Faith Comes Before Faithfulness

9 Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. 10 How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. 11 He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, 12 and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. – Romans 4:9-12 ESV

The “blessing” Paul refers to is the one mentioned in the previous two verses, where he quoted directly from the Psalms.

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
    whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,
    and in whose spirit there is no deceit. - Psalm 32:1-2 ESV 

This blessing includes the forgiveness of sin because of the atonement or payment for those sins by another, leaving the one forgiven with no guilt or further remnants of that sin. Paul says that this remarkable blessing is not just reserved for the Jews, those he refers to as “the circumcised.” This is because the blessing is available to everyone through faith, just as Abraham's righteous standing was made possible by his faith.

Paul makes it clear that God declared Abraham righteous long before He commanded Abraham to be circumcised. Genesis 15 records Abraham’s encounter with God when he was informed about the divine plans for his future.

Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!” – Genesis 15:5 NLT

Despite the fact that Abraham was in his mid-80s at the time and his wife Sarah was barren, the text states, “Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith” (Genesis 15:6 NLT).  It was nearly two decades later that Abraham received God’s command to practice the rite of circumcision.

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am El-Shaddai—‘God Almighty.’ Serve me faithfully and live a blameless life. I will make a covenant with you, by which I will guarantee to give you countless descendants.” – Genesis 17:1-2 NLT

God agreed to confirm His covenant agreement with Abraham and his future descendants.

“I will confirm my covenant with you and your descendants after you, from generation to generation. This is the everlasting covenant: I will always be your God and the God of your descendants after you. And I will give the entire land of Canaan, where you now live as a foreigner, to you and your descendants. It will be their possession forever, and I will be their God.” – Genesis 17:7-8 NLT

But God informed Abraham that their confirmation of the covenant would come with a cost. Every male member of Abraham’s future family would be required to undergo circumcision.

“Your responsibility is to obey the terms of the covenant. You and all your descendants have this continual responsibility. This is the covenant that you and your descendants must keep: Each male among you must be circumcised. You must cut off the flesh of your foreskin as a sign of the covenant between me and you. From generation to generation, every male child must be circumcised on the eighth day after his birth. This applies not only to members of your family but also to the servants born in your household and the foreign-born servants whom you have purchased. All must be circumcised. Your bodies will bear the mark of my everlasting covenant.” – Genesis 17:9-13 NLT

Circumcision was to be a physical reminder of their covenant commitment to God. It was never intended to be guarantee their right standing before God. Paul emphasizes this point when he states, “He [Abraham] received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised” (Romans 4:11 ESV).

In other words, Abraham's right standing before God had nothing to do with circumcision, but circumcision had everything to do with his right standing before God. It was to be a symbol of his unique relationship with God, rooted in his faith in God. The rite of circumcision did not justify anyone with God, any more than the rite of baptism makes someone right with God today. The descendants of Abraham were to practice circumcision as a sign that they believed in God’s covenant promises. It was an outward demonstration of their faith. Refusing to be circumcised was a demonstration of a lack of faith and would result in that individual’s expulsion from God’s covenant community.

“Any male who fails to be circumcised will be cut off from the covenant family for breaking the covenant.” – Genesis 17:14 NLT

Like baptism, circumcision was intended to be an outward sign of something that had taken place inwardly. However, the Jews had turned circumcision into the source of their righteousness when God had intended it as the sign of their righteousness. Circumcision without faith in God was worthless; it meant nothing. Paul stated this truth earlier when he wrote: “A true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by the Spirit. And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people.” (Romans 2:29 NLT).

In the book of Jeremiah, God prophetically declared, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will punish all those who are circumcised merely in the flesh…all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart” (Jeremiah 9:25, 26 ESV).

Paul tells us that God declared Abraham righteous prior to the covenant of circumcision because He intended Abraham to be the father of all who believe “without being circumcised” (Romans 4:11 ESV). The righteousness God required was based on faith, not works; it was founded on belief, not on obedience to a command. Righteousness could be earned, and it was not a standard to be met. 

…it is a change of heart produced by the Spirit. – Romans 2:29 NLT

In plain language, it was to be a work of God, not man, and was to be provided by God, not man. So that no man could boast or brag.

The book of Jeremiah records God’s pleas for His covenant people to return to Him.

“Plow up the hard ground of your hearts! Do not waste your good seed among thorns. O people of Judah and Jerusalem, surrender your pride and power. Change your hearts before the Lord, or my anger will burn like an unquenchable fire because of all your sins.” – Jeremiah 4:3-4 NLT

The people of Judah were guilty of unbelief, having failed to trust God and believe His promises concerning them. They had gone after other gods and made alliances with other nations. They had broken His commands and lived in the false security of their status as God's chosen people. But what God was calling them to do was impossible for them. They would never be able to surrender their pride and power. They did not possess the capacity to change their hearts. As a result, God's punishment was coming.

They would experience His wrath against their sin and rebellion, but God would not annihilate them. Instead, He would preserve them. And while He would allow them to fall into captivity among their enemies for 70 years, He would also restore them to their land and reestablish them as a people. Why? Because He had made a promise to Abraham. God had told Abraham, “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:3 ESV). He had also promised, “To your offspring I will give this land” (Genesis 12:7 ESV).

But in the book of Galatians, Paul makes a clarifying interpretation of these passages. “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, ‘And to offsprings,’ referring to many, but referring to one, ‘And to your offspring,’ who is Christ” (Galatians 3:16 ESV). In other words, God's promise to bless the nations through Abraham would be fulfilled through one of his descendants – specifically, Jesus. God made His promise to Abraham long before He gave the law to the people of Israel. So Paul concludes: “The agreement God made with Abraham could not be canceled 430 years later when God gave the law to Moses. God would be breaking his promise. For if the inheritance could be received by keeping the law, then it would not be the result of accepting God’s promise. But God graciously gave it to Abraham as a promise” (Galatians 3:17-18 NLT).

Our righteousness is made possible by faith in the promise of God, just as it was for Abraham. I am not made right with God by trying to live up to His righteous standards. I am made right with Him when I recognize my complete inability to meet His criteria for righteousness and place my faith in His plan for my salvation: His Son's death, burial, and resurrection. 

Jesus died to pay the penalty for my sins, He rose again to prove that His sacrifice was acceptable to God, and He took on my sin and imparted to me His righteousness. All men are made right with God through faith in His Son. When we place our faith in God's plan of salvation, we walk in the footsteps of the faith Abraham laid down all those years ago.

The righteous shall live by faith. – Romans 1:17 ESV

Father, thank You for the gift of faith. It is certainly not something we could have produced. Your Spirit makes faith in Your promises possible. If left to our own devices, we would refuse to believe. Like the Israelites, we would turn our backs on You and worship other gods. In fact, we all do it every day. We are prone to unfaithfulness.; it is built into our fallen DNA. But Your Spirit graciously regenerates those who are dead in their trespasses and sins, and opens their eyes to see the glory of Your grace-based gospel. And when we place our faith in the truth of Your Son’s death, burial, and resurrection, we receive new life. We are born again. Not based on our feeble attempts to keep a list of religious rules or regulations, but based solely on grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.22

The Only Way That Matters

27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30 since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. 31 Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law. – Romans 3:27-31 ESV

When it comes to righteousness or obtaining a right standing before God, does anyone have grounds on which to boast? Is it possible for a Jew to claim righteousness because of his adherence to the law? If it were, Paul asserts, then Christ died in vain. If righteousness is available through self-effort or by keeping the law, then the Gentiles are hopeless, because God did not give them His law. But Paul asks, “Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also?” (Romans 3:29 ESV). Then he answers his own question. “Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one…” (Romans 3:30 ESV).

There are not two plans of salvation – one for the Jews and one for the Gentiles. God did not set up two means of attaining righteousness – one through good works and the other through faith. God “will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith” (Romans 3:30 ESV). In this last sentence, Paul uses two different prepositions: by and through. One is the Greek word ek, and the other is dia, and they both mean essentially the same thing: “by” means “of.”

Most likely, Paul used two different prepositions when speaking of Jews and Gentiles to illustrate that God chose to deal with each in two distinct ways. To the Jews, He gave the law. But it was to show them His holy expectations and their inability to meet them. The Gentiles did not receive the law; they were essentially outsiders. In writing to the Gentile believers in Ephesus, Paul reminded them of their former lives as outcasts.

Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called ‘uncircumcised heathens’ by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. – Ephesians 2:11-12 NLT

Then he gave them the good news.

But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ. – Ephesians 2:13 NLT

They had drawn near to God because they had been made right with Him, through the blood of Christ and faith. Both Jews and Gentiles are made right with God by and through faith. What looked like two different paths was essentially one and the same. The gospel of God (His plan for man's salvation) was always going to go through Jesus. That is why Paul can so confidently and emphatically state, “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law” (Romans 3:28 ESV). He doesn't say, “in conjunction with” or “alongside” works of the law. In other words, justification stands based solely on faith, and that faith must be placed in a single source: God's offer of salvation made possible through the death of His own Son.

In his letter to the believers in Corinth, Paul provides a synopsis of the gospel, the good news in which they had placed their faith.

I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. – 1 Corinthians 15:3-5 NLT

He came, died, was buried, rose again, and appeared. And Paul says, “so we preach and so you believed” (1 Corinthians 15:11 ESV).

It is belief in God's gospel that brings about our justification. We are made right with God through faith in His redemptive plan, not our own futile efforts to live a righteous life.

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. – 2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV

It is our belief in that reality that makes us right with God. In the next chapter of Romans, Paul states, “He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right [justified] with God” (Romans 4:25 NLT). That is what we must believe. It is in that truth we must place our faith. 

So does faith eliminate and invalidate the law? Not in the least. Paul claims that when we are justified by faith, we actually uphold the law. Paul uses the Greek word histēmi’, which means “to uphold or sustain the authority or force of anything” (Outline of Biblical Usage). Our ability to keep the law is made possible through our faith in the redemptive work of Christ. Our capacity to live righteously or rightly is given to us by God through our faith in Christ. Paul summarizes our new relationship with the law in a later chapter.

For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. – Romans 8:2-4 ESV

Through His gospel, God has made it possible for men to live in harmony with Him by placing the desire to keep His commands in their hearts. No longer do we serve Him in the flesh or through our human effort. And that is good news because “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:8 ESV).

Because of God’s grace-based, love-motivated gospel, we live by faith in Christ and according to the power of the Holy Spirit. As Paul emphatically states in Chapter 8, this gospel of redemption is truly good news.

If Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. – Romans 8:10 ESV

Father, Paul’s seeming obsession with this topic makes sense. If we get this wrong, it’s not just a matter of semantics or a doctrinal error, it has eternal ramifications. Any slight alteration to the gospel is not only wrong, it’s potentially deadly. Yet, we continue to chase after gospel alternatives that allow us to pursue righteousness on our own and according to our agenda. We humans inherently love rules, but we have a tendency to cherry pick the rules we want to keep. Even worse, we brazenly create our own lists of dos and dont’s and measure our righteousness by self-determined standards designed to make us look good. But You have a much higher standard, one that is impossible for us to keep. Even though You were aware of man’s incapacity to live up to Your moral code, You didn’t dumb it down or compromise Your standards. Instead, You sent Your Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body You declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Jesus as a sacrifice for our sins (Romans 8:3-4). That had always been Your plan and it is the only one that will work. No other gospel or plan of redemption exists that can restore sinful men to a right relationship with You. Thank You for Jesus. Thank You for the good news of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.22

Self-Righteousness Is Self-Delusional

9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written:

“None is righteous, no, not one;
11 no one understands;
    no one seeks for God.
12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
    no one does good,
    not even one.”
13 “Their throat is an open grave;
    they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16     in their paths are ruin and misery,
17 and the way of peace they have not known.”
18     “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” – Romans 3:9-18 ESV

Paul has just said that the Jews do have an advantage, because they “were entrusted with the oracles of God” (Romans 3:2 ESV). They had been given the seal of circumcision as a sign of the covenant that God had made with them. They were His chosen people whom He had promised to bless them and, through them, bless all the nations of the earth. He had led them, protected them, given them their own land, provided them with His law, privileged them with His presence, and instituted a sacrificial system that provided them with atonement for their sins. So, they did have a distinct advantage.

Yet, Paul begins verse nine with a question: “What then? Are we Jews any better off?” And then he answers his own question: “No, not at all.”

Though the Jews had an advantage, that did not mean they availed themselves of it. Some, like Abraham, recognized that their righteousness was determined by faith and not by works, and they trusted in God's promises. Better yet, they trusted in God. Martin Luther writes, “Abraham did not believe God in order that he might become the father of many nations, but he believed God as the One who is true and faithful” (Martin Luther, Commentary on Romans).

Abraham believed in God’s faithfulness even though he lived as a nomad, never owning a home in the very land God had promised as his inheritance. Abraham died long before his descendants became a mighty nation. And yet, he believed. He trusted in the faithfulness of God. Quoting St. Augustine, Martin Luther writes, “God is glorified through faith, hope, and love. According to a common saying, God is directly insulted by three sins: unbelief, despair, and hatred” (Martin Luther, Commentary on Romans).

Failing to believe in God was an ongoing issue for the Israelites that manifested itself in idolatry, disobedience, stubbornness, immorality, selfishness, and the constant urge to achieve righteousness through self-effort.

So Paul says even the Jews were no better off than the Gentiles. All are under sin. Then, to support his statement, Paul turns to the Old Testament Scriptures. Verses 10-18 are drawn from the Psalms and the writings of the prophets Jeremiah and Isaiah. Acting as a prosecuting attorney, Paul brings glaring evidence to bear against all who might try to defend their self-produced righteousness before God.

Every man and woman stands guilty and condemned. None is righteous or understands the truth about God's holiness and His determination that righteousness is through faith alone. There is no one who seeks God. Instead, they seek their own will and pleasure. They gladly accept whatever they can get from God, but they have no desire for a relationship with Him.

Paul uses the Scriptures to paint a bleak picture of man's condition. But he is attempting to present the glory of the gospel as “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith” (Romans 1:16-17 ESV). Paul's thesis statement for his letter is “the righteous shall live by faith” (Romans 1:18 ESV). So he goes out of his way to prove that, without faith, no one is righteous, and that includes his own people, the Jews.

When John the Baptist began his ministry, he had a singular message

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” – Matthew 3:2 ESV

Later, after John was arrested by Herod, Jesus picked up that same message.

From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” – Matthew 4:17 ESV

When we read the word "repent," we tend to think of someone turning away from sin, and while that is an accurate reading of the word, it is far from complete. To repent means “to change one's mind.” So when John and Jesus called the people of Israel to repentance, they were telling them to change their minds. But about what? Sin? No, sin was the outcome of something else. They needed to change their minds about God and the means of achieving a righteous standing before Him. They still believed that righteousness was based on works, had long ago stopped believing in God's faithfulness, and had begun believing in the myth of their own capacity to please Him.

They thought they could earn God's favor by trying to keep His law. But Jesus told them to repent by changing their minds. He was calling them to believe in Him. All they believed about God and righteousness was wrong, and therefore, their view of their own sinfulness was mistaken. Because of their “good works,” they saw themselves as righteous and without sin.

But Paul was not going to let anyone stand on the lie of self-righteousness. So he proved man's guilt with the words of God.

