Whenever someone writes you a message, you will understand something, but what have you understood? Although some people might assume that they have correctly understood the message in all it details, at the other extreme are some communication theorists who insist that the listener is limited to creating his own message and can never truly grasp the message which was intended. Often the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. Although it is possible, adequate communication can be difficult.
There are many reasons why people might misunderstand a message. Some of these reasons can include: human language can be ambiguous, different individuals have different experiences which can color one’s interpretation, there are different levels of ability to not only express oneself but also to interpret others, some ignore the context of the message, while still others simply map their own ideas over the message they hear.
• The Role of Context: Defines & Gives Meaning to Words
Words and phrases are often ambiguous and can often mean many different things. For example, when somebody says "she is at the head of her class" we understand "head" to mean "at the top." But when someone says, "he has a good head for math," we understand this "head" as "aptitude." If on the other hand someone might say, "he is on a trip to the head waters," then we understand "head" means "source." What principle do these examples illustrate? When a word is placed in a context, its author-centered meaning becomes limited to that context. All other meanings which a word might legitimately hold in other situations become illegitimate uses of that word in that context.
The concept of being "justified by faith" was very important for Paul. Romans 1:17; 3:28; 5:1 But let me suggest to you that without a context this phrase can be actually quite ambiguous in its details. For example, some people have understood this phrase to teach that if you merely "accept Jesus in your heart as your Lord and Savior through the means of saying a prayer or asking him to come into your heart you will be saved. ” On the other hand, others have understood this phrase to teach that “salvation comes as a result of trusting in Jesus” and the context of the Gospel must determine how a person is required to trust in Jesus. Hence, if God has decreed that some form of obedience or action is necessary to trust in Jesus, then being justified by faith would require that form of obedience from the heart.
• Can We Know Which is Right?
Both of these interpretations can not accurately convey what Paul intended to communicate. Who is right? Can we know? It would be easy to simply map our own interpretation over the biblical text and thus lazily ignore this difficulty. But then, we would not know whether we were listening and following Paul’s message or some other voice.
Can we know what Paul meant? Yes we can and the context is the key. There is both the literary context as well as the situational context to which Paul wrote. Paul’s religious context was vastly different from our own and what he intended to communicate about justification by faith arises out of his context. If we want to hear the apostle’s message (exegesis), we need to understand his message against his background.
• The Context of Paul
Within his literary context Paul places "justified by faith" against "salvation by works." It is obvious that these are two competing and contradictory ideas about which Paul's audience needed to be continually taught. Whatever "justified by faith" might mean, it needs to stand opposite "saved by works" and both of these ideas need to be anchored in his situational context.
As a young man, Paul’s world did not consist of the belief and doctrinal systems of Catholics, Protestants, New Age groups, modern atheists, etc. He lived in a world where temples had been built to Roman deities, where many Jews would have worshiped the God of Jewish monotheism and where Christianity had recently been born. Young Paul, at that time known as Saul, considered Christianity to be a plague which needed to be stamped out.
But then something happened to Saul. On the road to Damascus he was blinded by a bright light as he heard the Lord speak to him. The Lord told him to go into Damascus where he would be told “what he must do.” Ananias, a disciple of Jesus, came and prayed over Saul. Saul's sight was restored. Then Ananias commanded Saul to get up and be baptized and wash his sins away. Acts 22:16
With his conversion to Christianity from Judaism, Paul no longer looked on Christianity as the enemy, but rather as the way to God through Jesus the Messiah. But he did find something which did disturb him. Within the Christian community he encountered fellow Jewish Christians who believed that in order for one to be a Christian, one had to first become a Jew by submitting to the Law of Moses such as the requirement of circumcision. (Acts 15:1f.; Galatians)
• Two Important Contextual Principles
In seeking to understand what Paul meant by justified by faith, it is important to emphasize two points. First, all of Paul’s letters in the New Testament were written to Christians. Since Paul wrote to those who had already relied on Jesus for salvation, there was no need to explain to them the mechanics of salvation (whether that requires “just accepting Jesus in one’s heart” or some form of an obedient faith). Salvation in Jesus was something his readers had already experienced. When those early Christians read Paul letters, they already knew what it took for one to become a Christian because they were Christians.
Second, Paul was writing to a Christian community where at least some of its constituents had grown up in Judaism. Some of these Jewish Christians were insisting that the Law must still be obeyed (Acts 15:1; Galatians 5:2-4).
• What Paul Meant by "Justified by Faith"
What did Paul mean by “justified by faith?” Paul’s purpose in writing about faith was to defend the principle of faith in Christ/ trusting in Christ against a system of self-reliance (works) based upon obeying the Mosaical Law. He had no need to explain or to define to his readers the mechanics of salvation. But he did have the need to fortify different congregations against returning and submitting to the Law since Christians had been set free from depending upon it for their justification. (Galatians 5:1; Romans 7:6)
Paul’s message was clear. Salvation comes by trusting in Jesus, not through the self-reliance system of works which can come through obeying the Law Through his letters, Paul taught and warned those early disciples that salvation comes through trusting in Jesus. No one could depend upon obedience to the Law (salvation by works) for salvation. To depend upon the Law for salvation was a misguided faith, because the perfect Law condemns the imperfect individual (Romans 3:20; 7:10-13; Galatians 3:10). A Christian’s faith had to be anchored in Jesus without reference to his ability to have obeyed the Mosaical Law.
