Adam, Merit, and the Judgment

It’s been suggested that there is some conflict between my denial of human merit and my defense of judgment according to works.

There is no conflict. There is not even a tension. Nary a whisper.

We are judged, after all, according to works that are entirely gifts of God. The life we live in the flesh – the life of action and doing – is lived by faith in the Son of God who lives in me. As Augustine said, when God rewards our works, He is simply crowning His own works. At the judgment, the Father gives judgment into the hands of the Son, who approves the works we have done, which have been produced by the Spirit. God the Father looked at the fruit trees springing from the ground (the ground really producing them) on the third day, turned to the Son and Spirit, and said, “That’s good.” At the final judgment, the Son will approve what we have done, which is the effect and fruit of the Spirit working in us. We are not rewarded because we have earned the reward, because we done so well that we have staked a claim on God; there’s no merit here any more than there was for Adam. We receive a reward of grace, just as Adam would have if he had remained faithful.

On the other hand, there is a tension between a meritorious covenant with Adam and judgment according to works. Evaluation according to works, on this paradigm, is the standard in Eden but never after. From the garden’s gate to the final judgment, we are evaluated only according to imputed righteousness.