Justification by Faith Alone | Biblearc

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Ben Fetterolf

Follower of Jesus | Husband | Father | Pastor at Hampton Park Baptist Church of Greenville, SC

http://www.hamptonpark

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Justification by Faith Alone

Romans 4:1-5

What role, if any, do works play in being made right with God?

#works

#faith

#Justification

Published January 28th, 2020

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Main point summary

Romans 4:1-5

Main point summary

James 2:20-24

notes

Main point summary

Abraham has no reason to boast before God because he was counted righteous due to his faith, not his works.

Romans 4:1-5

editing

NT

Romans 4:1-5

esv

What then shall we say was gained by 1 Abraham, t our forefather according to the flesh?

For if Abraham was justified by works,

he has something to boast about,

conditional

but u not before God.

concessive

ground

For what does the Scripture say?

v “Abraham believed God,

and it was counted to him as righteousness.”

actionresult

ideaexplanation

Now w to the one who works,

his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.

And to the one who does not work

but x believes in 1 him who justifies the ungodly,

negativepositive

his faith is counted as righteousness,

bilateral

discourse

Main point summary

Faith, accompanied by faith-filled works, proves itself to be true faith, as the example of Abraham shows.

James 2:20-24

James 2:20-24

Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?

v Was not Abraham our father justified by works

when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?

temporal

You see that w faith was active along with his works,

and faith was completed x by his works;

and the Scripture was fulfilled that says,

y “Abraham believed God,

and it was counted to him as righteousness”—

progression

and he was called a z friend of God.

You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

Comments

Brent Karding

In your second bracket, I think you've correctly divided up the text into three pieces, and that the whole has a Bilateral structure.

But 23a and following seem to be part of a Series of results (or Progression) that come from 21. So I would connect 23a more closely to 22a-b, rather than seeing 23a and following as the Result of all of 21-22.

I do like how you made 23d the Result of earlier action - I just think that the action would start in 22 rather than 21.

Ben Fetterolf

Yes, the Series/Progression makes sense. This AND this AND this. And as a result, this (friend of God). Thanks for your feedback on this!

Brent Karding

You're welcome!

Brent Karding

I like your relating verse 3 to all of 1-2 as a Ground, and I agree with everything in 1-2.

I'm not sure that 4-5 works as being an Inference of 3, though. 4 especially seems to be an Explanation of the "gift" idea in 3c.

As I go through it, though, I think Inference would work (and thus Bilateral would work as a whole) if you made 4 the Negative to 5's Positive. Alternative does work, but I like seeing 5 as being emphasized. That definitely seems like an Inference of 3, although 4 does not.

Does all that make sense?

Ben Fetterolf

Yes. Your explanation in your final paragraph is generally what I was thinking. 3 seems to be the Ground of 1-2 with regards to Abraham specifically. And then 4-5 seems to flow out of 3 in the sense that it's saying it's the same for us as it was for Abraham. If I work, then I too have something to boast about (4 parallel in some sense to 2). But if I believe, then my faith is counted as righteousness too (based on the example of Abraham in 3).

Your comment about emphasizing 5 makes sense.

Brent Karding

Sounds good. I think that 4-5 is one of the rare occasions where either Alternative or Neg-Pos would work (taking 4-5 by itself). But 4-5 isn't saying, "There are two options: you can try to work for salvation or believe." It is saying, "Since verse 3 is true, you should not work but believe."

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