We should come to the same conclusions reading Matthew that we come to reading Romans, and vice versa.
"for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23)
"the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23a)
"but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23b)
"But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)
"if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. . . . For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Romans 10:9-10,13)
"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1)
"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39)
---"except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:20)
---"except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:20) --- [this one verse parallels the first two points of the "Roman Road".]
---"JESUS . . . shall save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21)
---"Jesus said unto them, The Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of men: and they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again." (Matthew 17:22-23) --- "the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." (Matthew 20:28) --- Jesus said, "my blood . . . is shed for many for the remission of sins." (Matthew 26:26-28)
--- "he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me" (Matthew 10:40) --- "this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. " (Matthew 13:15-16) --- "whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar–jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." (Matthew 16:15-17) --- "Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit. O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. . . . by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned" (Matthew 12:33-37)
--- "And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee." (Matthew 9:2) --- "the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." (Matthew 20:28) --- Jesus said, "my blood . . . is shed for many for the remission of sins." (Matthew 26:26-28)
---"I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world" (Matthew 28:20)
That was just a very brief overview. But let's dig even deeper into this. After all, you wouldn't *only* quote the "Roman Road" to someone, would you? Of course not. You would also go in-depth into the context of the passages in the book of Romans. Similarly, there are a few passages from the "Matthew Road" that I want to unpack a little more in-detail. There are also some other Matthew passages I want to bring to the table.
Matthew 1:21, Matthew 20:28, and Matthew 26:28 tell us explicitly that salvation is in *Jesus*. Jesus is the source of salvation.
Matthew 20:28 and Matthew 26:28 tell us explicitly that salvation is in the *death* of Jesus. Christ's death is the grounds of salvation.
Matthew 9:2 is the one and only place I know of in Matthew in which Jesus explicitly forgives a person's sins. And in that one case, it was based solely on *faith*, not works. Faith is the door to salvation.
Matthew 12:37 is the one and only place in Matthew in which Jesus tells people how to be "justified" ("dikaioo" in Greek). And how is justification achieved? Not by works! Jesus said, "by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned". This is the one explicit "justification" statement in Matthew, so I want to spend some time with it. Let's look at it in context and be fair to the text.
First of all, we need to recognize that the "trees and fruit" motif runs throughout the book of Matthew. In Matthew 7:15-20, Jesus hearkens back to Deuteronomy 18:21-22, which gives directions for judging false prophets based on their words. In Matthew 7, Jesus likens a false prophet to a "corrupt tree", and his false words at "evil fruit". Similarly, a godly prophet is a "good tree" who speaks words that are "good fruit". And Jesus says that we *can* know whether a person is a "good tree" or a "bad tree", because a "good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit . . . by their fruits ye shall know them."
Then, in Matthew 12:24, the Pharisees demonstrated their lack of faith in Jesus, by attributing His works to Satan. As part of His direct response to their unbelief, Jesus included the following "tree and fruit" lesson:
Matthew 12: [33] Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit. [34] O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. [35] A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. [36] But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. [37] For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
Jesus had already told us in Matthew 7:21-23 that not all mere professors would go to Heaven. Many who say "Lord, Lord" to Jesus will still go to Hell. So Jesus isn't just talking about mere "words" in Matthew 12:37. In context, we must understand that the "words" of Matt. 12:37 are the same words spoken of three verses earlier: "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh" (Matt. 12:34). Jesus is saying that we shall be justified by the words that proceed honestly from a believing heart. The Pharisees did not have faith in Christ, and their words condemned them. But there are people who do have faith in Christ, and by their words they "shalt be justified". Again, remember that this is the one and only place in Matthew that Jesus tells us how to be "justified", so it is fitting that we pay close attention to this passage.
In Matthew 12:37, Jesus says that people are justified by an honest *confession* coming from a truly believing heart. We are to judge people's justification according to their *confession* (cf. Matt. 7:18-20). Again, just as when we looked at Matthew 9:2, we see that faith, not works, is the door to salvation.
