Faith or works?

A number of years ago I was teaching a class on the book of Romans. It was a congenial group of friends from an evangelical church. One member of the class was not a confessing believer but always attended with his wife (That was part of the marriage vows –and he enjoyed the class anyway). The evening came when we arrived at Romans 2:6: “God will repay each person according to what they have done. To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.” Suddenly up shot his hand – “I thought you were saved by faith.” (He had been attending church functions for a number of years: Remember, that was a marriage commitment!). All eyes we on me, waiting for a response to that very reasonable question. Paul says in no uncertain terms that if you seek immortality by doing good works God will give you eternal life.
         “But what about salvation by faith alone? Isn’t that what Paul taught? You’ve been telling us that ever since we started this class a number of years ago?”
         When I agreed that was what I had always taught it didn’t seem to remove the quizzical frowns. The confusion intensified when I quoted Rom. 3:20, a sort of summary verse: “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law,” then added a verse that follows almost immediately, “Righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe” (3:22).
         So what is the answer? Are we saved by faith or by works? Now if you answered that question on the basis of the number of times Paul answers it, faith would win by a landslide, but that doesn’t solve the problem of Romans 2:6. Let’s look at context. In vv. 5-6 Paul is talking about “the day of God’s wrath when his righteousness will be revealed” (2:5) while in 3:22 he is speaking righteousness being given “through faith in Jesus Christ.” The answer to these seemingly disparate verses twofold: 1. Salvation is by faith, and 2. The validity of faith is demonstrated by the works it produces. I believe that the average evangelical church is a lot more aware of the how of salvation (i.e., faith) than what that faith requires. Emphasis on faith over works was a reaction against the position of modernism in the early part of last century. “Good works” almost became a dirty word.
         Faith is not an abstract quality that can be validated by some spiritual test unrelated to life. Faith is judged by what it does. A well-known Scottish scholar wrote, “A man’s destiny on Judgment Day will depend not on whether he has known God’s will but on whether he has done it” (A. M. Hunter). So the believer is saved by faith alone but the faith is judged by what it produces. Both statements are true; they speak to different aspects of the same process. You and I (assuming we are both believers) will have our “faith” evaluated. A relevant text is 2 Cor. 5:10: “For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body” (NLT). If your faith is genuine the problem is solved.