Fides 18 N2 - Revista do Centro Presbiteriano Andrew Jumper

FIDES REFORMATA XVIIi, Nº 2 (2013): 99-115
the ground of the righteousness of his obedient heart that expressed itself in
obedient works, Adam was counted as righteous until he fell into sin.
After the fall there was a radical change. By God’s grace, Adam was
again counted as righteous, even though his obedience was now continually
marred by sin. Now he was not reckoned as righteous on the ground of inherent
righteousness, but of imputed righteousness, alien righteousness, righteousness
supplied by God through substitution. The contrast was a stark one, but
it was not as stark as the contrast between human self-righteousness and the
righteousness of God through atonement. This latter contrast is one that can be
characterized as one of works as opposed to faith. Adam’s original obedience,
on the other hand, was not the obedience of works without faith.
Before the fall, righteous Adam lived by faith. His was the obedience of
faith exercised in knowledge, conviction and trust. He knew God and his ways,
was convinced that his promises and gifts were perfect and trustworthy, and
he entrusted himself wholeheartedly to his heavenly Father. Without faith it
is impossible to please the Lord (Heb 11:6). This applied to righteous Adam
before the fall no less than to Adam, in Christ, after his rebellion. Innocent
Adam did nothing in his own strength, nor did he seek to buy God’s favor. He
believingly knew that God already accepted him.
After the fall, man’s justification is grounded on a distinctly different
basis from Adam’s original inherent righteousness, namely, on Jesus Christ
and him crucified, received by faith. This does not mean that the redeemed
only believe and do not obey God’s law. One might seek to explain this by
saying that we are justified by faith alone, while we are sanctified by faith
and works. 16 This is, however, a deficient way of expressing the matter. First,
since faith without works is dead (Jas 2:17, 26), it could suggest that we are
justified by dead faith and sanctified by living faith, which would be absurd.
Second, it suggests that the contrast between faith and works is an opposition
of two different functions performed by God’s children. This is not, however,
the concern raised by Paul and the other biblical authors.
When faith and works are contrasted by Paul, he is using shorthand terms.
Faith is faith in Christ and resting in God’s righteousness through him. Works
are works that seek to establish self-righteousness (e.g., Eph 2:8-10; Phil 3:9).
The contrast, then, is between two opposing principles and not between two
functions exercised by the redeemed. Neither our faith function nor our works
save us. Only Christ justifies us. It is the misunderstanding of this point that
16 Cf. the OPC Report on Justification, p. 30, “When Paul speaks in the context of justification,
that is, the irrevocable declaration that one is righteous before God, he invariably establishes the starkest
imaginable contrast between law and works, on the one hand, and grace and faith, on the other. (Though
this is not true when he speaks about sanctification, in which law and works, and grace and faith, are
perfectly complementary, since the good works of the law flow out of the faith that comes by grace).”
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