Doctrine of the Angelic Conflict, part 39 – The essence of God – Justice. Jam 2:14-21; Gen 22.

Title: Doctrine of the Angelic Conflict, part 39 - The essence of God - Justice. JAM 2:14-21; Gen 22.

 

The cross, or the gospel is our introduction to justice and now the believer has the opportunity to live in justice.

 

The believer operates in God’s justice when he does in thought, word, deed what divine Righteousness determines.

 

What righteousness demands justice executes and the same is true for the believer. Whatever he knows of God’s righteousness will spur him to action in thought, word, and deed and as such he would be experientially justified before all witnesses in the AC.

 

Positional justification - at the moment of salvation, being justified before God forever based on the work of Christ.

 

Experiential justification - when imputed divine righteousness reveals itself in deeds or fruit (thought, word, action). In this sense the word comes to mean vindication.

 

Post salvation vindication or justification by works has nothing to do with salvation, rather it is the evidence or vindication of the +R of God in the believer functioning by means of grace.

 

Our Biblical example of this is in Jam 2.

 

JAM 2:14 What use is it, my brethren, if a man says he has [has and holds or clings to] faith [anarthrous - faith resting with doctrine ready on the launching pad], but he has no works [thought, word, or deed]? Can that faith save him [deliver him in time]?

 

James is addressing the believers in Jerusalem who have been poor witnesses to those unbelievers who are always around them because their faith has changed objects, from the word of God to the Mosaic Law.

 

JAM 2:15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food,

 

JAM 2:16 and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled," and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?

 

Believers are to inhale faith (PM) and exhale faith (A).

 

JAM 2:17 Even so faith [arthrous = doctrine], if it has no works, is dead [nekros = corpse], being by itself [no working object].

 

The working object of faith does the work. For salvation it is Christ, for production of fruit after salvation it is the word of God under the FHS.

 

JAM 2:18 But someone may well say, "You have faith, and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works."

 

We are back to an anarthrous construction again, as in verse 14.

 

 “You have faith” [anarthrous] = you have a faith but without the proper object; doctrine.

 

Now here is the call to vindication or justification by works. Show me your faith without the works is impossible since faith is invisible. However, fruit is often visible and can reveal faith in doctrine. That’s why the anarthrous construction is used here, it is not “the faith” or doctrine that the person is clinging to but “a faith” which is faith in something else. For his audience “a faith” refers to the Jewish believers in Jerusalem who have gone back to the Mosaic Law and the temple sacrifices; back to works and deism, faith in one God and loss of the love for Jesus Christ.

 

This quickly becomes about the Angelic conflict. The expert witness must have fruit to present on the witness stand.

 

God has promised to fill you with His very happiness if you advance spiritually and prosper in your soul with His personality, but He never said that there would be no problems.

 

 

 

1 Peter 4:12

 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you;

 

Now James turns to the Jews in Jerusalem who have left their first love and have gone back to the Mosaic Law, works, Judaism, etc. and so it is as if he’s talking to unbelievers.

 

REV 2:4

'But I have this against you, that you have left your first love [working object of faith - the mind of Christ.

 

JAM 2:19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.

 

This verse seems so out of place until you recognize what James is getting at. First, let’s look at the Greek.

 

Su.[You]pisteu,eij[believe]o[ti[that]ei-j[one]evstin[is]o`[the]qeo,j[God]kalwj[well]poieij[you do]kai.[also]ta.[the]daimo,nia[demons]pisteu,ousin[believe]kai.[and]fri,ssousin[shudder with fear].

 

You believe that [hoti] àthe working object of your faith [in this case deism. If it is anything other than BD then the faith is dead]

James demonstrates that Judaism does not have a working object for their faith because they do not believe in Jesus Christ, they have excluded Him by the word e(ij, which means “one.” And with the arthrous construction, “the God,” he is not talking about the quality of God being one, which would be correct, but that the identity of God is only One, which is incorrect.

 

“But,” you say, “God is one, and that is doctrinal.” You are correct if you understand the doctrine of the Trinity and give Jesus His due as co-equal and co-eternal with God the Father and God the HS and as such He is not only the Savior, Messiah, and Lord, but also the Creator of all things. The is why the muslims call us polytheists. If the muslims made up with the Jews and said, “Ok, we’ll believe in Jehovah Elohim,” they would be a step closer to salvation, but not saved. Jesus Christ hung on the cross to justify mankind and it is only in Him that salvation comes to man.

 

Acts 4:12

"And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved."

 

[James’ question] So what is the point of going back to Judaism if it excludes Jesus Christ as the Messiah? Believer, what is the point of going back to works when you have been saved by grace, the working object being Jesus Christ, and now the working object is your own works? You are going to go back to what would have been sure and definite condemnation to you if it weren’t for Christ’s work? They, the cosmos, the OSN, and KOD, have not come from God, but the mind of Christ has, therefore reject the notion of going back to what has been fulfilled by Christ and defeated by Christ and cling to doctrine, the mind of Christ, and you will produce fruit.

 

Therefore, in effect, you live just like the ones who do not believe in the one who died on the cross - Jesus Christ. There is only one person who has done anything by which a man can be saved, and by that I mean both deliverance from the second death and deliverance from the enemies of God in time. Effective faith must have a working object, and the working object must be Jesus Christ distinguished from the Father in that he is Man, distinguished from the Holy Spirit in that he is man, but coequal with the Father and with the Spirit because He is God — the God-Man.

 

Judaism excludes this entirely. They simply believe in one God.

 

The creed of Judaism is deism - the belief in one God and the rejection of Jesus Christ as the Son of God, coequal with the Father and Spirit.