“There is none who does good, not even one.” – Psalm 14:3 ESV

Self-righteousness is self-delusional. The belief in one’s own sinlessness is ridiculous. John wrote, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8 ESV). Self-deceit may make us feel better about ourselves, but it does not make us righteous before God. Faith in ourselves is not the kind of faith God is looking for.

Father, man is obsessed with his own self-righteousness. I guess we take a certain amount of personal pride in our capacity to do the right thing. But, according to You, even our best deeds done with the best of intentions are nothing but filthy rags. They are worthless and incapable of earning Your favor or forgiveness. Yet, even as believers, we continue to believe the lie that our filthy rags aren’t really filthy. In fact, we convince ourselves that our attempts at righteousness are more than good enough for You. Yet, Paul reminds us that no can stand before You as acceptable on their own merits. It is, and always has been, based on grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. We can add nothing to the gospel formula. It Jesus plus nothing. I am reminded of the words of the old hymn Rock of Ages.

Not the labors of my hands
can fulfill thy law's demands;
could my zeal no respite know,
could my tears forever flow,
all for sin could not atone;
thou must save, and thou alone.

Nothing in my hand I bring,
simply to the cross I cling;
naked, come to thee for dress;
helpless, look to thee for grace;
foul, I to the fountain fly;
wash me, Savior, or I die.

 Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.22

Unrighteous But Not Without Hope

1 Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? 2 Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. 3 What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? 4 By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written,

“That you may be justified in your words,
    and prevail when you are judged.”

5 But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) 6 By no means! For then how could God judge the world? 7 But if through my lie God's truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? 8 And why not do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just. – Romans 3:1-8 ESV

With the opening of Chapter Three, it is vital to remember Paul's words from Chapter One: “The righteous shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17 ESV). Paul was quoting from Habakkuk 2:4, where God said to His prophet concerning the nation of Babylon, “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4 ESV).

Faith has always been the means by which men attain the kind of righteousness God expects; it has never been based on human effort or achievement. Back in the book of Genesis, when God commanded Abraham to institute the rite of circumcision as a sign of His covenant with the people of Israel, He said, “I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God” (Genesis 17:8 ESV). Circumcision was a sign of ownership, an outward symbol of their unique position as God's possession, but circumcision would not make them righteous. In other words, adherence to the rite of circumcision would not earn them favor with God; that was only possible through their faith in God’s promise to give them the land and to transform them into a great nation.

In Chapter Four of Romans, Paul further explains the role of faith, using Abraham, the father of the Hebrew nation, as an example. He clarifies that Abraham was justified before God, not because he had been circumcised, but because he had faith.

For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” – Romans 4:3 ESV

But Paul asks the question: “How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised?” (Romans 4:10 ESV). Paul is asking whether God's declaration of Abraham's righteousness was pre- or post-circumcision. Was his righteousness the result of his obedience to God's command to be circumcised? Paul answers his own question: “It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised” (Romans 4:10-11 ESV).

Paul’s point is that God has always measured man's righteousness by faith, not works. The fact is, the Old Testament saints were expected to live by faith just as much as we are. Paul says, “The Jews were entrusted with the whole revelation of God. True, some of them were unfaithful; but just because they were unfaithful, does that mean God will be unfaithful?” (Romans 3:2 ESV).

In his commentary on Romans, Martin Luther writes, “Circumcision was of value to the Jews because they believed the divine promise (connected with it) and so they awaited its fulfillment” (Martin Luther, Commentary on Romans). Abraham was declared righteous because he had faith in God's promises. Again, Paul writes in Chapter Four, “God’s promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was based not on his obedience to God’s law, but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith” (Romans 4:13 NLT).

The author of Hebrews elaborates on this all-important matter of Abraham’s faith.

It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going. And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise. Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God. – Hebrews 11:8-10 NLT

It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God’s promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, even though God had told him, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.” – Hebrews 11:17-18 NLT

The kind of righteousness God requires has always been based on faith. The kind of righteousness He requires is only available through faith in His promises. When God told Abraham, “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing … and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:2-3), Abraham had no way of knowing the full extent of that promise. But he believed; he had faith, and it was counted to him as righteousness.

But there were many Jews who failed to trust in the promises of God and who falsely believed that their righteousness before God was based on their own effort or merit. Quoting what must have been a common view in his day, Paul writes, “Some might say, ‘our sinfulness serves a good purpose, for it helps people see how righteous God is. Isn’t it unfair, then, for him to punish us?’” (Romans 3:5 NLT). They had reached the erroneous conclusion that if sin reveals God’s righteousness, there is no reason for Him to punish the sinner. But Paul exposes the flaw in their thinking.

If God were not entirely fair, how would he be qualified to judge the world? – Romans 3:6 NLT

In His holiness, God cannot turn a blind eye to sin; He must deal with it justly and righteously. And in Chapter Six, Paul clearly states the divine indictment that sin deserves.

…the wages of sin is death… – Romans 6:23 NLT

Paul didn’t come up with this judicial judgment against sin; he got it from God Himself.

“For all people are mine to judge—both parents and children alike. And this is my rule: The person who sins is the one who will die.” – Ezekiel 18:4 NLT

Sin is an act of rebellion against His sovereignty and must be punished appropriately. Yet, there were those who wrongly concluded that their sin was somehow beneficial.

“The more we sin, the better it is!” – Romans 3:8 NLT

But Paul refuted their false assessment, writing, “Those who say such things deserve to be condemned” (Romans 3:8 NLT). Their sinful conclusion only served to prove God’s just judgment of them. He deals with this false assumption again in Chapter Six.

Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? – Romans 6:1-2 NLT

Our failure to acknowledge sin, or any attempt to justify or rationalize its seriousness, will never negate its effect. God takes sin seriously.

Paul’s point is that while some failed to have faith and lived in unrighteousness, their decision only proves the truth or reality of God's brand of righteousness. His righteousness is faith-based, not works-dependent. The Jews had been given the promises of God, but most of them failed to believe. They placed their faith in themselves, other nations, false gods, and their unique identity as God's chosen people. But Paul states that their unfaithfulness did not nullify God’s faithfulness.

God will keep His promises; He will fulfill every covenant commitment He made to Abraham. In fact, in his letter to the believers in Galatia, Paul writes: 

The real children of Abraham, then, are those who put their faith in God. What’s more, the Scriptures looked forward to this time when God would make the Gentiles right in his sight because of their faith. God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, “All nations will be blessed through you.”  

So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith. – Galatians 3:7-9 NLT

Paul began his letter by quoting the book of Habakkuk.

The righteous shall live by his faith. – Habakkuk 2:3 ESV

But don’t misunderstand Paul’s point. He is not suggesting that our righteousness produces faith. We don’t achieve our righteous standing before God through self-effort. Our faith is not a byproduct of our self-induced righteousness. In fact, the New Living Translation provides a more accurate rendering of the text that helps to clarify Paul’s point.

“It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” – Romans 1:17 NLT

Faith produces righteousness, not the other way around. The ability to live righteously is a gift given to us by God as a result of our faith in His promise of salvation through grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

Father, what a relief it is to know that I don’t have to earn my way into Your good graces. I am not obligated to live up to Your holy standards in my own strength and according to my limited will-power. If that was the case, I would fail miserably. You don’t judge me based on my capacity to live righteously. If You did, I would have no hope. But Your mercy toward me is based on the faithfulness of Christ. He died in my place and paid for my sins. He sacrificed His sinless life so that I might have eternal life. And all I have to do is believe. Nothing more, nothing less. And even my ability to believe comes from You. Faith is not something I produce in and of myself. It too is a gift of grace provided by the Holy Spirit. Paul made this point clear when he wrote, “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.” (Ephesians 2:8-9 NLT). I can’t even take credit for my faith because You provided it. Which is what makes salvation so amazing. You alone make it possible from beginning to end. There is no aspect of my salvation for which I can take credit. I didn’t deserve it, earn it, and I can’t boast about it. I am perfectly okay with that. Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.22

Earning God’s Favor Never Pays

 6 He will render to each one according to his works: 7 to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; 8 but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. 9 There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, 10 but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. 11 For God shows no partiality. – Romans 2:6-11 ESV

In Chapter Two of Romans, Paul addresses the Jewish community. In the first chapter, he talked about the non-Jew or pagan, who stands before God as without excuse and guilty. They have been exposed to God's “invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature” (Romans 1:20 ESV) through creation, and yet, they have refused to acknowledge Him as God. Instead, they ended up worshiping the creation rather than the Creator, resulting in God turning them over to their own foolish hearts, dishonorable passions, and debased minds.

As far as Paul was concerned, the Jews were no less culpable or free from guilt. In fact, they were so busy pointing their condemning fingers at the pagan Gentiles that they failed to acknowledge their own guilt for having committed the same sins. As descendants of Abraham and children of God, they considered themselves exempt from judgment. They somehow thought themselves immune to God's wrath. But Paul warned them that they, too, were without excuse. They stood just as condemned and guilty as the Gentiles who were outside the family of God. Their self-righteous attempts to honor God were no more effective than the Gentiles’ pagan pursuit of their false gods.

Paul accused the Jews of having hard and unrepentant hearts; they refused to admit their guilt and accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. So Paul warned them that “you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed” (Romans 2:5 ESV). Not only that, the day was coming when God would render to each of them according to his works.

Paul is using the Hebrew Scriptures to indict them. He quotes from two different passages; the first is a Psalm of David.

Once God has spoken;
    twice have I heard this:
that power belongs to God,
   and that to you, O Lord, belongs steadfast love.
For you will render to a man
    according to his work. – Proverbs 24:11-12 NLT

The second is a proverb of Solomon.

If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,”
    does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?
Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it,
    and will he not repay man according to his work? - Proverbs 24:12 ESV

Their own Scriptures warned that the coming judgment of God would be based on each man's works. The expectation was righteousness, but it would have to be God's brand of righteousness, not man's. His divine requirement was perfection and nothing less. Yahweh had repeatedly warned the Israelites, “I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. ” (Leviticus 11:44 ESV).

Jesus had told the Jews of His day, “unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!” (Matthew 5:20 NLT). James put it in even more practical, if not demanding, terms.

For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God's laws. – James 2:10 NLT

Paul seems to give only two options for life, and both end in judgment. One is to satisfy the self and disobey the truth regarding God and His gospel offer. Those who choose that path will end up obeying unrighteousness and earning God's full wrath on the day of judgment. The other option is to live self-righteously, attempting to obey God's law and earn a right standing with Him through your own efforts. If you happen to pull it off, your reward on judgment day will be glory, honor, peace, and immortality, while everyone else gets tribulation and distress.

But is Paul suggesting that we can earn our salvation by doing good deeds? Certainly not. He is showing that those who are sinners will be judged and condemned, but so will those who consider themselves to be righteous because of their own efforts. In the next chapter, Paul makes it clear that “all people, whether Jews or Gentiles, are under the power of sin” (Romans 3:9 NLT), and that “no one is righteous – not even one” (Romans 3:10 NLT). Later, Paul will introduce the sobering news, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23 NLT).

So self-righteousness is no better than sinfulness. Attempting to do good things for God puts you in no better position than those who blatantly sin against Him. God shows no partiality; nobody gets to earn their way into His good graces. There is only one way for men to be made right with God, and that is through the death of Jesus Christ.

Later in Chapter Three, Paul states, “all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24 NLT). That includes the Jew and the Gentile, the pagan and the pious, the selfish and the self-righteous. Paul elaborated on this grace-based gift from God in his letter to the Ephesians.

God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. – Ephesians 2:8-9  NLT

We can't earn our salvation, and none of us deserves God's grace and mercy. The Jews of Paul’s day were no better off than the Gentiles. They, too, were sinners who stood condemned and unclean before a holy, righteous God. Paul reminds us that at the foot of the cross, we're all equals when it comes to our guiltiness and our need for salvation and atonement. Which is why he wrote, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8 ESV).

The greatest danger men face is to fall under the delusion of man-made righteousness. We will never be able to achieve our way into God's presence or earn our way into His good graces. Which is why He sent His Son to live among us, model holiness right in front of us, and die on behalf of us.

For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. – 2 Corinthians 5:21 NLT

Father, I confess that I still have the tendency to try to earn my way into Your good graces. Despite all I know and understand about the gift of salvation, I find myself going down the path of self-righteousness, hoping that I can somehow do enough to earn Your love and deserve Your favor. But Your grace is a gift, and your love for me is unmerited and undeserved. In fact, You loved me while I was mired in my sin and incapable of doing anything that you would consider righteous or acceptable. Your Son died for me while I was a sinner, not after I got my spiritual act together. Jesus didn’t sacrifice His life to save the righteous. He willingly paid the penalty for my sins, a debt I could never have settled on my own. Yet, even after accepting the free gift of salvation through Your Son, I continue to pursue the path of self-righteousness, needlessly trying to do enough “good deeds” that will keep You satisfied and maintain my right standing before You. But Christ’s death was enough. His selfless sacrifice restored me to a right relationship with You – once for all. I don’t have to earn Your favor because I already have it. I don’t have to do anything to merit Your love because You loved me enough to send Your Son to die in my place. So, my “‘good deeds” aren’t done to earn Your favor, they’re a way of saying “thank You.” Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.22

Boast in the Lord

26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” – 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 ESV

The division taking place within the church at Corinth was based on pride. They were boastfully claiming, “‘I follow Paul,’ or ‘I follow Apollos,’ or ‘I follow Cephas,’ or ‘I follow Christ’” (1 Corinthians 1:12 ESV). They each saw themselves as somehow better or more spiritual because of their choice of leader. They were even bragging about who had baptized them, claiming to have been baptized in their name. This led Paul to declare, “I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name” (1 Corinthians 1:14-15 ESV). Even those who were claiming to follow Christ were emphasizing His teaching more than His role as Messiah. They had become followers of men and adherents of their particular teachings, rather than followers of the very one whose death had made their salvation possible. 

So Paul felt compelled to remind them of their pre-conversion state. For the most part, none of them had been wise, wealthy, or powerful. They were not from the upper crust of society or recognized for their intelligence and erudition. Their influence and power had been minimal. In fact, Paul flatly states that they had been foolish, weak, and despised. Not exactly a flattering assessment. But Paul’s seeming put-down was intended to get them to see the “foolish” nature of their salvation, not stroke their egos. There was nothing about them that warranted what God had done for them. Even from a worldly perspective, they had been undeserving of God’s amazing grace and mercy. They were not the brightest and best, the richest and wisest, or the movers and shakers of society.

When Jesus ministered on the earth, He did not choose His disciples from among the wealthy, wise, and powerful. Those 12 men had been lowly fishermen, tax collectors, and commoners. Those who had followed Him during His three years of earthly ministry had been, for the most part, from the peasant class, and this trend continued long after Christ’s resurrection. Paul reminded the Corinthians, “God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important” (1 Corinthians 1:27-28 NLT).

None of them had cause for boasting, and they had done nothing to deserve their salvation. Their pride was misplaced because their spiritual status in God’s eyes had nothing to do with who baptized or taught them. Those men were nothing more than instruments in the hands of God. They were His messengers, but not the Messiah. 

Later in this same letter, Paul writes, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1 ESV). It was only as Paul displayed the character of Christ that he was to be considered someone to model their lives after. His life was meaningless unless it emulated that of Christ. Paul’s ministry was never meant to be about him, but, instead, it was intended to point to the life-transforming nature of Christ’s death and resurrection.

