Selected quad for the lemma: friend_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
friend_n	abraham_n	faith_n	work_n	983	5	7.3635	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A53686	The doctrine of justification by faith through the imputation of the righteousness of Christ, explained, confirmed, & vindicated by John Owen ...	Owen, John, 1616-1683.	1677 (1677)	Wing O739; ESTC R13355	418,173	622

be genuine precious more precious than Gold of the right nature with that whereunto the Gospel promise of Salvation is annexed 2. This trial was made by Works or by one signal Duty of Obedience prescribed unto him for that very end and purpose For Abraham was to be proposed as a Pattern unto all that should afterwards believe And God provided a signal way for the trial of his Faith namely by an act of Obedience which was so far from being enjoyned by the moral Law that it seemed contrary unto it And if he be proposed unto us as a Pattern of Justification by Works in the sight of God it must be by such Works as God hath not required in the moral Law but such as seem to be contrary thereunto Nor can any man receive any incouragement to expect Justification by Works by telling him that Abraham was justified by Works when he offered up his only Son to God for it will be easie for him to say that as no such Work was ever performed by him so none such was ever required of him But 3 upon Abrahams compliance with the command of God given him in the way of Trial God himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 declares the sincerity of his Faith and his Justification thereon or his gracious acceptance of him This is the whole design of the place which the Apostle traduceth unto his purpose And it contains the whole of what he was to prove and no more Plainly it is granted in it that we are not justified by our Works before God seeing he instances only in a Work performed by a justified believer many years after he was absolutely justified before God But this is evidently proved hereby namely that Faith without Works is dead seeing justifying Faith as is evident in the case of Abraham is that and that alone which brings forth Works of Obedience For on such a Faith alone is a man evidenced declared and pronounced to be justified or accepted with God Abraham was not then first justified He was not then said to be justified he was declared to be justified and that by and upon his Works which contains the whole of what the Apostle intends to prove There is therefore no appearance of the least contradiction between this Apostle and Paul who professedly asserts that Abraham was not justified before God by Works For James only declares that by the Works which he performed after he was justified he was manifested and declared so to be And that this was the whole of his design he manifests in the next verses where he declares what he had proved by this instance ver 22. Seest thou how Faith wrought with his Works and by Works was Faith made perfect Two things he inforceth as proved unto the conviction of him with whom he had to do 1 That true Faith will operate by Works so did Abrahams it was effective in Obedience 2 That it was made perfect by Works that is evidenced so to be For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth no where in the Scripture signifie the internal formal perfecting of any thing but only the external complement or perfection of it or the manifestation of it It was compleat as unto its proper effect when he was first justified and it was now manifested so to be See Mat. 5.48 Col. 4.12 2 Cor. 12.9 This saith the Apostle I have proved in the instance of Abraham namely that it is Works of Obedience alone that can evince a man to be justified or to have that Faith whereby he may be so 3 He adds in the confirmation of what he had affirmed ver 23. And the Scripture was fulfilled which saith Abraham believed God and it was imputed unto him for Righteousness and he was called the friend of God Two things the Apostle affirms here●● 1 That the Scripture mentioned was fulfilled It was so in that Justification by Works which he ascribes unto Abraham But how this Scripture was herein fulfilled either as unto the time wherein it was spoken or as unto the thing it self any otherwise but as that which is therein asserted was evidenced and declared no man can explain what the Scripture affirmed so long before of Abraham was then evidenced to be most true by the Works which his Faith produced and so that Scripture was accomplished For otherwise supposing the distinctions made between Faith and Works by himself and the opposition that he puts between them adding thereunto the sense given of this place by the Apostle Paul with the direct importance of the words and nothing can be more contradictory unto his design namely if he intended to prove our Justification before God by Works than the quotation of this Testimony Wherefore this Scripture neither was nor can be otherwise fulfilled by Abrahams Justification by Works but only that by and upon them he was manifested so to be 2 He adds that hereon he was called the friend of God So he is Isa. 41.8 as also 2 Chron. 20.7 This is of the same importance with his being justified by Works For he was not thus called merely as a justified person but as one who had received singular priviledges from God and answered them by an holy walking before him Wherefore his being called the friend of God was Gods approbation of his Faith and Obedience which is the Justification by Works that the Apostle asserts Hereon he makes a double conclusion for the instance of Rahab being of the same nature and spoken unto before I shall not insist again upon it 1 As unto his present argument ver 24. 2 As unto the whole of his design v. 26. The first is that by works a man is justified and not by Faith only Ye see then you whom I design to convince of the vanity of that imagination that you are justified by a dead Faith a breathless Carcass of Faith a mere assent unto the Truth of the Gospel and profession of it consistent with all manner of impiety and wholly destitute of good fruits you may see what Faith it is that is required unto Justification and Salvation For Abraham was declared to be Righteous to be justified on that Faith which wrought by Works and not at all by such a Faith as you pretend unto A man is justified by Works as Abraham was when he had offered up his Son to God That is what he really was by Faith long before as the Scripture testifieth was then and thereby evidenced and declared And therefore let no man suppose that by the Faith which they boasted of any one is or can be justified seeing that whereon Abraham was declared to be so was that which evidenced it self by its fruits 2 He lays down that great conclusion which he had evinced by his whole Disputation and which at first he designed to confirm v. 26. For as the body without the spirit is dead so Faith without Works is dead also A breathless Carcass and an unworking Faith are alike as unto all the ends of natural or spiritual life This was that which the Apostle designed from the beginning to convince vain and barren professors of which accordingly he hath given sufficient Reason and Testimony for FINIS