A Book Review from Books At a Glance
by Ozzy Wei
Acts 16:25-34 contains a story about the Philippian jailer who cries out, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (ESV). Paul and Silas respond, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household” (ESV). In Michael Reeves’s short and compelling book, Right with God, a defense is made for ensuring Christ’s righteousness, the justification upon the individual who believes in faith, is the sole basis for one’s salvation. Individuals need not look internally for assurance of salvation, but externally, at Christ’s righteousness, which has been clothed upon those confessing faith in him (Rom 10:9-10, 13; 1 Cor 1:30).
Reeves’s work can be summarized as follows: through faith in Christ, believers are in right standing with God because of Christ’s righteousness, evidenced by one’s lifestyle. Referencing James 2:14-26, Reeves contends that while individuals cannot be saved by their works, their works evidence their justification (pp. 37-40). Elsewhere, Reeves writes, “the believer…will grow more Christlike over time, but never more righteous (p. 33). Christ accomplished what the world could not: providing a wrath-satisfying righteousness for sinners (Rom 6:23; Eph 2:8-10). Assurance of one’s salvation is found in looking to Christ’s finished work, the judicial decision that one is guilt-free before God at the Judgement Day (1 Jn 5:13) (pp. 45-48). That God demonstrated his pursuing love through the gift of his Son (Jn 3:16; Rom 5:8) and proved that he loved the world first (1 Jn 4:19) is the basis for understanding the liberating reality of justification by faith in Christ alone (p. 51).
Martin Luther’s articulation of justification by faith using the grand marriage story within Scripture (Isa 61:10-62:5; Rev 19:6-8) best illustrates Reeves’s thesis (p. 31). Like a king who marries a poor woman, and the poor woman shares in the king’s possessions, God shares Christ with his children, who will become more Christlike over time. The result is a believer who can be assured of their salvation, joyful in Christ now and forevermore.
I gladly recommend this short reading, considering its simple argument and ability to draw out the profound truth of Christ’s justifying work. Furthermore, the history of the church has been plagued with suggestions about earning one’s salvation through works or losing one’s salvation because one falls short in holy living. For Reeves, the “centreground of the Christian good news” is justification (p. 9). Rather than attempting to clothe oneself for approval before God, one needs only recognize that God has provided Christ’s righteousness as the only clothing needed for approval in his sight (2 Cor 5:21).
Osbert B. Wei