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Abraham justified by works
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? 23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. 24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. (James 2:21-24)
7 Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. 8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. ” (1 John 3:7–9, NKJV)
Reformed Doctrine of Justification
Although we are very thankful for the Reformation and Martin Luther and the other reformers for addressing the Roman Catholic abuse of power and of weaponizing church, they were not perfect and did not produce a perfect final version of the truth. The work is ongoing to “Know God”
That faith in the complete work of Christ on the Cross is the driver for our righteousness is true, but that this righteousness must manifest visibly in out lives as integral part of salvation is equally true.
The doctrine of “Forensic Justification” implies that justification is a credit entry into the ledger devoid of real power (power of salvation), and this manifestly contradicts a huge number of scriptures.
The truth is slightly more complex, as is always the case, and the reason because it is SPIRIT and must be comprehended spiritually as we see in 1 Cor 2.
Our deeds need be righteous in the light
19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”
” (John 3:19–21, NKJV)
