Imperishable Inheritance

It's interesting that God's Son, God incarnate amongst men, criticized all those around Him who had little or no faith. He called the religious authorities hypocrites, because they didn't follow the very Law that they sought justification through. They also received criticism for their blindness to the very thing that would justify them'faith alone.

It's interesting that the first time in the New Testament that Jesus praises one's faith He does so to a Gentile. A Roman Centurion came to Him begging that his servant be healed (Mat 8:5-6). When Jesus responds that He will go and heal the servant, the centurion recognizes the authority, power, and holiness of Jesus the Messiah (8:8-9). When Jesus sees the faith of this centurion He responds:

Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those who were following, "Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. I say to you that many will come from east and west, and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Mat 8:10-12)

It's not only fascinating that He praises his faith by illustrating that no one in Israel (Jews) has such a faith. He then teaches that many will come, meaning Gentiles, to recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; and those to whom He was promised who didn't believe in Christ would be thrown into an eternal hell. I believe strongly that this centurion not only had his servant healed, but he also went home that day justified and a proven member of God's elect.

In the very next chapter a paralytic is brought to Jesus. He sees their faith and says: 'Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven' (Mat 9:2). By this paralytic's faith, his sins have been forgiven before baptism or any other aspect of sanctification. In Luke 7 we see the narrative of Jesus being invited to the house of a Pharisee. In this narrative a woman described as a 'sinner' comes in with a vial of perfume and anoints His feet with it. The Pharisee's are shocked that Jesus would allow this woman to do this, but Jesus responds in a way that demonstrates the necessity of faith to cleanse anyone: 'For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.' Then He said to her, 'Your sins have been forgiven' (Luke 7:47-48). By this woman's faith alone she is reconciled to God.

Justification in Acts

Various accounts of justification occur that prove that faith alone justifies both Jew and Gentile, male and female, slave or free (Gal 3:29). The conversion of Saul of Tarsus sets the stage for his numerous teachings on justification by faith alone. After Jesus approaches him on the road to Damascus He rebukes him, and the text says that he was filled with the Spirit, 'And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight, and he got up and was baptized' (Act 9:18). Paul was given faith, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and shortly there after his justification he was baptized as a symbol of the righteousness he received (Rom 6:3-7).

At the Council of Jerusalem there was a debate whether Gentiles need to be circumcised in order to be saved, and Peter corrects this error by stating: 'He made no distinction between us [Jews] and them [Gentiles], cleansing their hearts by faith. Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are.' (Acts 15:7-11). For Peter, faith alone was enough to be justified and receive the Spirit; he even claims that ascribing anything onto faith was a 'yoke' that would give hindrance to the Gospel mission.

The last example I want to use from Acts is the Ethiopian Eunuch of Acts 8. Phillip received an angelic revelation to go to the road that connects Jerusalem and Gaza (8:27). Phillip found the eunuch reading struggling to understand Isaiah. Phillip preached the Gospel to this eunuch, and the eunuch immediately desires to be baptized (the desire of a repentant sinner). Phillip says that in order to be baptized, you must 'believe with all your heart, you may,' and the eunuch declares his faith in Jesus: 'I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God' (8:37). Only after the eunuch received the God-given gift of faith did Phillip agree to baptize him. His justification led the eunuch to be baptized not the other way around.