Brothers and Sisters,
In the Epistle reading for this coming Sunday, Romans 4:1-17, we read the following in verses 4 and 5: “Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.” There’s profound truth in these short verses: We are saved by God’s grace, through faith. Salvation isn’t something that we earn by our works. This truth is at the very heart of the gospel message and is central to Anglican theology.
Our Thirty-nine Articles of Religion put it like this:
We are accounted righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by faith, not for our own works or deservings. Wherefore, that we are justified by Faith only, is a most wholesome Doctrine, and very full of comfort.
This doctrine, as Anglicans have understood for centuries, is very full of comfort. If being accepted by God really depends, in some measure, on our works, then we can never know when we’ve done enough. We can never be sure if we are forgiven. We can never know if we actually have eternal life.
In fact, we would have to admit that we have fallen short of God’s perfection, and therefore have no hope of eternal life, if salvation is by works.
On the other hand, if God justifies the ungodly, then believers can know that we are forgiven. We can know that we have eternal life. We know that we have fallen short of God’s perfection, but we also know that Jesus paid the debt for our sins with his blood shed for us.
Those who trust in Christ are counted righteous. We don’t have to wonder where we stand with God. We’re forgiven and accepted by a perfect Father because of what Christ has done.
In Christ,
Fr. Caleb