Romans 10:9

[RevDWW]

Originally Posted by Adino

Prax said:
We are justified by faith alone before God who alone knows the heart. We are justified by works before our peers. Abraham was justified by a faith alone before God. Any action which subsequently brought justification was for the benefit of men who looked back on his life. If Abraham was justified by works (which he was) he had whereof to glory, but not before God (Romans 4:2).

It is this peer justification James speaks about. The visible outcroppings of our faith which manifest our heart condition to our peers. Paul deals with a justification before the Almighty. He deals with our declaration of right standing before God which takes place in the invisible confines of the soul.

Mizpeh and Prax, by placing faith in the word of God we set to seal that God is true.

John 3:33

He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.

Those who accept the record God gave of his Son verify the sovereignty of God by acknowledging the sovereignty of his word. Those who do not "make God a liar."

1John 5:10

He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.

An acceptance of God's word as sovereign is a reestablishment of Lordship. When man ate of the tree in the garden he chose to place his own word above that of God thus transferring Lordship to himself. The first commandment is not to have any gods before the Almighty. By denying God's word, man made himself god. We only transfer Lordship back to the Almighty when we again allow his word to be placed above ours. Our submission to his word is an acknowledgment of YHWH's LORDSHIP.

Righteousness is imputed to those who accept God's word/testimony. God loved us enough to send his Son to die for our sins. To reject the word of this wonderful testimony is to spit in the face of the Almighty. This is the only testimony (the record God gave of his Son) which will bring the imputation of righteousness.

What about obedience? Doesn't it play a part in the plan of salvation?

Jas 1:21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
Jas 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
Jas 1:23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
Jas 1:24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
Jas 1:25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
Jas 1:26 If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.
Jas 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.