For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not
from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can
boast. (Ephes. 2:8-9)
Often, salvation-by-grace-through-faith, apart from any good
deeds or merit, seems too good to be true – the product of wishful thinking,
even perhaps a New Testament invention. However, what if we found that the
Hebrew Scriptures embodied the very same teaching, albeit not so prominently?
Wouldn’t that signify that our Lord really means business when He promises us
the free gift of salvation?
The evidence in favor of this is really massive – so massive
as to alleviate any doubts that perhaps we might have misinterpreted the
teachings of the Hebrew Scriptures. The evidence confronts us at the lowest
point of human history. Our first parents had rebelled against God, hid from
Him, lied to Him, laughably covered their sin with fig leaves, and failed to
repent. Nevertheless, God graciously gave them His own covering – animal skins
- in place of their self-righteous fig leaves. Adam certainly didn’t do
anything to merit this symbolic covering.
More explicitly, we are informed that “Abram believed the
Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6), apart from
Abraham doing anything to deserve it. Although Abraham continued to fail God,
His Savior never denied him. Instead, He affirmed that Abraham was His prophet
and that healing had to come through Abraham’s prayers (Gen. 20), even when
Abraham had been at his lowest, morally.
Gradually, we are introduced to a Messiah who would die for
our sins (Isaiah 53). He would also be known as “The Lord Our Righteousness”
(Jeremiah 23:6). Clearly, righteousness would be obtained through Him and not
our own efforts.
In other places, the prophets inform us that the fig leaves
of our own efforts would never be able to suffice. Instead, we would be covered
by the garment of His own righteousness:
- I
delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed
me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns
herself with her jewels. (Isaiah 61:10).
This is a lesson that King David had to learn the hard way.
(I think that we all have to learn this lesson the hard way.) Ironically, he
concludes one of his great penitential psalms by including himself among the
ranks of the righteous, despite his sins of adultery and murder:
- Rejoice
in the Lord and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in
heart! (Psalm 32:11)
David had been the worst example of righteousness. God had
given him everything, but that wasn’t enough for David. His sexual appetite was
unrestrained, even when the woman he sought was married, the wife of his loyal
soldier. In human terms, he had no right to consider himself “righteous.” In
human terms, this represented the worst kind of presumption. However, at the
beginning of this Psalm, he provides the basis for his “presumption”:
- Blessed
is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed
is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him and in whose
spirit is no deceit. (Psalm 32:1-2)
Miraculously, blessedness isn’t a product of anything that
we earn. It’s the product of an incredibly loving God who “does not count” our
sins against us. But doesn’t His forgiveness depend upon our holiness? After
all, David seems to refer to himself as in some way deserving of God’s grace - “in
whose spirit is no deceit?” Don’t we have to merit this forgiveness through our
righteous and true character?
King David knew better than to pat himself on the back for
his repentant spirit. Instead, he confessed:
- When I
kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For
day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in
the heat of summer. (Psalm 32:3-4)
Had not the Lord decisively intervened, David would have
kept silent. He would have continued in his denial. However, God’s “hand was
heavy” upon him, and he therefore confessed. No merit there!
It is apparent that David had learned that he couldn’t take
credit before God for anything. Elsewhere, he confessed that even his coming to
God was a product of God’s grace and not David’s own spiritual disposition:
- When
we were overwhelmed by sins, you forgave our transgressions. Blessed are
those you choose and bring near to live in your courts! (Psalm 65:3-4)
David confessed that he had been “overwhelmed by [his] sins.”
Therefore, it had to be God who would “bring [him] near.”
Nevertheless, we understandably protest that we must:
- Make
every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without
holiness no one will see the Lord. (Hebrews 12:14)
It sometimes seems that we must merit God’s favor. Of course, we need to be holy to enter into the
presence of our Savior. However, we need to understand from where holiness comes
and what we need to do in order to receive it. Fundamentally, it comes to us as
does righteousness - from God as a gift. By ourselves, we are incapable of
holiness. Moses illuminated Israel’s
hopeless situation without the mercy of God:
- "Cursed
is the man who does not uphold [all] the words of this law by carrying
them out." (Deut. 27:26)
The only thing that we can obtain through our own efforts is
a curse. If Israel
had truly understood this plain teaching, they would have abandoned any hope of
obtaining their own righteousness or holiness (James 2:10).
We find this same understanding embedded in the Hebrews verse. The writer uses Esau as
his example of someone who wasn’t holy. This “profane person” cared so little
about his birthright – and this represented his standing with God – that he
sold it for a bowl of soup. However, his main problem wasn’t this sin; it was
his refusal to repent of his sin:
- Afterward,
as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He
could bring about no change of mind [repentance], though he sought the
blessing with tears. (Hebrews 12:17)
Tears are meaningless unless accompanied by confession and
repentance (1 John 1:8-9). Never once did Esau confess his sin. Instead, in his
estimation, Jacob was the one at fault, and therefore Esau had wanted to kill
his brother.
Some argue that if we understand salvation as absolutely
free, we will take it for granted. Although this is likely among the
unconverted, for those who remember where they had been when God rescued them,
gratefulness is a great motivator. Consequently, Paul counseled Titus to remind
the brethren about their pathetic pre-salvation beginnings:
- At one
time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds
of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and
hating one another. (Titus 3:3-4)
For those of us who can accept this, God’s undeserved grace
is precious. It’s the pearl of great value, worthy of any buying price.
However, for those of us who feel that we were a pretty good catch, the pearl
is not esteemed. Nor will it win our hearts or secure our full devotion. Paul
therefore wanted Titus to remind the brethren of their former deplorable status:
- And I
want you to stress these things [our wretchedness and God’s unmerited
favor], so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote
themselves to doing what is good. (Titus 3:8)
Grace, if understood and embraced, is a motivator. If
confession and repentance are authentic, they will be accompanied by a
determination to live accordingly. Consequently, we should not deceive
ourselves that since blessings come as free gifts, we need not actively pursue
holiness and righteousness. If we are born again, we must produce fruit that
reflects our new status. An apple tree that doesn’t produce apples is not an
apple tree. If instead we are an apple tree, we will produce apples.
Admittedly, there is a tension here. We are responsible, but
God is even more responsible. Paul embodied both ends of this dilemma when he
confessed:
- For I
am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an
apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not
without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them--yet not I, but the
grace of God that was with me. (1 Cor. 15:9-10)
While Paul gave God the credit for all the good he attained,
he nevertheless affirmed the need for hard work. However, it is grace that
produces the hard work. Consequently, we start with grace and finish with
grace, and our God gets all of the praise.
In all respects, grace seems too good to be true. However,
this is exactly how it should seem. It should make our jaws drop, especially as
we come to see ourselves, our sins and our unworthiness accurately. The
contrast makes grace appear as it should – totally glorious and adequate to
silence all of our vain boasting.
