Was Israel justified by faith or by works?

[def]

Please complete the poll, and if you wish to justify your vote please do so.

 

[Eryk]

By faith

Hebrews 11

 

[Soyeong]

Please complete the poll, and if you wish to justify your vote please do so.

The one and only way that there has ever been to become justified is by faith, and by the same faith we are required to be careful to live in obedience to all of God's commands, just like Israel.

 

[2PhiloVoid]

Please complete the poll, and if you wish to justify your vote please do so.

I'm going to have to say that Israel was justified by faith, and obedience to God came as a part of, or an expression of, that faith ...

Peace,
2PhiloVoid

 

[RC1970]

Everyone who is justified in God's sight, is justified through faith in the finished work of Christ.

 

[wheatpenny]

There has always only been one means of justification and salvation and that is Faith. Israel was saved the same way we are. In Old Testament times, they "looked forward" to the coming Messiah (Christ) - which was still in the future from their point of view - while in this dispensation we look back to Christ and his already accomplished sacrifice.

 

[Tree of Life]

Please complete the poll, and if you wish to justify your vote please do so.

The wording makes it a difficult question to answer. It depends on what you mean by "Israel".

If you're referring to Israel as the ethnic people group descended from Jacob who is associated with the Old Covenant then "Israel" as such was never justified. People within the nation of Israel who had true faith in Yahweh and his covenant promises were justified by faith. But just because one was born an Israelite did not make them automatic recipients of salvation.

If you're referring to all those who were justified before the advent of Christ then the answer would be "faith". No one has been or ever will be justified by works of the Law except for Jesus Christ. All other who are justified are justified by faith in Him.

 

[beebert]

You know, when an orthodox or a catholic speaks about faith and works, they do not mean that works can grant you salvation. They mean that actions and deeds such as visiting the homeless, caring for the sick and suffering etc. are necessary for final salvation, and by final salvation I mean salvation at the resurrection. If you just sit there in your sofa with you faith and believe you are saved, and don't do anything that shows it, then you will not be saved.

 

[Dkh587]

I believe God's people have always been able to be righteous through faith in him, so the answer is faith! But, it's a faith that produces obedience/good works. If you truly believe/have faith in God, then you'll do what He says to do(aka obedience from faith)

 

[Strong in Him]

Not sure what you mean by Israel.

Abraham believed and it was credited to him as righteousness, Genesis 15:6; Romans 4:3; Galatians 3:6; James 2:23.
Paul says that it is not those who were born in Israel and are Jewish who are the true Israel.

 

[def]

72% voted for faith. Apostle Paul says that God justifies the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through faith (Romans 3:30). Therefore, the people of the Old Covenant were justified by faith.

There were differences in how the people of Israel came to be justified. In my opinion, the representatives of the people accepted God's offer of the covenant by faith: "All that the Lord had spoken we will do." (Exodus 19:8). Faith brought Israel into a relationship with God.

Paul made a distinction between the justifications of the circumcised and the uncircumcised: by faith and through faith. Since we, in the New Covenant, are saved through faith (Ephesian 2:8), understanding "through faith" is paramount to understanding our salvation.

 

[Steve Petersen]

James 2:14-26

 

[Steve Petersen]

Not sure what you mean by Israel.

Abraham believed and it was credited to him as righteousness, Genesis 15:6; Romans 4:3; Galatians 3:6; James 2:23.
Paul says that it is not those who were born in Israel and are Jewish who are the true Israel.

James 2:21 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

 

[Strong in Him]

James 2:21 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

Works show someone's faith, but they do not justify us. Scripture does not say, "Abraham had DONE enough to be reckoned as righteous before God." Genesis says that God appeared to Abraham and blessed him; Abraham said "what can you give me; I don't even have any children"; God promised that his descendants would be as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore; Abraham believed, and it was credited to him as righteousness.", Genesis 15:1-6.

God made the promise. Abraham could not see the result, or understand how it could happen;, there was no human reason why it should, but he believed God. THAT was what was credited to him as righteousness.

 

[Steve Petersen]

Works show someone's faith, but they do not justify us. Scripture does not say, "Abraham had DONE enough to be reckoned as righteous before God." Genesis says that God appeared to Abraham and blessed him; Abraham said "what can you give me; I don't even have any children"; God promised that his descendants would be as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore; Abraham believed, and it was credited to him as righteousness.", Genesis 15:1-6.

God made the promise. Abraham could not see the result, or understand how it could happen;, there was no human reason why it should, but he believed God. THAT was what was credited to him as righteousness.

Did you miss verse 21 above? 'Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac on the altar?"

 

[TheSeabass]

Fleshly Israel, as a whole, was not justified for in the end God cast fleshly Israel off from being His chosen people (Romans 11) due to lack of a faithful obedience. Just because they were chosen of God, they still had to be obedient to God to be saved/justified. There was just a remnant of fleshly Israel that was saved by their faithful obedience to God, Romans 9:27. Romans 11:4-5, just a remnant of fleshly Israel being saved/justified was true at the time of Elijah as well as this 'present time' (just a remnant of fleshly Israel obeyed the gospel-election of grace)

Again, the remnant of fleshly Israel saved/justified were the ones that had a faithful obedience to God.


