Dr. Rodney Plunket

We will come back to this morning’s Scripture reading from Philippians (Php) 3:10-11, but we will get there in a somewhat unusual way.  We will begin by looking at five passages that may seem completely unrelated to these two verses in Paul’s Letter to the Philippians.  We are going to spend some time looking at five passages that are related to one another by the occurrence of a very interesting expression.  Please look with me first at Genesis (Gn) 15:1-6:

After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”  But Abram said, “O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”  And Abram said, “You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir.”  But the word of the Lord came to him, “This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir.”  He brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.”  Then he said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”  And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.

Now I want us to look together at Psalm (Ps) 106:28-31, a passage that refers to a time in the life of the people of Israel when their rebellion against God resulted in a radical response from a man named Phinehas:

Then they attached themselves to the Baal of Peor,

          and ate sacrifices offered to the dead;

they provoked the Lord to anger with their deeds,

          and a plague broke out among them.

Then Phinehas stood up and interceded,

          and the plague was stopped.

And that has been reckoned to him as righteousness

          from generation to generation forever.

These are the only two passages in the Old Testament (OT) that refer to the reckoning of righteousness.

Now I want us to look at the only three New Testament (NT) passages that use this same expression.  All of these NT occurrences are referring back to the passage concerning Abraham in Gn 15:6.  Let’s look first at James 2:14-26:

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works?  Can faith save you?  If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?  So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.

But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.”  Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith.  You believe that God is one; you do well.  Even the demons believe—and shudder.  Do you want to be shown, you senseless person, that faith apart from works is barren?  Was not our ancestor Abraham justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?  You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was brought to completion by the works.  Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God.  You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.  Likewise, was not Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by another road?  For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead.

Now let’s look at the occurrences of this same expression in Romans (Rm) 4:1-12:

What then are we to say was gained by Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh?  For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.  For what does the scripture say?  “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.”  Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due.  But to one who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness.  So also David speaks of the blessedness of those to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works:

“Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven,

          and whose sins are covered;

blessed is the one against whom the Lord will not reckon sin.”

Is this blessedness, then, pronounced only on the circumcised, or also on the uncircumcised?  We say, “Faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness.”  How then was it reckoned to him?  Was it before or after he had been circumcised?  It was not after, but before he was circumcised.  He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.  The purpose was to make him the ancestor of all who believe without being circumcised and who thus have righteousness reckoned to them, and likewise the ancestor of the circumcised who are not only circumcised but who also follow the example of the faith that our ancestor Abraham had before he was circumcised.

There is one more occurrence.  It is in Galatians (Gal) 3:1-9:

You foolish Galatians!  Who has bewitched you?  It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly exhibited as crucified!  The only thing I want to learn from you is this:  Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard?  Are you so foolish?  Having started with the Spirit, are you now ending with the flesh?  Did you experience so much for nothing?—if it really was for nothing.  Well then, does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?

Just as Abraham “believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” so, you see, those who believe are the descendants of Abraham.  And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, declared the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “All the Gentiles shall be blessed in you.”  For this reason, those who believe are blessed with Abraham who believed.

I had only two of the passages above in your Ancient Words/Open Hearts Bible Study Schedule for this week, and I regret that.  I should have included all of these passages.

We need to begin by looking at the two OT passages that refer to reckoning righteousness.  My interest in the passages from Gn 15 and Ps 106 goes back to a journal article by my mentor, R. W. L. Moberly.  Walter Moberly was my Ph.D. supervisor at the University of Durham in England, and he has rich biblical insights.  One of his writings is entitled “Abraham’s Righteousness (Genesis XV 6).[1]  In that monograph Dr. Moberly interprets the well-known expression, “And [Abraham] believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness,” in Gn 15:6, by its less well-known parallel in Ps 106:31.  Psalm 106:31 refers to a radical act of righteous zeal for God by Phinehas.  Phinehas was the grandson of Aaron, and Aaron was Israel’s first high priest.  Psalm 106:31 reports that what Phinehas did “has been reckoned to him as righteousness from generation to generation forever.”

Let’s spend some time focusing upon these two passages.  In Genesis 15 Abraham is given by God an extraordinary promise, the promise that Abraham’s descendants would be as numerous as all the stars Abraham could see in the night sky.  All that God does to prove that promise is to declare it and to ask Abraham to look up at the countless stars in the sky.  But that is all it takes.  Abraham believes God’s promise, and God honors Abraham’s faith in that promise:  “the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.”

The Ps 106 occurrence refers to a story told in Numbers 25.  That story reports a radical and even violent action taken by Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron the high priest.  Phinehas stops a sinful action by driving a spear through the offending couple.  His radical zeal for God’s will “was reckoned to him for righteousness, . . . forever.”