Paul wanted them to remember that their status as children of God had been the work of God. It was He who had called them, which is why Paul tells them, “consider your calling.” The Greek word Paul used was βλέπω (blepō) and it means, “to turn the thoughts or direct the mind to a thing, to consider, contemplate, to look at, to weigh carefully, examine” (“G991 - blepō - Strong’s Greek Lexicon (KJV).” Blue Letter Bible). Paul wanted them to take a long, hard look at their calling by God. So he reminds them three times:

God chose what is foolish…

God chose what is weak…

 God chose what is low and despised…

God chose. In other words, it was His doing and was not based on any merit or worth of the ones chosen. It was solely based on God’s divine mercy and grace. That is why Paul reminds them that it was “because of him [God] you are in Christ Jesus” (1 Corinthians 1:30 ESV), not because of themselves and due to the efforts of Paul, Cephas, or Apollos. Those men had been used by God to carry the gospel to the Corinthians, but they were simply messengers. It had been God who had made it possible for the believers in Corinth to have a relationship with Jesus, and it had been Jesus who had revealed to them God’s wisdom. By His death on the cross, Jesus opened a way for men to receive righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. With His death on the cross, Jesus took on the sins of mankind, and those who placed their faith in Christ had their sins imputed to Him and received His righteousness in exchange. They now stood before God as righteous because of the work of Christ, and they are going through the process of sanctification, their ongoing transformation into the likeness of Christ, through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Ultimately, they would enjoy their final redemption or release from the power of sin in their lives when God glorifies them.

No man can make these things possible. No human teacher can provide us with righteousness before God. No pastor can transform us into the likeness of Christ. No evangelist or theologian can make our glorification possible. These things are all the work of God, just as our salvation was. He called, chose, justified, sanctifies, and will one day redeem. So if we are going to boast, we need to boast in God; we need to brag about all that He has done, is currently doing, and will accomplish in the future. He made our salvation possible, He has made our daily sanctification obtainable, and He will one day accomplish the seemingly impossible: our glorification. We owe it all to Him.

Nothing in my hand I bring,
simply to the cross I cling;
naked, come to thee for dress;
helpless, look to thee for grace;
foul, I to the fountain fly;
wash me, Savior, or I die. – Rock of Ages, Augustus Toplady

Father, we are a prideful people. Even those of us who have received Your undeserved mercy and grace tend to find ways to make it all about us. We can become overconfident about our spiritual status and convince ourselves that we somehow deserved to be chosen by You. We have a habit of forgetting our sinful past and failing to recall just how desperate we were before we heard the good news of Jesus Christ. But as Augustus Toplady reminds us, we bring nothing to our salvation other than our sin, shame, and a need for a Savior. Our wisdom and wealth play no part. Our accomplishments are of no value. But You accept us based on nothing more than our faith in Christ and His finished work on the cross. May we never forget our inadequacy and His all-sufficiency. Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Children of Promise

21 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. 23 But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. 24 Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. 27 For it is written,

“Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear;
    break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor!
For the children of the desolate one will be more
    than those of the one who has a husband.”

28 Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. 30 But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.” 31 So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman. – Galatians 4:21-31 ESV

The Old Testament and the New Testament represent two covenants made by God with His people. Paul uses the two wives of Abraham and their two sons to serve as illustrations of the differences between these two covenants. Hagar was actually the handmaiden to Sarah, Abraham's wife. When years passed, and Sarah still found herself barren and unable to bear a son for Abraham, she came up with the bright idea to give her handmaiden to Abraham so that he might have a son through her. This was her attempt to help God out, and Abraham willingly and eagerly agreed to the plan.

The result? Abraham produced a son with Hagar, whose name was Ishmael. Paul makes it clear that "the son of the slave wife was born in a human attempt to bring about the fulfillment of God's promise" (Galatians 4:23 NLT). God had promised to make Abraham fruitful and provide him with more descendants than he could possibly count.

“I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” – Genesis 12:2-3 ESV

“I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.” – Genesis 17:5-7 ESV

But at the point when Sarah came up with her plan to use Hagar as a surrogate, she and Abraham still had no son. The promise of God had not yet been fulfilled, which prompted her to come up with an alternative plan. When God's promise appeared to have bogged down, Abraham and Sarah decided to step in and fulfill the promise of God on their time frame. Ishmael was the child born by human effort.

But God did not need any help when it came to fulfilling His promise. He simply had a different timeline. He refused to accept Ishmael as the substitute, despite the pleadings of Abraham. This was not the first time that Abraham had tried to convince God to accept a different plan for fulfilling the promise. Long before Ishmael was born, Abraham had begged God to allow his manservant to serve as his heir.

“O LORD God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3 And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” – Genesis 15:2-3 ESV

But that was not God’s plan, and He informed Abraham that His promise would be fulfilled in His way.

“This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness. – Genesis 15:4-6 ESV

It’s interesting to note that the very next chapter of Genesis contains the story of Sarah’s plan to use Hagar as a means to an end, and Abraham agreed to it. Despite his professed belief in God’s promise, he bought into his wife’s Plan B and produced a son without God’s approval and, therefore, outside of God’s will. Yet, chapter 17 contains God’s covenant commitment to fulfill the promise He made to Abraham.

“As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” – Genesis 17:15-16 ESV

In the course of time, God gave Abraham a son through Sarah, even though she was quite old and barren. God fulfilled His promise in His time and on His terms. Isaac would become the child of the promise. He would be the means by which God fulfilled the covenant commitment He had made to Abraham.

Paul uses these two women to illustrate the differences between the two covenants. Hagar would come to represent the law by illustrating life lived by human effort. Her son was the result of human effort and planning, but he was not the fulfillment of God's promise. His birth could not substitute for God's promise.

As Ishmael and Isaac grew older, Ishmael would persecute Isaac out of jealousy. He knew that he was not the heir, even though he was the firstborn. Ishmael could not understand why he was not accepted as the rightful heir to Abraham’s inheritance. After all, he was Abraham’s flesh and blood just as Isaac was.

But Paul uses Ishmael’s predicament to illustrate the actions of the Jews in his day. He states that those who live according to the law were still persecuting the rightful heirs of God. The believers to whom Paul was writing were "children of the promise just like Isaac" (Galatians 4:28 NLT). They were children of God born by the power of the Spirit of God. But those trapped under the law were persecuting them, attempting to force them to earn their rightful place in God's family through human effort. Paul reminds them, "dear brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman; we are children of the free woman" (Galatians 4:31 NLT). We are free. We are heirs. We are beneficiaries of the promise of God as a result of the efforts of God alone.

Like Isaac, who was born by the miracle and power of God, we have been born again by the grace and mercy of God made possible by the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. None of it was due to our effort. We did not earn it or deserve it. This was a persistent and consistent message in virtually all of Paul’s letters.

God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. – Ephesians 2:8-9 NLT

…he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. Because of his grace he made us right in his sight and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life. – Titus 3:5-7 NLT

For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus. – 2 Timothy 1:9 NLT

God alone saves. We can't save ourselves, and we can't sanctify ourselves. Human effort plays no part in God's redemptive plan for man. It is His promise, and it will be fulfilled according to His terms and through His power alone.

Father, thank You for this reminder that my effort is unnecessary. I don't have to try to earn Your favor through my own energy. But so often I try to come up with ways to help You out. I try to step in and do what I seem to think You are incapable of doing. But Your promise doesn't need my help. It is all based on You and You alone. My position as Your child has nothing to do with my worth or my works. It is all Your doing. Amen.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Merit Versus Mercy

1 I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, 2 but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. 3 In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. 4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? 10 You observe days and months and seasons and years! 11 I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.

12 Brothers, I entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You did me no wrong. 13 You know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first, 14 and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. 15 What then has become of your blessedness? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me. 16 Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth? 17 They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them. 18 It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and not only when I am present with you, 19 my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you! 20 I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you. – Galatians 4:1-20 ESV

What would possess anyone who had been set free from slavery to voluntarily subject themselves to it again? That is Paul's question in this section of his letter. He reminds the believers in Galatia that at one time they had been slaves to the basic principles of this world. In other words, they had been subject to the sad state of affairs made possible by the sin of Adam and Eve. As a result of the fall of the first couple, the Galatians had been like every other human being who has ever lived. They had been under the constant influence and control of Satan, their own sinful flesh, and the world. At one time, they had been slaves to their so-called gods, false and non-existent deities. Theirs had been a pointless and hopeless existence attempting to search for salvation by turning to false gods that could only offer false hope. But Paul reminds them that "in the fullness of time" – at just the right time – God sent his Son to buy them freedom.

Jesus Christ had bought them out of slavery and set them free. As a result, they were no longer slaves, but God's own children who had been adopted into His family. They knew the one true God, and He knew them. But now, as a result of the influence of those who were promoting a false gospel, the Galatian believers were allowing themselves to be deceived and enslaved by the false hope of legalism. Jewish converts to Christianity were attempting to convince the new converts in Galatia that they must keep the law and adhere to the rituals and requirements of Judaism. Paul claimed that this added requirement to faith alone in Christ alone was needlessly enslaving the Galatian believers to a works-based form of righteousness. He accused them of "trying to earn favor with God by observing certain days or months or seasons or years" (Galatians 4:10 NLT). 

The false teachers were trying to convince the Gentile converts in Galatia that they were not fully saved unless they became circumcised and began to keep all the Jewish rituals, feasts, and festivals. That is what Paul meant when he referred to the observing of days, months, seasons, and years. These outsiders were claiming that the salvation Paul offered was incomplete and insufficient. But this teaching ran counter to the gospel message that Jesus proclaimed and Paul had shared with the Galatians. The Jesus-plus-legalism crowd was casting doubt on the all-sufficient work of Christ on the cross. For Paul, this false teaching was a form of legalism, and it was deadly. He would not tolerate it or allow it to take root among the churches in Galatia.

Paul pleaded with them to live in freedom, not slavery. He begged them to not return to the same kind of enslavement from which Christ had set them free. Paul's greatest desire was that the nature of Christ would be fully formed in their lives. But he knew that a return to those basic principles of the world would hinder their spiritual growth.

Even as believers, we are all still under the influence of Satan, our sinful flesh, and the world. We still fall prey to the temptation to try and earn favor with God through self-effort. The enemy would love nothing more than to enslave us again to a life of works and pride-based effort. He wants us to see God as a task-master who demands what we can't deliver. He desires for us to live in fear of God, as slaves who must obey His exacting and impossible-to-keep standards. Satan doesn't want us to see ourselves as God's children, but as His powerless pawns, condemned to try to keep Him pleased to escape His punishment and earn His favor.

But Paul won't stand for this false and deadly line of reasoning. While he was unable to personally visit them, he did the next best thing – he wrote to them and pleaded with them to reject the lies of the enemy. He spoke truth to them and exposed those who would do harm to them. Unless they learned to embrace their freedom in Christ, they would never truly grow in their relationship with Him. Those who see themselves as slaves will tend to live and act as slaves. But those who truly understand that they have been freed from the basic principles of this world will enjoy all that freedom brings. They will relish their status as children of God, taking full advantage of His indwelling Spirit and allowing Him to do in them what they could never have done on their own.

Father, we live in a fallen world and we are surrounded by the basic principles of this world. Ever since the fall, mankind has been in a hopeless quest to rectify their relationship with You. They have been searching for You and trying to figure out to fix all that is wrong with them and the broken world in which they live. But You have provided the solution through Your own Son's death. You have set us free from having to search for a solution or from having to earn back Your favor. But it is so easy to fall back into that old mindset. We convince ourselves that nothing is free and that we must do something to earn Your love. But it's all a lie. Keep us focused on the truth and aware of the fact that we are truly free in Christ. Amen. 

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Law and the Promise

15 To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. 16 Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. 17 This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. 18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.

19 Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. 20 Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.

21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. 22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. – Galatians 3:15-22 ESV

From the very beginning, God intended for man to be made right with Him through a single individual who would somehow satisfy His just and holy demands. God had made a promise to Abraham that all the nations of the earth would be blessed through him. He had promised Abraham that his "seed" (singular), referring to a single individual, would be the source of this blessing. From the family tree of Abraham would come the Messiah, Jesus Christ, who would bless the nations with His provision of salvation through faith in His sacrificial death on the cross.

Paul makes it clear that this promise of the coming Messiah was given 430 years before the law was given at Mount Sinai, and the law did not replace the promise.

The agreement God made with Abraham could not be canceled 430 years later when God gave the law to Moses. God would be breaking his promise. – Galatians 3:17 NLT

In other words, if God suddenly replaced the promise with a requirement to keep the law, He would be changing the rules in mid-stream. Rather than the promise or covenant that was unilateral and unconditional, God would be substituting it with the law, placing impossible conditions on our ultimate salvation. But the covenant God made with Abraham did not include conditions. It was not dependent upon Abraham's actions or behavior, but was purely based on the faithfulness of God.

So then why did God bother to give Moses and the people of Israel the law? Paul answers that question, making it clear that the law was never intended to save mankind. Paul explains its purpose when he writes, "It was given alongside the promise to show people their sins" (Galatians 3:19 NLT). He clarifies this thought in his letter to the Romans. "…it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, ‘You must not covet.’ But sin used this command to arouse all kinds of coveting desires within me! If there were no law, sin would not have that power" (Romans 7:7-8 NLT).

The law was given to reveal what God's holy and righteous requirements were. The law put in writing what God's expectations of man were, and, by disclosing those expectations, it also revealed man's limitations. The law showed mankind just how impossible it was to live up to God's holy and exacting standards. When men tried to obey the law, it actually resulted in more sin, rather than less. Knowledge of God's righteous requirements exposed man’s inherent desire to live in disobedience to them. Our own sinful natures rebelled against God's law.

Basically, the law was intended to show us our desperate need for a Savior. Trying to obey the law showed men that they were incapable of saving themselves. They couldn't live up to God's standard, so God provided another way. He sent His own Son to live as a man and do what no other man had ever done: keep the law to perfection. Jesus became the fulfillment of the law. He was completely obedient to the law, resulting in a sinless life unworthy of condemnation. He kept the law and lived up to  God’s exacting standard. He fulfilled the requirement and, therefore, satisfied the just and righteous demands of God.

This leads Paul to ask, "Is there a conflict, then, between God's law and God's promises? Absolutely not! If the law could give us new life, we could be made right with God by obeying it. But the Scriptures declare that we are all prisoners of sin, so we receive God's promise of freedom only by believing in Jesus Christ" (Galatians 3:21-22 NLT). Paul always takes it back to this one thought and undeniable truth: Man can't save himself. He is incapable of living the kind of life God requires; he needs a Savior.

The law shows us our desperate need for a Savior.

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty of our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. – Romans 3:23-25 NLT

God gave the promise before He gave the law, and God fulfilled the promise because His Son fulfilled the law. We have nothing to add except our faith.

Father, I have no problem admitting or acknowledging my sinfulness. It is painfully clear to me. You have shown me my sin, but You have also revealed to me the solution., and it has nothing to do with my effort to stop sinning. It is solely based on the sacrificial death of Your Son in my place. You promised to bless all mankind and You have. You have provided a way to be made right with You and it has nothing to do with my ability to earn or deserve Your favor. It is all because of what Jesus Christ has done on my behalf. Thank You! Amen.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Righteous Shall Live By Faith

1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. 2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? 4 Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? 5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— 6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?

