Justification: Why works are a stumbling stone for someRomans 9:31-32 But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;Justification a process?Our justification cannot be a process because that which justifies us before God, the imputed righteousness of God, is not given in doses. Justification is a one time act by God that comes for us the moment that we first believe. People wrongly view justification as a process because they don't yet understand the correct relationship between works and faith within the proper context. Good works cannot save us, never, but can only be a manifestation of Christ in the one who is already saved. Still, many people today fall short in their understanding of justification because the greater context does not allow for their "church" doctrines. Trying to understand justification as a process will cause all kinds of problems with scripture. We can begin to see the core of the problem by how the order of events are viewed. They believe...Faith = good works = imputed righteousness = justification. This makes justification a process that depends on good works. Romans 11:6 And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.There cannot be both grace and works for justification. We cannot both glory in the blood of Christ on the cross while at the same time disparaging what Jesus did for us on the cross. If we trust in our works, even in combination with our faith, we reject the righteousness of God through faith, the only thing that can justify us before God, and this puts us under the Law.Romans 10:3 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.Galatians 3:10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.”For those of you who think that you can be justified before God by your works, even in combination with faith, Jesus has a test for you, which is basically to bring home the same point that is taught throughout God's Word, that the law requires perfect obedience, and you will fail this perfect standard that the Law requires.Jesus said...Matthew 5:20 For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.Do you know how hard this would be to do? The Scribes and Pharisees had up to twenty or more separate books of law that they added to the scripture, and obeyed it all of it, to the letter. Even those scribes and Pharisees will suffer for eternity.Faith is evidenced by works, as James tells us, but this is after the fact of our justification. The only question left to ask after we initially believe is whether or not our faith is genuine. Are we deceiving ourselves with a faith in idols, another Gospel, another Jesus? Paul tells us to check ourselves daily to see whether or not we are in the faith. This is the same thing that James is teaching. That we should be careful not to be self deceived. Is Jesus manifesting Himself in your life?When Jesus told us that if we are His, we will obey His commandments, He's not teaching us that obeying the commandments will save us, rather, He's teaching us that if we are saved, we will begin to manifest Him in our lives. are you a tree that manifests good fruit?Once we are justified by the imputed righteousness of God through our initial faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, one of the evidences of the authenticity of our conversion is our persevering in faith (Hebrews 11). And this is where the works come into play, another of the many evidences of one who is already justified.Understanding this, we can place the statement by James within it's proper context, a faith without works IS dead, And this is in perfect harmony with what Jesus said, that a good tree bears good fruit, and that those who are His will obey His commandments. What we are are not doing is putting the cart before the horse, or, works before justification simply because works are an evidence of faith, thus forcing justification to be a process that depends on our works.Our works will be an indicator of whether or not our profession of faith is genuine. But it is only by our initial God given faith that we are imputed with the righteousness of God. How do we know if our faith is real? How do we know if we are already justified by the blood of Christ on the cross? If Jesus is manifesting Himself in our lives.Faith = good works = imputed righteousness = justification. This puts us under the law. (Romans 10:2-4)Galatians 4:21 Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? James 2:10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. Romans 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. As born again Christians, anything good that comes from us for the Church is an undeserved gift from God (1 Corinthians 4:7). We could not produce one good work unless God himself was the source of it (John 15:5). Without Him, we can do nothing. Good works cannot come from the flesh. Our flesh can only produce filthy rags. Justification is instantaneous if the faith is genuine. God already knows whether or not our faith is genuine because He is the One that gives us our faith. It is only us who need to be safeguarded against self deceit. You see? God does not need to wait to see if our faith is genuine or not before we are imputed with His