There is much worthy of note regarding this passage and the passage in Gn 15, but my focus this morning will be relatively narrow.  I would like to begin by noting that in the Genesis passage the belief that God would fulfill an extraordinary promise is reckoned as righteousness, while in the passage from Ps 106 an action is reckoned as righteousness.

Such an awareness causes me to note that Abraham also performed notable acts of radical faith.  He left his home in Ur of the Chaldees for a land that was unknown to him simply because God called him to do that.  He also demonstrated his willingness to offer his son as a burnt offering in obedience to the command of God.  My point is that the Bible makes clear that Abraham’s faith was a faith that generated obedient actions.

Now to Phinehas.  Surely no one views Phinehas’s deed as nothing but a physical act disconnected from his heart and performed out of the desire to gain “brownie points” with God.  Just as the faith of Abraham issued in obedient acts of faith, so Phinehas’s deed flowed out of a heart characterized by faithful loyalty to the living God.

That brings us to the way that James uses the reference in Gn 15:6 and the way that the apostle Paul uses it in Gal 3 and in Rm 4.  James uses God’s reckoning of righteousness to Abraham for the purpose of showing that a faith which does not result in actions, specifically in actions on behalf of the poor and the hungry, is a dead faith that will not save.  Paul, in Romans 4, uses it to show that the faith and righteousness of Abraham took place before items like circumcision; as a result, Abraham is the father of all the faithful, those Jews who have faith and keep the Law of Moses and those Gentiles who have faith and do not keep the Law of Moses.  Paul in Galatians 3 uses it to show (as Moberly notes) “that God’s promises made to Abraham apply to Gentiles as much as to Jews.”[2]

There is much that could be said about the different uses made by James and Paul of God reckoning righteousness, much more than I will say this morning.  I just want to declare a couple of beliefs that I have, beliefs which relate to the occurrences in both the OT and the NT.  First, since the usage of the reckoning of righteousness concept relates to faith and works and since the usage by Paul and the usage by James have been squared off against one another in the debate regarding faith and works, I would like to say that I believe that most arguments regarding whether a person is saved by faith or works are beside the point or points being made in Scripture.  We should take note of the fact that the apostle Paul, the same apostle who argues so strongly that we are saved by faith and not by works, also declares in Rm 2:6 that God “will render to every man according to his works.”  Paul does not disdain works anymore than James disdains faith.

Paul in Romans and Galatians is standing against the desire of Jewish Christians for Gentile Christians to obey certain aspects of the Law of Moses.  He is not placing in opposition the works that flow out of true faith with faith itself.  James is opposing those who say they have faith but have no trouble ignoring the needs of the poor and the hungry.  A faith that could do that, James makes clear, is not real faith; that kind of faith is so unreal that it is dead.

Here is the problem as I see it.  I think that the whole debate about faith and works is the result of a checklist mentality.  When we say that we are saved by faith alone and use that phrase to mean that we are saved by a faith in Jesus that does not issue in deeds of faith, we have turned faith into something that we can check off.  I have faith.  I have fulfilled God’s checklist.  I can rest easy now and be confident in my salvation.

When we argue that we must do works of righteousness and we use that phrase to mean that there is something that must be added to the work of Christ or salvation cannot occur, then a daunting checklist is invariably created, a checklist that drives honest and humble persons into deep despair.  Sisters and brothers, the work of Christ is perfect and holy.  There is nothing that can be added to it.

It seems to me that Scripture teaches that God’s reckoning of righteousness to those with faith always occurs in a relationship with God that is ongoing and growing.  It is not some static verdict.  It is not like a grade in a class placed permanently on a transcript.  It is not like a trophy that sits forever in a place of honor even if one has long given up the activity for which the trophy was awarded.  It is not some passport into heaven that one can hold onto even if faith has died along with all the works that faith naturally generates.

However, neither is God’s reckoning of righteousness something that is always in jeopardy.  Our ongoing relationship with God, which depends on that reckoning, was created by the perfect work of Christ; and it is sustained by the perfect work of Christ.  The NT passage which makes that the clearest for me is 1 John 1:7 where we read, “ . . . if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”  The phrase, “walk in the light,” is a powerful way of referring to our relationship with God.  The word “cleanses” in the Greek is in a form that indicates ongoing cleansing.  If we are in relationship with God, then we are continually forgiven by the same blood that opened the door for that relationship in the first place.  But the book of 1 John also makes clear that if our relationship with God has died––as evidenced by the death of works of faith, works like loving one another––then our relationship with God is dead as well.  Hear John’s words in 1 John 4:20:  “Those who say, ‘I love God,’ and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.”