7 Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” 9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” 11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” 12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— 14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. – Galatians 3:1-14 ESV

This was obviously a massive issue for Paul, as he continues to discuss it well into the body of his letter. He is going out of his way to let the Gentiles know that there is nothing more that they need other than their faith in Christ. These men, who had shown up declaring that the salvation of the Galatian believers was incomplete because they had failed to convert to Judaism, were, in Paul's eyes, false brothers. If what they taught is what they really believed, they weren't true believers at all, because their gospel was false.

They somehow believed that their "Jewishness" put them ahead of the curve. After all, they thought, Jesus had been a Jew who had kept the law and obeyed all the ceremonial requirements, and so had His disciples. So if someone wanted to be one of His followers, they concluded, he had to become a Jew. In their minds, the Jews were the chosen people of God.

But Paul puts that logic to rest. First, because that is not what Jesus taught.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16 ESV

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” – John 5:24 ESV

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.” – John 6:27 ESV

Secondly, the good news had always been based on faith, not works. Long before the law had been given, God declared Abraham righteous because of his faith, not because of his obedience or adherence to any laws or requirements. In his letter to the Romans, Paul writes, "Abraham was, humanly speaking, the founder of our Jewish nation. What did he discover about being made right with God? If his good deeds had made him acceptable to God, he would have had something to boast about. But that was not God's way. For the Scriptures tell us, ‘Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith’ (Romans 4:1-3 NLT).

Paul used the patriarch of the Hebrew people as an example of faith. He wasn’t chosen by God because he was Jewish. He wasn’t seen as righteous by God because he kept the law. After all, the law didn’t even exist yet. He wasn’t even deemed righteous by God because he had been circumcised. Paul goes on to elaborate on this vital distinction.

Was he counted righteous only after he was circumcised, or was it before he was circumcised? Clearly, God accepted Abraham before he was circumcised! Circumcision was a sign that Abraham already had faith and that God had already accepted him and declared him to be righteous – even before he was circumcised. – Romans 4:10-11 NLT).

Lawkeeping has a particular attraction to us as human beings. It appeals to our pride and sense of self-accomplishment. From the time we are children, we are trained to aspire to get the gold star on our homework or the A+ on our paper. We are driven to make it onto the winning team. We become obsessed with achievement and recognition for our efforts. This attitude infiltrates and permeates every facet of our lives, even the spiritual dimension.

We look for ways to measure up and can actually end up competing with others to see who is the most spiritual. We use criteria such as quiet time, prayer, service, giving, Bible study attendance, and biblical knowledge to achieve some degree of righteousness and demonstrate our spiritual depth. But Paul warned the Galatian believers, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life” (Galatians 3:11 NLT).

Studying the Bible, prayer, service, and giving are all evidence of a life of faith, not the means to get there. These things don’t make us right in God’s eyes, because we can’t earn His favor or acceptance through our own efforts. As believers, we do these things because of our faith in His Son and our acceptance of His gift of salvation made possible through His death on the cross. We read the Bible to get to know God and His Son better. We pray so that we might share with and hear from Him. We serve because His Son served us and left us an example to follow. We give because God has so graciously provided for us, and we have been called to share with others out of that abundance.

It is so easy to let an attitude of earning based on effort creep into our spiritual lives. Paul is warning us to be wary of works, not to avoid them altogether. His message is that faith leads to righteousness, and any works we perform are a byproduct of that reality. Belief in Jesus Christ as your Savior is the only requirement God has placed on us. Our obedience to His laws or commands is based on an attitude of gratitude, not earning or merit. We have nothing to prove to God. We have nothing we need to do to make God love us any more than He already does. We don't have anything we need to do to keep God pleased with us. He loved us even when we were still trapped in our own sinfulness and sent His Son to die for us. God didn't save us because we deserved it, and it takes genuine faith to believe that.

The Galatians didn’t need circumcision to complete their salvation. What they needed was continued faith in the grace and goodness of God. He wasn’t done yet. Paul knew that the Galatians had not yet arrived. Their salvation had been accomplished but their sanctification was a work in process. God, through the indwelling presence and power of His Spirit, was molding each of His children into the likeness of His Son; a process that the apostle John said will one day be made complete when Jesus returns.

Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. And all who have this eager expectation will keep themselves pure, just as he is pure. – 1 John 3:2-3 NLT

Father, salvation by faith alone is so counter-intuitive. It goes against our human reasoning. It makes no sense. Nobody gets something for nothing. Everything in life has to be earned. But You have made salvation a gift. You gave us Your Son in spite of us, not because of us. You gave us what we could never have earned or ever deserved. And it takes faith to believe that. Help us to continue to replace faith in ourselves with faith in Your Son. Amen.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Waiting On God

A Song of Ascents.

1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD!
2     O LORD, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
    to the voice of my pleas for mercy!

3 If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities,
    O LORD, who could stand?
4 But with you there is forgiveness,
    that you may be feared.

5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
    and in his word I hope;
6 my soul waits for the LORD
    more than watchmen for the morning,
    more than watchmen for the morning.

7 O Israel, hope in the LORD!
    For with the LORD there is steadfast love,
    and with him is plentiful redemption.
8 And he will redeem Israel
    from all his iniquities. – Psalm 130:1-8 ESV

The author of this psalm begins with an impassioned plea for Yahweh to show him mercy. While he doesn't disclose the nature of his circumstances, he is in desperate need of Yahweh to intervene and rescue him. His request for mercy (taḥănûn in Hebrew) is a prayer of “supplication”  expressing his desire for unmerited favor. It would appear that he thinks his suffering is somehow tied to an undisclosed sin he has committed. This is not a confession of sin as much as it is a confirmation of Yahweh’s marvelous mercy and grace. The psalmist doesn’t follow David’s lead and confess a specific sin. In Psalm 51, written in the aftermath of David's affair with Bathsheba and his sanctioned murder of her husband, David willingly acknowledged the gravity of what he had done.

For I recognize my rebellion;
    it haunts me day and night.
Against you, and you alone, have I sinned;
    I have done what is evil in your sight. – Psalm 51:3-4 NLT

This psalmist doesn't minimize sin, but instead, he emphasizes Yahweh’s willingness to extend mercy despite our sins. 

LORD, if you kept a record of our sins,
    who, O LORD, could ever survive?
But you offer forgiveness,
    that we might learn to fear you. – Psalm 130:3-4 NLT

This perspective coincides with that of David found in another one of his psalms.

He does not punish us for all our sins;
    he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
    is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. – Psalm 103:10-11 NLT

What an unbelievable reminder. Our God is not some kind of cosmic scorekeeper, keeping meticulous track of all our sins and waiting for us to balance our good behavior with our bad behavior. He's not Santa Claus, "making a list and checking it twice” so he can determine “who's naughty or nice."

As the psalmist points out, if God kept track of all our sins, we'd be in big trouble, because our sins would far outweigh any righteousness we might have to offer. Isaiah put it in these graphic terms: "We are all like one who is unclean, all our so-called righteous acts are like a menstrual rag in your sight. We all wither like a leaf; our sins carry us away like the wind" (Isaiah 64:6 NET).

Instead of chronicling each of our sins and expecting us to right every wrong we have ever done, God offers forgiveness instead. Why? So that we might learn to fear and reverence Him (verse 4). When we begin to understand the magnitude of our sinfulness, His forgiveness becomes all the more precious to us because He is a holy God who stands diametrically opposed to our wickedness. Yet, in His grace and mercy, He reaches down and offers His undeserved favor and forgiveness. 

That is they the psalmist declares that he is willing to wait on Yahweh. 

I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
    and in his word I hope;
my soul waits for the LORD
    more than watchmen for the morning,
    more than watchmen for the morning. – Psalm 130:5-6 NLT

He compares himself to a night watchman, someone whose job it was to stay awake all night and keep an eye out for any danger. These individuals were invaluable to the safety of a city as they patrolled the walls and watched for any signs of danger. But their greatest desire was to see the sun come up without incident. They waited or longed for the morning. 

That is the psalmist's perspective as he considers the darkened nature of his own predicament. He is willing to wait for Yahweh to show up with the rising sun and extend mercy. The prophet Jeremiah expressed this same hopeful perspective as he considered the faithfulness of Yahweh.

The faithful love of the LORD never ends!
    His mercies never cease.
Great is his faithfulness;
    his mercies begin afresh each morning.
I say to myself, “The LORD is my inheritance;
    therefore, I will hope in him!” – Lamentation 3:22-24 NLT

Jeremiah wasn’t putting his hope in his own ability to live a righteous life. He knew that was impossible. Like Isaiah, he recognized that all his righteous deeds were “nothing but filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6 NLT) in Yahweh's eyes. No, his hope was in the faithfulness and forgiveness of the LORD. Yahweh's mercies were new every morning, which is why the psalmist said he waits for the LORD like a watchman waits for the morning. There is an expectation and eagerness in his words. Despite his sinfulness, Yahweh was prepared to shower him with mercy and grace. 

But some of us have a different attitude when it comes to sin. We take the perspective that our sins aren't all that bad. We seem to believe that our sins are less egregious and offensive than those of others. Somehow, our need for forgiveness is not that great, so we fail to recognize the unbelievable and undeserved nature of the gift Yahweh offers. 

The psalmist seemed to understand both the magnitude of his sin and the magnificence of the one who offered him forgiveness. He writes, "O Israel, hope in the LORD; for with the LORD there is unfailing love. His redemption overflows. He Himself will redeem Israel from every kind of sin" (Psalm 130:7-8 NLT).

Unfailing love and overflowing redemption. The psalmist believed in both and was counting on the fact that Yahweh was prepared to redeem Israel despite their sin. Yahweh wasn't waiting for His rebellious people to clean up their act and exhibit some form of sinless perfection. No, He was prepared to rescue them and forgive them, despite their inability to live up to His righteous standards.

That is a sobering reminder to all of us. Our God offers forgiveness from every sin, large or small, through His Son Jesus Christ. He isn't keeping a list of all our sins and checking off the ones we successfully eliminate from our lives. Yahweh isn’t weighing our wickedness and righteousness in a balance in the hopes that our good deeds will somehow outweigh our evil deeds. 

In one of his psalms, David expressed the futility of anyone trying to earn Yahweh's favor through self-effort. 

The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man,
    to see if there are any who understand,
    who seek after God.

They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt;
    there is none who does good,
    not even one. – Psalm 14:2-3 ESV

The apostle Paul quoted David’s words when writing to believers in Rome to remind them that their personal righteousness was not the key to their acceptance by God.

…for we have already shown that all people, whether Jews or Gentiles, are under the power of sin. As the Scriptures say,

“No one is righteous—
    not even one.
No one is truly wise;
    no one is seeking God.
All have turned away;
    all have become useless.
No one does good,
    not a single one.” – Romans 3:9-11 NLT

For Paul, acceptance by God had nothing to do with living up to a some kind of moral code and list of religious rules.

…no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. – Romans 3:20 NLT

He goes on to explain the amazing nature of God’s plan for making us acceptable in His sight, and it has nothing to do with our futile attempts at self-righteousness.

God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. – Romans 3:21-22 NLT

And he explains why Yahweh came up with this alternate plan for restoring sinful men to a right relationship with Himself.

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. – Romans 3:23 NLT

In other words, sin wasn't just a black spot on our resumé; it was a roadblock that prevented us from ever earning God's favor and restoring our fractured relationship with Him. But Paul provides the good news.

Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. – Romans 3:24 NLT

This news should cause us to stand in awe and reverence before our gracious, loving God. It should draw us near to Him, not push us away in fear. He should be where we run for hope and healing because He will not reject us because of our sins. Instead, He welcomes us with open arms. Long before Jesus came to earth and offered Himself as the sacrifice for the sins of mankind, David expressed his confidence in God's grace, mercy, and forgiveness. 

The LORD is compassionate and merciful,
    slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
He will not constantly accuse us,
    nor remain angry forever. – Psalm 103:8-9 NLT

Then he adds:

He does not punish us for all our sins;
    he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
    is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
He has removed our sins as far from us
    as the east is from the west. – Psalm 103:10-12 NLT

That was the confident assurance of the author of Psalm 130. He shared David's belief that Yahweh was compassionate, merciful, loving, kind, and forgiving. He was well aware of his sins but counted on God to remove them as far as the east is from the west. There was no list of wrongs done. There was no demand for course correction or behavior modification to earn His favor. All God asked for was that His people place their faith and hope in Him. Which is why the psalmist ends his song with the words, “hope in the Lord; for with the Lord there is unfailing love. His redemption overflows” (Psalm 130:7 NLT).

Father, thank You for Your unfailing love and limitless forgiveness. Forgive me for not taking advantage of it and for sometimes thinking I don't even need it! If You kept track of all my sins, I would be without hope. But instead, You offer me forgiveness and healing. Never let me forget that. Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Receive the Kingdom of God Like a Child

13 And they were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. 14 But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. 15 Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” 16 And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them. – Mark 10:13-16 ESV

There are times when it appears as if the 12 disciples of Jesus are a few bricks short of a full load, and this is one of them. After reading this passage, it’s difficult not to draw one of two conclusions: Either the disciples are stubborn or simply stupid. They just don’t seem to get it. No matter how often Jesus addresses an issue with them, the disciples fail to grasp His meaning. Even all His after-class, one-on-twelve tutoring sessions don’t seem to help.

Before looking at the scene recorded in today’s passage, it’s important to visit a few earlier exchanges between Jesus and His disciples that are closely related. First, while they were back in Galilee, Jesus had overheard the disciples arguing over which of them was the greatest. This debate came fast on the heels of Jesus’ announcement that He would soon be delivered into the hands of men and be killed (Mark 9:31). So, immediately after hearing Jesus announce that He was going to lay down His life, they had gotten into a heated argument over which of them was the greatest. This led Jesus to give them an object lesson.

And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.” – Mark 9:36-37 ESV

Jesus used this small, seemingly insignificant child to make an important point. With the pride-filled disciples gathered around Him, Jesus stood in the midst of them holding this unidentified child in His arms. He placed the one with the least significance in the place of greatest prominence. The child had done nothing to earn this special favor extended to Him by Jesus. He was not powerful, impressive, gifted, or even capable of repaying Jesus for His kindness. But the child was trusting and willing to place his full confidence in Jesus.

Yet, immediately after witnessing this living object lesson, John had chosen to bring up what he believed to be a more pressing matter. He reported that there was an unnamed individual who had been casting out demons in Jesus’ name. The discovery of this unidentified competitor had bothered the disciples enough that they had repeatedly tried to issue him cease-and-desist orders. But their efforts had failed. And much to John’s dismay, rather than seeking to reprimand this rogue exorcist, Jesus rebuked His own disciples.

“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.” – Mark 9:42 ESV

The Greek word Mark used is mikros, which means “small” or “least.” Jesus seems to be referring to this unknown exorcist as one of His children. This man, while not one of the 12 disciples, was casting out demons in the name of Jesus. He performed the same good deed that Jesus had commissioned His disciples to do. That’s why Jesus told John, “Don’t stop him!…No one who performs a miracle in my name will soon be able to speak evil of me. Anyone who is not against us is for us” (Mark 9:39 NLT). This man was on their side. 

Yet Jesus refers to him as one of the “least.” He was so insignificant that the disciples didn’t even know his name. Yet, he was important to Jesus. 

