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Orthodox Doctrine (Summary of Christian Divinity)
Metropolitan Platon of Moscow, tr. Pinkerton, 1814
1. Part 3, Section 1: Faith Without Works is Dead
Part Third. Of the Law of God
The symbol contains the doctrine of faith and hope; what follows respects love, through which the above mentioned virtues are perfected, for love is the foundation of good works and a godly life. No one will surely be in doubt about this, that the performance of good works by a Christian is absolutely necessary to salvation. For, first, God’s own law contains promises to virtue, both temporal and eternal, and threatens punishment for breaking the commandments, which require a life conformable to the holy will of God. “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven,” Matth. vii. 21. Secondly, the gratitude which we owe to our precious Saviour for our deliverance strongly binds us to fulfil his holy commandments. For this very purpose he descended from heaven, became incarnate, suffered and died, that he might redeem unto himself a people, zealous of good works; and our inducement to be thus zealous is the more powerful, as he hath promised to assist us by his own grace in the performance of these good works.
This consideration is such as Paul has addressed to the Romans, vi. 2, 6, “How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” Therefore, Christians who lead irregular lives, make their conversion to God doubtful, bring a reproach upon their faith, neglect the grace of Christ, and lay obstacles in the way of their own salvation. And though, according to the sublime doctrine of Paul, “a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ;” yet this by no means lays aside good works, but, on the contrary, renders our obligations to perform them still stronger. For though when a man is turning to God, he presents himself before his bar, without finding any thing in himself that is good; on the contrary, he is obliged to confess himself worthy of his displeasure; consequently, in such a hopeless state, he has no way for justification but by faith, or by a hearty reliance upon Jesus Christ, who died for our sins, and gained for us the mercy of our heavenly Father: yet those who are justified by faith, and have received the grace of the Holy Spirit, are indispensibly bound to prove the reality of their conversion by the fruits of love, and to have recourse to that co-operative grace in the performance of good works. The apostle has written clearly concerning this to the Ephesians, in chap. ii. 8, where justification is ascribed to faith, and at the same time good works represented as essentially necessary, from this very consideration: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.”
But it is also necessary to understand in what sense the apostle has written these striking words to the Romans, vi. 14, “Ye are not under the law, but under grace;” and vii. 6, “Now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held.” We ought not to suppose that the apostle, by these words, laid aside the law of God,—God forbid! But he teaches us, 1st, That true believers are not under the yoke of the law, which galls the wicked with its curse. 2d, That though a Christian, through infirmity, commit sin, yet grace will not deliver him up to the severity of the law; but accepts his repentance and forgives his transgressions.