Ways Salvation-by-Works Christians Misconstrue Scripture
Salvation by works Christians are those who claim that salvation under the New Covenant is dependent upon one's performance. This as opposed to the gospel of grace whereby "to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness." Rom 4:5 and as such "it is by grace you have been saved, through faith— and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast." Eph 2:8,9 Those sole condition for salvation is faith in Christ and not works. Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life." John 5:24
To support their unbelief in the gospel of grace salvation-by-works Christians misconstrue verses to justify their unbelief. The following are the fundamental principles they follow to misconstrue verses.
1. Confusing Old Covenant justification with New Covenant justification. Namely confusing the performance based justification in which one gains eternal life by doing works. (i.e. "Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: The man who does these things will live by them." Rom 10:5) with trust based justification. (i.e. "That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. .. As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame."" Rom 10:9,11)
In many cases they'll simply view "justification by law" as restricted to a composite of all the laws of Moses, and they'll come up with a new law, cherry picking certain laws from Moses or adding commands they find in the New Testament to create their own "law" and making salvation contingent upon complying with that law. Some will simply subtract from the law of Moses all regulations they classify as "ceremonial" and make salvation contingent upon complying with those subset of laws. In this they obviously miss the basic concept of what constitutes "justification by law" and the obvious contrast with justification by faith apart from law.
Examples:
Alleging that Rom 2:7 is talking about the gospel of grace whereas it's referring to justification by law. "To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life." The way Paul is constructing his argument in Romans is that from Rom 1:18-3:20 he's talking about justification by law, which includes Rom 2:7. Then he transitions in Romans 3:21 "But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."
Likewise Jesus speaks of justification by law in verses like Luke 10:25-28 And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" He said to him, "What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?" So he answered and said," ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’" And He said to him, "You have answered rightly; do this and you will live." Compare that last phrase with what Paul says in Romans 10:5 Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: "The man who does these things will live by them." The same thing. Jesus is talking about justification by law in that passage just had Paul did in the early chapters of Romans. To those who are not prepared to hear the gospel of grace Paul and Jesus challenge them with justification by the law till they realize that they are not good enough to be saved. In fact in one instance it is written Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" So Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. Luke 18:18,19 The problem with this person, as it is with salvation-by-works Christians, is he thought he could be good enough to be saved. He didn't understand that his concept of "good" was not good enough. And so Jesus goes on to challenge him with the Law.
2. Appending all commands in the New Testament to Christians with "in order to be saved". Salvation-by-works Christians can't imagine obeying commands for any other reason than salvation being dependent upon it. They think you can't get Christians to do good unless they are threatened with eternal condemnation because that's the way salvation-by-works Christians operate, which is also the case for all trying to be justified by law. "All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law."" Gal 3:10 This as opposed to the fact that "there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus," Rom 8:1 and the reason why is "because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death." Rom 8:2
Furthermore those operating under fear of condemnation are not only disqualified due to their unbelief, but they are incapable of doing many things required by the law, that they typically will include in their own version of the law, like "love". Love exercised out of the fear of condemnation is not love because "There is no fear in love" 1John 4:18 And love "is not self-seeking" 1Cor 13:5
3. Confusing Cause and Effect. When a person comes to faith in Christ he is given the Holy Spirit to live in him and is born of God. Such things have an inevitable effect on one's behavior. Salvation by works Christians confuse verses which describe such an effect as if they were speaking of the cause of one's salvation rather then describing the behavior of one who has been saved. One contributing factor to them misconstruing verses in such a fashion is the fact that given their unbelief, they are not qualified to be born of God nor receive the Spirit and so find that such verses don't agree with their personal experience, so they misconstrue them as talking about something else.
Examples:
John 10:27 "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." They listen and follow because they are his sheep. This as opposed to the idea that listening and following him cause them to become his sheep. Likewise John says, "We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. " 1John 4:6 They hear what the apostles are teaching because they are of God, which includes understanding the apostles teachings as 1Cor 2:12,14 says "We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. .. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned." (Which is why salvation by works Christians misconstrue scripture on the points)
1John 3:9,10 "No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother."
Note that those born of God have a characteristic behavior not due to fear of condemnation, but rather due to the fact that they have been born of God. And that such a characteristic behavior is so inevitable and clearly distinct from that of children of the devil that the two can be distinguished based upon observations of behavior. This as opposed to typical claims of salvation by works Christians that one has to behave a certain way in order to be born of God and thus saved by one's behavior.
Typically they will also point out verses speaking of the converse, namely that those who behaved wickedly end up in hell, like Rev 21:8 "the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars— their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur." And then they'll make the hypothesis that this proves salvation by works, which of course it doesn't. People don't behave in such a manner because they have been saved and subsequently born of God. So that verse and like verses are simply describing the behavior of those who had not been born of God.