righteousness and justified. He supplies the faith, and never will He give us faith and not also give us perseverance in this same faith, upholding us by His power (1 Peter 1:5). Remember, Jesus is the Author and Finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). It is all from God, and He will always finish what He starts (1 Peter 1:23, John 10:28-29). Repentance is a gift from God; Acts 11:18, 2 Timothy 2:25 etc. Faith is a gift from God; 1 Corinthians 2:5, Romans 12:3, Ephesians 2:8, Philippians 1:29 etc. Perseverance is a gift from God; Philippians 1:6, 1 Peter 1:5 etc. This leaves the works/fruit as an evidence of a true saving faith that has already resulted in God imputing His righteousness to us so that we are justified before Him.Ephesians 2:10 clearly states that our good works are already prepared for us to walk in. Without Him we can do nothing (John 15:5). Praise God for these Fruits that He has given us (Philippians 1:11). Look at James 2:23-24 closely. A passage used to promote a false works based salvation.From the Macarthur Study Bible Quote from Macarthur: "This does not contradict Paul's clear teaching that Abraham was justified before God by grace alone through faith alone (Romans 3:20, Romans 4:1-25, Galatians 3:6,11) James could not mean that Abraham was constituted righteous before God because of his own works because... 1) James already stressed that salvation is a gracious gift (James 1:17-18). 2) In the middle of this disputed passage (v23), James quoted Genesis 15:6, which forcefully claims that God credited righteousness to Abraham solely on basis of his faith (also see Romans 1:17; Romans 3:24; Romans 4:1-25). 3) The work that James said justified Abraham was his offering up of Isaac (Genesis 22:9,12), an event that occurred many years after he first exercised faith and was declared righteous before God (Genesis 12:1-7; Genesis 15:6). Instead, Abraham's offering of Isaac demonstrated the genuineness of his faith and the reality of his justification before God. James is emphasizing the vindication before others of mans claims to salvation. James' teaching perfectly compliments Paul's writing; salvation is determined by faith alone (Ephesians 2:8-9) and demonstrated by faithfulness to obey God's will alone (Ephesians 2:10)." (JMSB)Paul and James were not standing toe to toe, so to speak, arguing against each other. They were standing back to back defending the same Gospel truth against two different attacks. Romans 4:5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Are you "glorying in the cross" (Galatians 6:14), or are you disparaging the cross, thus making you an enemy of the cross (Philippians 3:18)? "Remember, an enemy of the cross is one who implies that the work of Jesus Christ on the cross was insufficient for our salvation, period. Their destiny? Destruction! (Philippians 3:19). Disparage means to belittle, diminish, lessen, reduce, devalue, discount, impair, lower, degrade, minimize, curtail, or decrease." While it is true that many people speak very highly of the blood of Christ on the cross, they also disparage it with a works based salvation. It is the imputed righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ that saves us. If the evidences are absent, what does that say about our claims of a saving faith (The point James made)? It's not that we are earning justification by the works, it's whether or not we are giving evidence of Jesus Christ manifesting Himself in us. If we are not manifesting Christ in our lives, then we didn't lose anything but the illusion that we had a true saving faith. This self deception is what we are warned about over and over in scripture. God already knows if we are saved or not (Ephesians 1:4, 2 Thessalonians 2:13). The "test yourselves daily" etc is for us to know whether or not we are self deceived.Take perseverance as an example. If a person who is professing faith in Jesus Christ does not persevere in faith, what happened? 1 John 2:19 19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us. This is a manifestation of what that person always was, from the beginning. They didn't lose their salvation, or even give it back. They evidenced that they never had genuine faith to begin with. The evidence showed that the faith was not a saving faith from the beginning. If the claim of faith would have been genuine, then it would have resulted in the imputed righteousness of God, resulting in justification before God from the first, then the evidence would have followed, such as perseverance in faith. Which is also a gift from God.Evidence, evidence, evidence of what we already are, in Christ, or not. Not the cause.At the time of our initial, authentic, God given faith, we are immersed into the Body by Jesus with the Holy Spirit (sealed with the seal of our inheritance). We become one with Him, actually "in Christ". At that same moment, we are imputed with Christ's perfect righteous. God recons us as perfectly righteous because of what Jesus did. Over time, He manifests Himself in our lives more and more as we progressively begin to become what God already recons us to be "in Christ".This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Dave