It was when an evangelical said to Coco, the grace we gave for lunch counts for the coffee and cake that was taken later that Coco understood that despite the words of the partially unreformed confession; found in, inter alia, the Thirty-nine Articles, not the Steps, which are of an altogether different sort, of later fame, which states:
Thomas Cranmer 1553 paragraph 13 in the 42 Articles*
- Of Works of Supererogation
Voluntary Works besides, over and above, God’s Commandments, which they call Works of Supererogation, cannot be taught without arrogancy and impiety: for by them men do declare, that they do not only render unto God as much as they are bound to do, but that they do more for his sake, than of bounden duty is required: whereas Christ saith plainly When ye have done all that are commanded to you, say, We are unprofitable servants.
there are those who do think in supererogatory terms in the reformed world.
This lead him on to understand that the whole of his justification in fact rests upon supererogatory works.
In simple terms works of supererogation are those good works, if good works can be done, which are above and beyond those works which are required to gain entrance into eternal felicity, whereas a shortfall in those works will lead to the inevitable eternal morosity, woe, disaster and destruction. This excess of good works, not being required by the performer thereof, may then be appropriated for the use of one who has a deficiency of good works providing the claimant meets certain conditions. More often than not the ability and right to dispense the benefit of such supererogatory works lay in the hands of a clergy who were largely ignorant, whether wilfully or by reason of a lack of teaching, of the teaching of the Word of God on the matter of good works and the manner in which justification, and therefore entrance into eternal felicity, is obtained, and lying as it was in the hands of men, the dispensation was open to abuse by reason of the error, formerly described by the words, as respect of persons, meaning that the favours were given to those who provided the best return or consideration to the benefactor.
As Moses says:
[The Lord said to me]: ” 5 ‘Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to me above all people; for all the earth is mine. 6 And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.” Exodus 19
And again: ” 3 ‘If you walk in my statutes and keep my commandments, and perform them, 4 then I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. 5 Your threshing shall last till the time of vintage, and the vintage shall last till the time of sowing; you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. 6 I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none will make you afraid; I will rid the land of evil beasts, and the sword will not go through your land. 7 You will chase your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword before you. 8 Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight; your enemies shall fall by the sword before you.
9 For I will look on you favourably and make you fruitful, multiply you and confirm my covenant with you. 10 You shall eat the old harvest, and clear out the old because of the new. 11 I will set my tabernacle among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. 12 I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be my people. 13 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves; I have broken the bands of your yoke and made you walk upright.’ Leviticus 26
As may be understood by an examination of these texts, the benefits that would accrue to those who kept the commandments of God were inestimable. It is the keeping of the commandments that we are, in terms used by the article above, bound to give to God. That is our duty. Moses summed it up in this was:
The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. Deuteronomy 29:29
Paul summed this up in this way: For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, “The man who does those things shall live by them.” Romans 10:5
Five or so hundred years later a verdict was given on whether they had been able to keep his commandments, though as we read on in Moses it quickly become clear how far short they are falling:
The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good. 2 The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek God. 3 They have all turned aside, They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one. Psalm 14
It is said frequently said in theological studies, that God only needs to say something once for us to know that it is true, but so important was it that we would understood that this is divine verdict, and in case we did not understand the first time, David provides a slightly different version of the same thing:
The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity; There is none who does good. 2 God looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek God. 3 Every one of them has turned aside; They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one. Psalm 53
There is no one who even reaches this low standard of simply keeping the commandments that he has given – that is the rendering to God what we are bound to do – let alone anyone to be able to perform works in excess of that, save one, who in the fullness of time came into this world, and in coming said:
5 [Therefore, when he came into the world, he said:] “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you have prepared for me. 6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you had no pleasure. 7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come – in the volume of the book it is written of me – to do your will, O God.’ ” Hebrews 10 quoting David in Psalm 40
This one had no need of any of his good works, for he was in himself righteous, and so in doing the will of God all of his works are in a sense above and beyond what were required for him to be accounted righteous and therefore supererogatory. It is his works that give us our righteousness:
17 For if by the one man’s offence death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) 18 Therefore, as through one man’s offence judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. 19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous. Romans 5
The benefit of the one man’s obedience is inestimable, and as may be seen, even from this short passage, where Paul speaks of ‘reigning in life’, to be as great if not greater than the benefits of which Moses spoke. Paul spoke elsewhere in these terms of the benefit which accrues to the justified:
16 Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 21 For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. 2 Corinthians 5
He also here explains further how this came about. He speaks of it in terms of an exchange. This is the great exchange. Our sin was not imputed to us, but to Christ who in paying the price for sin, enabled God the just to justify the sinner by imputing the righteousness of Christ to him. He takes our sin and he gives us his righteousness.
To the opponents of this doctrine of justification by faith alone without works this sounds as if God is being unrighteous, It appears as if he were letting the sinner off, but Paul answers this objection in the following way, without in anyway diminishing the seriousness of sin and the need for justice to be done:
21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by his blood, through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Romans 3
It is the death of Christ that satisfies the righteous requirement of the law, and propitiates God towards us. As we read above: God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.
And later, in accordance to the verdict long ago announced by David and implicit already in Moses, that it is impossible for men to establish their own righteousness due to their inability to keep his commandments he tells us that those who do attempt to do so fall into greater peril:
3 For [Israel] being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. Romans 10
It is a great peril to fall short of God’s requirements and to fail to give him what is due, but it is an even greater peril to then refuse to submit to the righteousness that God has provided to make up the shortfall in our own putative righteousness.
Now Coco is fully aware that this is not what the proponents of supererogation mean by their doctrine, but if they can take and twist the meaning of the doctrine of justification by faith alone to their own ends, then Coco is not above taking a word that they use to instil it with new meaning entirely aligned with Augustinian, Reformed, Pauline, New and Old Testament Biblical doctrine, as Moses said of Abraham who coming before Moses had no opportunity to keep the law of Moses, therefore it cannot be that law that justifies, but who was, as Moses testifies, justified:
6 And [Abraham] believed in JHWH(the LORD), and he accounted it to him for righteousness. Genesis 15
We only need to look at Abraham’s life to know that he, as we do, fell short of God’s standard, nevertheless the one who is just justified Abraham on the same basis that he justifies us, by the work of the Redeemer who had been promised long ago to Adam and who would come twenty-five hundred years after Abraham to gain the righteousness that the LORD had imputed to Abraham and to all of his people.
Believe, therefore, on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Acts 16
* ¶ Woorkes of Superero∣gation.
[13] VOluntarie woorkes besides, ouer, and a∣boue Goddes commaundementes, whiche thei cal woorkes of Supererogation, can∣not be taught without arrogancie, and iniquitie. For by theim menne dooe declare, that thei dooe not onely rendre to GOD, asmoche as thei are bounde to dooe, but that thei dooe more for his sake, then of bounden duetie is required: Where∣as Christe saieth plainelie: when you haue dooen al that are commaunded you, saie, we be vnprofi∣table seruauntes.
Church of England. [[London]: Richardus Craftonus [sic] typographus Regius excudebat. Londini, mense Iunij. An. do. M .D.LIII [1553]]. Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership, 2011, https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo2/A00041.0001.001/1:2.13?rgn=div2;view=fulltext, accessed 23 September 2023.