Many Calvinists appeal to Isa 64:6 as “proof” of the inability of man and, as a result, our need for imputed righteousness:
But we are all as in an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
The term translated as “filthy rags” in Hebrew (כְבֶ֥גֶד עִדִּ֖ים ) is more potent; it means “menstrual garments.”
However, this is a prime example of how Reformed theology is built upon eisegesis, not exegesis, of the biblical texts. Firstly, Isaiah is speaking of the condition the people of Israel became as a result of infidelity to God and His covenant, not about the “natural” abilities of man (per Total Depravity of the TULIP). This can be seen in the previous verse which Calvinists tend not to quote when abusing this text, one that speaks of the natural abilities of man and one’s ability to please God with their good works:
Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we shall be saved.
The Old Testament is a volume that many Christians, including Latter-day Saints tend to be unfamiliar with intimately, in comparison to the New Testament. However, the Old Testament is important for many reasons, not the least that the New Testament authors (and the Book of Mormon authors, too) appeal to the Old Testament writings, not just through direct quotation, but allusion and other literary means, and build their theology upon the Old Testament (“canonically challenged” is a term that is sometimes thrown out; I think it is a good term to use). The Old Testament, also, challenges many errant theologies today, including the different theologies of “Faith Alone” (I use the plural as there are many variations of the doctrine, both historically and in modern times).
Psa 18:20-28 speaks of meritorious good works and, based on one’s covenantal fidelity, God accepts that person. There is no hint at alien imputed righteousness, any variation of “faith alone” theology wherein good works is merely the fruit of salvation, and so forth:
The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my heart hath he recompensed me. For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all his judgements were before me, and I did not put away his statues from me. I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity. Therefore, hath the Lord recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight. With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself upright; With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the forward thou wilt shew thyself forward. For thou wilt save the afflicted people; but wilt thou bring down high looks. For thou wilt light my candle; the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.
On the use of the Old Testament in the New Testament, let us examine briefly a commonly-cited and abused text in Rom 10:9-13:
That is thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
This pericope is often touted as “proof” for Sola Fide, as it stresses confessing and calling upon the name of the Lord and the importance of believing in Jesus. Of course, Latter-day Saints agree in the total necessity of confessing Jesus and calling upon his name (επικαλεω is often a technical term in the LXX and NT for an act of prayer) and the importance of belief in Jesus (cf. Articles of Faith 3, for e.g.). However, notice that things like repentance are not mentioned in this text, notwithstanding its importance in salvation (e.g. Matt 3:2; Acts 2:38-39), and baptism is not mentioned, again notwithstanding its salvific importance in the New Testament (cf. Rom 6:1-4 earlier in Paul’s letter; I hope to discuss baptismal regeneration in future blog posts). Moreover, Paul is using Deut 30:6-16, a pericope that stresses the importance of obedience, not simply faith alone, when one is within God’s saving covenant (“covenantal nomism"” for those familiar with terminology used within biblical studies), refuting the appeal to Rom 10:9-13 as “proof” of Sola Fide:
And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live. And the Lord thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee. And thou shalt return and obey the voice of the Lord, and do all his commandments which I command thee this day. And the Lord thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for the Lord will again rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers: If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul. For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is 1 not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it. See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.
A good book showing that Paul did not hold to Sola Fide is by a non-LDS scholar, Chris VanLandingham, Judgment and Justification in Early Judaism and the Apostle Paul (Hendrickson, 2006). It is one of my favourite books on Pauline studies.