Salvation by works Christians are those who claim that salvation under the New Covenant is dependent upon one's performance. This as opposed to the gospel of grace whereby "to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness." Rom 4:5 and as such "it is by grace you have been saved, through faith— and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast." Eph 2:8,9 Those sole condition for salvation is faith in Christ and not works. Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life." John 5:24
To support their unbelief in the gospel of grace salvation-by-works Christians misconstrue verses to justify their unbelief. The following are the fundamental principles they follow to misconstrue verses.
1. Confusing Old Covenant justification with New Covenant justification. Namely confusing the performance based justification in which one gains eternal life by doing works. (i.e. "Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: The man who does these things will live by them." Rom 10:5) with trust based justification. (i.e. "That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. .. As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame."" Rom 10:9,11)
In many cases they'll simply view "justification by law" as restricted to a composite of all the laws of Moses, and they'll come up with a new law, cherry picking certain laws from Moses or adding commands they find in the New Testament to create their own "law" and making salvation contingent upon complying with that law. Some will simply subtract from the law of Moses all regulations they classify as "ceremonial" and make salvation contingent upon complying with those subset of laws. In this they obviously miss the basic concept of what constitutes "justification by law" and the obvious contrast with justification by faith apart from law.
Examples:
Alleging that Rom 2:7 is talking about the gospel of grace whereas it's referring to justification by law. "To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life." The way Paul is constructing his argument in Romans is that from Rom 1:18-3:20 he's talking about justification by law, which includes Rom 2:7. Then he transitions in Romans 3:21 "But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."
Likewise Jesus speaks of justification by law in verses like Luke 10:25-28 And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" He said to him, "What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?" So he answered and said," ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’" And He said to him, "You have answered rightly; do this and you will live." Compare that last phrase with what Paul says in Romans 10:5 Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: "The man who does these things will live by them." The same thing. Jesus is talking about justification by law in that passage just had Paul did in the early chapters of Romans. To those who are not prepared to hear the gospel of grace Paul and Jesus challenge them with justification by the law till they realize that they are not good enough to be saved. In fact in one instance it is written Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" So Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. Luke 18:18,19 The problem with this person, as it is with salvation-by-works Christians, is he thought he could be good enough to be saved. He didn't understand that his concept of "good" was not good enough. And so Jesus goes on to challenge him with the Law.
2. Appending all commands in the New Testament to Christians with "in order to be saved". Salvation-by-works Christians can't imagine obeying commands for any other reason than salvation being dependent upon it. They think you can't get Christians to do good unless they are threatened with eternal condemnation because that's the way salvation-by-works Christians operate, which is also the case for all trying to be justified by law. "All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law."" Gal 3:10 This as opposed to the fact that "there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus," Rom 8:1 and the reason why is "because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death." Rom 8:2
Furthermore those operating under fear of condemnation are not only disqualified due to their unbelief, but they are incapable of doing many things required by the law, that they typically will include in their own version of the law, like "love". Love exercised out of the fear of condemnation is not love because "There is no fear in love" 1John 4:18 And love "is not self-seeking" 1Cor 13:5
3. Confusing Cause and Effect. When a person comes to faith in Christ he is given the Holy Spirit to live in him and is born of God. Such things have an inevitable effect on one's behavior. Salvation by works Christians confuse verses which describe such an effect as if they were speaking of the cause of one's salvation rather then describing the behavior of one who has been saved. One contributing factor to them misconstruing verses in such a fashion is the fact that given their unbelief, they are not qualified to be born of God nor receive the Spirit and so find that such verses don't agree with their personal experience, so they misconstrue them as talking about something else.
Examples:
John 10:27 "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." They listen and follow because they are his sheep. This as opposed to the idea that listening and following him cause them to become his sheep. Likewise John says, "We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. " 1John 4:6 They hear what the apostles are teaching because they are of God, which includes understanding the apostles teachings as 1Cor 2:12,14 says "We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. .. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned." (Which is why salvation by works Christians misconstrue scripture on the points)
1John 3:9,10 "No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother."
Note that those born of God have a characteristic behavior not due to fear of condemnation, but rather due to the fact that they have been born of God. And that such a characteristic behavior is so inevitable and clearly distinct from that of children of the devil that the two can be distinguished based upon observations of behavior. This as opposed to typical claims of salvation by works Christians that one has to behave a certain way in order to be born of God and thus saved by one's behavior.
Typically they will also point out verses speaking of the converse, namely that those who behaved wickedly end up in hell, like Rev 21:8 "the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars— their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur." And then they'll make the hypothesis that this proves salvation by works, which of course it doesn't. People don't behave in such a manner because they have been saved and subsequently born of God. So that verse and like verses are simply describing the behavior of those who had not been born of God.