Faith is man’s positive response to God as He is in various ways revealed to the individual. At the universal (common) level it is most definitively a positive response to conscience. Given that the human’s spirit is planted by God and will one day return to Him it would be surprising if it did not incorporate a blueprint for human behaviour, and so it does: the law of God written on the “heart”301 which is also described (but sometimes mistranslated) as the light of Christ that enlightens every man coming into the world302. In terms of the translation, it is hardly likely that John writing in the late first century would be informing his readers that the Light (Christ) “is coming into the world” (Jn1:9 - some translations). The atheist and agnostic, whenever they perform an action that they know to be right because it is right, not merely for the praise of others or to be accepted within society are effectively exercising faith, responding positively to God (actually to the will of Christ as Logos) as He has revealed Himself and His law (the principles of sound reason and humane living) in their conscience. In that instant, they are choosing to do a good, for in their innermost being they sense it is good and should be practiced303. It is not entirely altruistic for they receive inner gratification by performing it, for in their inner being they are concurring with a natural precept, ultimately an eternal law. It is no different from a Christian receiving a measure of peace when he knows he is being obedient to Christ’s will; it is how conscience functions. In the language of second century Christianity, it is that
common faith which lies beneath as a foundation that is built upon and consummated in those who come to faith in Christ304.
The law is spiritual and so is the human spirit for it is spirit. But infused within a degenerative vessel which is ever inclined to concupiscence (worldly lust), the instincts of that earthly tent look to override the inner light of conscience. Having planted human souls in such a disordered vessel it is no surprise given God’s compassionate nature that He has made both provision and allowance for resultant human failures. In terms of provision, at the greatest personal cost God has provided a means by which our inevitable failures and misconduct might be pardoned through reference to an atoning Sacrifice; and in terms of 300 Hence “Who will deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God it is through Jesus Christ”
– Rom7:25
301 Rom2:15
302 Jn1:9
303 Rom7:22-23
304 Clement of Alexandria (A.D.153-217) The Stromata Book V chap. 1
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allowance, He is prepared to accept someone as justified on the basis of their exercising faith by responding positively or “faithfully” to the divine light that He has provided to them.
A common faith or faithfulness (same word in Biblical Greek) is shown to be present when love ( agape) is exercised, being a genuine concern and care for another person, which is the heart of God’s law305. Since love is the efflux of faith306, faith must be present for that love to flow out from it; love and faith being quite inseparable, faith being the agent of love and love being the product of faith. A person is justified within the Universal Covenant by responding positively to God’s witness to them through creed or conscience regardless of the degree of accomplishment. Providing the person demonstrates agape they are accepted by God, for He knows that agape was derived from Him, being His Own nature307. This aligns with Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 25 concerning the sheep and goats. In serving the weakest of humanity through any act of compassion, the “sheep” are regarded as serving Christ Himself even though they have no personal knowledge of Him:
“In truth I tell you in so far as you did this (act of kindness) to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to Me”
It will appear to some that Jesus is here teaching justification by works. But Matthew25:31-45 is demonstrating justification through faith with reference to works. No mention is made of how consistently or perfectly the “sheep” showed compassion, they just demonstrated they possessed it and were justified by exercising it regardless of measure.
They therefore demonstrated they possessed the quality called faith whose product is agape, being the essence of true humanity. On the other hand, faith alone if it be merely a passive belief, trust or reliance on someone or something is dead if it does not result in positive action. The “sheep” had not been passive; they showed compassion because they had responded positively to their “heart” motivating them to act in such a way out of sympathy, empathy and to be at peace with themselves. Jesus was thereby affirming that final salvation is not all of grace for fruit must be produced, yet it is entirely dependent on
grace since the “sheep” are accepted by exercising the quality called faith, being an innate faculty provided through common grace, rather than having perfectly fulfilled God’s law or lived a sinless life. Thus, at the universal level justification is granted through such common faith, being a positive response to conscience (the light of Christ in the spirit) evinced by compassion, through the kindly favour (grace) by which pardon for sin has been granted to all producing the fruit of faith through the all-sufficient merits of Christ’s atonement.
Some Christians, particularly of my former ilk, will regard such a testimony to God’s loving kindness towards wider humanity as disturbing and heretical. Others will have sensed in their bones that it could never really have been the case that many of their relatives, friends and work colleagues who did not share their version of the Christian belief were destined for eternal punishment but couldn’t have supported such a hope from Scripture.
What is affirmed here should provide such people with much joy, without detracting at all from the purpose and urgency of the gospel message. Indeed, if the stupendous nature and benefits of service in God’s Kingdom also come to be appreciated, all and sundry may wish 305 Rom13:10
306 Gal5:16
307 1Jn4:7
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to force their way into it once again308. That is why certain inessential mysteries of the Kingdom have been veiled through much of the gospel age even from the Church: so that the rich, the mighty, the proud and the glory-hunters might be detracted by the shame of the cross of Christ and humble cruciform service as His disciples; whilst the humble, the gentle, the poor in spirit and in material possessions who are rich in faith will be the true inheritors of the Kingdom and the earth. Such is the wisdom of God.
