out.

In terms of the faith and works issue, Lord Jesus says in Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but THE ONE WHO DOES THE WILL of my Father who is in heaven.

The issue is that there can be any number of reasons for doing good works other than in order to earn our salvation, which do not given us room to boast about, such as faith and love, so there is a huge difference between saying that our salvation requires us to choose to do good works in order to earn it as a wage, which the Bible repeatedly denies, and saying that our salvation requires us to choose to do good works, which the Bible repeatedly supports. In Ephesians 2:8-10, it denies that we are saved by our works insofar as our works give us something to boast about, but there can be other reasons for doing good works, so that is not at all saying that works have nothing to do with our salvation, especially because our salvation involves being made new creations in Christ to do good works. Our salvation is from sin (Matthew 1:21) and sin is the transgression of God's law (1 John 3:4), so doing good works in obedience to God's law is inherently part of the concept of Jesus saving us from not doing good works.

Here are some verses that deny earing our salvation as a wage by doing good works: Romans 3:28, Romans 4:4-5, Ephesians 2:8-9, Titus 3:5, Galatians 2:21, and Galatians 3:21.

Here are some verses that support our salvation requiring us to choose to do good works: Romans 2:6-7, Romans 2:13, Ephesians 2:19, Titus 2:11-14, Galatians 3:26-29, Galatians 5:19-23, James 2:17-24, Matthew 7:21-23, and Matthew 19:17.

So there must be reasons that our salvation requires us to choose to do works other than in order to earn it as a wage, such as faith insofar as Romans 3:31 says that our faith upholds God's law. While it is true that Abraham believed God, so he was justified (Genesis 15:6), it is also true that he believed God, so he obeyed God's command to offer Isaac (Hebrews 11:17), so the same faith by which he was justified was also expressed as obedience to God, but he did not earn his justification by his obedience as a wage (Romans 4:4-5). In James 2:21-24, it quotes Genesis 15:6 to support saying that Abraham was justified by his works, that his faith was active along with his works, and his faith completed his works, so he was justified by his works insofar as they were an expression of his faith, but he was not justified by his works insofar as they were earning a wage. So what is said against incorrect reasons for choosing to do good works should not be mistaken as speaking against the correct reasons for which our salvation requires us to choose to do good works.