Let me make my point this morning crystal clear.  If you want to experience the joy of the Lord, if you want to wake up every morning secure in your relationship with the Lord, then do not create a list of more things to do.  Do not have a “check it off” attitude.  Live in a life-transforming relationship with the living God.  Abraham did not have a checklist that said if God ever makes you a promise and asks you to look up to the heavens, be sure and put your faith in that promise.  Abraham believed because of the relationship that he already had with God, and Abraham’s belief enriched that relationship.  Phinehas’s act of radical zeal was spontaneous.  It seems clear that his heart was so in line with the heart of God that he felt God’s anger at the sin that was damning God’s people, and he felt compelled to put an end to that sin.

In Charles Swindoll’s book, Improving Your Serve, he gives this illustration:

Let’s pretend that you work for me.  In fact, you are my executive assistant in a company that is growing rapidly.  I’m the owner and I’m interested in expanding overseas.  To pull this off, I make plans to travel abroad and stay there until the new branch office gets established.  I make all the arrangements to take my family in the move to Europe for six to eight months, and I leave you in charge of the busy stateside organization.  I tell you that I will write you regularly and give you direction and instructions.

I leave and you stay.  Months pass.  A flow of letters are mailed from Europe and received by you at the national headquarters.  I spell out all my expectations.  Finally, I return.  Soon after my arrival I drive down to the office.  I am stunned!  Grass and weeds have grown up high.  A few windows along the street are broken.  I walk into the receptionist’s room and she is doing her nails, chewing gum, and listening to her favorite disco station.  I look around and notice the waste baskets are overflowing, the carpet hasn’t been vacuumed for weeks, and nobody seems concerned that the owner has returned.  I ask about your whereabouts and someone in the crowded lounge area points down the hall and yells, “I think he’s down there.”  Disturbed, I move in that direction and bump into you as you are finishing a chess game with our sales manager.  I ask you to step into my office (which has been temporarily turned into a television room for watching afternoon soap operas).

“What in the world is going on, man?”

“What do ya’ mean, Chuck?”

“Well, look at this place!  Didn’t you get any of my letters?”

“Letters?  Oh, yeah––sure, got every one of them.  As a matter of fact, Chuck, we have had letter study every Friday night since you left.  We have even divided all the personnel into small groups and discussed many of the things you wrote.  Some of those were really interesting.  You’ll be pleased to know that a few of us have actually committed to memory some of your sentences and paragraphs.  One or two memorized an entire letter or two.  Great stuff in those letters!”

“Okay, okay––you got my letters, you studied them and meditated on them, discussed and even memorized them.  BUT WHAT DID YOU DO ABOUT THEM?”

“Do?  Uh––we didn’t do anything about them.”

Sound a little familiar?

It does sound familiar to me.  Reading, memorizing, and interpreting while doing far too little to live out the message of Jesus––too many times in my life have looked just like that.  That may be similar to the way your life looks now.  You come to church.  You sing the songs, bow during the prayers, eat the Lord’s supper, and try to listen to the sermon.  But your life is characterized by powerlessness and spiritual emptiness.

Please do not be satisfied with a religious life that looks like that.  Please take on a purpose like the one that Paul expresses in the two verses read before this sermon began:

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

With these words, Paul makes clear that knowing Christ is not some static attribute received in full with nowhere left to go.  When Paul lists “the sharing of his sufferings” as an aspect of knowing Christ, he is making clear that the kind of knowing that he is talking about is an experiential knowledge in this life.  Paul wants “to know Christ” in the sense of having the same kind of faithfulness that lived so brightly in Jesus.  And Paul knows that to have that kind of faithfulness he must “know . . . the power of [Christ’s] resurrection.”  It is Christ’s resurrection power that empowers the believer and transforms that believer into the image of Christ.  And, Paul makes clear, it is this kind of knowing that carries the believer all the way to “the resurrection from the dead” and the glorious return of Christ Jesus the Lord.

Scholars are agreed that the little phrase, “if somehow,” does not “introduce an element of doubt” as if Paul were unsure that knowing Christ would, in fact, ready a believer for the resurrection.  As one scholar explains it:

The phrase is intended, rather, to remind the Philippians that Christians have not yet arrived at their final destination.  Christ’s resurrection has already occurred, but their own lies in the future, and it is necessary to go on “being conformed” to Christ’s obedience and death if they are to attain the resurrection.[3]

Paul was confident that knowing Christ ended in that “knower” being raised from the dead.  Paul’s words here are to keep his readers focused upon that knowing.

So, let’s some consider some questions:  How do we want our lives with God to be characterized?  Do we want to jump through hoops for God?  Do we think God needs to be entertained or impressed?  Do we want to try to climb up some moral ladder to God?  Do we really think we can ever live a life that attains to the perfection of holy God?

I hope that we all long to be in a relationship of knowing God and knowing Christ––a relationship that flows forth in trust, faith, and a transformation gener­ated by God’s power and God’s love and not by our efforts at moral or spiritual progress.  Get out of the “Check It Off” mentality.  Live in love with your holy God!

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