Righteousness by Faith, Deeds, or Both?
While attending college, a fellow student told me I had to “believe in Jesus,” or go to hell.
This Christian student insisted that faith alone not deeds got you to heaven based it on a verse in the Torah portion of Lech Lecha, which says in Genesis 15:6 Avraham was promised descendants because he “believed in the Lord, and he accounted it to him as righteousness [tzedakah].
He was surprised when pointed out that in context God’s promise to Abraham that he would have countless descendants, was fulfilled not only because of his faith, but also because he observed God’s commandments, as it says in Genesis 26:5 .
He was even more astonished when I reminded him that the New Testament teaches in James 2:17 that “Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”
Trying to deflect my points he asked me how I understood the verse “He accounted it to him as righteousness [tzedakah].”
First, I pointed out that when King David recalls the story of Pinchas, who zealously stopped a plague he uses similar words as Genesis 15 and said in Psalms 106:30–31 “Pinchas arose and executed judgment, and the plague was halted, and it was accounted to him as righteousness” This shows that deeds, and not faith alone, were accounted as righteousness.
Then I explained that the Hebrew word tzedakah used in Genesis 15, although often translated as “righteousness,” can also mean “charity.” Therefore, the verse can be read to mean that Abraham regarded God’s promise of children as an “act of charity.” This interpretation highlights Abraham’s gratitude and humility.
In Judaism, humility is more than the absence of pride or ego—it is the willingness to submit to God, the giver of life and the ultimate lawgiver.
No wonder King Solomon said in Proverbs 22:4, “The reward of humility is the fear [or the awe] of the Lord.” And the Torah teaches in Deuteronomy 10:12–13, “What does the Lord your God ask of you but to be in awe of the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to love Him, and to observe His commandments for your own good?”
May we experience true goodness through the path of Torah, which Proverbs 3:18 calls “a Tree of Life to all who hold fast to it.”
Shabbat Shalom.
Rabbi Bentzion Kravitz
© 2025 Jews for Judaism
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