Psalm 50, part 2, verses 16 to 23, a balance between faith and works

 

Psalm 50:16 ¶  But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? 17  Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee. 18  When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers. 19  Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit. 20  Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother’s son. 21  These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. 22  Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver. 23  Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.

 

Here God condemns the phoniness, the hypocrisy, of those who will not obey Him but who use His words to justify their wickedness or simply disobey Him while proclaiming that they are His. There are many Christians today and through history who honored God with their lips but denied Him with their actions.

 

God here is judging hypocrisy. We should be warned. God’s judgment is a terrible and frightening thing. But those who praise Him and live according to His word will see His salvation. This denies the concept of what some call, “easy-believism.” There is a balance in the Bible in that we are not justified by the Law and works and yet, without works, faith is a dead thing and without acknowledging God’s standard in at least the Ten Commandments our protestation of our relationship with God is a phony thing.

 

See here in the following passages from Jesus Himself and from Paul’s letters how He underscores what we must do while he all the while speaks of how we are not justified by the Law.

 

First, the easy part;

 

John 6:28 ¶  Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 29  Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

 

Galatians 3:24  Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25  But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

 

Ephesians 2:8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9  Not of works, lest any man should boast.

 

So the Law does not justify us or save us but that doesn’t mean the Law, at the very least the moral Law, is not God’s standard of righteousness. First for the verse after Ephesians 2:9.

 

Ephesians 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

 

And then from Paul again focusing on our behavior, or our conversation;

 

Romans 13:8  Owe no man any thing, but to love one another; for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.9  For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 10  Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

 

As Christ Himself focused on the whole point of the Law;

 

Matthew 22:35  Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, 36  Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38  This is the first and great commandment. 39  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

 

But with James really sticking it to us.

 

James 2:14 ¶  What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? 15  If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, 16  And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? 17  Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. 18  Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. 19  Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

20  But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? 21  Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? 22  Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? 23  And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. 24  Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. 25  Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? 26  For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

 

Clearly, a balanced view of the divide between works and grace must be taken or we run into all sorts of errors.

 

In conclusion this is a great Psalm for us to pray over for understanding. God is so clear about what He calls for if we take in the whole counsel of His word.