 

While belief in the existence of God would be a step in the right direction it does not save. No one has ever been saved by believing in the existence of God.

 

One must have a working object for faith in salvation. That working object is one:

Acts 4:12

"And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved."

 

Only Jesus Christ possesses the name or the title of justifier of all. And since we see here that the demons believe the same type of deism as the Jews, that they have rejected Jesus Christ as God and Savior as well.

 

Not much is said in the Scripture on the subject, but here in James 2:19 we see that demons, or fallen angels, can have faith and their faith is similar to that of the Jews who have rejected Christ. They acknowledge God as supreme, how could they not, He is their creator and magnificent in power, a creator and they cannot create a speck of dust, but they reject Jesus Christ’s position as God and Savior. They have fully rejected His offer of reconciliation.

 

If we combine JAM 2:19 with COL 1:16-20:

 

COL 1:16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities —  all things have been created by Him and for Him.

 

 “rulers” - avrcai.[archai]; authorities - exousi,ai[exousiai] are found in:

EPH 6:12

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers [archai], against the powers [exousiai], against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

 

COL 1:17 And He is before all things [preeminent], and in Him all things hold together.

 

COL 1:18 He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; so that He Himself might come to have first place in everything.

 

COL 1:19 For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him,

 

COL 1:20 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

 

“through Him” and so rejection of Him is rejection of the working object of faith for salvation, where He did the work. I can’t say conclusively that He died for the sins of angels on the cross as well as the sins of mankind, but this combined with JAM 2:19 makes it clear that He is the source of salvation for them as well and the demons rejected Him.

 

JAM 2:19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.

 

The demon’s faith in God causes a shaking fear because they know they must fall under His justice eventually.

 

Justice gives great comfort to one creature and great fear to another. The Justice doesn’t change, the creature is different.

 

Therefore Judaism has faith without production. They have faith in God without salvation. Therefore verse 19 is a perfect illustration of the principle and not out of place at all.

 

Su.[You]pisteu,eij[believe]o[ti[that]ei-j[one]evstin[is]o`[the]qeo,j[God]kalwj[well]poieij[you do]kai.[also]ta.[the]daimo,nia[demons]pisteu,ousin[believe]kai.[and]fri,ssousin[shudder with fear].

 

[back to Greek] Now, where it says, “well you do,” in fact they are not doing well at all, so this becomes sort of a question. “Do you really think you are doing well by believing in God as one and rejecting Jesus Christ?”  

 

Therefore an expanded translation to verse 19 would be:

 “You believe that The God is one God; do you do beneficially by so believing: the demons also believe and shudder with fear.”

 

Now if we again draw parallel to the life of the unbeliever and the believer in reversionism, having lost his center of gravity, and having changed his object of faith, there is a similar fear, but not the fear of condemnation, rather a fear of not enjoying God’s rest in this life.

 

HEB 4:1

Therefore, let us fear lest, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it.

 

The writer of Hebrews goes on to say:

HEB 4:10

For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.

 

So if rest means that I have rested from my works then why am I commanded to justify the power of the doctrine in my soul by works?

 

The One who has entered God’s rest is Jesus Christ at the ascension and session. We are seated with Him in heavenly places, EPH 2:6. Christ still produces at the right hand of God as an interceder and advocate, but the toil of the conflict is over. He has accomplished the strategic victory. So HEB 4:10 tells us that the fruit of doctrine is not toil, but a work in rest. It’s like doing something you truly enjoy. You don’t consider it toil.

 

Jesus Christ did the work for salvation and His word does the work for deliverance in time from the enemies of God.

 

Our end is always faith. In faith we rest, as a daily Sabbath. So we see that justification by works is not hustling around the church or setting out a list of good deeds to do, or a certain number of people to witness to, but a continued faith in the power of the word of God.

 

JAM 2:20 But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith [arthrous - the faith or doctrine] without works is useless?

 

 “faith without works” simply means that the person has put his faith in the wrong object; a non-working object.

 

In verse 17 we had dead which is the Greek word nekros which refers to the dead body, while here we have argos, translated useless by the NASB, which refers to barrenness or inactivity and so it refers to what the dead can do, which is obviously nothing.

 

 “useless” - avrgo,j[argos] = what the dead can do, or what a dead womb, plant, soil, etc. can produce, barrenness, inactivity.

 

The inactivity results from placing your faith in something else besides the mind of Christ. Here faith is arthrous again, meaning “the faith” or the object of faith, which is Bible doctrine.

 

For example, let’s say a promise is given to me that a pearl of great value is under a particular rock. That inspires me to do some work, how much depends on the size of the rock, but what is really doing the work here? Is it not the promise that is motivating me and giving me energy and drive?

 

If there is no production after a time of accumulation of doctrine then your faith was misplaced. Maybe you were just playing church, you attend to find a mate, you listen but always subjectively - meaning that everything is about you, you want to fix your problems for you, there are a great number of selfish reasons that a person might listen to doctrine without actually putting his faith in it. You want a social life, you want approbation, you want to be smarter, but not for the purpose of glorifying God. Often, people’s lives get better when they listen and then when things are good they stop and then when things get bad again they listen, rinse and repeat. They don’t listen to the word of God for the glory of God, they have selfish motives.

 

James 3:16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.

 

James 4:3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.

 

This passage is usually taken in reference to prayer, but seeking from doctrine is also a lot like asking God for wisdom. If you seek wisdom from selfish motives you will not receive it.

 

Now James, through the inspiration of God the HS uses the example of Abraham.

 

JAM 2:21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?