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| Saved By Works Only, Faith Plus Works or By Faith only? |
| (a) The Bible | (b) On the surface |
| "For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified." Rom. 2:13 | 1 | Sounds like justification by works. |
| Again: "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." Phil. 2:12,13. | 2 | They interprete this to mean that we must work for our salvation. |
| And: "Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? . . . Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only." James 2:21-24. | 3 |
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The selection of these texts and the way they are used demonstrate that as a world church, we need to study more carefully into the meaning of righteousness by faith.
But there is more Scripture presented for this view: |
| "God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth." 2.Thess. 2:13 | 1 | "Sanctification" is understood as our obedience to the law, and God's "choice" is seen to depend on it. |
| Again: "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost." Titus 3:5 | 2 | The washing is understood to be character transformation as the "means" of our salvation, not "merely" its "fruit." |
| Again: "[Christ] became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him." Hebr. 5:9 | 3 | . . . apparently not those who believe Him? |
| (b) On the surface, Ellen White seems to give massive support for the faith-plus-works salvation idea: |
| "The effort that man makes in his own strength to obtain salvation is represented by the offering of Cain. . . . But that which is wrought through faith is acceptable to God." [1SM 364] - | 1 | "Acceptable" is understood as the same as justification, so this is taken to support the idea that man's sanctified "effort" precedes and achieves his justification. |
| "Satan deceives many with the plausible theory that God's love for His people is so great that He will excuse sin in them; he represents that while the threatenings of God's word are to serve a certain purpose in His moral government, they are never to be literally fulfilled. But in all His dealings with his creatures God has maintained the principles of righteousness by revealing sin in its true character--by demonstrating that its sure result is misery and death. The unconditional pardon of sin never has been, and never will be. Such pardon would show the abandonment of the principles of righteousness, which are the very foundation of the government of God. It would fill the unfallen universe with consternation. God has faithfully pointed out the results of sin, and if these warnings were not true, how could we be sure that His promises would be fulfilled? That so-called benevolence which would set aside justice is not benevolence but weakness." {PP 522.2} | 2 | In other words. there is no pardon without our works. - We will look at this later some more. |
| "Then let none say that there are no conditions to salvation. There are decided conditions, and everyone is put to the strenuous task of diligently inquiring and searching for the truth from God's word. At the peril of our souls we must know the prescribed conditions given by Him who has given His own life to save us from ruin. We will certainly be lost if we float along with the current of the world, receiving the saying of men. By our selfish love of ease and by our indolence we endanger our souls and the souls of others. We are to seek earnestly to know what saith the Lord. {13MR 22.1} | 3 | The "conditions" are understood to be our works. |
| "We cannot even manufacture faith ourselves. "It is the gift of God: (Ephesians 2:8). The whole of our salvation comes through the gift of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. How glad I am. It comes from such a source that we cannot doubt it. And He is "the author"--does it stop there? Does it stop there? "The author and finisher of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2). Thank God. He attends us every step of the way through, if we are willing to be saved in Christ's appointed way, through obedience to His requirements. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8). "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" (Philippians 2:12). What does this mean? Is it a contradiction? Let us see what the last of it says. "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure" (verses 12, 13). Praise God. Now who will be discouraged? Who is going to faint? It is not committed to us, weak, feeble mortals to work out our own salvation in our own line. It is Christ that worketh in you. And this is the privilege of every son and daughter of Adam. But we are to work. We are not to be idle. We are put here in this world to work. We are not put here to fold our arms.--Manuscript 18, March 4, 1894, "Laborers Together With God." {TDG 72.1} | 4 | It seems therefore that salvation is by obedience. |