This brings us back to the scene taking place in chapter 10. Jesus and His disciples are back in the region of Perea, just east of Judea on the other side of the Jordan River. Mark opened this chapter by indicating that Jesus’ arrival in the region had attracted the usual large crowds. While many hoped to see Jesus perform a miracle, others had come out of curiosity because He was a 1st-Century celebrity. But Mark indicates that some “were bringing children to him that he might touch them” (Mark 10:13 ESV). Evidently, parents were bringing their young children to Jesus so that He might bless them. But Mark states that “the disciples rebuked them” (Mark 9:13 ESV). These men took it upon themselves to restrict access to Jesus. They wrongly assumed that they had the authority to determine who was worthy to come into Jesus’ presence. This whole scene makes even more sense when you consider Luke’s account. He provides some essential details that make the disciples' actions even more egregious.

Luke records a parable that Jesus told “to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt” (Luke 18:9 ESV). In this parable, “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector” (Luke 18:10 ESV). The Pharisee stood before God and, in a blatant display of self-promotion, bragged about his superior righteousness, as evidenced by his unparalleled fasting and tithing. But the other man stood before God, eyes lowered, declaring his abject state of sinfulness and desperate need for mercy. Commenting on His own parable, Jesus said, “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:14 ESV).

Superiority and inferiority. Pride and humility. Greatness and weakness. This parable set up the arrival of the parents and their children. It explains why Jesus became so indignant with His disciples and demanded, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:14 ESV). These little ones were being brought to Jesus by their parents. Too young to come on their own, they were completely at the mercy of others and displayed complete dependency and trust. There was not an ounce of self-righteousness or moral superiority within them. But the disciples had decided that they were unworthy to come into Jesus’ presence. Had these men so quickly forgotten the scene of Jesus holding the young boy in His arms? Had the words Jesus had spoken to them simply gone in one ear and out the other?

“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.” – Mark9:37 ESV

Yet here was Jesus having to rebuke His disciples for their arrogant display of moral superiority. They didn’t get it. They were still harboring their own false conceptions about status in the Kingdom. In their eyes, these children were non-contributors. They had nothing to offer. They were takers, not givers. But Jesus had a completely different perspective. To the shock and dismay of the disciples, Jesus “took the children in his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them” (Mark 10:16 NLT).

The disciples had been right. These “little ones” had nothing to offer Jesus. But Jesus had something to give them: His divine blessing. They came before Jesus as helpless and hopeless children, most likely carried in the arms of their parents. Some were probably too young to walk or talk. But each one, regardless of their age, intellect, family background, or future prospects of success, received the same undeserved gift from the hand of Jesus. Each was touched and blessed by the Son of God.

The Kingdom of God will not be comprised of the successful, gifted, morally exceptional, intellectually superior, or socially acceptable. In fact, Paul reminds every Christ-follower that their adoption into the family of God had nothing to do with them. They brought nothing to the table. They had done nothing to deserve the grace and mercy shown to them by God.

Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God. – 1 Corinthians 1:26-29 NLT

Jesus repeatedly showed His disciples that He had come to minister to the weak, helpless, and hopeless. He went out of His way to heal the sick and to minister to outcasts and the socially unacceptable. He exposed the hypocrisy of the self-righteous religious leaders of Israel. He willingly associated with tax collectors and prostitutes. And yet, His disciples still struggled with thoughts of their own superiority and harbored hopes of earning a place of honor and distinction in His coming Kingdom. But the lessons would continue, right up until the end. Even in the upper room on the night Jesus was betrayed, He gave them yet another illustration of humility and service by washing their feet. And ultimately, Jesus performed the greatest act of humility by offering His life as a ransom for many. The greatest of all would become the least of all so that the foolish, powerless, despised, and unimportant might become children of God.

The disciples struggled with pride and prejudice. They saw these children as nothing more than unnecessary distractions. From their perspective, Jesus had better things to do than bless children. But Jesus wanted them to know that He was never too busy to reach out to those who came to Him in humility. As Jesus would later teach them, “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28 ESV). Each of the disciples was dominated by a self-serving attitude. They were in it for themselves. They had chosen to follow Jesus because they expected to get something out of it. And blessing children was not high on their list of personal priorities. But Jesus was teaching them that life in His kingdom was going to be different. Leaders would be servants. The first would be last. The meek would inherit the earth. The humble would be recognized. The hopeless would find hope.

Matthew records that immediately after this encounter with the children, a young man approached Jesus, asking Him, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” (Matthew 19:15 ESV). Matthew opens this scene with the word, “behold.” In essence, he is telling the reader to look carefully at what is about to happen. These two scenarios are closely linked together for a reason.

Notice the wording of the young man’s question. He asks, “What good deed must I do…?” The emphasis is on himself and his own self-effort. He exhibits the antithesis of childlike, humble faith. His goal was eternal life, but he wanted to know what steps he needed to take to earn it. He was looking for a to-do list to follow, a set of rules to keep.

Rather than assigning the man a task to perform, Jesus focused on his use of the word “good.”  He asked him, “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Like every other Jew, this man knew God's revealed will. He was familiar with God’s law and its non-negotiable requirements concerning obedience. But he was looking for the magic ticket—the one thing he could do that would guarantee eternal life. 

But Jesus turned the young man’s attention to the source of all that is good: God Himself. He reminded the young man, “There is only one who is good” (Matthew 19:17 ESV). And that good God had given His good, holy, and righteous law. If the young man wanted to have eternal life, he would need to keep each and every one of the commandments. God had already given His standard for righteousness or goodness.

But the young man, looking for specifics, asked, “Which ones?” This man’s question reflects a common perception held by even the religious leaders. There was constant debate among them over which of the commandments of God was the most important and, therefore, more binding.

For the young man, it was a matter of priority. He wanted to know which commandment he needed to focus on to receive the reward he sought. Accommodating the young man’s request, Jesus provided him with a shortlist of commandments. Notice that the list Jesus provided comprises laws concerning human relationships. They are horizontal in nature, dealing with how to relate to others. Jesus lists the prohibitions against murder, adultery, stealing, and bearing false witness. But He also lists the laws requiring the honoring of parents and displaying love for others. Without batting an eye, the young man boldly and pridefully declared that he had kept them all. So, he wanted to know what was missing. What other law did he need to keep to guarantee himself eternal life?

Then, Jesus dropped a bombshell. He simply stated, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me” (Matthew 19:21 ESV).

The Greek word translated as “perfect” is teleios, and it refers to completeness or wholeness. The man was asking Jesus what it was that he lacked. He felt incomplete. He knew that something was missing from his life and wrestled with the fear of not measuring up. He had no assurance that his efforts would earn him the eternal reward he longed for. So, Jesus informed him that he would need to give up everything he owned in this life and follow Him. Jesus was not telling this man that his salvation could be earned through some kind of philanthropic act of selfless sacrifice. He was revealing that this man’s heart was focused on the things of this world. Matthew reveals that the young man was very wealthy and the thought of giving away all his possessions caused him to walk away. It was a sacrifice he was unwilling to make.

Selling all his possessions and following Jesus would have required great faith and humility. He was what he owned, and his reputation was tied up in his possessions. He was respected because of his great wealth. He enjoyed the comfort and conveniences that money can buy, and the thought of leaving all that behind was more than he could bear. Sacrificing present comfort for future reward was too much for him.

What a marked difference between this self-made man and the little children whom Jesus had just blessed. They brought nothing to the equation other than their innocence. They could not brag about their good deeds. They had kept no laws. And yet, Jesus had blessed them.

This whole exchange is not about what we need to do to earn eternal life. It is about the one to whom we need to come. The children were brought to Jesus and were blessed. Jesus told the young man that in order to have eternal life, he would need to follow Him. It wasn’t about doing, it was about faith in Jesus.

This is all reminiscent of another exchange that Jesus had with a crowd that had followed him after He had miraculously fed them. They were looking for another free meal. So, He told them, “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you” (John 6:27 ESV). And they responded, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” (John 6:28 ESV). Then, look closely at what Jesus said to them.

“This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” – John 6:29 ESV

Faith in Jesus was the point. Jesus was calling this man to release his grip on his earthly possessions and position and place his hope in Him. Faith in Jesus requires that we place our full dependence upon Him and what He alone can do. Like the rich young man, we are incapable of doing anything good that might earn us favor with God. But if we will simply follow Jesus in childlike, humble faith, we will receive eternal life.

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

No Confidence in the Flesh

4 If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. – Philippians 3:4b-11 ESV

To understand what Paul means by “confidence in the flesh,” you must remember the context. He has just warned the believers in Philippi to “look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh” (Philippians 3:2 ESV). This was a direct broadside delivered against the Judaizers, a group comprised of Jewish converts to Christianity who were attempting to bring the legalism associated with the Mosaic Law into the church. They were demanding that Gentile believers be circumcised and then agree to keep the Jewish laws, religious festivals, and sacrificial requirements. In other words, they had to become Jews before their salvation experience could be considered legitimate.

So, when Paul mentions having confidence in the flesh, he is stressing the teachings of this group. They believed that their human efforts, those things done in their own strength, somehow earned them favor with God. As Jews, they put a high priority and value on the rite of circumcision; it was an outward sign of their unique relationship as God’s chosen people. They were of the strong opinion that circumcision was necessary for anyone who hoped to enjoy the salvation offered by Jesus Christ. But for Paul, this was nothing less than another gospel; it was a false gospel, and it was to be exposed for what it was: a dangerous heresy.

The Greek word Paul used for “flesh” is sarx and, while it was often used to refer to the physical body, it could also be used in a metaphorical sense, as in human nature. The Judaizers put a lot of stock in human nature and their own physical abilities, believing that they were able to keep the laws of God and live up to the holy standards of God. But Paul rejects that mindset, stating that believers were to “glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh” (Philippians 3:3 ESV). Salvation was based on the work of Christ, not the works of men.

But Paul chose to use their own argument against them. He rather sarcastically portrays himself as the poster boy for stellar human character and self-achievement, to demonstrate the kind of credentials that might earn someone favor with God. Paul boldly states:

If someone thinks he has good reasons to put confidence in human credentials, I have more… – Philippians 3:4 NLT

It is as if Paul is saying, “So, you think you can earn a right standing with God based on your accomplishments and status? Well, check this out!”

What follows is a laundry list of Paul’s off-the-chart human credentials.

• He was a card-carrying member of the nation of Israel

• He was from the tribe of Benjamin

• He had been circumcised according to the Mosaic Law

• He was a Hebrew of Hebrews (a hard-core traditionalist)

• He had been a member of the Pharisees, an elite religious sect

• He had been a passionate and zealous persecutor of the church

• He had been painstakingly dedicated to keeping the law

Even a short glance at that list reveals that Paul was not so subtly comparing himself with the Judaizers. He was placing himself in direct competition with them and declaring himself to be the model Jew. If they thought they were somehow better than everybody else because of their Jewish heritage and law-keeping ability, they had nothing on Paul. His resume made them look like third-string players trying to win a spot on the varsity squad.

But notice what Paul says next. He takes his list of accomplishments and credentials and describes them “as liabilities because of Christ” (Philippians 3:7 NLT). His relationship with Christ, based solely on faith in the work of Christ done on his behalf, made any of his so-called assets amount to nothing. They earned him no credibility with God and bought him no favor from God. Paul understood that his so-called righteous deeds were of no value when it came to his salvation. He firmly believed what the text in Isaiah clearly states:

We are all infected and impure with sin.
    When we display our righteous deeds,
    they are nothing but filthy rags. – Isaiah 64:6 NLT

Paul’s lofty list of accomplishments and personal assets were worthless. That is why he could say, “I now regard all things as liabilities compared to the far greater value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:8 NLT). Rather than placing any stock in human nature or his ability to produce righteous-looking deeds, Paul saw those things as hindrances to his spiritual walk. they were liabilities because they were all tainted by sin. So, Paul had given them all up. He had decided to treat them like what they were; liabilities, rather than assets, all so he could know Christ better.

Paul gets a bit graphic when trying to describe his new relationship with all those things he once held near and dear. They were like dung to him now, to be tossed aside and treated for what they were: worthless and detestable.

The bottom line for Paul was righteousness. A holy and righteous God demanded that His people live holy, righteous lives. But man’s sinful nature made that impossible, and no amount of law-keeping, ritual-observing, or efforts at God-pleasing were going to make a difference. Paul states, “I have the righteousness that comes by way of Christ’s faithfulness—a righteousness from God that is in fact based on Christ’s faithfulness” (Philippians 3:9 NLT). In other words, Paul’s righteousness was not based on self-effort, but on Christ’s faithfulness. Jesus died a sinner’s death to satisfy the just demands of a holy and righteous God. As Paul explained to the Corinthian believers: “For our sake he [God] made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV).

Earlier in this letter, Paul pointed out that Jesus “humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8 ESV). His faithfulness to do the will of His Father resulted in righteousness for us.

The Judaizers were not right before God because they had been circumcised. They were not right before God because they were Jews. They could not claim a right standing before God because they kept the law. In fact, Paul vaporized that idea in his letter to the Galatians.

So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, "It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” – Galatians 3:11 NLT

He said the same thing to the believers in Rome.

For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. – Romans 3:20 NLT

We have no reason to boast. We have no ground on which to stand and from which to proclaim our own self-righteousness. Our righteousness is actually Christ’s righteousness imputed to us when we placed our faith in Him. When Christ died on the cross, He paid in full the debt that was owed for the sins of mankind. He died in our place, bearing the penalty we deserved, and that act justified us before God. He now sees us as righteous and just, not sinful and worthy of death. We have been cleansed by the blood of Christ. With that thought in mind, Paul refocuses the attention of his readers on that which is really important; not effort and earning, but the pursuit of an ongoing and always growing relationship with Jesus Christ.

My aim is to know him, to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings, and to be like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. – Philippians 3:10-11 NLT

Paul is not talking about cognitive knowledge. He’s not suggesting a purely academic understanding of who Jesus was and is. He is describing a deep and intimate relationship that features an ever-intensifying awareness of all that Jesus Christ has done and will do for him. In the immediate context, Paul wanted to experience all the power that Christ’s resurrection had made available to him. Jesus had been raised back to life by the power of the Holy Spirit, and each and every believer has that same power present within them.

But Paul knew that the resurrection power he so desired to see is most often revealed in the context of suffering. Just as Jesus had to suffer and die before He could experience the resurrection, we will find ourselves suffering so that we might experience the resurrection power of God’s Spirit in our own lives. Just as Jesus experienced humiliation before His glorification, so will we. And then, Paul reminds us, it will all end in death. The ultimate form of suffering we all face is our own physical death. But Paul wants us to remember that there is a resurrection of the dead. Death is not the end. It is really the beginning of something greater, and Paul told the believers in Corinth what they could expect when death finally came.

For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.

Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled:

“Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” – I Corinthians 15:53-55 NLT

Why put confidence in the flesh? It’s of no value and will ultimately be left behind. And why put stock in our own worthiness before God? Without Christ, we have no righteousness of our own. As Paul told the Colossian believers, it all boils down to this: “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27 ESV).

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Message (MSG) Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

Man-Made Means to Earn Faith-Based Salvation

1 Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.

