In this chapter we have explored classic articulations of the faith-works problem in salvation. Popular Protestant articulations should be reconsidered in light of the biblical evidence, for they run counter to the following truths:
1. Pistis, though not devoid of interiority, is not primarily inward trust (or an inward feeling of confidence) but rather outward facing and relationally enacted.
2. Pistis is not mental first apart from the physical—it requires a body from start to finish and is implicated in the flesh.
3. The final judgment for eternal life will be based at least in part on the allegiance-based quality of the works we perform with our bodies.
4. Certain behaviors apart from repentance will result in exclusion from eternal life.
5. Scripture excludes works of the law from salvation (and all such rule-based systems), but does not exclude moral effort or good deeds in general.
6. It is “the doers of the law who will be justified” (Rom. 2:13), and performing Spirit-led deeds with the body fulfills the law, leading to eternal life.
7. Biblically speaking, justification may not be distinguishable from so-called sanctification within an order of salvation.
Each in turn
as I understand
each of them
Pistis is not simple inward trust
If the base understanding of pistis (faith) is allegiance and loyalty, then one cannot maintain that faith is just simple mental ascent and trust. It must be more. This is especially true if one considers that Jesus came to earth and lived out pistis towards us that ended up costing him his very life on a cross and the obedience and suffering that came before and during the crucifixion.
The perfectly lived, expressed, and worked out allegiant loyalty to us demonstrated in and by our Lord, Jesus, the Christ, stands now as the pathway forward for us towards him. Jesus states plainly that no man is greater than his Lord, but that we are to be like him. The core of the demonstrated love of Jesus for us demands that we return that love in lived out action where we do so in the power of his provided Spirit within ourselves. There is no other way.
Pistis is not mental but physical
Allegiant faith in and reciprocated to Jesus, our Lord is not just a mental exercise, but has the actions of the flesh implicated within it. First, there is the disavowment we take to the pleasures and deeds of the flesh in sin, which are the hell-hooks used by demonic dark powers to control us and condemn us from the unseen realms. No walk forward in loyalty to Christ lived out in the flesh can start without this first step.
The first step of disavowal necessarily means an on-going maintenance of our resistance to following after the flesh. Each temptation and urge of sin in the flesh to the pleasures and pride of the flesh presents us with a choice to either follow after or resist and turn to the Spirit of God within for living guidance and command of, "What do you want me to do?" and then doing it (demonstrated allegiance to Christ and not flesh and powers of darkness).
Final judgment and allegiance-based works
One of the major challenges of living out our allegiance to Jesus as King comes from keeping this ultimate reality of our judgment in constant view. It is what Hebrews 10:25 asks us to do—Amplified Bible (AMP): "Not forsaking or neglecting to assemble together [as believers], as is the habit of some people, but admonishing (warning, urging, and encouraging) one another, and all the more faithfully as you see the day approaching." The day being referred to is the final day of judgment.
Our own personal deeper focus on the day of judgment is to drive us into fellowship with each other for many purposes, not the least of which is to love and serve each other. Fellowship together is what affords us the opportunities to live out our allegiance to Jesus as King by loving each other. Inviting others who are hearing the Gospel and responding is another matter of the corporate body of Christ, Jesus.
From within this gathering together in Christ, we also have the very person of Jesus gathering as well ("Where two or more are gathered in my name, there I am in their midst."). It is within this gathering that we can further help each other to deepen our constant awareness of his return and the coming judgment. Apart from each other we are liable to get drunk on flesh and sin, forgetting that judgment is coming.
Sin without repenting is dangerous
Besides our expressed love for each other through the empowering Spirit of God in us as a demonstration of our allegiance to Jesus as King, we also have another way of demonstration: Confession and repenting—both privately and corporately, together. It is inevitable that we fail and we fall in what John calls "sins that do not lead to death" (1 John 5:16-17: "If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him [their brother] life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death." (ESV))
The importance of confessing, repenting, and helping each other in our weakness is another reason to come together often and be lavished in fellowship with each other. Isolation from the body of Christ is a dangerous place to be.
