Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
-Romans 10:1-4
I think sometimes when contemplating good works, we are tempted to supplant godly faith with sincerity of faith. There’s an insidious subtlety here. The errant assumption is ‘that because someone is very earnest in their seeking God (irrespective of one’s motivation) that God somehow approves of their zealousness, even though it’s awry’. Good works must be wrought by holy faith to be righteous in God’s eyes.
In the case of the Jews in Romans 10:1-4, they apparently knew God (ala Romans 1:20); however, God did not recognize their faith as righteous. They were accustomed to worshipping Him with wrongly motivated hearts. While they strove to keep the Law, they failed to understand in their zeal that it isn’t about the keeping of God’s laws that truly matters but, rather, one’s motivation for doing so. If your motivation is self-aggrandizing and self-righteous, then your zeal for God is unrighteous.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
-Romans 1:18-21
There’s a difference between knowing God and worshipping Him righteously.
According to Romans 1:19-21, every human being ever born knows God. Even the demons know God; however, they, like every unbeliever who’s ever lived, refuse to worship Him with proper faith. In order to worship God properly, said faith must be given to a person by God (ala Ephesians 2:8-9). There are churches filled with fervent unbelievers.
So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?
-James 2:17-20
Jesus saw right past the shiny religion of those who worshipped God with a pseudo-faith of their own making. No one at the time would have accused the scribes and Pharisees of lacking zeal or fervor. However, Jesus called out their unrighteous worship as if it were a personal assault on His Word (which it was). He reserved His most potent venom for those whom He called “hypocrites”. The English word 'hypocrite' comes from the Greek word 'hypokrites', which means "an actor."
Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.
“Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred?
And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.
-Matthew 23:12-22
God is not impressed with sincerity of heart (remember, man’s fallen heart is dark, by nature – Jeremiah 17:9); rather, He’s impressed with His own good work in man. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). It’s never enough for a person to say they know God. Everyone knows Him, according to Holy Scripture (ref: blog dated 1/16/22, There Is No Such Thing as an Atheist). While some admit knowing Him and worship Him fervently from a crooked, unrighteous heart – “they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge” (Romans 10:2), others know Him and worship Him righteously, glorifying His name. As the apostle Paul wrote, “whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).
Love in Christ,
Ed Collins
