68. As for evidence that the modern-day church believes there is no bond uniting goodwill and faith, this is found in the following statements from its teachings regarding justification: Faith is attributed to us as righteousness apart from the works we do; see §12 a. Faith actually does not make us just if it has been formed through acts of goodwill; see §12 b. Good works must be completely excluded from any discussion of our justification and eternal life; see §12f. Good works are not necessary for our salvation; any assertion that they are necessary should be clearly rejected by the church; see §12 g, h, i, j. Our salvation and our faith are not preserved or maintained by goodwill or its works; see §12 l, m. Good works that are mixed up in the business of our being justified are harmful; see §14 g. The works of the spirit or of grace that follow faith as its fruits contribute nothing to our salvation; see §14 d and elsewhere [§§11 b, 13 w].

The inescapable conclusion from all these points is there is no bond between goodwill and that kind of faith; if there were such a bond, it would be harmful to our salvation because it would be harmful to our faith, since our faith would no longer be the sole source of our salvation.

As I have shown above in §§47, 48, 49, 50, it is actually true that that faith is incapable of being united to goodwill. Therefore one could say that it is a matter of foresight and predestination that Protestants tossed goodwill and good works so far away from their faith.

If Protestants had paired their faith with goodwill, it would have been like pairing a leopard with a sheep, a wolf with a lamb, or a hawk with a turtledove. (That faith is in fact described as a leopard in the Book of Revelation; see Revelation 13:2 and the explanation of that verse in Revelation Unveiled 572.)

What is a church without faith? What is faith without goodwill? What is a church, then, if it does not recognize the marriage that exists between faith and goodwill (see §48 above)? This marriage is the church itself; it is the new church that is now being established by the Lord.

8. Faith comes to us through hearing, when we believe that the teachings divinely revealed to us are true and when we trust in God’s promises. Faith is the beginning of human salvation, and the foundation and root of all justification. Without faith, it is impossible to please God and to come into the company of his children. Our justification takes place through faith, hope, and goodwill. Unless hope and goodwill are added to faith, it is dead rather than living and does not unite us to Christ.

We need to cooperate in this process. We have the power to move either closer to or farther away from [Christ]; if we did not, nothing could be granted to us, because we would be like a lifeless body.

Our openness to being justified renews us; this renewal takes place as Christ’s merit is applied to us, as the result of our own cooperation. Therefore we get credit for the works that we do; yet because they are done as a result of grace and through the Holy Spirit, and because Christ alone has earned merit, the rewards God gives us are his own gifts within us. Therefore none of us can attribute anything of merit to ourselves.