--- Matthew 9:2 is the only place in Matthew where Jesus explicitly forgives a person's sins, and it is on the basis of faith, not works. --- Matthew 12:37 is the only place in Matthew where Jesus tells us how to be justified, and He says it's on the basis of a true confession of faith, not works.
--- The parable of the wheat and tares in Matthew 13 is powerful. Tares don't turn into wheat, and wheat doesn't turn into tares. The Father plants the wheat, the devil plants the tares, and they grow up in close proximity. If a person is "wheat", then they stay wheat. They don't lose their salvation. They will certainly persevere in "wheatness".
--- In Matthew 15:12-13, Jesus again ties together the person-is-a-plant motif with a negative statement about perseverance: "Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying? But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up." - - - The Pharisees were offended and unbelieving because they were not "planted" by the Father. Conversely, everyone who *is* planted by the Father will *not* be rooted up.
Matthew makes it clear that works are absolutely necessary for Christians . . . AFTER justification. Justification and the forgiveness of sins is on the grounds of Christ alone, through the means of faith alone. But I do not deny that works are a necessary consequence of that kind of faith. Neither did Matthew. Neither did the reformers.
"For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses" (Matthew 6:14-15)
Does this verse throw my whole argument out the window? Not by a long shot.
First, does Romans 11:21-22 throw the "Roman Road" out the window? Not at all. Romans has perseverance passages too, and they do not undermine the clear grace-alone-faith-alone message. Then why give special treatment to Matthew 6?
Also consider the context of Matthew 6:14-15. Jesus is not saying these words in the context of justification. The prayer starts, "Our Father", which suggests that the people praying that prayer should already be God's children. Also, it's a *daily* prayer (cf. verse 11). So for a person who has *already* been forgiven of their sins (cf. Matthew 9:2 and 12:37), then they should view Matthew 6:14-15 in the sense of a familial forgiveness, rather than eternal forgiveness of sins at the judgement bar of God. Also, that saved person should be familiar with God's Sovereign election (cf. Matthew 11:20-27, 13, and 15:12-13), then they should have no problem with Matthew 6:14-15 also being a real works-necessity for ultimate glorification. But they should look at it in a perseverance-sense, not an arminian-sense. God does bring about good works from His true children. But salvation cannot be lost!
But if Jesus has not yet saved a person from their sins (cf. Matt. 1:21, 20:28, 26:28), and that person is not yet a child of God (cf. Matt. 10:40), then what would Matthew 6:14-15 mean to that person? If the Lord starts working on that person's heart, then Matthew 6:14-15 should have a similar effect as the rest of the sermon on the mount . . . The whole weight of law in Matthew 5-7 should crush a person, and bring them to an utter lack of trust in their own abilities. And they should then throw themselves upon the only salvation that is possibly left for them: Jesus (cf. Matt. 1:21, 20:28, 26:28).
The Gospel Matthew teaches is the same Gospel Paul preaches in Romans. If I need to preach the grace-alone-faith-alone Gospel to a person, using nothing but the book of Matthew, I can do so. And Matthew's calls for works and perseverance are no more difficult to deal with than similar calls for works and perseverance in the book of Romans.
Need some assurance from Christ? --- He said, "I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world" (Matthew 28:20).
--- Matthew 9:2 is the only place in Matthew where Jesus explicitly forgives a person's sins, and it is on the basis of faith, not works. --- Matthew 12:37 is the only place in Matthew where Jesus tells us how to be "justified", and He says it's on the basis of a true confession of faith, not works.
Sounds very similar to Romans 10:9-10, doesn't it? --- "if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. . . . "
Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. That kind of faith will produce a profession of faith. And good works will flow from that faith. The reformers got it right.
--- article by Joseph M. Gleason - March, 2005
Want to read some more good articles about salvation? Click here
Click here to return to the Bible Lighthouse homepage.
Click here for a printer friendly copy of this article.