Re: Justified before God and man.
glorydaz said:
Drew, you bring up some interesting points, but I don't agree it has anything to do with whether it's Jews or not. James speaks of justification before man (fruit). Paul speaks of justification unto God. (salvation - root) God looks at the heart...man sees the fruit.
I suggest that Paul's writings make it clear that when he denies "justification by works", he is, effectively, saying "justification is not limited to the Jews". The reason: when Paul refers to "works", he is, as per my earlier post, referring to the works of the Law of Moses. And who has the Law of Moses and do its "works"?
Jews. This "works" business has been massively misunderstood in the Protestant tradition. Paul is not denying that "good works" justify - he clearly affirms that they do in Romans 2 - a passage which many in the Reformed tradition sweep under the rug.
Here is Romans 3:27-28 in the NASB:
27Where then is boasting? It is excluded By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. 28For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.
What are these works of the Law that Paul thinks cannot justify? Are they “good works†in general, or are they the practices or “works†of the Torah, the Law of Moses?
I suggest that Paul is clearly talking about the
Torah here, and not “good worksâ€. And so the “boast†here (verse 27) is not the boast of the person who thinks he can climb to heaven by a ladder of good works, it is instead the boast of the
Jew, who thinks that following
Torah will justify him.
That this is the case is borne out by verse 29, a verse which makes no sense if "good works" or a "or obedience to a general law" are in view in verse 28, but makes perfect sense if the works of Torah are what Paul is talking about:
29Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too,
Paul is amplifying the implications of verse 27 and 28 and is clearly focusing on how the Jew and Gentile are both members of God’s family. In verses 27 and 28, he has written that “works†do not justify. In verse 29, it becomes clear that these are the works of
Torah since, obviously, it is by doing the works of Torah, being "under Torah" as it were, that the Jew could boast "God is God of the Jews only". What marks out the nation Israel from the Gentile? Possession and doing of Torah, of course. Not good works.
So when, in verse 29, Paul writes that "God is God of the the Jews and the Gentilesâ€, he is clearly concluding argument about how doing the Jewish-specific practices (or “worksâ€) of the Torah does not justify. He is not addressing the matter of “justification bygood worksâ€.
.