11.—Faith alone
will not save men: neither will faith and works save them, unless they are of
the right kind. Indeed the faith and works of the greatest portion of mankind
will be the very cause of their damnation. True faith and righteous works are
essential to salvation; and without both of these, no man ever was, or ever can
be saved.
. . .
21.—A faith,
then, that brings remission of sins or justification to the sinner, is that
which is connected with repentance and baptism. Faith alone will not justify;
faith and baptism alone will not justify; but faith, repentance, and baptism will
justify and bring remission of sins through the blood of Christ. What does Paul
mean when he says, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God,
through our Lord Jesus Christ?” He means that faith is the starting point—the foundation
and cause of our repentance and baptism which bring remission or justification;
and being the cause which leads to those results, it is not improper to impute justification
to faith. What does that Scripture mean which says, “If 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?” It means
that real faith in the heart is that which leads to obedience; for a man who
does not obey, only has a degree of faith, and not living faith in the heart,
which in all cases will lead to repentance, confession, baptism, laying on of
hands, &c. All will admit that to believe with the heart leads to and
includes repentance. Why not also admit that it includes every other
commandment of the Gospel> Because believing with the heart in the resurrection
of Christ is the moving cause of obedience which brings salvation, it may well
be said that salvation is the result of faith.
22.—There has
been much dispute among mankind in regard to justification. Some have supposed
that we are justified by the blood of Christ by simple faith alone, without
performing any works either of the law or Gospel. Others suppose that we are
justified by the blood of Christ by simply adding repentance to our faith
without any further works. Others contend that all mankind will be justified and
saved through the blood of Christ, without either faith or works. All these admit
that the atonement of Christ is necessary to justification. The only dispute
seems to be in regard to the conditions required of the creature by which he
receives the justification purchased by the atonement. Those who believe that
simple faith alone, without works, is the only condition required, generally urge
the following passage in support of that view; “For if Abraham were justified
by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the
scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But
to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his
faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the
blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works.”
(Rom. iv.2-6). Those who believe works necessary to justification, quote the
following: “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith,
and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and
destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye
warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are
needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works,
is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works:
shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe,
and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his
son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works
was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham
believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called
the Friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by
faith only. Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she
had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? For as the body
without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” (James ii.
14-26.) Paul and James seem apparently to contradict one another; and this has
been the cause of differences of opinion in our day: but these apparent contradictions
can easily be reconciled, if we taken into consideration the two different
subjects upon which they were writing. Pual was writing to a people who were
inclined to believe in circumcision, and other works of the ancient law had
been done away in Christ. And he shows clearly that circumcision and any of
those ancient laws were given in the earlier ages, not to take away past sins,
nor to justify those to who they were given, but for various other purposes: and
that by complying with those works, they did nothing more than what they were
indebted to do, and that the reward attached to these acts was “not reckoned of
grace, but of debt;” or, in other words, the reward of grace is a forgiveness
of past sins; but the reward of debt in a freedom from the condemnation, not of
past sins but of the sins which would exist in the case we refused to pay the
debt: for instance, God commanded Abraham to circumcised himself and all the
males of his house, not to justify himself or his house of past sins, but for
another purpose. When this commandment was given, it brought Abraham under obligation
to obey it; it was a debt he owed to the Lord; if he paid it, there would be no
condemnation arising from disobedience in relation to that particular
commandment, and he would have the reward of a clear conscience, so far as the payment
of that particular debt was concerned; but in all this there is no reward of
grace manifested in the forgiveness of any sins which may have previously been committed.
Therefore as obedience to these particular laws did not bring remission of
sins, Pual could with propriety say that Abraham and others were not justified
by works, that is, by such works of the law as circumcision, &c., which
were given for a very different purpose than that of justification. It was very
necessary that Abraham should to those works, though they were not works intended
to bring remission of sins or justification, yet the performance of them would prevent
the sin of negligence, and would also bring such blessings as were attached to
them by way of promise. But after these laws and circumcision were done away in
Christ, then Paul could says, “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on
him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” If those
laws and ordinances which were given to Abraham to perform, were not intended
to justify him of his past sins, much less would they justify those who lived
after Christ when they were done away. After Christ, these works given to
Abraam to perform, were not considered even as a debt binding upon any: they
were works, therefore, they would be sinful to perform. The faith of that man
that “worketh not,” that is, that does not perform works that are done away, “is
counted for righteousness.”
23.—But as
Abraham was justified by faith, it may not be impossible to inquire whether
there were any other class of works, connected with his faith, that were of a
justifying nature. Paul says, “The Scripture foreseeing that God would justify
the heathen through faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abraham saying: In
thee shall all nations be blest.”—(Gal. iii.8.) From this we learn that the
same Gospel that was to justify the heathen through faith, and bless all
nations, was actually preached to Abraham. Now in the Gospel there are certain
works to be connected with faith for justification: by these works of the
Gospel, he manifested his faith and obtained justification: and not by the works
of the law, such as circumcision, &c. Paul says, “Cometh this blessedness
then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say
that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. How was it then reckoned?
when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in
uncircumcision. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the
righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might
be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that
righteousness might be imputed unto them also: And the father of circumcision
to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of
that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.” (Rom. iv:9-12.)
From these passages we learn, that Abraham was justified before circumcision,
consequently the Gospel of justification must have been preached to him before that
law was given. That there were works connected with the Gospel preached to
Abraham, is evident from the fact that all the heathen nations who lived in the
Apostles’ day, could be justified and become his children by walking, as Paul
says, “in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham.” There were certain
steps pertaining to the Gospel and faith of Abraham, in which he walked;
otherwise he could not have been justified. Whatever works these steps of justification
included, the very same were required of the heathen after Christ. These steps
of the Gospel, since Christ, we have already observed, are Repentance and
Baptism, which bring remission of sins and justification, being the results of
faith, or, in other words the steps of faith that Abraham walked in. Therefore,
“to him that worketh not” the works of circumcision and other laws that are
done away, but performeth the works of the Gospel, “his faith is counted for
righteousness, the same as Abraham’s was, who walked in the steps of the same Gospel,
and was justified in the same way. This view of the subject perfectly
reconciles the teachings of both Paul and James, and shows most clearly that
both were correct when their statements are applied to the two different subjects
upon which they were writing.
. . .
36.—Faith
leads you to repentance and to the waters of baptism for the remission of sins.
Faith, connected with repentance alone, is not a justifying faith. In order to
be justified by faith, Baptism as well as repentance must be coupled with faith;
these three joined in one, constitute the Faith of Justification; where either
is wanting, there justification does not exist, and the penitent believer is
yet in his sins.
(Orson
Pratt, "The True Faith" [LDS Book and Star Depot, 1856] 3, 6-8, 13; note that
Pratt follows the KJV, not the JST, of Rom 4)
