Once again, here is my fairly literal translation of these verses:
15We [being] Jews by nature and not out of sinners of Gentiles, 16knowing that a man is not being justified out of works of law but rather through faith of Jesus Christ, even we believe into Christ Jesus in order that we might be justified out of faith of Christ and not out of works of law, because all flesh will not be justified out of works of law.
In my last blog, I thought hard about this matter of justification. And it is a very important matter to think hard about. It has to be dealt with. My condemnation is very real. My heart knows it’s real. Somehow the guilt cannot go on. My heart knows it. And, as I discussed in that last blog, the matter is quite hopeless. I cannot undo my did. And I continue didding. What God offers us in Christ – a substitutionary atonement – is the only possible answer. And thank God for it! Fallen angels have no such offer. And Jesus didn’t die for raccoons. He died for people … and I just happen to be a people.
We might simply say that is why Sola Fide, why we can only be justified by faith – because we simply cannot be justified by Law. But, I think there is a much, much bigger picture that should be addressed. Here’s what I’m thinking: All of this talk of justification really leaves us specifically discussing our relationship to the Law. It is the Law that condemns us and we need a means of delivering us from that Law. Justification by faith allows us to be reconciled though we ourselves remain guilty.
That is all well and good.
But it is a cold, icy, judicial discussion. Very, very important, but cold and icy.
Here is another way of looking at it: Instead of focusing on our relationship to the Law, Sola Fide means we can (or should?) view the matter in relationship to God Himself.
What do I mean? I’m thinking that what we are dealing with is actually a question of how can we be in a good relationship with God? What the Judaizers are telling the Galatians is that the way to be in a good relationship with God is basically to “keep His rules.” “Here are the rules,” they tell the Galatians. “If you keep them, God will like you.” This is more and the same of the mistaken understanding the Jews had from the very beginning. Moses read them God’s Law and they replied, “All that the Lord commands us, we will do.” Do you see that, from the very beginning, they thought of God as their Judge? He gives His Law and you follow it. That’s how you have a relationship with Him. How well did they do? The words had barely left their mouth and they were worshipping a golden calf. It didn’t work. Their attempt to have a cold, icy, judicial relationship with God was a complete failure. And what was their answer? To do better. And what does God have to say about it? “Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness” (Romans 10:3).
They missed the whole point of the whole thing. Just like legalism does today and always will. What they should have said was “Woe is me! I am undone! I am a man of unclean lipss, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips! Woe is me! This Law is good. It is what I should do. But the good that I would do, I do not! What it tells me is that I already stand condemned! And to live longer will only add to my guilt! My sins are innumerable, like the hairs on my head! Who shall deliver me from this body of death???” They should have fallen on their faces and cried out to God, “Be merciful to me, a sinner!” they should have cast themselves on the mercy of God and begged Him in His love to come up with some solution … some solution other than “do better.” But they did not. And 1445 years later when Jesus came, they had not seen the failure of their plan, but rather had codified it into an elaborate system of works-righteousness. And what did that produce? Pharisees. Cold, cruel, self-righteous, judgmental, greedy, immoral, murderous Pharisees. And that approach is still producing the same Pharisees today. God has no interest in a legal relationship with people. Only the Law itself induces a legal relationship.
Had the Israeiltes realized the abject poverty of their souls, had they faced the reality that they could not keep the Law, they’d have had no choice but to throw themselves on the mercy of God. But does anyone else see what happens in that moment?? In that moment, what is a person doing??? In that moment of total spiritual poverty, they are ceasing to seek a relationship with the Law, a relationship with God through the Law, and suddenly they are dealing directly and personally with Him. Suddenly they must deal directly with Him. Suddenly they can no longer just glance at their “do and don’t” list and think that makes them “okay” with God. They need Him. Does that make sense?? I think this is stratospherically important. If we can be justified by the works of the Law, then we don’t really need a personal relationship with God, we just need His checklist, His rules. “There you go. Do this and live.” That doesn’t require any personal relationship and frankly doesn’t even invite it.
I would suggest this is an enormously important answer to “Why Sola Fide?” There is an alternative to the cold, icy impersonal relationship born of Law. It is THE alternative. It is what God actually wanted for Israel from the very beginning. It’s what He wants for all of us. How can we be in a good relationship with God? Amazingly, it is to have a relationship with Him. With Him. Not with His Law. With Him. Yes, His Law condemns us. But that’s not His fault. And it’s not because He wants it that way. The problem is our fault. His Law condemns us because we sinned. We’re the ones who destroyed the relationship. But this is the very wonder of grace – He’s still offering us a relationship! But there cannot be a relationship as long as we’re under Law. Law has already condemned us. More Law will only condemn us more. That is exactly why, “…now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known” (Romans 3:21). It is righeousness from God, from His hand, from His love, from the warmth of His open arms and affectionate embrace, from a personal relationship with Him! Sola Fide cuts off all other approaches to God and forces us into the only way – a personal relationship. It forces us to go directly to Him.
And that was the whole point from the whole beginning. God created us to know Him. He created Adam and then came to walk with him in the cool of the day! Sin made Adam and Eve “hide from the Lord God among the trees of the Garden.” When the Lord didn’t find them there, it was Him who called to them, “Where are you?” He was still seeking a personal relationship. And He still is today.
I believe that is one of the big “Why?’s” for Sola Fide, for why we can only be justified by faith in Christ. Justification by works invokes only an impersonal legal relationship with God through His Law. It misses the point. It misses Him. If it is Sola Fide, then I must appear at His feet, beg His mercy, and when a soul does throw itself at His feet, it finds Him for who He is – a warm, embracing, loving God, who did in fact make a way. He made a way that I could be justified apart from the works of the Law, which doesn’t work anyway. He made a way, the only way, a way that cost Him His own Son, that required the horrible death of Jesus on the Cross, a way born of love. And that is the whole point of the whole matter – the great God and His child wrapped in each others’ arms!
I hope all of this makes sense to someone else. The ultimate horror of legalism is not just that it doesn’t work, but that its pursuit hides from our eyes the whole point of all – to know Him, to love Him. Sola Fide draws us to God in a relationship that begins, grows, and ends in love.
I believe this is exactly why legalism breeds people who are judgmental, critical, and unloving while Sola Fide (truly embraced) breeds people like Jesus – people who humbly, kindly, generously love. When I know the kind, generous love of a personal Savior and know it more and more, how can it do less, as the years go by, than make me a kind, generous, loving person?
Thank God for Sola Fide. Not just because it’s the only way that works, but because it is born of love and breeds love.
What if everybody did?
No comments:
Post a Comment