Our acceptance by God is based entirely upon FAITH (Eph 2:8-9); and even though this acceptance (our forgiveness & reconciliation) back into God’s family is “not of ourselves” (it’s a gift from God & not by works of anything we can do to earn it), nevertheless FAITH, by its very definition (Heb 11:1), requires action based upon our obedience to Gods Word.
Hebrews 10:38
“Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.”
Hebrew 11:6
“Without faith it is impossible to please God: for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.”
Faith is the medium of exchange between heaven and earth (the means by which we may appropriate heaven’s resources); and by its very nature, it requires our casting our very lives, our bodies and the entirety of our life circumstances upon the reliability and trustworthiness of both God and His Word.
Proverbs 3:6
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart; and lean NOT unto your own understanding.”
So based upon these scriptures, our acceptance by God and our appropriation of heaven’s resources have NOTHING to do with our righteous acts, nor our performance of anything we can do to earn it; but rather it’s ALL based entirely upon our resting in ALL that Christ accomplish for us on Calvary’s cross.
Hebrew for Christians
“And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness” (Gen. 15:6).
Here note the distinction between the promise of God and the commandments of God.
The promise of God is rooted in God’s heart – his desire and will, his character and passion – but the commandments of God are rooted in man’s heart, in his desire and will to obey (or not).
Receiving God’s love is not based on imperative and the language of conditional acceptance, but is based on the promise of love and grace.
The “work of faith” (מַעֲשֶׂה הָאֱמוּנָה) is to believe that God accepts you despite your unacceptability, and that you are esteemed righteous for believing the truth of God’s heart.
Faith justifies the ungodly because faith accepts the promise, just as Abraham was justified because he trusted in the promise of the seed to come.
Therefore, as Rabbi Paul taught, we maintain that a person is justified apart from the law (Rom. 3:28), which is to affirm that eternal life is found exclusively in the grace and promises of God.
This is the Torah of “faith, hope, and love,” and it is a lifelong discipline to know it in the truth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matt. 5:6).
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