We continue our 2017 series examining each of the articles of the Belgic Confession, one of Faith Church’s confessions of faith.
One of the biggest objections to the idea of justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone (one of the central ideas of the Protestant Reformation) is that it gives Christians no reason or need to do any good works; one can just believe in Jesus and then be as bad as he or she wants to be. Article 24 of the Belgic Confession refutes this statement, as it states within this article that “Far from making people cold toward living in a pious and holy way, this justifying faith … so works within them that apart from it they will never do a thing out of love for God but only out of love for themselves and fear of being condemned.” In fact, the confession states, “So then, it is impossible for this holy faith to be unfruitful in a human being, seeing that we do not speak of an empty faith but of what Scripture calls ‘faith working through love’ (Galatians 5:6) which moves people to do by themselves the works that God has commanded in the Word.” Therefore, the confession shows that justification by faith alone does not lead to an ungodly life but a holy life, as true faith (defined back in Article 22) leads to a new life that follows God. The big, fancy word for this is sanctification, which is a work of God in which we die to sin and live unto him.
This article builds upon what was said in article 22 about faith, as it begins by noting that “We believe that this true faith, produced in us by the hearing of God’s Word and by the work of the Holy Spirit.” It echoes article 22 in noting that faith comes through the work of the Holy Spirit, but it also reminds us that the Holy Spirit typically works through the hearing of the Word of God (see Romans 10:17); the means through which people typically come to faith is by hearing God’s Word, whether that is through the preaching of a sermon, a conversation with a Christian, or reading it in a piece of literature. This fact should remind us of some of the beginning articles of the confession, which focus on the Word of God and its importance.
Those that have true faith also are regenerated, with the confession continuing by talking about how faith “regenerates us and makes us new creatures, causing us to live a new life and freeing us from the slavery of sin.” The term “regeneration” is typically used by modern theologians to refer to the initial act of the Spirit bringing us to life (which leads to faith), but the confession uses it in a wider sense to describe the change in our person, which modern theologians will usually label as sanctification for clarity’s sake. Justification is being freed from the penalty of sin, but this regeneration is what delivers us from the power of sin, so that we are no longer slaves to sin. Before regeneration, we are not able to do good, but the new life that is given to us by the Spirit causes us to be able to say no to sin and yes to righteousness.
This new life is not the cause of salvation but the result of salvation, proceeding from faith, as the confession continues, “These works, proceeding from the good root of faith, are good and acceptable to God, since they are all sanctified by God’s grace. Yet they do not count toward our justification—for by faith in Christ we are justified, even before we do good works. Otherwise they could not be good, any more than the fruit of a tree could be good if the tree is not good in the first place. So then, we do good works, but not for merit—for what would we merit? Rather, we are indebted to God for the good works we do, and not God to us, since God ‘is at work in us, enabling us both to will and to work for his good pleasure’ [Philippians 2:13]–thus keeping in mind what is written: When you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done [Luke 17:10].’”
These words highlight that the good works that we perform come from faith and the work of God in our life; we do not earn the salvation but receive it, through the Spirit, which leads to change, which is also the work of the Holy Spirit. Just as a tree produces fruit, so does a believer in Christ; one sees a changed life because of the Holy Spirit. This is also a good reminder that it is not that God saves us through Christ and then tells us that we need to work in our own strength; our good works occur through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. I love how Philippians 2:12-13 puts this, as it calls for us to work out (live out) our salvation, but then notes that it is God who works in us! We are called to obey, but that obedience comes because of the work of the Spirit.
Sometimes people wonder what difference it makes between saying that someone performs good works to be saved and that someone performs good works because they are saved. I think the confession helps us out on this in its closing words in article: “Moreover, although we do good works we do not base our salvation on them; for we cannot do any work that is not defiled by our flesh and also worthy of punishment. And even if we could point to one, memory of a single sin is enough for God to reject that work. So we would always be in doubt, tossed back and forth without any certainty, and our poor consciences would be tormented constantly if they did not rest on the merit of the suffering and death of our Savior.” What these words highlight is that if we relied on good works, we might always wonder if we have done enough; we would be in doubt if we have done enough works or if our works are pure enough to count and overcome sin (even just one!). But when we say good works flow from faith, when we see some good, even if it is still tainted by sin in part, we know that God is at work in us. If works earn salvation, we wonder if we have done enough; if works proceed from salvation, we can have assurance and hope when we see them, not trusting in them but trusting that God is keeping his word. Therefore, there is a profound practical difference in terms of how we view good works in relationship to our salvation.
In fact, only when we see the good works as the response to salvation and not the cause of it are the works truly righteous, as if the works are to earn salvation, we are seeking to gain “good and services from them,” but when they arise because of salvation that we have received, we truly work out of love for God and others and not out of self-love. The only way our works can truly be for God is when they come from salvation!
May we live in confidence that we are right with God through faith and have this Spirit-given and Spirit-driven faith leads us to love God and others in our thoughts, words, and deeds.
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