2 Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. 3 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh — 4 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. – Philippians 3:1-4a ESV

Here, Paul deals with a topic that is found in virtually all of his letters – that of true righteousness. His reason for bringing it up seems to be because the Philippian believers were undergoing intense opposition regarding the issue of circumcision, either from within their own fellowship or from the outside. As a Roman colony, Philippi would have had a large Gentile population and, therefore, the church in Philippi would have consisted primarily of Gentiles who had converted to Christianity from paganism. In A.D. 50, when Paul, Silas, Luke, and Timothy had arrived in Philippi on their missionary journey, there would have been few Jewish residents in the city. But by the time Paul wrote this letter some 10-12 years later, the Jewish population could have grown and there may have been Jewish converts to Christianity within the congregation at Philippi. The presence of Jews in the city and Jewish converts within the church had evidently raised an issue that had become a consistent point of contention for Paul: The rite of circumcision.

Paul opens this section with a reminder to rejoice, even in the face of opposition. This is in keeping with his message to them earlier in the letter:

…it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake. – Philippians 1:29 ESV

And Paul had used his own life as an example of joy while enduring suffering. After all, he was writing to them from house arrest in Rome, facing a trial before Nero and uncertainty as to his fate. But he had been able to tell them:

Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me. – Philippians 2:17-18 ESV

So, even though they were facing opposition, they had every reason to rejoice because they were privileged to suffer for the sake of the gospel.

But it doesn’t take long for Paul’s tone to turn much more serious and sarcastic. He warns them to “Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh” (Philippians 3:2 ESV). Now, while this statement is clearly intended to paint the opposition in an unflattering light, there is more going on here than meets our modern, western eyes. Three separate times in one verse, Paul uses the Greek word, βλέπω (blepō), which most commonly refers to the sense of sight. But in this case, he uses it metaphorically so that they might see with their mind’s eye and  “discern mentally.” He wants them to approach this topic with their eyes wide open to the potential danger.

Paul, writing in Greek, uses a play on words to describe those who were promoting the rite of circumcision within the church. He refers to them as “those who mutilate the flesh.” But that is a translation of a single Greek word, katatomē, which means to cut up or mutilate. In Leviticus 21:5, the priests of God were forbidden to “make any cuts on their body.” In the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament Scriptures, the word katatomē was used to describe this forbidden practice.

Here is where Paul’s cleverness and open hostility can be seen. The Greek word normally used when speaking of the Jewish practice of circumcision was κατατομή (peritomē) and Paul uses it in verse 3.  He purposefully contrasts two similar Greek words, katatomē and peritomē, to compare the Jewish ritual of circumcision with the forbidden act of self-mutilation. But it’s important to remember the context. Paul is addressing a predominately Gentile congregation. These would have been pagans who had placed their faith in Christ, but now are being told that their faith is incomplete and insufficient. Some were telling them that to be truly saved, they must be circumcised and keep all the Jewish laws and religious rituals. This message was common in the 1st Century and was propagated by a group that came to be known as the Judaizers. It isn’t difficult to discern Paul’s opinion concerning these people; he calls them dogs and evildoers. His intense anger toward them was fomented by their constant attempt to add to the gospel message he preached, and he makes his feelings clear about this matter in his letter to the believers in Galatia.

You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ.

Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one we preached to you. I say again what we have said before: If anyone preaches any other Good News than the one you welcomed, let that person be cursed. – Galatians 1:6-9 NLT

Paul also had strong words for the church in Corinth because they were being led away from the simple message of the gospel and buying into a false narrative that essentially claimed true righteousness was based on the false formula of Jesus + something = salvation.

I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. – 2 Corinthians 11:3-4 ESV

As far as Paul was concerned, the Judaizers were the enemy. Although they claimed to be followers of Jesus Christ, they required that everyone become as they were by demanding that all the male members of the church in Philippi be circumcised and, essentially, convert to Judaism before their salvation could be considered complete. This left Paul in a state of rage, especially because he was unable to do anything about it while under house arrest in Rome. This explains the strong nature of his rhetoric.

He completely invalidates the message of the Judaizers by declaring the Gentile converts to Christianity as the true circumcision.

For we who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort… – Philippians 3:3 NLT

This verse summarizes Paul’s view on the matter. To him, circumcision was nothing more than a work, an outward act that left the one circumcised with a false sense of spiritual well-being. For the Jews, it had become a symbol of their unique status as God’s chosen people. But in his letter to the church in Rome, Paul exposed the flaw behind the Jewish thinking regarding circumcision.

The Jewish ceremony of circumcision has value only if you obey God’s law. But if you don’t obey God’s law, you are no better off than an uncircumcised Gentile. – Romans 2:25 NLT

In fact, uncircumcised Gentiles who keep God’s law will condemn you Jews who are circumcised and possess God’s law but don’t obey it. – Romans 2:27 NLT

The problem lies in the dangerous misperception being perpetrated by the Judaizers. In their way of thinking the rite of circumcision was the non-negotiable doorway all must enter on their way to justification before God. But this teaching stood in direct opposition to the gospel message of salvation made possible by God’s grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. No other step was necessary. To add circumcision to the gospel message was to distort the good news and make it another gospel altogether. Rather than basing salvation on the gracious gift of God’s Son, the Judaizers were introducing a form of works-based salvation. They were making justification a matter of rule-keeping and self-effort but Paul reminds the Philippian believers, “We put no confidence in human effort” (Philippians 3:3 NLT).

He goes on to expose the absurdity of the Judaizers’ argument. If they are going to make it all about human effort and rule-keeping, Paul was the poster boy for self-justification. He will go on to describe his relative merit as a good Jew who had all the criteria to make him a candidate for justification before God through works. But for Paul, this way of thinking was ridiculous and dangerous. It stood in direct opposition to the message of the gospel. I

In a direct attack against the pride-filled Judaizers, Paul sarcastically states: “I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more!” (Philippians 3:4a NLT). He goes on to describe his so-called credentials for justification before God but he knew that his curriculum vitae had nothing to do with his right standing before God. His salvation was not based on anything he had done or any worth he brought to the table. It was all the result of Christ’s finished work on the cross, and Paul drove home that point in his letter to the Galatians.

…we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law. – Galatians 2:16 NLT

For Paul, the formula was quite simple and concise. Righteousness was made available by God through man’s faith in the finished work of Christ. No more. No less. So, in Paul’s estimation, circumcision becomes nothing more than self-mutilation when used as an attempt to earn favor with God. Law-keeping becomes disobedience to God when used as a means to justify oneself before God. For as Paul stated, no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Message (MSG) Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

True Freedom

1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

2 Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. 5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. – Galatians 5:1-6 ESV

In these verses, Paul makes it clear that the rite of circumcision was one of the big issues facing the Gentile believers to whom he wrote. They were being pressured by the Judaizers into believing that their salvation was incomplete unless they agreed to be circumcised. In essence, they were being told that they needed to become Jews before they could become card-carrying Christ followers. But Paul warns them that there is no end to this slippery slope down which they are about to slide.

If they give in to the demand of circumcision, then they will be required to keep the whole law. By accepting the idea that obedience to the law is necessary for their salvation, they are placing themselves back under the full weight of the law. The apostle James warned of the danger of falling under the spell of the law.

For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. – James 2:10 ESV

There is no such thing as partial obedience to the law. One who chooses to live under the commands of the law must adhere to all of them, without fail and with no opportunity to decide for self-determination. God’s law wasn’t up for debate or customizable. It was all or nothing.

But the real issue for Paul is that of freedom in Christ. He states that it is “for freedom Christ has set us free” (Galatians 5:1 ESV). Most of us, when we think of our freedom in Christ, focus on our emancipation from sin and death. And yet, Paul speaks of another freedom we enjoy because of our relationship with Christ.

When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death. But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit. – Romans 7:5-6 NLT

Does our release from the law mean that the law was somehow evil? Paul answers that question rather emphatically. “Of course not!…the law itself is holy, and its commands are holy and right and good” (Romans 7:7, 12 NLT). Paul is emphasizing that the law is no longer to be viewed as a mandatory code of conduct or as a set of rules that must be obeyed to gain a right standing with God. We have been freed from that pointless pursuit, which is why Paul spent his lifetime preaching the believer’s newfound freedom in Christ. That freedom includes our release from having to pursue justification through adherence to the law.

Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law. – Galatians 2:16 NLT

Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God. For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. – Romans 3:19-20 NLT

So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” This way of faith is very different from the way of law, which says, “It is through obeying the law that a person has life.” – Galatians 3:11-12 NLT

Paul didn’t want the Galatians to fall back into a life of slavery. Before coming to faith in Christ, they were slaves to sin and under the control of Satan himself. They had no other choice. But when they had accepted Christ as their Savior, they had been released from their captivity. Now, by listening to the teachings of the Judaizers, they were risking a return to slavery – placing themselves under the demands of the law.

Paul warns that if they turned their backs on the grace offered through Christ and the justification that He alone could provide, they would be willingly allowing themselves to live according to their own self-reliance and their ability to keep God happy through rule-keeping. To do so would be to fall away from grace, and Paul was not willing to sit back and watch them do that. It isn’t that Paul feared that they ran the risk of losing their salvation. That is not what falling away from grace means. He is simply saying that by returning to the law, they would be walking away from God’s sole method of salvation and justification: His undeserved and unearned grace as offered through His Son through faith.

In Paul’s theology, faith in God’s grace made available through the gift of His Son would result in good works and a willing adherence to His commands. In the minds of the legalists, it was the exact opposite. Man’s adherence to God’s law would earn him a right standing before God and was, if anything, as important as faith in Christ.

Paul gives us the key difference between a life that is grace-focused and one that is law-based.

For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. - Galatians 5:5 ESV

The believer is to live according to the Spirit’s power and not his own own. And it is the Holy Spirit who provides the believers with the faith necessary to wait for the hope of righteousness. We don’t manufacture faith; it is a gift provided to us by God. It is with the Spirit’s help that we enjoy “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1 ESV).

That is how the author of the book of Hebrews describes faith. God’s indwelling Spirit provides us with the supernatural ability to believe in things that have not yet happened and to trust in those things we can’t even see. It is by faith that we believe we will be fully sanctified by God. We can’t see the end result and we can’t even see our sanctification taking place in real-time. But we believe that God is doing what He has promised to do. Paul wanted believers to have certainty and an abiding assurance that God had not only saved them by faith but was busy perfecting them by faith. And one day He was going to finish what He began by glorifying them by faith.

And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. – Philippians 1:6 NLT

God doesn’t need our help to make us holy. He simply asks for our complete reliance upon Him and our willing obedience to what He calls us to do, even when it doesn’t make sense. For Paul, it always came back to faith. Faith was the key to salvation, sanctification, and our ultimate glorification. To place oneself under the demands of the law, in the hopes of earning a right standing with God, was to reject the grace of God. It would make all that Christ accomplished on the cross ineffective and unnecessary. His death would have been needless and pointless; a fact that Paul raised in chapter two.

I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die. – Galatians 2:21 NLT

For Paul, there was no going back. He was a Hebrew of Hebrews and a former Pharisee, but he was not willing to place himself back under the strict and unwavering demands of the law. He knew he was incapable of living up to God’s exacting standards. In fact, in his letter to the believers in Rome, he described his ongoing battle with sin and the flesh. He knew the real issue was not the law but man’s inability to live up to its holy demands.

…the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. – Romans 7:14-20 NLT

Paul goes on to lament his battle with sin and his inability to live up to God’s holy standard.

Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? – Romans 7:24 NLT

But he provides an answer to his own question, by stating his immense gratitude for God’s gracious gift of His Son.

Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin. – Romans 7:25 NLT

Righteousness is not something we produce; it is a gift we receive. Freedom from sin is not something we achieve through law-keeping; it is a by-product of our faith in Christ and the outworking of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The grace of God makes it possible and the death of Christ makes it available – to all who will receive it by faith.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Their Blame and God’s Name

16 The word of the Lord came to me: 17 “Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and their deeds. Their ways before me were like the uncleanness of a woman in her menstrual impurity. 18 So I poured out my wrath upon them for the blood that they had shed in the land, for the idols with which they had defiled it. 19 I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries. In accordance with their ways and their deeds I judged them. 20 But when they came to the nations, wherever they came, they profaned my holy name, in that people said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, and yet they had to go out of his land.’ 21 But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they came.

22 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. 23 And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. 24 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land.” – Ezekiel 36:16-24 ESV

The good news was that God was going to purge the land and prepare it for the return of His chosen people. That bit of information would have come as a huge relief in the wake of all the latest news concerning Judah’s fall and Jerusalem’s destruction. As Ezekiel’s audience processed all the details of the reports from home making their way to Babylon, a pall of depression and despondency would have settled over them. They were already in exile, waiting to be joined by more of their fellow citizens, the latest round of victims from Nebuchadnezzar’s relentless siege of Jerusalem. Now that the invasion was over, so were their hopes of ever returning home.

But with Ezekiel’s latest message, their hopes were restored by the news that God was going to allow them to return home one day.

“…the mountains of Israel will produce heavy crops of fruit for my people—for they will be coming home again soon! See, I care about you, and I will pay attention to you. Your ground will be plowed and your crops planted. I will greatly increase the population of Israel, and the ruined cities will be rebuilt and filled with people.” – Ezekiel 36:8-10 NLT

After all that had happened, they could rest in the knowledge that God cared for them. He had not abandoned or forgotten them. The very fact that He had sent a prophet to minister to them in the middle of Babylon should have clued them into the fact that He still had a keen interest in their welfare.

This chapter is replete with good news concerning the rebellious people of God, and it will only get better. But God knew it was vital that His unfaithful children understand the reason for their suffering. As they rejoiced over the news of their eventual return and God’s plans to prosper them once again, He wanted them to grasp the seriousness of their guilt and the true cause of His harsh judgment of them. And God is unsparing and quite graphic in His description of their crime.

“…when the people of Israel were living in their own land, they defiled it by the evil way they lived. To me their conduct was as unclean as a woman’s menstrual cloth.” – Ezekiel 36:17 NLT

He leaves little to the imagination and makes no attempt to sugarcoat or downplay the extent of their iniquity. This imagery would have hit Ezekiel’s Jewish audience quite hard because they were very familiar with the Mosaic Laws concerning this matter.

“Whenever a woman has her menstrual period, she will be ceremonially unclean for seven days. Anyone who touches her during that time will be unclean until evening. Anything on which the woman lies or sits during the time of her period will be unclean. If any of you touch her bed, you must wash your clothes and bathe yourself in water, and you will remain unclean until evening. If you touch any object she has sat on, you must wash your clothes and bathe yourself in water, and you will remain unclean until evening. This includes her bed or any other object she has sat on; you will be unclean until evening if you touch it. If a man has sexual intercourse with her and her blood touches him, her menstrual impurity will be transmitted to him. He will remain unclean for seven days, and any bed on which he lies will be unclean.” – Leviticus 15:19-24 NLT

Their sin had become as natural and normal to them as a woman’s monthly menstrual cycle. They didn’t have to plan it or think about it; it just happened. And when it did, it contaminated everything and everyone around them. Their actions made everything they touched impure and unholy. But rather than seven days out of the month, their impurity had become a 365-day-a-year problem.

And God makes it clear that this problem was not the result of normal bodily functions or a pre-programmed function of human anatomy. No, they were making personal choices that resulted in the violation of God’s will and the defamation of His holy name.

“They polluted the land with murder and the worship of idols…” – Ezekiel 36:18 NLT

A woman’s menstrual cycle is inevitable and unavoidable, but that is not true of murder and idolatry. In fact, God had provided clear prohibitions against these things.

