A Faith Beyond: The Gospel's Least-Understood Principle (Part 5)

Part 1:  A Faith Beyond
Part 2: A Faith Beyond
Part 3: A Faith Beyond
Part 4: A Faith Beyond

A Conversation with the Apostle Paul

Me:  Thanks Paul for writing so many great books.  I was bummed when I got to the end; any sequels planned?

Paul:  Thanks, but it wasn't just me; I had a terrific ghost writer, you know!  A Holy Ghost writer.

Me:  Well, you helped me understand the gospel better than anyone.

Paul:  Really?  And what is the gospel, in your opinion?

Me:  Well, for one, the gospel means we are no longer captive to the law, thanks to Christ.

Paul:  Let's pause there.  I find it interesting you'd begin with the Law.  But since you brought it up, you should know, "I delight in the law of God" (Romans 7:22); in fact, "the law is good" (1 Tim. 1:8).

Me:  What?  That surprises me to hear you say that.  Aren't you the one who said the law was our "schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ" (Galatians 3:24).  We've graduated, right?  We don't need a schoolmaster after we've matriculated.  That's like saying my high school principal gets to tell me how to live my life in my 40s.  Isn't the law irrelevant to Christians?

Paul:  [shaking his head]  I see you need to repeat Summer School.  Slow Learner?

Me:  [Shrugging]  Lazy, perhaps.

Paul:  For starters, "the law is NOT made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient" (1 Tim. 1:9).  Are you implying you've outgrown the law because you are righteous?

Me:  Is that a rhetorical question?  Clearly I am not a 'righteous man.'  How could I be ― I'm a Christian!  Wasn't that the whole point of your epistles?

Paul:  [Poker-faced]  But if you're not righteous, what makes you think the law doesn't apply to you?  How could you have matriculated if you failed your final exams?

Me:  I guess I don't understand.  Are you saying God can't award diplomas to dunces?  Well, put like that, it doesn't seem fair to all the hard-working, bookish boys and girls who burned the midnight oil to get Straight A's.

Paul: [nodding]  Let's keep an open mind.  We need to ask ourselves why God gave us the law in the first place, knowing we'd be unable to live it ― and knowing the works of the law could never save us.

Me:  If I understand the question, you're asking what role, if any, the law plays in the gospel plan.  Is that correct?

Paul: [nodding]

Me:  Okay, I guess I would say that God gave us a law so that "under the law every mouth may be stopped: for by the law is the knowledge of sin" (Romans 3:19-20).

No one is going to earn their way into heaven based on their good works, right?  "Not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:9).  A kindergartener is not going to brag about how good they are at basic sums and subtraction in a room full of college math professors.  The law keeps us humble, I suppose.

Could it be the law serves as a mirror that reveals our shortcomings, exposing our sinful hearts?  We "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).

I recall our friend William Tyndale said something brilliant, "We are sinners not because we break the law; we break the law because we are sinners."

The law reflects our fallen nature; it reveals our powerlessness to save ourselves ― not even through good works, ordinances, or covenant-keeping (sorry, Covenant Path).

Isn't that the reason we reach for a Savior; isn't that the way the law acts as a "schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ" (Galatians 3:24)?

Paul:  You're on the right track, but I'm not sure you understand this mystery yet; not fully.

For is not God just?  How, then, can we be freed from a law we've broken or failed to keep?  Wouldn't that be unjust?

Me: [uncertainly]  Isn't that the whole point of the gospel; the good news?  I thought Christ fulfilled the law so we wouldn't have to keep it anymore.  He saved us from the law, not in the law.  Right?

Paul:  For argument's sake, let's say Christ removed the yoke of the law from our necks: what did He replace it with?

Me:  [sweating a bit]  I remember Him saying His yoke is "easy" and "light" (Matt. 11:29).  Is that what you mean?

Paul:  Yes, but what exactly is Christ's yoke? 

[After no response]  I'll tell you: a yoke is a law that joins ("seals") two things together.

What law seals us to Christ?

Because there are always laws.  "All kingdoms have a law given ... and unto every kingdom is given a law.  That which breaketh a law, and abideth not by law, but seeketh to become a law unto itself ... cannot be santified by law, neither by mercy, justice, nor judgment" (D&C 88:35-37).

Me:  Yes, I am beginning to see: the Law of Moses is a yoke that can't be shared with Christ; we must lay it down and pick up another.  Our cross-yoke?  So we are not left lawless, after all.  Instead, we've exchanged the old law for a new one.  Christ's law.

Paul:  And what is Christ's law-yoke?

Me:  Umm, didn't Christ give us the Sermon on the Mount and all that stuff?  Is that the yoke you're talking about?  We're supposed to live the higher law.

Paul: [laughing heartily]  Tim, Tim, my dear foolish boy, are you quite daft.  Think about what you're saying.  You're telling me that ― having failed to live the lesser law ― (I mean, just take one look at you) ― you think you are capable somehow of living the higher law?

How exactly can you walk when you haven't even learned to crawl?  How will you skip right to advanced calculus when you haven't even mastered simple multiplication and long division?  Is it because, you think, you're a teacher's pet?

Me:  [sheepishly]  Well, I'm stumped.  I guess I am fuzzy on the details of how Christ delivers us from the demands of justice and of the law.

Paul:  Acknowledging your ignorance is a positive step.  And don't worry, I want to help you.  Let me "make known the mystery of the gospel" (Ephesians 6:19) unto you.  May I?

Me:  Of course.  Fire away.

Paul:  To make this as simple as I can (we'll start with two-plus-two) ― [raising his index fingers on both hands] ― there are only two laws you need to worry about.

Me:  Just two?  What are they?

Paul:  The first is (1) the "Law of Works," also called "the works of the law" (Romans 9:32).  This law produces spiritual death.

