No. 27 Paul talks about being judged according to works�at the end, Paul says, �He will render to each one according to his works.� How does that jibe with our belief�and Paul�s clear teaching in other portions of Romans and his other epistles�that we are justified by grace alone? >>PROFESSOR ROLAND ZIEGLER: Yeah, that's -- that seems to be quite an important contradiction. On the one hand Paul talks all the time about being justified through faith without works. And then when he talks about Judgement Day, when push comes to shove he says, "Well, everybody will receive according to his works" In II Corinthians 5:10. But it's not only Paul but you can also look again at Jesus' speeches in Matthew 25 when the sheep and the goats are separated. And what a does Jesus talk about? He talks about the works of mercy. He doesn't say: Oh, yeah, you believe and you did not believe and therefore, believers, you are the sheep. You non-believers are the goats. But rather he talks about visiting the sick and clothing the naked, burying the dead and feeding the hungry. So are there two different lines in the New Testament, works righteousness and righteousness by faith. And we just have to choose? Or are the Roman Catholics in the end right? All that talk about justification -- a Judgement Day when things really count, then it's works. So you better do good works. Well, let's assume that Paul did not lose it when he made these statements or that he was just, you know, some kind of a disheveled -- at least mentally disheveled person who at one time says something and then at another time he squarely contradicted himself. When Jesus and Paul talk about works in the context of judgement, that does not mean that the works are the basis and the reason for the judgement so that you end up with this kind of works righteousness. Jesus himself says in John 3.18: He that believes in him -- that is God -- is not condemned. It's faith that does not condemn. And conversely, it is the unbelief in the Son of God that condemns. And of course when we talk about justification in our lifetime, what is justification? It's a forensic term. It's acquital. So when we say that we are justified, acquitted, by God, now it does not mean that God has two different standards. Well, now he gives you a preliminary acquital. But on Judgement Day, there is the final acquital and then faith does not count but only works. No. Justification that happens now in time, the acquital, is the same as will happen at the end. It's the same judgement. And it's the same norm. The works will only show that this is a righteous acquital. The works are signs of either faith or unbelief. They are not the basis. We have to remember when we talk about works and good works that this is not some catalog of moral deeds that you have to fulfill. How many hours did you volunteer in the soup kitchen? How many old ladies did you help cross the street? How much money did you give to your church? And how much money did you spend on yourself? It's not this kind of good works that we're talking about. Good works are works that are done in faith. And that's the teaching of Paul. And that's the teaching of Jesus when he says: Can a bad tree bring good fruit? No. So you have to change the tree. How is the tree changed? How is man changed? Not by doing good. You can't condition yourself. It's not some kind of an exercise program: Let's do good works and then I become good. No. The good person, that is the person who believes, brings forth works of faith, good works. At Judgement Day these good works will be revealed. And as the parable of the sheep and the goat shows, even Christians might be sometimes surprised about what is a good work and what is not. We do not do good works to get a good balance on Judgement Day. Because these are not good works. Because we don't do them for God or for our neighbor. That would be works that we do for ourselves. They would be selfish works. Good works flow from faith. So bad works flow from unbelief. At Judgement Day it will be revealed that these good works are really good works because they can flow from faith. Whereas the unbeliever, even though he might live a very moral life and he is very active in the civil community and he does good things, that these works are good in the sense of a civil righteousness. But they are not good in the sense of the spiritual righteousness. Because they do not flow out of faith. Or you can also say they do not flow out of a love that is truly unselfish and disinterested. So on Judgement Day, the good works of the Christian will be revealed. And it will be revealed what works are done by hypocrites and unbelievers, even though they might seem good. They are signs, not the basis of the final judgement. It remains true that we are acquitted on account of faith. And we are condemned on account of unbelief.