“You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them…” – Exodus 20:3-4 ESV

“You shall not murder.” – Exodus 20:13 ESV

But they had repeatedly violated these two commands, along with all the others. It seems that God pointed out these two sins because they both involved the shedding and spreading of blood. Murder requires the taking of life and the spilling of blood. And the brand of idolatry that God’s people had begun to embrace often involved human sacrifice. Their downward spiritual spiral had led them to offer up their own children to false gods like Molech. And the blood of their victims cried out to God from the soil of the polluted land of promise.

And God wants them to understand that all they have suffered has been the result of God’s anger against their blatant and unrepentant wickedness.

“I poured out my fury on them. I scattered them to many lands to punish them for the evil way they had lived.” – Ezekiel 36:18-19 NLT

They had no one to blame but themselves. While their deportation to Babylon had been God’s doing, it had been their own fault. He had simply given them what they rightly deserved. He had punished them in keeping with His own righteousness and according to His covenant commitment.

“…if you refuse to listen to the Lord your God and do not obey all the commands and decrees I am giving you today…The Lord will exile you and your king to a nation unknown to you and your ancestors. There in exile you will worship gods of wood and stone! You will become an object of horror, ridicule, and mockery among all the nations to which the Lord sends you.” – Deuteronomy 28:15, 36-37 NLT

It had all happened just as God promised, including His prediction of their continued unfaithfulness through further idolatry. His punishment of them had virtually no impact on their behavior. They were so addicted to idolatry that they couldn’t resist the temptation, even while undergoing divine judgment for that very sin.

But little did they know that their actions had been adding to their long list of crimes against the Almighty. And, worst of all, all the while they had been violating the will of God, they had been defaming the name of God.

“…they brought shame on my holy name.” – Ezekiel 36:20 NLT

It wasn’t just the fact that the people of God were living godless lives. There is no doubt that their behavior was a stain on God’s name because they were violating everything that He stood for. But God points out that their punishment had raised questions about Him among the pagan nations of the world.

“For the nations said, ‘These are the people of the Lord, but he couldn’t keep them safe in his own land!’” – Ezekiel 36:20 NLT

God doesn’t worry about public opinion. What people think about Him plays no part in His decision-making. But He does care about His name because it is a reflection of His character. Yet, He had been willing to risk the repudiation of His reputation in order to deal with the sins of His people. The very ones who bore His name and should have been declaring His greatness and goodness to the nations had become a drain on His personal reputation. And the prophet Jeremiah provides a glimpse into God’s rationale for allowing this to happen.

“Have you noticed what people are saying?—‘The Lord chose Judah and Israel and then abandoned them!’ They are sneering and saying that Israel is not worthy to be counted as a nation. But this is what the Lord says: I would no more reject my people than I would change my laws that govern night and day, earth and sky. I will never abandon the descendants of Jacob or David, my servant, or change the plan that David’s descendants will rule the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Instead, I will restore them to their land and have mercy on them.” – Jeremiah 33:24-26 NLT

And Ezekiel receives the very same message from the Lord concerning His rebellious people.

“I was concerned for my holy name, on which my people brought shame among the nations. Therefore, give the people of Israel this message from the Sovereign Lord: I am bringing you back, but not because you deserve it.” – Ezekiel 36:21-22 NLT

That last line is huge and should not be overlooked. None of what God was promising to do was deserved. They had done nothing to earn His affection or receive His forgiveness, and that had been true from the very beginning. His decision to make a nation called Israel and set it apart as His own had nothing to do with merit. As Moses told the people of Israel, they existed as a result of God’s love and faithfulness.

The LORD did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than the other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But because the LORD loved you and kept the oath He swore to your fathers… – Deuteronomy 7:7-8 BSB

And all that God was promising for the future would be based on His love and faithfulness as well. But even greater than His unwavering love for His people is His love for His own name. That is why God declared, “I will show how holy my great name is—the name on which you brought shame among the nations” (Ezekiel 36:23 NLT). And when He is done, rather than mock the God of Israel, the nations will know that He alone is the Lord.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

A Sacrifice Worth Making

18 And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’” 21 And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.” 22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” 23 But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. 24 Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! 25 For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” 27 But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” 28 And Peter said, “See, we have left our homes and followed you.” 29 And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, 30 who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.” – Luke 18:18-30 ESV

It’s amazing to consider the sovereign nature of all of Jesus’ encounters. Nothing that ever happened to Him was ever a case of luck or blind chance. It was all providentially orchestrated by His Heavenly Father. Every lame person who ever came to Jesus for healing did so of their own free will, but under the sovereign direction of God. Even those individuals whose lives were under the oppressive control of a demonic spirit somehow scored a face-to-face encounter with the Son of God. Even the demon within them could not stop the inevitable and irresistible will of God.

God’s timing was always impeccable, and the Son’s adherence to His Father’s will was always irreproachable. So, as Jesus walked in lock-step with His Father’s plan, it was inevitable that He would encounter those whom God had providentially preordained Him to meet. And that is exactly what happens when the rich, young ruler comes to Jesus with an important question. This was not just a case of good timing. It was an example of God’s carefully orchestrated oversight of every phase of His Son’s life and ministry. This particular man showed up at this particular time and with this particular question on his mind.

“Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” – Luke 18:18 ESV

Keep in mind that Jesus had just made a startling admission regarding entrance into the kingdom that left His disciples dazed and confused.

“Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” – Luke 18:17 ESV

And prior to dropping that bombshell on His disciples, Jesus had made another unexpected disclosure regarding justification before God.

“…everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” – Luke 18:14 ESV

So, this man’s appearance could not have come at a better time. And his question could not have been more appropriate and applicable to the circumstances.

Luke tells us that this man was a ruler, which infers that he was both powerful and influential. The other synoptic gospels add that he was also rich and young. In other words, he had a lot going for him. We are not told what kind of ruler this man was. He could have served in some kind of governmental capacity. Perhaps he was a leader in the local synagogue. Or he could have been a member of the Sanhedrin. But regardless the nature of his leadership capacity, he seeks out Jesus. And notice how Jesus responds to the him.

“Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.” – Luke 18:19 ESV

Jesus seemingly ignores the man’s question and focuses on a single word contained within it. The man referred to Jesus as a “good” teacher, but uses this polite but overused description to make an important point. According to psalmist, only God alone is good.

God looks down from heaven
    on the children of man
to see if there are any who understand,
    who seek after God.

They have all fallen away;
    together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
    not even one. – Psalm 53:2-3 ESV

So, why was the young ruler using this word to describe Jesus? The truth is, the man meant nothing by it. But whether the man or anyone else in the crowd understood it, Jesus was subtly inferring His own deity. Jesus really was a “good” teacher. In fact, He was the God-teacher, the God-man.

But Jesus doesn’t belabor the point. Instead, He points out five of the Ten Commandments.

“Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.” – Luke 18:20 ESV

Matthew adds that the man’s request was focused on what “good deed” he must do to inherit eternal life. From the conversation that followed, it seems clear that the man believed he had already done enough. He was young and rich, and from the perspective of most Jews, he was already blessed by God because of his wealth. He was also a religious man because when Jesus listed the five commandments and told the man to keep them, he proudly announced, “All these I have kept from my youth.”” (Luke 18:21 ESV).

This man was looking for confirmation, not a list of things to do. As a faithful Jew, he believed he was a child of Abraham and, therefore, a rightful heir to eternal life. As a descendant of Abraham, he was guaranteed a place in God’s eternal Kingdom. Now, he was asking Jesus to place His Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval on his life.

The wording of the man’s question is very specific. He uses the word klēronomeō, which means “to obtain by inheritance.” This reveals that he believed eternal life was already rightfully his, but he wants to know how to he can get his hands on it now. He was not willing to wait. His attitude is similar to that of the young man in Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son. In that story, Jesus described another young man from a wealthy family who was destined to inherit his father’s vast riches. But unwilling to wait for his father to die, he demanded that he be given his inheritance right way.

“I want my share of your estate now before you die.” So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons. – Luke 15:12 NLT

Finding himself suddenly wealthy beyond belief, that young man ended up spending everything he had on a life of excess and immorality. He had gotten what he wanted but had misused and abused it.

And, in a similar way, the rich young man kneeling before Jesus was demanding that he be given what was rightfully his: His guaranteed inheritance of eternal life. This man had it all but he wanted more. He coveted the one thing that was missing from his portfolio: Assurance of eternal life.

Because of his wealth, social standing, and success at religious rule-keeping, this young man believed himself to be blessed by God. He viewed himself as a good man who deserved everything that was due to him. And if Jesus could guarantee him that he had done enough to earn eternal life, he could live the rest of his life in ease and comfort. But when Jesus emphasized that “No one is good except God alone” (Luke 18:19 ESV), He was letting this man know that there was only one “good man” participating in this conversation. And it wasn’t the rich, young ruler.

And while this man could brag about having kept the commandments, Jesus knew the truth about his heart. It’s interesting that Jesus only listed five of the commandments and they all had to do with the horizontal relationships between individuals.

These five commandments bring to mind Jesus’ sermon on the mount. In that message, Jesus stated, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:17-19 ESV).

And Jesus had gone on to explain what it looked like to “relax” one of God’s laws. He put hatred on the same par as murder (Matthew 5:22). He compared lust to adultery.

“…everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” – Matthew 5:28 ESV

Lust, like adultery, is essentially taking what does not belong to you. It is a form of stealing. And Jesus said, “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell” (Matthew 5:29 ESV).

All throughout His sermon on the mount, Jesus painted a radically different picture of what it means to keep God’s law. It wasn’t just about rule-keeping. It was about a change of the heart. Those who hoped to inherit God’s kingdom would have to live sacrificially and selflessly. Their adherence to God’s laws would have to manifest itself in their relationships with others. That’s why Jesus said, “Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you” (Matthew 5:42 ESV).

Which brings us back to the rich young man. Jesus turned to him and said, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” (Luke 18:22 ESV). This proved to be the deal-breaker. This one “good deed” was more than the man could handle. He was unwilling to part with his wealth. All his law-keeping had cost him nothing. But now Jesus was demanding that he do one thing that would cost him everything.

The man was focused on what Jesus was asking him to give up. But the real tragedy of this story is what the young man eventually turned his back on. He was willing to walk away from eternal life so that he could keep living the “good life.” Mark sadly reports that the man “went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions” (Mark 10:22 ESV).

He was possessed by his possessions. He was held captive by the things of this world. His love of material goods and temporal pleasures proved too great. And years later, the apostle John would probably recall this sad scene when he wrote the following words.

Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever. – 1 John 2:15-17 NLT

This man had been young and full of life. He was wealthy and blessed by every imaginable earthly pleasure. He was a ruler who wielded tremendous power and responsibility. In other words, He was great. He was all that the disciples hoped to become. When they looked at the rich young ruler, they saw the image of what they aspired to be. And as the disciples stood in stunned silence watching the young man walk away, Jesus further exploded their misconception of greatness.

“How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” – Mark 10:23 ESV

This led some in the crowd to exclaim, “Then who can be saved?” (Luke 18:26 ESV). If the wealthy, who were obviously blessed by God, were going to find it difficult to enter the kingdom, what hope did they have?  But Jesus assured them, “What is impossible with man is possible with God” (Luke 18:27 ESV).

At this point, the ever-impulsive Peter stepped into the conversation and reminded Jesus how he and his companions had sacrificed all to follow Him. They weren’t rich like the young ruler, but they had given up everything to be His disciples. Peter was hoping that Jesus would confirm that they had eternal life locked in. According to the criteria Jesus had given the young ruler, Peter figured they had done enough.

But Jesus surprises them by stating: “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life” (Luke 18:29-30 ESV). What Peter did not yet understand was that, with Jesus’ coming death on the cross, he and the other disciples would eventually inherit the Holy Spirit. Not only that, they would end up becoming part of the much larger family of God. But the greatest blessing they would receive would come at the end of the age: Eternal life. But all of it would be based on the work of Christ, not their own human effort. Eternal life was a gift, not a reward for work well done.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Message (MSG)Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

Enter While the Door Is Open

22 He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23 And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them, 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ 28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. 29 And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. 30 And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.” – Luke 13:22-30 ESV

Luke makes it clear that Jesus has a destiny in mind: The city of Jerusalem. He is slowly making His way to the city of David, where the disciples hope He will establish His kingdom, once and for all. But Jesus has a different destiny in mind. He has repeatedly revealed to His disciples that suffering, arrest, and execution await Him in Jerusalem.

And they were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. And taking the twelve again, he began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise.” – Mark 10:32-34 ESV

Jesus had first introduced this unsettling topic while He and the disciples were in Caesarea Philippi.

And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. – Mark 8:31 ESV

And He had reiterated the same depressing news while they were still in Galilee.

They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to know, for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.” – Mark 9:30-31 ESV

And Mark revealed that the disciples “did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him” (Mark 9:32 ESV). Their inability to process this information is understandable because it did not fit their expectations of the Messiah. They had been anticipating a conquering king, not a suffering servant. And it seems that they were not the only ones who were perplexed by Jesus’ increasing use of strangely foerboding rhetoric concerning death, judgment, and the coming kingdom of God.

One of the things we fail to remember is that many of those in Jesus’ retinue had been with Him since His sermon on the mount. These followers had heard Him deliver countless messages on a variety of topics, and they had been trying to put all the pieces together. So, it is not surprising when Luke records, yet again, someone in the crowd asking Jesus a clarifying question: “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” (Luke 13:23 ESV). Perhaps this individual had been present when Jesus gave His sermon on the mount and had heard Him discuss the narrow gate:

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” – Matthew 7:13-14 ESV

Or they could have been an eye-witness to Jesus’ encounter with the rich man who had asked Jesus, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Mark 10:17 ESV). Jesus had told the man to “sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me” (Mark 10:21 ESV), but the man walked away disheartened and disappointed because he had great wealth. Which had led Jesus to proclaim:

“How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” – Mark 10:23-26 ESV

Jesus seemed to be presenting a kind of salvation that was exclusive and far from universal. To the Jewish way of thinking, rich people were obviously blessed by God, so if they were restricted from entering the kingdom, what hope was there for everyone else. If the gate was narrow and only a handful would make it through, then what hope did the average Jew have of ever entering the kingdom of God? Yet Jesus responded to his questioner with words of encouragement.

“Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.” – Luke 13:24 ESV

He picked up the same message He had delivered during His sermon on the mount, reiterating the exclusivity of the kingdom, but promoting the value of striving after it. While not everyone would be able to enter the narrow door, it was still worthy of pursuit. And the time to seek entrance was now because the day would come when that door was no longer open. Jesus infers that there is a limited opportunity and time frame during which access to the kingdom will be available.

Years later, the apostle Paul would urge the unbelievers in Corinth to understand the timeliness of the gospel and respond while they had the opportunity.

As God’s partners, we beg you not to accept this marvelous gift of God’s kindness and then ignore it. For God says, “At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.” Indeed, the “right time” is now. Today is the day of salvation. – 2 Corinthians 6:1-2 NLT

Jesus makes it clear that the day will come when the door of opportunity will shut. The day of salvation will come to an end and time will run out, leaving many standing outside the door begging, “Lord, open to us” (Luke 13:25 ESV). But it will be too little, too late. The Lord will answer them, “I do not know where you come from” (Luke 13:25 ESV).

