A young woman was about to be baptized, and I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. She shared her experience of growing up with Christian parents and how the faith she grew up around eventually became her own. As she finished her story, she said something I’ll never forget:
“I want to do this as a way to pay God back for all He’s done for me.”
My heart broke for her. I wasn’t grieved because I doubted the sincerity of her belief in Jesus, of course. It was that she was setting herself up for failure. She had placed a burden on herself she wasn’t meant to carry, one that Jesus literally had to die to take from her—the burden of earning God’s favor, of deserving His kindness.
She wasn’t alone in this, of course. Many of us struggle to believe that there’s nothing we can do to earn our standing before God. We want to believe that we can do enough good to cancel out all the bad we’ve done and maybe even earn God’s forgiveness and acceptance, at least in part. Anything else seems unnatural to us, whether we’re talking about everyday life or spiritual matters. What the gospel offers us seems too easy, so it can’t possibly be true.
And what is it the gospel offers? Grace.
An Essential and Unnatural Belief
Every religion with some kind of concept of sin has to address how to be seen as just, or righteous, in the eyes of God. Maybe a simpler way to explain it is with this question: How can we make up for our sins? And these religions usually come to the same conclusion: The key to righteousness is some kind of combination of faith and works, with the latter usually having a greater emphasis than the former. Beliefs may matter, but deeds matter more. And then there’s what Christians believe. We believe what we do matters, of course; but we don’t see our works as a means of earning God’s favor. There’s no way for us to offset the offense of our sin against a perfect and holy God. God’s favor comes to us one way, and one way alone: through faith in Jesus Christ, the only truly righteous Person, the only Person who perfectly obeyed God in every way (Rom. 8:33-34; Eph. 2:8-9). That’s the heart of what Christians mean by the term justification by faith. Righteousness, or justification, is something none of us can earn but is freely given to all who trust in Christ. And through our justification, we are pardoned and declared to be in right standing before God, no longer estranged but adopted into His family.Real Righteousness—and Real Transformation—for Us
Justification is more than a legal declaration. It is not hollow, like a chocolate bunny that looks solid but is filled with air. With the declaration comes true righteousness—the righteousness of Christ, who became sin on our behalf (2 Cor. 5:21). His righteousness is transferred to us, even as our sin is transferred to Him (Rom. 5:17; 1 Cor. 1:30). Because Jesus’ righteousness is given to us by faith, God the Father doesn’t see our sins but sees Christ’s righteousness as ours (Rom. 4:6). But even as we are justified—that is, made righteous positionally—we are also being sanctified, or made holy practically. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, our hearts, minds, and character are transformed to reflect Christ’s. We are being made like Him in a process that carries on throughout our entire lives (Gal. 5:16-26; 2 Thess. 2:13), until the day that we stand before Jesus. On that day, our transformation will be complete. We will be glorified, free from the presence and stain of sin in our lives, with perfected physical bodies upon our resurrection and a fuller knowledge and understanding of God—fully knowing as we are fully known (1 Cor. 13:12; Phil. 3:20-21).Live in Light of Who You Are
Because this is so unnatural for us, we are all prone to slip into forgetfulness. It’s so easy for us to believe that good works will lead to justification and all the blessings that come from it. And even when we do believe that we’re justified by faith, we feel like we have to earn it to keep it. The funny thing is that this kind of approach is a losing proposition—one that only leads to disaster. Justin Holcomb said it well when he wrote, “If you come to the table believing you can do anything for God in your own strength or repay him on any level, you have already lost. You are back to confessing your self-dependent spiritual death from which Jesus saved you” (On the Grace of God, 94). So what are we supposed to do then? Good works. But here’s the thing: When we’re commanded to do good works—which we are—it’s not because we’re trying to earn anything. Justification is not the fruit of good works; rather, good works are the fruit of justification (Eph. 2:10). They are evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, proof that our faith is genuine, living, and active (Jas. 2:17). We seek to do good works as a reflection of who Christ has made us through the power of the Spirit’s transforming work in our lives, from gratitude and love we feel from being accepted by God, not so we might be accepted by Him. You and I have no power to pay God back for anything, any more than you and I have the ability to earn our justification in the first place. We “go and sin no more” (see John 8:11) by His grace alone, not by our own strength. Our standing before God is given to us by grace. The life we live is lived by grace. The works we do are works of grace. This way of living is different from any other. It is completely unnatural to us, but it’s the kind of good news we need in order to truly live. It’s the kind of good news the rest of the world needs. It’s good news that’s so good it must be true.This post is adapted from chapter 22 of Devotional Doctrine: Delighting in God, His Word, and His World, a new resource from The Gospel Project exploring the essential doctrines of the Christian faith and how doctrine shapes our devotion. Get your free copy here. Photo via Freely Photos.