| "Christ, who connects earth with heaven, is the ladder. The base is planted firmly on the earth in His humanity; the topmost round reaches to the throne of God in His divinity. The humanity of Christ embraces fallen humanity, while His divinity lays hold upon the throne of God. We are saved by climbing round after round of the ladder, looking to Christ, clinging to Christ, mounting step by step to the height of Christ, so that He is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity are the rounds of this ladder. All these graces are to be manifested in the Christian character; and "if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." 2 Peter 1:10, 11. {6T 147.2} | 5 | Again, presumably by works and not by faith alone. |
| "So we have nothing in ourselves of which to boast. We have no ground for self-exaltation. Our only ground of hope is in the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and in that wrought by His Spirit working in and through us." {SC 63.1} | 6 | This group emphasizes the second clause as the focus of our attention. |
| "The gospel dispensation is the last period of probation that will ever be granted to men. Those who live under this dispensation of test and trial and yet are not led to repent and obey will perish with the disloyal. There is no second trial. The gospel that is to be preached to all nations, kindreds, tongues, and peoples presents the truth in clear lines, showing that obedience is the condition of gaining eternal life. Christ imparts His righteousness to those who consent to let Him take away their sins. We are indebted to Christ for the grace which makes us complete in Him." (MS 40, 1900) {7BC 971.9} | 7 | This statement seems clear, doesn't it? |
| "There are many whose religion consists in theory. To them a happy emotion is godliness. They say, "Come to Jesus, and believe in him. It makes no difference what you believe so long as you are honest in your belief." They do not seek to make the sinner understand the true character of sin. He is not urged to search the Scriptures on bended knees that he may know what is truth, or to pray that his eyes may be anointed with eyesalve that he may see the grace of Christ. When the lawyer came to Christ, saying, "Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" the Saviour did not say, Believe, only believe, and you will be saved. "What is written in the law?" he said; "how readest thou?" The lawyer answered: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself." Christ said, "Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live." Here the false doctrine that man has nothing to do but believe is swept away. Eternal life is given to us on the condition that we obey the commandments of God." {RH, June 26, 1900 par. 4} | 8 | Did Ellen White mean that salvation is by works? What is her context? |
| "God does not change his plans and devise new expedients to save man in different ages or dispensations. With him "is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." He does not abolish the law to bring man into harmony with himself. If he had proposed to destroy the jurisdiction of the law over man at any time, he would have done so when Adam's failure to keep its requirements brought him under its terrible condemnation. But God does not provide any such escape in this emergency. He expels the guilty pair from the garden. The law says the penalty of sin is death, and they have brought on themselves, by deliberate choice, the loss of eternal life. The course of God toward the rebellious has not changed. There is no way back to innocence and life except through repentance for having transgressed God's law, and faith in the merits of the divine sacrifice, who has suffered for your transgressions of the past; and you are accepted in the Beloved on condition of obedience to the commandments of your Creator." {ST, December 15, 1887 par. 4} | 9 |
But why does `Desire of Ages' p. 113 say "we" are accepted at Christ's baptism when the Father accepted Him? Let us read it. "And the word that was spoken to Jesus at the Jordan, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," embraces humanity. God spoke to Jesus as our representative. With all our sins and weaknesses, we are not cast aside as worthless. "He hath made us accepted in the Beloved." Ephesians 1:6. The glory that rested upon Christ is a pledge of the love of God for us. It tells us of the power of prayer,--how the human voice may reach the ear of God, and our petitions find acceptance in the courts of heaven. By sin, earth was cut off from heaven, and alienated from its communion; but Jesus has connected it again with the sphere of glory. His love has encircled man, and reached the highest heaven. The light which fell from the open portals upon the head of our Saviour will fall upon us as we pray for help to resist temptation. The voice which spoke to Jesus says to every believing soul, This is My beloved child, in whom I am well pleased." {DA 113.1} |
| "Through Jesus there is divine sympathy between God and the human beings who, through obedience, are accepted in the Beloved. Thus humanity conforms to the will of divinity, fulfilling the words, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." The commandment-keeping people of God are to walk in the sunlight of Christ's righteousness, their countenances expressing cheerfulness and thanksgiving, joyful in the assurance, "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." {RH, May 3, 1898 par. 16} | 10 | Apparently even His "sympathy" depends on our success in doing good works; does His "acceptance" of us depend on them? |