Once again, Jesus reaches back into His earlier sermon on the mount, reintroducing the same concepts of exclusivity and accessibility regarding the kingdom of heaven.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” – Matthew 7:21-23 ESV

Jesus reveals that the day will come when many will find themselves standing outside the kingdom demanding entrance. They will be shocked to discover that they lack the proper credentials for entrance into the kingdom. Their Hebrew heritage will not suffice. Their lengthy list of good deeds done in Jesus’ name will not be enough. Even their ability to emulate the works of Jesus will fail to help their cause.

Jesus even suggests that their good deeds done in His name will be exposed as nothing less than evil. The words of the prophet Isaiah will be proven true.

We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. – Isaiah 64:6 NLT

And Jesus drops another truth bomb on His audience that must have left them shaking their heads in confusion and consternation. He reveals that not only will there be many who think they deserve entrance into God’s kingdom standing on the outside looking in, but their predicament will be permanent and painful. And His message seems to be directed at those Jews in His audience, like the Pharisees, who believed they were guaranteed a spot in the kingdom. He breaks the news to them that their destiny will not be what they were expecting.

“In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out.” – Luke 13:28 ESV

And if that wasn’t bad enough, Jesus informs them that there will be others who occupy the places they thought would be reserved for them. People from outside the confines of Israel will be sitting alongside Abraham and the patriarchs, enjoying fellowship in the kingdom of heaven, while card-carrying Jews will find themselves unwelcome and unworthy to join in the festivities. And Jesus informs His audience that power, prominence, and prestige in this life are no guarantee for entrance into eternal life.

“…some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.” – Luke 13:30 ESV

The apostle Paul would later reveal the only requirement for entrance into the kingdom of God, and it would have nothing to do with ethnicity, religiosity, or works of piety.

…if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” – Romans 10:9-13 ESV

So, the answer to the question, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” is yes. But the good news is that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” As Jesus told His disciples, “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved” (John 10:9 ESV).

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Message (MSG)Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

The Last Will Be First, and the First Last

1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ 5 So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. 6 And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ 7 They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ 8 And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ 9 And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. 10 Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. 11 And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, 12 saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ 13 But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14 Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. 15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ 16 So the last will be first, and the first last.” –  Matthew 20:1-16 ESV

Jesus ends this section with a familiar refrain: “So the last will be first, and the first last.” It echoes His closing words from chapter 19: “But many who are first will be last, and the last first” (Matthew 19:30 ESV). He is still attempting to provide His disciples with further insight into His encounter with the rich young man. Jesus knows they’re struggling with the content of that exchange and can’t quite wrap their minds around what Jesus is trying to tell them.

While they believed the young man’s wealth was a sign of God’s blessing, Jesus had said it was difficult, if not impossible, for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. When the disciples had asked, “Who then can be saved?,” Jesus shocked them by replying, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26 ESV).

The young man had walked away, rather than do as Jesus had commanded. He had been unwilling to sell all his possessions and give the proceeds to the poor. His love affair with materialism had kept him from following Jesus. The cost was too high. The sacrifice, too great.

Recognizing the angst and anxiety on the faces of His disciples, Jesus tells them a parable. It’s clearly meant to elucidate what He meant by the first will be last and the last first. Jesus uses an easy-to-comprehend scenario from everyday life, intended to illustrate and explain a deeper, more mysterious spiritual reality. The whole purpose behind this parable is to explain life in the kingdom of heaven, and the disciples were going to discover, yet again, that it would not harmonize with their preconceived notions.

It’s essential that we notice that this parable involves the work or efforts of the laborers and the reward given by the landowner. Remember, the rich young man had come to Jesus asking what he must do to have eternal life. He was thinking in terms of labor or effort in order to gain entrance into God’s kingdom. And when Jesus told him to sell all that he owned and give it to the poor, Jesus was not suggesting that obedience to that one command would provide the man eternal life. He was revealing the true focus of the man’s faith, hope, and security: His wealth.

In Jesus’ story, the landowner went out early in the morning and hired laborers to work in his vineyard, offering each of them a denarius as their wages. And they had all agreed to the conditions of the contract. But throughout the rest of the day, at 9:00 am, Noon, and 5:00 pm, the landowner continued to hire additional workers. In each case, the landowner found men “standing idle in the marketplace” (Matthew 20:3, 6 ESV). And when he asked them why there were not working, the men answered, “Because no one has hired us” (Matthew 20:7 ESV). They had no place to work. They were laborers with nothing to do. But the landowner changed all that. He replaced their idleness with productive activity. They could not create work for themselves. They owned no vineyard of their own. They were at the mercy of the one who owned the vineyard.

When the workday came to an end, the landowner called all the men together in order to compensate them for their labor. This is where the main point behind the parable appears. The landowner paid every man a denarius, regardless of how long they had worked. If you look closely at the parable, the landowner had only told the original group of workers how much he would pay them for their efforts. The others were simply told, “You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you” (Matthew 20:4 ESV). They had no expectations concerning their compensation.

And Jesus makes it a point to reveal that the last group hired was the first to receive the wages for their work. That means that the first group had to stand back and watch as each group of workers received the same level of pay, regardless of the amount of work they had done. In their minds, they assumed that the level of pay would increase based on the number of hours worked. When the first group got a denarius, they automatically assumed that their reward would be greater because they had labored longer and harder. But they were incensed to find out that their pay was no greater, and shared their disappointment with the landowner.

“These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.” – Matthew 20:12 ESV

Don’t miss what they said: “You have made them equal to us.” This statement provides an essential clue to the primary point of the parable. You have to go all the way back to the scene that began this whole exchange. The disciples had been arguing over which of them was the greatest in the kingdom. And now, we have Jesus telling them a story that shows what appears to be a case of extreme inequality and unfairness. The laborers, like the disciples, were hung up on the idea of earned reward. The men who labored the longest were convinced that their efforts deserved greater compensation. They deserved more because they had done more.

But the landowner, unmoved by their complaint, told them to take what they had been offered because it was the amount to which they had agreed. They had no right to question his generosity or how he chose to distribute his resources. He was free to pay each man whatever he chose to pay them. He even asked the disgruntled laborers a rhetorical question: “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?” (Matthew 20:15 ESV).

It’s important to recall Peter’s earlier response to Jesus.

Then Peter said in reply, “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” – Matthew 19:27 ESV

He was asking Jesus what he could expect to receive in the way of reward based on what he believed to be the greater degree of sacrifice. In essence, he was saying that he and his fellow disciples had earned more because they had done more.

Like the disciples, we hear this story and think in terms of labor and reward. We can’t help but see the actions of the landowner as somehow unfair or unjust. But Jesus is emphasizing the grace of the landowner, not the efforts of the laborers. None of the men had earned their reward. They had not even earned the right to labor. They had been graciously hired by the landowner and given the privilege of working in his vineyard. And he was free to pay them whatever he determined to be just and fair. A denarius was a typical day’s wage for a common laborer. So, even those who men who had labored all day had received fair compensation.

Like the landowner in Jesus’ parable, it is God who calls laborers to work in His vineyard. He finds those who are “standing idle in the marketplace” and invites them to labor on His behalf. He has a predetermined reward prepared for them. And that reward is not based on the length or intensity of their labor. It is determined by His grace and mercy.

The disciples had been the first to be called by Jesus. But that did not make them more worthy of reward. Their position as His disciples was not an indication of their value or a determiner of their right to greater spiritual compensation. Jesus wanted them to understand that their status as His followers was based solely on His invitation to follow Him. He had found them “standing idle in the marketplace” and had called them to labor alongside Him in the kingdom. And Jesus was going to be calling others along the way. And long after Jesus had returned to heaven, the disciples would see others responding to the call of Jesus and joining them in the work of the harvest. And, one day, each will receive the same reward, not based on the length of their labor or the number of their accomplishments, but based solely on the grace of God.

God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. – Ephesians 2:8-9 NLT

From the disciples’ perspective, the rich young man who had walked away from Jesus dejectedly, had obviously been blessed by God. His great wealth was a reflection of God’s favor. So, when Jesus inferred that this man’s great wealth would make it difficult for him to enter the kingdom of heaven, the disciples were confused. And when they heard Jesus’ parable about the laborers, they would have sided with the disgruntled group who felt slighted by the landowner’s obvious inequities. They were hung up on the false idea of reward for work done. The society in which they lived was based on the concept that you don’t get something for nothing. Hard work shouldn’t go unrewarded. A workman is worthy of his hire (Luke 10:7).

But the disciples were going to learn that life in the kingdom of heaven is based on grace, not merit. Their efforts on behalf of God would not earn them favor with God. He would not reward them based on the level of their accomplishments or length of their service. God will reward each according to His grace and mercy. And His reward will be just, righteous, and fair.

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Message (MSG)Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson

Entrance Into the Kingdom

23 And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” 26 But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” 27 Then Peter said in reply, “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” 28 Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” –  Matthew 19:23-30 ESV

It’s essential that we not separate the content of these verses from the encounter that Jesus had with the rich young man. Verse 22 ended with the sobering statement: “When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”

When Jesus had instructed the man to sell all he possessed, give it to the poor and follow him, the man had simply walked away. He considered the cost too high. In his mind, the price Jesus seemed to have placed on eternal life was too steep to pay. This man couldn’t bear the thought of giving up all that he possessed in order to gain eternal life. So Matthew records that the man went away sorrowful.

But we must not miss two critical statements made by Jesus that help give clarity to what Jesus told His disciples after the man’s departure. Two different times in His exchange with the young man, Jesus addressed his desire to know what he had to do to gain eternal life.

If you would enter life… – vs. 17

If you would be perfect… – vs. 21

And in both cases, Jesus had followed up those statements with action steps:

…keep the commandments. – vs. 17

…go, sell what you possess and give to the poor. – vs. 21

Jesus knew something the disciples didn’t know. It was not a case of whether the man would or wouldn’t keep Jesus’ instructions. It was that he couldn’t. It was impossible. While the young man claimed to have kept the five commandments Jesus outlined, there was no way he had done so perfectly. And it is painfully clear that the young man loved his wealth and possessions more than he loved God. In other words, he had broken the very first commandment because he had made a god out of material things. And he was willing to sacrifice the hope of eternal life with God in order to hold on to his false god of materialism.

So, as the disciples watched the man walk away, Jesus used the moment as a teaching opportunity. He made a statement that must have caught them by surprise.

“Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” – Matthew 19:23-24 ESV

For the disciples, this statement made no sense. As Jews, they had always understood a person’s wealth to be a sign of God’s blessing. They had been taught to believe that one of the primary ways in which God bestowed His favor upon men was through material possessions. When they looked at the lives of the patriarchs, like Abraham, Joseph, and David, they saw men who had been greatly blessed by God with great wealth. And they aspired to be blessed in the same way.

So, the words of Jesus caught them off guard. They were inconsistent with their understanding of how life worked. Which explains their astonishment and their question to Jesus: “Who then can be saved?”

Their train of thought had jumped the tracks. The words of Jesus were illogical and disturbing. Their question to Jesus might be expressed this way: “If those who are obviously blessed by God are going to have a difficult time entering the kingdom of heaven, then what hope do we have?”

The disciples were far from wealthy. They had little in the way of possessions. And nobody looked up to them or aspired to be like them. But their whole concept of God’s blessings was warped. They had not yet understood what Jesus had said in His sermon on the mount.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit…”

“Blessed are those who mourn…”

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth…”

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…”

“Blessed are the merciful…”

“Blessed are the pure in heart…”

“Blessed are the peacemakers…”

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake…”

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely…” – Matthew 5:3-11 ESV

God’s standard of blessing or approval was not wealth. It was an attitude of spiritual poverty and complete reliance upon God. When it came to the kingdom of heaven, the self-reliant and self-sufficient would be denied entrance. Those who determine to make comfort and ease their goal in this life will miss out on the joys of eternal life.

This discussion left the disciples confused and led them to ask, “Who then can be saved?” It’s important to note that they were not using the term “saved” in the same sense we would. They were not tying salvation to the gospel, but to man’s entrance into eternal life. And their understanding was much like that of the rich young man. They believed that eternal life was a reward for the good things done in this life.

But Jesus shocked them when He said, “With man this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26 ESV). The word “this” ties back the idea of salvation or the earning of eternal life. It is impossible for any man to earn his way into God’s kingdom. And not only that, it was going to be particularly difficult for the wealthy. Why? Because, like the young man who had just walked away, they would find their wealth to be a barrier to saving faith. Materialism has a way of masking our needs. It keeps us from recognizing our true spiritual poverty. Money can buy us a false sense of peace and security. It can make us feel invincible and invulnerable. 

And if you believe that your wealth is a sign of God’s blessing, you will have little impetus to see yourself as someone in need of God’s forgiveness.

This whole exchange began with Jesus describing the need for childlike faith. The disciples had been arguing over who was the greatest. They falsely viewed prominence and position as a sign of favor with God. But Jesus had told them, “unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3 ESV). Now, He was expanding on this thought by saying it was impossible for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Why? Because a rich man lacked the humble, innocent, and completely dependent faith that displayed his need for God.

And Jesus stressed the sheer impossibility of it all by using an extremely ludicrous illustration. A rich man could no more earn his way into God’s kingdom than a camel could squeeze through the eye of a needle.

Always quick to share his opinion, Peter asked, “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?”

It’s obvious that Peter was thinking of the words Jesus had spoken to the rich young man: “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor” (Matthew 19:21 ESV). In Peter’s mind, he had done what Jesus had asked. He had sacrificed greatly in order to follow Jesus so, he wanted to know what was in it for him. What would be his reward? Remember what Jesus told the young man. If he sold all that he had and gave it to the poor, he would “have treasure in heaven.” So, Peter wanted to know what he was going to get for all of his sacrifices.

Jesus answered Peter’s question, but not in the way that he had hoped.

“Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.” – Matthew 19:28-29 ESV

Jesus assured Peter that he would have a reward, but it would be far different than what he was expecting. Jesus revealed that there was a day coming when He would establish His kingdom on earth. He would sit on the throne of David and rule from Jerusalem. But that day was in the far-distant future. He was speaking of His millennial kingdom, which will take place after His second coming. And in that kingdom, the 12 disciples will receive their reward. They will rule over the 12 tribes of Israel. They will have positions of power and prominence. They will rule alongside the Messiah in His millennial kingdom.

But in the meantime, they were going to be called to sacrifice. The disciples would be required to give up far more than could imagine. Most of these men would end up sacrificing their lives on behalf of the kingdom of God. They would face persecution and difficulty. And Jesus had already warned them of the reality of their future fate.

“But beware! For you will be handed over to the courts and will be flogged with whips in the synagogues. You will stand trial before governors and kings because you are my followers. But this will be your opportunity to tell the rulers and other unbelievers about me. When you are arrested, don’t worry about how to respond or what to say. God will give you the right words at the right time. For it is not you who will be speaking—it will be the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”  – Matthew 10:17-20 NLT

Their reward would be in the future. And it would be tied to eternal life in the kingdom of God. So, rather than seeking their reward in the here-and-now, they were to focus their attention on the hereafter. In this life, they would be required to sacrifice. They would have to die to self and serve God, not material things. Their faith was to be based on the future reward promised to them by God through Christ. They needed to stop viewing the kingdom from a worldly perspective. Wealth, power, and prominence in this life were no guarantees of eternal life. Salvation is a work of God. And nothing is impossible for Him. While we can never earn our salvation, God has made it possible for all who place childlike faith in His Son to receive the unmerited reward of life everlasting.

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Message (MSG)Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson