A Question About Covenant Keeping

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[quote:97a111b32f]Tom,

I think that all this is exactly proper as long as three important clarifications are made (clarifications that are sadly lacking in NPP):

1. It is God who works in us, creating in us those good works that He has prepared for us beforehand.

2. Good works are not meritorious in and of themselves. We will not be acquitted at the judgment because of our good works. We will be acquitted because of the works of Christ, having His reighteousness imputed to us, His complete fulfillment of the covenant opf works. But at the same time, our good works are an evidence to us of our union with Christ, and hence our appropriation of the merit of Christ. In that sense they are necessary but they are consequent.

3. One of the graces that God grants to the believer along with justification is the grace of perseverance. The justified believer can thus have assurance of salvation (viz. the Confession's treatment of the linkage between the evidence of good works, perseverance and assurance)

To say as N.T. Wright and Shepherd do, that there are two judgments, one eschatological and one temporal, is foolishness. There is but one criteria for judgment, and it is the perfect and complete fulfillment of the covenant of works. So our good works are not (and cannot be) the ground of our justification, but they are the necessary means by which we come to see that ground and be assured. They are not our clothes, but perhaps better described as the glasses we put on to help us see that we are not naked. [/quote:97a111b32f]

I completely agree with every word you wrote.
 
[quote:a398c3759c][i:a398c3759c]Originally posted by Irishcat922[/i:a398c3759c]
Grace=faith=obedience=faith=grace [/quote:a398c3759c]
What do you mean by this? If you argue they are the same thing then you are gravely mistaken. Rather one is dependent on the others.

Grace=> Faith => Obedience
 
I was simply making a point not an argument. My point being that Grace, Faith, and Obedience are inseperable. I did not mean they were the same thing, I apoligize for any confusion. :sad:
 
Phillip said: Believers will not be judged for their works on judgment day - Christ already paid for them on the cross (Rom 8:1). Instead, they will be rewarded for their works of obedience (2 Tim 4:8; 1 Cor 3:11-15, 4:5).
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What about Romans 2:5ff.? "...in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judment of God, who will render to each one according to his deeds: eternal life to those who by ..." Cf. also Mt. 12:36; 2 Tm. 4:1.
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Phillip said: The Judgment Seat of Christ has nothing to do with a declaration of salvation, justification, or any such thing. The works we have done "in the flesh" (wood, hay, stubble) will be burned up, and the works produced in us by the Spirit working in us by faithful obedience (gold, silver, precious stones) will be purified. There is not a "judgment" here, but a bema seat, a place of blessing.
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Have you ever read Dabney on 1 Cor. 3, Vol. I, 551ff.? It seeks to refute the common interpretation of this passage.
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Phillip said: Recompensed. Paid, rewarded - not judged. There is no condemnation (no judgment) for those in Christ, otherwise His atonement fell short.
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Are you equating condemnation with judgment? It appears so. If so, I don't think the two are synonomous. From the texts above, it seems better to say that judment can either end in condemnation or commendation. In other words,, judgment does not necessarily equal condemnation (Rom. 2:6-7).
 
I see your point about judgment and condemnation being different and I would agree. It seems though in this discussion that judgment was being used in a negative term, ie, synonymous with condemnation.

Our works will be tried, and what is left after the fire falls is for the purpose of commendation.

I have not read Dabney on that passage. I need to get it!

Thanks for the input.

Phillip
 
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