WE COME NOW to a passage which is the crux of Paul’s teaching: “who know that a man is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ, and not by works of the law, because by works of the law shall no one be justified” (Gal. 2:16). This passage cuts straight to the heart of the problem of salvation in East and West: Are we saved by what we do, or by what God has done in Jesus Christ? Is salvation an attainment or an obtainment? Do we get salvation by climbing the ladder to God rung by rung until we reach the topmost rung of worthiness where we meet God? Or does God come down the ladder to us in Incarnation, in the Person of Jesus, and does He meet us at the bottom rung as sinners? Is salvation man’s attainment, or is it God’s gift?
That is the question that divides all others from the Christian way—not only the Jews, but the Hindus, the Muslims, the Buddhists, Confucianists, and what not. They all try to climb the ladder to God. It is an egocentric attempt at salvation. When God comes down the ladder to us it is God-centric salvation. In one case we earn it; in the other we receive it as a gift.
Those who try the first way are always on the way; they never arrive. Salvation is always beyond their fingertips. They are wistful, but never witnesses. They are always uncertain, never sure if they have done enough. But those who are humble enough to empty their hands of all self-righteousness and self-striving do receive, and they do become glad witnesses—glad witnesses of the grace of God. “By grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of your own doing, it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8). The one way ends in a dead end of question marks and the other in the open road of exclamation points!
O God, we could not get to Thee—our sins forbade it—so Thou didst come to us. Thy love impelled Thee. Thou didst come bearing our sins in Thine own body on a tree. We cannot but spread abroad the good news. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: If salvation is by grace through faith, that puts a great humility at the heart of my salvation—I’m humble enough to receive.