Even with this understanding, there still remains a certain ambiguity about what Paul meant by justified by faith. Until we have heard the original gospel message, how the gospel requires us to trust in Jesus remains ambiguous. How does God want me to trust in Jesus for salvation? There are many possibilities how God might require me to trust in Jesus for salvation. He might demand that I simply say a sinner's prayer believing that Jesus can forgive me. He might require that I rely upon Jesus' death, burial and resurrection by being immersed in water. God might even leave it up to me to determine how I want to express my faith in Jesus. Although there might be many possiblities of what God might have done, what matters is what God actually desires.
• Avoiding Distortions of Paul's Message
The letters of Paul in the New Testament were not written to convert pagans; Paul was writing to Christians. When someone uses any of the Pauline Epistles as "a guide for conversion" (e.g. "The Road in Romans"), he or she will uncritically use the Pauline Epistles in a way which these letters were not intended to function and undoubtedly the text will be made to conform to the modern teacher's assumptions about how one is supposed to respond in faith. Accordingly, the message which the student will understand may reflect more of the teacher's beliefs than Paul's actual intended message When we remember that Paul's letters were written to Christians (people who had already been saved by faith) and therefore there was no reason for Paul to explain how they were supposed to trust in Jesus, and when we further remember that without a context, how God wants us to trust in Jesus is not clarified by the word faith, it would be simplistic, naive and uncritical to assume that "faith in Jesus" must be expressed in whatever form I assume it should take. Paul did have a purpose for writing, but it was not to outline everything a pagan needs to know in order to become a Christian.
In contrast to this inappropriate usage of Paul's letters, it would be appropriate to use Paul's writing to teach the principle that salvation comes through relying on Jesus. But to only tell someone that they needed to trust in Jesus might omit part of the Gospel message if a biblical reliance upon Christ requires a particular expression of faith. How am I to depend upon Jesus? Just believe in Jesus? Say a sinner's prayer? Go to church? Be baptized? Does depending upon Jesus require me to literally give all of my money to the poor?
• For Paul, faith in Christ required not only a belief in Christ but the expression of this belief in baptism
For Paul, becoming a child of God by faith involved being baptized. Galatians 3:26-27. Paul showed that his understanding of faith was more than even a heart felt assent, it involved obedience. The gospel he preached was intended to lead people to the "obedience of faith." Romans 1:5; 16:26-27 This obedience from the heart resulted in a person being set free from their sins and becoming a slave to God. Romans 6:17-18 Contextually, the obedience from the heart described in Romans 6:17 is a reference to baptism. Romans 6:3f.
This understanding of conversion coincides with the historical accounts of conversions we read in Acts where people responded to the preaching about Jesus by requesting baptism (Acts 8:35-36). If one is looking for a complete presentation of the Gospel intended to convert nonbelievers, one should look for a scriptural presentation of the Gospel delivered to nonbelievers, not a letter written to believers about the dangers of relying on other systems of justification.
• If Baptism Is So Important, Why Didn't Paul Write More About It?
1) Since Paul's purpose in writing to Christians was not to teach them how to obey the Gospel but to safeguard them against the threat of depending upon the system of works issued by the Mosaical Law, he made only passing (but significant!) references to the role of baptism as being a part of the salvation which comes by faith in Jesus (Galatians 3:26-27; Colossians 2:12; Titus 3:5; Romans 6:3f cf. 6:17-18).
However, there were times when Paul needed to remind/ teach those early Christians about how their baptism should influence their Christian walk with God. Baptism involved dying to a former way of life and becoming servants of God purchased by Jesus' death (Romans 6:3f.). And so sometimes when Paul taught about other topics for which baptism carried implications, Paul would drag baptism into the discussion. Romans 6 See also 1 Corinthians 10 and Galatians 3:27.
2) Paul's religious context did not require teaching about baptism because, unlike our religious context today where there are many different teachings regarding conversion, in his day there was a consensus of understanding and practice. There was "one faith, one baptism, ..." (Ephesians 4:5) and everybody knew the basics about what that one baptism was for. In Ephesians 4:5 Paul was not claiming that the myriad forms and types of baptisms such as we have today constitute the same baptism, rather he was asserting that there only was one baptism just as there is only one valid Lord and one valid faith.
3) There was no need to teach the role of baptism to those first century Christians who had already responded to the gospel by being baptized. They already understood the initiatory role of baptism for entering into Christ. This is easily documented by referencing the earliest documents of the church which have been preserved.
Additional articles which may be of interest
Faith and Obedience. Forcing Square Pegs Through a Round Hole?
"What About the Thief on the Cross?"
Barry Newton, Copyright © 1998 - 2000