Covenant and commandment

the long version

The heirs of the Protestant Reformation have emphasized salvation by grace in general and sola fide ('by faith alone') in particular. It was important for the church to recover the central biblical truth that we are justified by God, that this is an act of God's grace, and that faith -- apart from works -- is the means by which we are justified. A related issue is the nature of works or obedience or faithfulness in the Christian life. While evangelicals can generally agree that a person enters into a covenant relationship with God by grace (even solely by grace) apart from works, there is often much more disagreement over how to construe the nature of works, or obedience, inside this covenental relationship. From a close study of key Old and New Testament texts, Bradley Green shows that in the new covenant, works or obedience will be a God-elicited, real and necessary part of Christian life. In short, 'works' are 'necessary' for salvation, because part of the 'newness' of the new covenant is real, grace-induced and grace-elicited obedience by its true members. - Back cover.