Because all deeds, and whatever
good acts there are, you all mock with your comment on James, saying that
Abraham was justified by deeds, that is, declared righteous, I think I will do
something worthwhile if I try to remove this error. I do indeed confess that
faith is declared by works, but by many reasons I show that works effect
something else.
First: evil deeds effect
something other than declaring. Are theft, adultery, murder, and other things
of this kind not sins? If some punishment corresponds to these acts, whether
taken externally or internally, why will some glory not correspond to their
opposites? At least after grace has been received, lest you quibble that all
things before were evil. The power of grace is equal to the power of sin and
even abounds more, Romans 5. Therefore good deeds in grace have as much force
for increasing glory as evil deeds in sin have for increasing punishment.
Second: the force of James’
exclusive expression must be recognized by you: Abraham was not justified by
faith only, but by deeds also. Therefore deeds added something to the same
righteousness which faith had effected.
Third: that declaration is an
empty thing; it is hypocrisy, if mere declaration is sought. Abraham was not
alone with God, who did not need declaration, but still demanded the true and
spontaneous addition of works.
Fourth: the reward of works, with
Christ as teacher, is really something that will be repaid. Understand reward
as corresponding to individual deeds by a definite measure, so that by the
measure with which we measure others, it may be measured back to us.
Fifth: sometimes we are said to
be justified, that is, declared righteous, as in a judicial forum. Otherwise,
one is said to be justified who from unrighteous becomes righteous, and who
from righteous becomes more righteous, or to whose righteousness something is
added, as James takes it. Just as one who is filthy becomes filthier still, and
becomes more filthy, so one who is righteous is justified still, abound becomes
more righteous, with John as witness. Paul also teaches that the yield of
righteousness is increased by works, 2 Corinthians 9.
Sixth: external deeds act upon
the mind, as acts upon habit. By good or evil works the mind is affected well
or badly, just as sense is affected by an object. Therefore they effect
something; they increase or diminish.
Seventh: these are God’s words in
Genesis 22: Because you have done this thing, I swear to you. That deed
produced some favor for Abraham himself, so that God then swore, which he had
not done before, and made a richer promise than before when Abraham had
believed.
Eighth: Abraham is said in
Genesis 15 to have been justified by this alone: that he believed God promising
numerous offspring. It was pure grace. But he had already been justified before,
believing God when he ordered him to go out from his own land, Genesis 12 and
Hebrews 11. In what way, then, is he justified again in chapter 15? By the addition
of greater righteousness. That famous passage about his righteousness is marked
above others in chapter 15, because there Christ is promised, believed, and
seen by the prophet, and because there was more intense assent. Gradually faith
is put on; faith grows, and righteousness grows. In that manner, also in us,
faith ought to be intensified
toward a definite mark, so that it may be called living, and may be more
adorned by the life-giving Spirit.
Ninth: faith is believing; the act of believing
is a deed. Therefore, just as from the deed imputation toward righteousness
begins, so from other deeds, freely by God, it can grow, since all are gifts of
God.
Tenth: the deed of Phineas was imputed for
righteousness, Psalm 105 [RB: Psa 106 in the Heb]. IT does not say that
it was mere declaration, but it was imputed to him, just as it was imputed to
Abraham. The very restoration of a pledge is imputed for righteousness before God,
Deuteronomy 24. So, to conclude now, after faith is given, what is to gain
more? What is it to store up for oneself treasures through good works, to be
found in the future age? Treasures, Christ says, many times over, Matthew 6.
Paul rightly teaches that faith alone in Christ,
with works excluded, freely justifies those believing in him: the faith alone
of Christ, who from impious makes one pious, from unrighteous righteous,
without other works, just as he justified the thief. Yet nevertheless each one’s
own treasure of good works is preserved for him. In the future age nothing must
be observed more than the examination of individual works, so that the one who
does more will there be greater, the one who does less, lesser. And thus
righteousness and glory are increased from innumerable acts, both internal and
external, commanded by Christ himself, for which he himself affirms that there
will be an abundant reward of glory for us. (Michael Servetus, Eleventh
Letter to John Calvin, in The Calvin Servetus Sourcebook, ed.
Christopher Fisher [God is Open, 2026], 1:316-18)