| (a) The Bible | Authors comments |
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"Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, [is] therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness [come] by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." Galatians 2:16-21. | 1 | The apostle James appears to contradict this directly, but if we believe in inspiration of the Bible we cannot accept that assumption that he contradicts. |
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"Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also: Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law. "But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." ..... "Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all." Rom. 3:28,31; 4:5,16. | 2 | No comment here |
| "Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them." Hebr. 7:25 | 3 | To say that Christ does not save completely but that we add to His saving work by our own sanctified good works, is the essence of the Council of Trent teaching of Romanism. |
(b) The Ellen White evidence |
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"The danger has been presented to me again and again of entertaining, as a people, false ideas of justification by faith. I have been shown for years that Satan would work in a special manner to confuse the mind on this point. The law of God has been largely dwelt upon and has been presented to congregations, almost as destitute of the knowledge of Jesus Christ and His relation to the law as was the offering of Cain. I have been shown that many have been kept from the faith because of the mixed, confused ideas of salvation, because the ministers have worked in a wrong manner to reach hearts. The point that has been urged upon my mind for years is the imputed righteousness of Christ. I have wondered that this matter was not made the subject of discourses in our churches throughout the land, when the matter has been kept so constantly urged upon me, and I have made it the subject of nearly every discourse and talk that I have given to the people." {FW 18.1} "There is not a point that needs to be dwelt upon more earnestly, repeated more frequently, or established more firmly in the minds of all, than the impossibility of fallen man meriting anything by his own best good works. Salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ alone." {3MR 420.1} "Let the subject be made distinct and plain that it is not possible to effect anything in our standing before God or in the gift of God to us through creature merit. Should faith and works purchase the gift of salvation for anyone, then the Creator is under obligation to the creature. Here is an opportunity for falsehood to be accepted as truth. If any man can merit salvation by anything he may do, then he is in the same position as the Catholic to do penance for his sins. Salvation, then, is partly of debt, that may be earned as wages. If man cannot, by any of his good works, merit salvation, then it must be wholly of grace, received by man as a sinner because he receives and believes in Jesus. It is wholly a free gift. Justification by faith is placed beyond controversy. And all this controversy is ended, as soon as the matter is settled that the merits of fallen man in his good works can never procure eternal life for him." {1888 812.2} | 1 | No comment by author |
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"Let no one take the limited, narrow position that any of the works of man can help in the least possible way to liquidate the debt of his transgression. This is a fatal deception. If you would understand it, you must cease haggling over your pet ideas, and with humble hearts survey the atonement. This matter is so dimly comprehended that thousands upon thousands claiming to be sons of God are children of the wicked one, because they will depend on their own works. God always demanded good works, the law demands it, but because man placed himself in sin where his good works were valueless, Jesus' righteousness alone can avail. Christ is able to save to the uttermost because He ever liveth to make intercession for us. All that man can possibly do toward his own salvation is to accept the invitation, "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely" (Revelation 22:17). No sin can be committed by man for which satisfaction has not been met on Calvary. Thus the cross, in earnest appeals, continually proffers to the sinner a thorough expiation." {1SM 343.3} "Without the grace of Christ every soul would have been bankrupt for eternity; therefore we can rightfully claim nothing. But while we can claim nothing, yet when we are faithful stewards, the Lord rewards us as if the merit were all our own. He says, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." {TM 166.2} | 2 | No comment by author |
