“At least I’m better than them.”
Our natural tendency is to take this attitude of comparison, believing that we deserve heaven because we are better than others. But the real standard of comparison is not horizontal—it’s vertical. Even our best efforts fail to reach God, which is why every religion—except Christianity—cannot save us. Every other religion, after all, promotes works righteousness. Christianity is unique in its claims of salvation by faith alone and grace alone.
The more you know God, the more you realize how amazing His grace is. That is because you begin to see more and more of His holiness and the sinfulness of sin.
Paul makes it clear in Galatians that because of our sinfulness we cannot live by the law, but only by faith in Christ.
Freedom from the Law
The law could not save us. Instead, it was a tutor that pointed us to Christ (Galatians 3:24). It revealed that we could not achieve the holiness God required of us, showing our need for a Mediator to save us from our sin. But once we have been saved by Christ, then we have been made free from the law. As Galatians 2:20 says,
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
Because of this, we know four things that result from our identity in Christ:
- We have forgiveness from the penalty of sin because Christ died for us (Romans 5:8; 1 Corinthians 15:3)
- We have freedom from the power of sin because we died with Christ (Colossians 2:11; 1 Peter 2:24)
- We have fulfillment for this day because Christ lives in us (Philippians 1:20–21)
- By faith, we will allow Christ to manifest His life through us (2 Corinthians 2:14)
If it were possible for anyone to earn salvation by works of the law, then the death of Christ would have been nullified. As it is, we need Christ in order to have freedom from the law, because we cannot fulfill it. We need His righteousness in order to save us.
Fulfilling the Law
Christ fulfilled the law for us, and although we are no longer under the law, we now have the ability to walk in it through the fruit of the Spirit:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22–23)
The Spirit enables us to do good works, not of the flesh or our own strength, but by the strength of Christ in us. This is the new law of Christ, His grace to us. Grace does not mean we continue to live lawlessly. Instead, because of grace, we are to walk by the Spirit and do the works God has prepared for us (Ephesians 2:10).
Now, we need to note that we still wrestle with the flesh. Sin will not be completely destroyed until Christ comes again. But God is faithful to sanctify us, and we become more in our practice who we already are in our position in Christ.
For more on our identity in Christ, check out Ken’s teaching on Ephesians.
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This teaching is based on Ken Boa’s Handbook to Scripture.
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