The second is (2) the "Law of Faith" (Romans 3:27; 3:31).  There are many more names for them, but they're all referring to the same thing: the same eternal reality.

You'll find the Law of Works produces darkness in all its iterations, just as the Law of Faith brings light in whatever form she takes.

But please don't misunderstand me: I am not talking about absolutes; it is not so simple as "good vs. evil," for we cannot have light without darkness, and vice versa.

Here are some examples:

2 Cor. 3:6:

(Dark) The letter of the law
   vs.
(Light) The spirit of the law

Romans 13:8, 10, 14:

(Dark) The law of the flesh
   vs.
(Light) The law of love

Galatians 6:2, 13:

(Dark) The law of circumcision
   vs.
(Light)  The law of Christ 

2 Nephi 2:27 and James 1:25:

(Dark) The law of captivity
   vs.
(Light) The law of liberty

D&C 119:4 and 105:29:

(Dark) The law of tithing
   vs.
(Light) The law of consecration

Me:  But wait, didn't James say "faith without works is dead" (James 2:20)?  How can the Law of Faith and the Law of Works be opposed?

Paul:  Simple: there is no genuine Faith without works in her wake; but there are works performed without faith.

​Anything done in faith is a good work; on the other hand, anything done without faith is a dead work.

The work itself is not determinative; the question is the presence (or absence) of faith.

For example, many people pray to God without faith (without "real intent") and "it profiteth them nothing, for God receiveth none such" (Moroni 7:9).  So you couldn't make the blanket-statement, "Prayer is good."  Because only prayer that is offered in faith is "good."

Me:  That seems harsh.

Paul:  But Christ said, "If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me" (Moroni 7:33).

What does He mean, "expedient IN ME"?  What is the One Thing We Most Need power to do?  What thing is more expedient than any other?

Me:  [?]

Paul:  [sighing]  You're not ready yet; but don't fret, we will get there.

​For now, did you notice the connection of "faith" to "power" in that verse?  It reminds me of something Joseph Smith taught, "Faith is the first great governing principle of power.... Without it, there is no power, and without power, there could be no creation" (Lectures on Faith 1:24).

Me:  Doesn't the devil have power, too?  Does this mean Satan has faith?

Paul:  Yes, but not the kind of faith that lifts or exalts others.

Now, m​y boy, I want you to listen carefully.  I've been leading up to this main point:  Understand that there are two forms of righteousness, each flowing from its mother-law.

The devil's power derives from the Righteousness of Works; and the Savior's power from the Righteousness of Faith.

The Righteousness of Works is the "righteousness" (or power) of the Pharisees; they chased after it.  They built priesthoods around it.  The constructed temples in its name.

Under the Righteousness of Works, they wielded great power and dominion over the souls of men (D&C 121:39).

And then, on the other hand, there is "the righteousness of God ... being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the Righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto ALL and upon ALL that believe" (Romans 3:21-22).

Did you notice the "righteousness of God" is not through works?  So you see it, at last: the Righteousness that only comes of faith (in Christ, that is), which is the only righteousness that endures at the last day, approved and received of God ― whilst the "righteousness" of our works (even good ones) shall be consumed as dross.  "All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags [referring to the Righteousness of Works]; and [shall] fade as a leaf" (Isaiah 64:6).

Me:  Why can't we combine them?  I mean, why can't I rely on the Law of Works to grind the sausage while, at the same time, relying on the Law of Faith, too?  Isn't that what people do already?  It seems like that's what our churches teach: the Righteousness of Works mixed with a cherry-on-top of Faith.

Paul:  Yes, sadly.  But know this: you must choose which righteousness you will wear; for they are mutually-exclusive.  You cannot wear your aprons of authority over the red robes of Christ.

Me:  But if I must choose, I'll take the Lord's, obviously.  I mean, why would anyone choose their own filthy rags of righteousness over Christ's pure linen?

Paul:  They do it every day.  You've done it yourself, many times ― whenever you've acted in your own strength, and not in the faith of Jesus Christ.

Me:  But what does it actually require to have faith in Christ? 

It seems like a lot of us are running around using His name without faith.  I see it all the time at Church.

Paul:  That is an excellent question.  Faith (saving faith) is found "in his blood" (referring to Jesus) who "declares His righteousness for the remission of sins" (Romans 3:25).

Whose righteousness does Christ declare?  Not our's, oh no.  He "declares His righteousness for the remission of [our] sins."

You will not find His blood mingled with your sweat and tears and effort, for He walked the winepress alone.  "I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me" (Isaiah 63:3).

Neither will you find His blood sprinkled among "the doctrines of devils or the commandments of men" (D&C 46:7).  That is why you may safely throw the Handbook in the trash, for it was written with ink drawn from the Law of Works, and preaches the Righteousness of Works.

Me:  [stunned]  What're you trying to do?  Get me in trouble!  And yet . . . how I long for this gift of faith you describe, that transcends the legalism and captivity of the Law of Works.  How I long, instead, to don the yoke of faith in Christ.

Can you tell me how?  How do I put on this yoke of faith?  How do I cover every pore of my leper-skin in "the blood of the everlasting covenant" (Hebrews 13:20) by faith?

Does it merely mean 'believing' Christ is our Redeemer?  Does it require being baptized?  What can I do to experience this great faith?

​Paul:  [soberly]  The Lord has called unto you many times, my son, and in divers places, whispering into the quiet corners of your spirit His everlasting words: "Repent all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me, and be baptized in my name, and have faith in me that ye may be saved" (Moroni 7:34).

Me:  I was baptized, at least.  That's a good start, isn't it?

Paul:  You were baptized.  Really?  With fire (Matt. 3:11)?