June 14 – LD 24, Day 4: The Inability to Merit With God
by Prof Herman Hanko
Read: Matthew 20:1-10
But, our instructor
tells us, there are other arguments that enemies of the truth will bring.
They will try to trap
you into agreeing that our works merit with God.
And then they will quote some texts for you. “For we must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his
body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” (II Cor.
5:10). “See?” they will say, “We will receive something for doing good. The text says so.”
Here is another verse:
“And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man
according as his work shall be.” (Rev. 22:12). Jesus even calls what he will
give us ‘a reward’.
Our teacher tells us
that while it is indeed true that Scripture speaks of merit, the reward that we
merit is not that we have earned something with God, but is rather of grace.
One of our other
confessions puts it very beautifully. Article 24 of the Confession of Faith
explains all this.
“Therefore we do good
works, but not to merit by them (for what can we merit?), nay we are beholden
(“in debt to”, Herman Hanko) to God for the good works we do, and not He to us,
since it is He that worketh in us both to will and to
do of His good pleasure. Let us therefore attend to what is written: When
ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, we are
unprofitable servants; we have done that which was our duty to do. In the
meantime, we do not deny that God rewards our good works, but it is through His
grace that He crowns His gifts.
Moreover, though we do
good works, we do not found our salvation upon them; for we can do no work but
what is polluted by our flesh, and also punishable; and although we could
perform such works, still, the remembrance of one sin is sufficient to make God
reject them. Thus, then, we would always be in doubt, tossed to and from
without any certainty, and our poor consciences continually vexed, if they
relied not on the merits of the suffering and death of our Savior.”
There are three things
the article says.
First, we cannot merit
with God even though we do everything he requires of us. For, in that case, we
have only done our duty, and nothing beyond our duty.
The Roman Catholics talk about “works of supererogation,” by which they mean
works which we do which go beyond our duty, and merit sainthood. In fact, other
people less able to perform these works, can draw to their account these works,
for they are in a bank in heaven and can be drawn on by others. What nonsense!
Second, consider that
beautiful expression that the reward of grace is “through His grace that He
crowns His gifts.” That is, the works are His gift of grace, and so is their
reward.
Third, if we had to rely
on our good works, our consciences would always plague us. We rely on the
merits of Christ and His merits alone.