Can the contrasting views of Groups I and II be harmonized? If not, the church must be permanently divided over this vital issue. Since justification is the very heart and soul of Christian teaching, what message do we have for the world? Group I declares that the views of Group II are "the omega of apostasy," and that their leadership must be condemned and their ministerial credentials must be revoked. Such a demand, widely promulgated, will create division. Is there a key to solving the impasse? If "we have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history" (LS 196), the 1888 message and history alone can provide the key to solve this problem. Like Group I, prominent leaders in 1888 sincerely believed that salvation is by faith plus works. The "most precious message" sent us unequivocally declared that salvation is totally by grace through faith, and that even in eternity of "sanctified" works with human merit could never in the least iota be the "means" of our salvation. Jesus alone is "the Saviour of the world." There are not assistant saviors, and there is no do-it-yourself salvation-kit. But when the 1888 messengers taught that justification is by faith alone they did not mean the shallow definition of faith held by the Sunday-keeping Evangelicals. To Jones and Waggoner, true faith is more than a self-centered, fear-indited "trust." It is a heart-appreciation of the agape-love that Jesus demonstrated at His cross. Such faith "works" and motivates to full obedience to the law and to a life of total dedication to the One who died for us and rose again. In this light, faith and works are like two sides of a single pane of window glass; if there is faith as a response to Calvary, the other side of the pane of glass is a natural outpouring of obedience in a life totally changed by grace. But never does the obedience replace Christ as the complete Saviour or become a "means" of salvation. Our response cannot justify us. Thus the 1888 message was adamant that obedience to God's law is necessary, not as providing merit to earn or deserve it, but as much needed evidence to prove both now and in the final judgment that the repentant sinner's faith is genuine. The judgment must see that evidence. But the evidence is not the means of the salvation that produced it! Chapter III - Let Us Examine the Bible Texts Cited by Group I. (a) James and Paul do not oppose each other. There is no contradiction, only different perspectives. James' point is that a dead faith that doesn't "work," it is no good. He does not oppose the idea that genuine justification is by living faith, alone. If someone claims at the judgment, "I have faith!" but he has no "works" to prove it, his claim is "vain" and "profits" him nothing. With this insight understood, all the other texts cited by Group I as supporting a faith-plus-works justification dissolve in total harmony with the teaching of justification-by-faith-alone. If the "doers of the law" could "do it" perfectly, of course they would be justified thereby; but Paul says no one has done it, and no one can. Even a millennium of good works cannot atone for our past sins. It is pathetic that any SdAs a century after Minneapolis should use James to try to counteract Paul or John, or even to try to weaken Paul's clear teaching of agape and grace. [Waggoner clearly harmonized James and Paul; see "Lightened With His Glory", pp. 36,37.] (b) To "work out your own salvation" is specifically not work FOR your salvation. You cannot earn it or merit it. The context of Phil. 2:5-13 is Christ's amazing condescension in stepping down "even [to] the death of the cross," the second death for "every man," thus redeeming and saving the world by His sacrifice (MLT 323). Now, says Paul, "therefore" in view of this great salvation given you as a gift in Christ, let it flow out from you in blessing others. Do not dam up the stream! Far from teaching that we are to work for our salvation, Paul says, work for somebody else's salvation, profoundly thankful for your own given you freely "in Christ." Chapter IV. - Let Us Examine the Ellen White Statements Used by Group I. Does Ellen White contradict what Paul says so clearly in Romans and Galatians, and what John says about Jesus as our Saviour? Some seem to think the answer is yes, because she so often seems to say that salvation is by obedience. But we must not take snippets out of her context to force her to teach Roman Catholicism. Several important factors must be kept in mind: (a) By those statements about "obedience" Ellen White is not seeking to refute the 1888 message. Righteousness is by faith "alone." She declares herself unequivocally in support of that message by some 374 statements of endorsement. Her MS. 36, 1890 (see above) clarifies the issue with very strong language saying,
"it is not possible to effect anything ... through creature merit"; "should faith and works purchase the gift of salvation for anyone" or "if any man can merit salvation by anything he may do, then he is in the same position as the Catholic". But if her statements about "obedience" were not intended to refute the 1888 message of Jones and Waggoner, then why did she make them? (b) She was seeking to refute the claims of Sunday-keeping opponents of the SdA Church. They taught that salvation by faith alone does away with obedience to the law of God, and thus they opposed the Sabbath truth and sought to condemn the SdA Church. The 1888 message does not lessen the importance of obedience to the law, but places it in its true light and defines obedience as agape love (Rom. 13:10). She saw in the 1888 message a fresh approach that Adventists had not employed before 1888 ...