Back when the OT law of Moses was in effect, total complete justification under that law was not by faith but by works Gal 3:12 "And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them." Total complete justification before God under the OT law required "doing them", it required the work of flawless law keeping in keeping all the OT laws perfectly. Of course none of them could keep the OT law flawlessly, they eventually sinned. Yet those that had an obedient faith (they sinned but obediently repented) would be the ones justified when Christ shed His blood cleansing away all their sins.

So if your OP question is about being totally, completely justified under the law of Moses, then it would be by works not of faith. This is what Paul speaks about in Romans 4 showing one cannot be justified today by works with no faith. And James 2 is saying faith with no works will not justify us today either. So Paul and James are saying under the NT is takes both faith and works to be justified.

 

[Strong in Him]

Did you miss verse 21 above? 'Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up Isaac on the altar?"

No I didn't miss it; that's why I said that our works SHOW our faith.
Scripture still says, "Abraham believed ....." not "Abraham did". When God made him the promise in Genesis 15, he believed it - and it was credited to him as righteousness. You quoted that verse yourself.

Abraham later demonstrated his faith in God when he went to sacrifice the child who had been promised and born to him in old age. Whether he believed that God would raise him again, or give him another child later, we don't know. We only know that he set out to obey God.
This is a different incident from Genesis 15, when he received the promise that, even though he was nearly 100, he would have many descendants.

 

[def]

Not sure what you mean by Israel.
Abraham believed and it was credited to him as righteousness, Genesis 15:6; Romans 4:3; Galatians 3:6; James 2:23.
Paul says that it is not those who were born in Israel and are Jewish who are the true Israel.

James 2:21 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? 22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. 24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

Complexity science offers a new way of thinking, we can’t think about the parts (reductionist approach), we need to focus on the connections between the parts.

To cut the story (network) short, they are two sides of the same equation: James' work of faith = Paul's righteousness of God by faith. James is teaching the type of work that we will do. Paul is teaching the type of work that God will give us to do. Paul emphasised that the type of work is apart (different) from the works of the Law (Romans 3:28).

Consider the right side of the equation:

The Bible defines righteousness as righteous action (1 John 3:7); righteousness is not a state as in a state of righteousness. Therefore, righteousness of God is God's righteous action. If righteous actions are given to believers (Ephesians 2:10) to carry out (e.g. the sacrifice of Isaac), they become works of faith, the left side of the equation.

Thus, it is not enough to have professing faith, which is believing in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, but there is also the works of faith that God has prepared for believers. We need to move from professing faith to works of faith - from faith to faith (Romans 1:17) or through faith (Romans 3).

Works of faith must not be confused with works of conscience such as helping an old lady across the road, love thy neighbor stuff; it fulfils the Law, but are dead works. Any person can do that, no faith is required. The Bible gives one clear example of working faith: Peter walking on water. With faith, Peter climbed out of his boat and walked towards Jesus. Fear set in, and he lost that faith, and started to sink.

 

[def]

No I didn't miss it; that's why I said that our works SHOW our faith.
Scripture still says, "Abraham believed ....." not "Abraham did". When God made him the promise in Genesis 15, he believed it - and it was credited to him as righteousness. You quoted that verse yourself.

Abraham later demonstrated his faith in God when he went to sacrifice the child who had been promised and born to him in old age. Whether he believed that God would raise him again, or give him another child later, we don't know. We only know that he set out to obey God.
This is a different incident from Genesis 15, when he received the promise that, even though he was nearly 100, he would have many descendants.

Abraham believed, and then carried out his beliefs. God commanded Abraham to do many things, but only two instances were Abraham credited with righteousness: the birth of Isaac and the sacrifice of Isaac. The birth of Isaac was a miracle as Sara was barren. An angel stopped Abraham from sacrificing Isaac. In one instance, the Bible uses the word imputed, meaning, as though he did it.

The crown of righteousness is a reward given for works. Even though, Abraham did not achieve what he was required to do, he was credited/imputed with righteousness - as though he did it. The Bible defines the meaning of righteousness, a deviation from this definition will give a different result.

 

[def]

Fleshly Israel, as a whole, was not justified for in the end God cast fleshly Israel off from being His chosen people (Romans 11) due to lack of a faithful obedience. Just because they were chosen of God, they still had to be obedient to God to be saved/justified. There was just a remnant of fleshly Israel that was saved by their faithful obedience to God, Romans 9:27. Romans 11:4-5, just a remnant of fleshly Israel being saved/justified was true at the time of Elijah as well as this 'present time' (just a remnant of fleshly Israel obeyed the gospel-election of grace)

Again, the remnant of fleshly Israel saved/justified were the ones that had a faithful obedience to God.


Back when the OT law of Moses was in effect, total complete justification under that law was not by faith but by works Gal 3:12 "And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them." Total complete justification before God under the OT law required "doing them", it required the work of flawless law keeping in keeping all the OT laws perfectly. Of course none of them could keep the OT law flawlessly, they eventually sinned. Yet those that had an obedient faith (they sinned but obediently repented) would be the ones justified when Christ shed His blood cleansing away all their sins.

So if your OP question is about being totally, completely justified under the law of Moses, then it would be by works not of faith. This is what Paul speaks about in Romans 4 showing one cannot be justified today by works with no faith. And James 2 is saying faith with no works will not justify us today either. So Paul and James are saying under the NT is takes both faith and works to be justified.

Paul says that God justified the circumcised by faith. And faith established the Old Covenant, and brought in the works of the covenant. Gal 3:12 really mean the works of the covenant do not require faith (not of faith).