The two-tier benefits of the Atonement
The “faithfulness of Christ” in the centre of history is indispensable to both the Old and New Testament periods; it avails for two ages and, since its occurrence within history, at two levels: forensic and participatory.
“For the love of Christ constrains us; because we judge that if One died for all then all were dead. And He died for all that those which live should no longer live for themselves but unto Him which died for them and rose again”309
The Bible does not teach a limited atonement in which pardon for the sin of falling short of God’s glory is exclusively provided to those He elects to suffer and reign with the Atoner. It is insistent and consistent: all were dead so the One died for all and atoned for all310. However, “He died for all… that those which live…”. He died for all but not all shall
“live”. For what is limited is those who will be saved by His life by coming to participate in it311. Note also from these verses that “those that live should no longer live for themselves but for Christ”. It is and always has been the small minority who no longer live for themselves and their families but are truly devoted to the Saviour. However, peace, pardon and universal reconciliation has been made available for all by the blood of His cross312
where Christ became sin313. If He became sin, it must be human sin in its totality, not an act of substitutionary atonement for select individuals or groupings. That is simply not how Scripture presents the matter. Jesus had come in the likeness of sinful flesh so that sin in the flesh should be condemned314.
Yet through His resurrection His chosen people can also be set free from the
domination and bondage of sin by sharing in Christ’s life. “If the Son shall make you free then you shall be free indeed”315. So, for the many, including those living before its historical occurrence316 the benefit of the atonement is expiatory, annulling the penalty of universal sin; for the few (proportionately speaking) it is both expiatory and cathartic through sacramental participation317. For the latter it cleanses from sin’s guilt and power by being able to purify the soul and unite it with the life of Christ.
308 Cf. Mt11:12
309 2Cor5:14,15
310 Cf. 1Jn2:2
311 Rom5:10
312 Cf. Col1:19-20
313 2Cor5:21 Greek
314 Rom8:3
315 Jn8:36
316 Cf. Rom3:25
317 1Jn1:7
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Jesus came to save His own people from their sins, not merely from the punishment for sinning318, i.e., they are to be cleansed from sin, not just the guilt of sin. Christ had offered Himself “in order to ransom us from all our faults and to purify a people to be His very own, eager to do good works”319. Through such good works, the Church as God’s instrument of salvation declares His saving intentions for the whole world through its message as well as by the lives of her individual members: “abounding in love towards each other and all men320. Thereby the Church fulfils its commission to “announce the Good News to every creature under heaven”321; for when men and women acknowledge the rule of Christ (i.e., obey the gospel) they themselves become faithful stewards caring for the welfare of all that is set under them, being (for the moment) the natural world.
God’s royal priesthood: elected through unmerited grace
In terms of those who have been ordained to receive eternal life322 and brought into a living relationship with God in the present, fulfilling the role intended according to earlier prophecy exclusively for the Jewish nation, it is a matter of elective grace at the individual level just as it had been for Israel at the racial level. Those predestined to Christian salvation were chosen to perform good works and become holy, not because they had performed
good works or were foreseen to be holy323. Their calling to participate in the royal priesthood of God for the salvation of the world does not pertain to personal merit; justification being a gift. God gives to some the ears to hear and the eyes to see Jesus and proclaim with Peter “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”. If that has had happened to you then “Blessed are you, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but the Father who is in heaven”324. There can therefore be no cause for boasting; and any who do boast show themselves to be profoundly unholy, as well as ignorant of the fact that:
“(God) has saved us and called us to a holy calling, not on the basis of our works but according to His own purpose and grace that was given to us in Christ Jesus before the times of the ages”325
Paul is adamant here and elsewhere that election to the Christian faith is
unconditional – the predestination he speaks of is not a matter of God foreknowing who would respond to the gospel, for there is no greater work under the sun than to deny oneself and choose to serve Jesus Christ. Election is a matter of sovereign choice and an abundance of grace. [Election, I say – not final salvation]. For those who are called must themselves provide fruit in the form of good works; that is why they were called, to bring light, healing and truth to the world and become conformed to the image of Christ. Just as JHWE had chosen Isaac’s physical descendants to form the nation with whom He would especially relate and prepare for Kingdom service, so it was later disclosed that He had also 318 Mt1:21
319 Tit2:14
320 1Thes3:12
321 Col1:23
322 Acts13:48
323 Eph2:8-10
324 Mt16:17
325 2Tim1:9
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foreknown and predestined individuals to be drawn from all nations to be set apart for sacral service in that same priesthood326.