By uplifting the cross in its true light showing that Christ died the second death of every man and how only agape is "the fulfilling of the law," sincere Sunday-keepers would see obedience to the law in a new light. The motivation of fear would be replaced by the motivation imposed by grace. Of all professing Christians, SdAs would be foremost in uplifting Christ on His cross. The result, as sure as day follows night? He would "draw all unto" Himself (cf. Jh. 8:32). "Then a multitude not of their faith ... will unite with them in serving the Redeemer." [R&H, Feb. 25, 1902]. This was why she understood the 1888 message to be "the beginning" of the fourth angel's message and [as] showers from heaven of the latter rain! (c) In every instance where the "obedience" statements are cited in Group I above, in close context Ellen White is seen pleading for righteousness by faith in Christ. Not once does she say that genuine, living faith in Christ is insufficient to appropriate justification or to experience justification by faith. We do her a great disservice to lift those statements from their context to force her to teach the Roman Catholic doctrine of justification by faith plus by our own works. CIAS comment: This may perhaps be due to the hurried life many live. They do not take the time to read the whole book, chapter or even paragraph and thus end up easily with a stunted understanding. Consistently her idea is that justification is by a faith which works. The "works" is a verb and not a noun! This is the reason why eight years after Minneapolis she declared of the 1888 message that its fruit "is made manifest in obedience to all the commandments of God" (TM 92). In every instance where she speaks of "obedience" her basic idea is that faith produces it; it proves that the faith is genuine and in that sense she says that salvation is by obedience. The only reasonable import that one can gather from her enthusiasm is that she sensed that if we can become humble enough and hungry enough to learn to proclaim justification by faith in its proper light, people will begin to keep the Sabbath! Thus the final movements will be rapid ones, and the message will go "as fire in the stubble." A large number [will] take their stand." [GC 612] (d) The "unconditional pardon of sin [which] never has been and never can be" is not the idea that man's good works or merit can effect pardon for his sin. The truth is, The supreme "condition" for the "pardon of sin" is the shedding of the blood of the Son of God.
At this late hour how can any SdA read the closing chapters of The Great Controversy and imagine that in that vast host of the redeemed around the great white throne anyone could sing,
Says Ellen White:
"I ask, How can I present this matter as it is? The Lord Jesus imparts all the powers, all the grace, all the penitence, all the inclination, all the pardon of sins, in presenting His righteousness for man to grasp by living faith--which is also the gift of God. If you would gather together everything that is good and holy and noble and lovely in man and then present the subject to the angels of God as acting a part in the salvation of the human soul or in merit, the proposition would be rejected as treason. Standing in the presence of their Creator and looking upon the unsurpassed glory which enshrouds His person, they are looking upon the Lamb of God given from the foundation of the world to a life of humiliation, to be rejected of sinful men, to be despised, to be crucified. Who can measure the infinity of the sacrifice! A heart appreciation for the "breadth, and length, and depth, and height of the agape of Christ" displayed at His cross will motivate the honest heart to no end of obedience, good works, exertions, sacrifices, struggles, endurances, hardships, deprivations, poverty, reproach, sufferings, pain, and even martyrdom, for Christ's sake. And in it all the believer will "take pleasure" as did Paul (2.Cor. 12:10). The reason why Jesus said in Matthew 11:30 it is easy to be saved and hard to be lost is the "constraint" of agape.
