"the Apostle Paul testifies in his Epistle to the Romans, where he says, "But dost thou despise the riches of His goodness, and patience, and long-suffering, being ignorant that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But according to thy hardness and impenitent heart, thou treasurest to thyself wrath against the day of wrath, and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God." "But glory and honour," he says, "to every one that doeth good."
598 God therefore has given that which is good, as the apostle tells us in this Epistle, and they who work it shall receive glory and honour, because they have done that which is good
when they had it in their power not to do it; but those who do it not shall receive the just judgment of God, because they did not work good
when they had it in their power so to do.
In a post I wrote on September 11, 2020 I quoted from Irenaeus, one of the earliest church fathers, to show what was understood by him and presumably, the church in his time, regarding "free will." While teaching on free will, he used verses in the Bible and explained them in a way that could appear to be teaching a "works" salvation. A simple explanation of "works salvation" (which is not what the Bible teaches) would be to say that if you do good things you'll go to heaven and if you do bad things you won't. Careful study of the Scriptures and what Irenaeus taught reveals that it's not a works salvation that he believed the scriptures were teaching, but rather salvation comes through belief, faith, trust, in Christ as a substitute in our place and as His rightful position over us. Hundreds of years later reformers used the phrases "Faith Alone" and "Christ Alone" to make clear what Scripture teaches when it says: "
This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe." Romans 3:22
Here are 2 more verses, from Romans 3:20-22a, that also make the issue clearer:
1. "Therefore, by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin."
This one makes it clear that if we try to keep the law, or in other words, do good always (the law is summed up in loving God with all our hearts and loving others), we find that we fall short of keeping the law, and the law teaches us that we are sinners. We can't do good always.
2. "But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe."
This verse shows that the one who believes is righteous, not based on what they do or don't do, but by being given the righteousness of Christ.
Now consider just the last part of the quote I had posted from Irenaeus, because I think it will pull the concept together a little better than what I wrote:
"the Apostle Paul testifies in his Epistle to the Romans, where he says, "But dost thou despise the riches of His goodness, and patience, and long-suffering, being ignorant that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But according to thy hardness and impenitent heart, thou treasurest to thyself wrath against the day of wrath, and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God."
"But glory and honour," he says, "to every one that doeth good."
598 God therefore has given that which is good, as the apostle tells us in this Epistle, and they who work it shall receive glory and honour, because they have done that which is good
when they had it in their power not to do it; but those who do it not shall receive the just judgment of God, because they did not work good
when they had it in their power so to do."
Those who do NOT believe, do not have Christ's righteousness given to them, therefore, they will be judged according to their works.
Those who DO believe, have Christ's righteousness given to them, and will receive no punishment but will be rewarded for the good that they have done. "So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus." Romans 8:1
Hopefully I made this clear. There are more scriptures that shed light on it, but I won't go that deep into studying it for this post. Here is another quote from Irenaeus, making it clear that it is believing in Jesus that saves:
And from them that believe on Him the judgment is taken away, and they are no longer under it.
That quote is found at the end of a larger writing in which Irenaeus presents the gospel, the way to be saved.
I think it might be surprising to some to find that it not only matches perfectly with the biblical verses on salvation through faith in Christ alone, but resembles what the reformers preached as well. Even Billy Graham spoke similarly, in his younger years, before he stopped mentioning judgement as much, so as not to offend hearers. It's the same message, handed down through the ages, that is based on what Scripture teaches. Irenaeus (born c. 120/140, died c. 200/203) wrote:
68.
And that He shall be despised and tormented and in the end put to death, Isaiah says thus:
Behold,
my son shall understand,
187 and shall be exalted and glorified greatly. Even as many shall be astonished at thee, so without glory shall thy form be from men. And many races shall be astonished, and kings shall shut their mouths: for they to whom it was not declared concerning him shall see, and they who have not heard shall consider. Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? We declared before him as a child, as a root in a dry ground: and there is to him no form nor glory: and we saw him, and he had no form nor beauty: and his form was without honour, meaner than that of other men: a man in chastisement, and acquainted with the bearing of pain; for his face was turned away, he was dishonoured and made of no account.
He beareth our sins, and for our sakes endureth pain: and we accounted him to be in pain and chastisement and affliction. But he was wounded for our iniquities, and was tormented for our sins. The discipline of our peace (was) upon him; by his stripes we were healed.
By these words it is declared that He was tormented; as also David says: And I was tormented.
189 Now |130 David was never tormented, but Christ (was), when the command was given that He should be crucified.
And again by Isaiah His Word says:
I gave my back to scourging, and my cheeks to smiting: and my face I turned not away from the shame of spitting.190 And Jeremiah the prophet says the same, thus: He shall give his cheek to the smiter: he shall be filled with reproaches.191 All these things Christ suffered.
69. Now what follows in Isaiah is this:
By his stripes we were healed. All we like sheep went astray: a man in his way went astray: and the Lord delivered him up to our sins.
192 It is manifest therefore that by the will of the Father these things occurred to Him for the sake of our salvation. Then he says:
And he by reason of his suffering opened not (his) mouth: as a sheep to the slaughter was he brought, as a lamb
193 dumb before the shearer.
And when the prophet says:
In the humiliation his judgment was taken away,
he signifies the appearance of His humiliation: according to the form of the abasement was the taking away of judgment. And the taking away of judgment is for some unto salvation, and to some unto the torments of perdition. For there is a taking away for a person, and also from a person. |131 So also with the judgment----those for whom it is taken away have it unto the torments of their perdition: but those from whom it is taken away
are saved by it. Now those took away to themselves the judgment who crucified Him, and when they had done this to Him
believed not on Him: for through that judgment which was taken away by them they shall be destroyed with torments. And
from them that believe on Him the judgment is taken away, and they are no longer under it. And the judgment is that which by fire will be the destruction of the unbelievers at the end of the world.
Spacing and boldness added by me for clarity.