Rule-based law vs good deeds
As soon as we descend into making up rules for each other where we tag such rules as a do-or-die scenario where eternal life, salvation, and righteousness given as a gift in that day, then we have strayed into legalism. However, this does not mean that we are able to be allegiant to Jesus and each other in light of his allegiance to us by doing nothing at all. Part of our judgment day encounter with the Judge of all judges will hinge on our good works. We cannot avoid this.
Works of the Mosaic law is clearly out as a means of attaining salvation on that day. However, even if one sets aside the Law of Moses (613 laws in total from the Old Testament), but invents new laws (rules) and ties salvation to them, then one is in a very dangerous place. And suddenly we can launch out into the waters of conscience, smoking, tattoos, watching television, seeing movies, listening to certain music, and so on. Where does conscience before the Lord win Romans 14)?
Doers of the law/Spirit-led deeds
And now we can talk about the Law of Liberty, which is founded in the living relationship of following after the Spirit of Christ within. What is the Spirit leading us into? Being transformed in our minds to the mind of Christ, which is the law of living mercy, compassion, love, giving, suffering for the sake of Christ, and all such things as we obey the Lord in the carrying out of his Kingdom mission to rescue us and our brothers and sisters—both those in the household of faith and those who the Spirit is leading us to in order to bring them in.
It is the living Spirit in us that speaks to us from both the reading of scripture and from prayer as we speak back to God what he speaks to us from scripture. This is the rhema word delivered with the purpose of guiding us into love like himself towards all people. This is the essence of "doers of the law" and being Spirit led (Romans 8).
Justification and Sanctification
Justification: This is the act of God where He pardons all the sins of those who believe in Christ, and declares the guilty to be innocent. The righteousness of Christ is given to the believers as if it were their own. Justification is instantaneous and is the same for all Christians.
Sanctification: This is the process by which believers are made holy by the power of the Holy Spirit. It's a gradual, lifelong process that shapes us to be more like Jesus. Sanctification is progressive and varies among Christians, as they mature in their Christian walk and bear more fruit of the Holy Spirit.
We can now see that these two blend together as one. These two play off of each other in a dance that ends and is evaluated (judged) by Jesus at the judgment seat of Christ, the King. All of this is wrapped together in a living relationship where our union with Jesus is given substance in his allegiance to us and ours returned to him by his empowerment in us.
It would be incorrect for us to think that following Jesus is somehow exclusive of our choices in words and actions, especially as it relates to other people around us. Jesus is literally looking for those he can trust with relationships to where the heart and aim of the person is at help and usefulness and not harm and violence.
Watchers, giants, and violence
The very essence of those creatures who fell from heaven and attacked the human family starting in Genesis 3 and then ramping up in chapters 6 and 11 is obvious: They were unhinged in violence. They were found to be utterly depraved and violated and corrupted themselves in many ways, including some core defilements: Sexual immorality generally, and rape specifically. They didn't stop there, but traversed other sins by defiling themselves and humanity in twisted stolen heavenly knowledge that we practice in the world to this very day. Sins like occultism, warfare, immodesty, and other matters.
All of this serves as a backdrop to Jesus and his Kingdom. The Lord came to bring the reversal and healing of all of this damage as a down payment to the ultimate reversal that is coming: Judgment and destruction of every wicked and evil creature, angelic and human, in a lake of fire. While not intended for humans in the beginning, we are now included if we continue in rebellious loyalty to the creatures it was intended for: fallen angelic divine heavenly host beings and demon spirits resulting from their defilement with human women.
Therefore, it is the will of the Father and of the Son, Jesus, the Christ and King of all that humans be given the Gospel to the mission of affording us the opportunity to be translated from the kingdoms in which we are held as slaves to the freedom of his Kingdom wherein are promises of eternal life, righteousness as a gift to us, and salvation from defacto destruction. All of this hinges around Gospel Allegiance and the life lived from that anchor-point in both words and deeds performed through the empowerment of the Spirit within us, if so we are found in Christ and not in the flesh.