Did Ellen White change her emphasis, or lose it? The question is often asked, `Why after the turn of the 20th century did Ellen White not refer to the 1888 message as much as she did between 1888 and 1897? The answer must be obvious: modern Israel was repeating the history of ancient Israel at Kadesh-Barnea when they rejected Caleb and Joshua and refused to "go up" and possess the land. At first, Moses the prophet preached the message, "go up." But when it became evident that they had rejected their opportunity, his "present truth" message became "go not up!" Turn back, to the wilderness! Never again did he say "go up" until the 40 years of wandering ended. By 1896, Ellen White the prophet had to confess that "in a great measure" the 1888 "loud cry" message had been rejected (1SM 234,235); now because of unbelief and "insubordination," we must "remain" in this dark world "many more years" (Ev. 696). During the wilderness wandering, Moses labored to perfect Israel's organization until the time for repentance should come. After the turn of this century, Ellen White labored to do the same - to perfect the organization of the church, to extend its work world-wide, to raise up and strengthen new institutions, until she finally realized that after her death the time of repentance must come. When Joshua was at last called to lead Israel into Canaan, would it not have been unbelief for someone to quote Moses's earlier command out of its context,
Now, 120 years after Minneapolis we come to a crisis. Again we are confronted with a choice:
emphasizing human merit, and an alternate message of `faith which works' that emphasizes the power and constraint of agape love and of a grace much more abounding. Since the 1888 message was initial "showers from heaven of the latter rain," drought-specifications for planting were now passé. Is it time for a renewal of that message?
The issue before us strikes at the heart of the great controversy between Christ and Satan. The opposition to the 1888 message, says Ellen White some 105 times, was precisely that of the Jews against Christ. Hearts were "at enmity" with Him, they needed the atonement. And so do we today!
From now on, the only place where you will find peace and quiet is in the cemetery. If recent developments augur its future, the SdA Church is in for a rough and rocky time. "The dragon" is still "wroth" with "the women." Ellen White told us that as we near the end old controversies will arise again, and "mind will be arrayed against mind." Question: What does the dragon want to prevent, above all else? Answer: The church discovering and proclaiming that special message that must yet lighten the earth in glory. Its "beginning" was "sent" to us in 1888. Since then there seems no end of different "models" of righteousness by faith being foisted on us. But when that "most precious message" is recovered and understood, the righteousness by faith confusion is cleared away. Get ready now for some deeper study into the Bible and some welcome clear thinking.
Notes & References (1) 6 or 7BC ... Volume 6 or 7 of `The SDA Bible Commentary.';(2) DA ... `The Desire of Ages'; (3) Ev ... Evangelism; (4) FCE ... `Fundamentals of Christian Education'; (5) FW ... `Faith and Works'; (6) GC ... `The Great Controversy'; (7) LS ... `Life Sketches'; (8) MLT ... `My Life Today'; (9) 13MR ... Volume 13 of `Manuscript Releases'; (10) PP ... `Patriarchs and Prophets'; (11) R&H ... `Review & Herald'; (12) SC ... `Steps to Christ'; (13) 1SM ... Volume 1 of Selected Messages'; (14) ST ... `Signs of the Times'; (15) 6T ... `Volume 6 of `Testimonies for the Church'; (16) TM ... `Testimonies to Ministers and Gospel Workers'; (17) TDWG ... `This Day With God'.
[100] Here follows another explanation by CIAS: The law in Galatians includes both laws, the 10 Commandments and the ceremonial law. When an Israelite came home at night and he thought back wondering, if, what he said or did that day was right before the Lord, he would read in the Torah the Law of God and knew where he failed. Next day, early in the morning, he would go outside, choose a clean lamb and take it to the sanctuary. Before the altar of burned offerings he would place his hands on the head of the lamb, confess his sins and slay the substitute. Doing so, he looked forward to the coming Messiah who would save His people, and the grace of God would accept his offering and he could go home, in full confidence and joy of salvation. The conviction by the law and the freely chosen offering, was a propitiation for his sins.
What happens to someone who does not seek forgiveness right away? Isaiah's mind goes back as he contrast those who do the right thing vs. those who do not seek the Lord, and we read,
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