Two Struggles
In the Book of Romans, Paul identifies two different struggles each Christian must face. In Bible class today, we faced one of those struggles; and boy did we struggle. Today, we studied the first half of Romans chapter four. Our struggle focused on how salvation is a free gift of God's grace. You would not think that it would be a struggle to receive a free gift, but for many people it is. Normal people are skeptical of something that is free. We want to know what the catch is. But when it comes to our relationship with God and with our eternal life, it is even more important. We want to have a part in it. We want to know what we can do.
This is the struggle between works righteousness and faith. Paul is very clear that if we earn something by works of the law, then it cannot be a gift. It is an obligation. If we believe in works righteousness, the doctrine that we must earn our place before God, then we do not receive eternal life as a gift from God, but as an obligation. We earned it, God owes it to us. Paul says that to hold to works as a wage God owes us is to nullify faith. He has already gone to great length to say that we cannot earn salvation in this way in the previous chapters.
The struggle here is the struggle to let God give us eternal life and salvation as a gift. We don't want it as a gift. We want to have some part in it. "What do I have to do?" is the oft-heard response to the proclamation of the gospel. We struggle with this because we want to do something. Maybe, deep down, we want God to owe us. Maybe it is simply that we don't want to rely on anyone or anything else, but we want to be self-sufficient. Whatever the case, we cannot do anything to move into a good relationship with God. We struggle because we want to add the law to our salvation. But as Paul says in Galatians, the law came 430 years after the promise. It does not nullify it.
The other struggle we have is a struggle with the law itself. In the first struggle, we want to bring the law into our salvation by giving ourselves something to do. In this second struggle, we struggle against the law because what it says speaks against our sinful desires. It is our very nature to desire things that are against the law. We struggle with the law because we don't like what it says in every case. The law cannot be set aside simply because it has nothing to do with our salvation. Paul is clear about this in chapter 3. But we don't like what the law says either. We want to change it. We want to reinterpret or rethink it. We struggle with what the law says because it tells us to be different than we want to be.
In these verses, Paul is addressing a specific situation. He is talking about the disagreements between those Christians who were Jews by birth and those who were Gentile. Some of the Jewish Christians wanted to impose the law of circumcision on the Gentiles. As Paul addresses this issue, he points to an issue we all have. We want to bring something from the law into our salvation. This is a problem because the law has nothing to do with salvation. Salvation is a gift. It is a free gift given by God and made possible through the death and resurrection of Jesus. We can and do struggle with this. This is the Christian life, to struggle with the way we want things to be and the way that God has made them.
This is the struggle between works righteousness and faith. Paul is very clear that if we earn something by works of the law, then it cannot be a gift. It is an obligation. If we believe in works righteousness, the doctrine that we must earn our place before God, then we do not receive eternal life as a gift from God, but as an obligation. We earned it, God owes it to us. Paul says that to hold to works as a wage God owes us is to nullify faith. He has already gone to great length to say that we cannot earn salvation in this way in the previous chapters.
The struggle here is the struggle to let God give us eternal life and salvation as a gift. We don't want it as a gift. We want to have some part in it. "What do I have to do?" is the oft-heard response to the proclamation of the gospel. We struggle with this because we want to do something. Maybe, deep down, we want God to owe us. Maybe it is simply that we don't want to rely on anyone or anything else, but we want to be self-sufficient. Whatever the case, we cannot do anything to move into a good relationship with God. We struggle because we want to add the law to our salvation. But as Paul says in Galatians, the law came 430 years after the promise. It does not nullify it.
The other struggle we have is a struggle with the law itself. In the first struggle, we want to bring the law into our salvation by giving ourselves something to do. In this second struggle, we struggle against the law because what it says speaks against our sinful desires. It is our very nature to desire things that are against the law. We struggle with the law because we don't like what it says in every case. The law cannot be set aside simply because it has nothing to do with our salvation. Paul is clear about this in chapter 3. But we don't like what the law says either. We want to change it. We want to reinterpret or rethink it. We struggle with what the law says because it tells us to be different than we want to be.
In these verses, Paul is addressing a specific situation. He is talking about the disagreements between those Christians who were Jews by birth and those who were Gentile. Some of the Jewish Christians wanted to impose the law of circumcision on the Gentiles. As Paul addresses this issue, he points to an issue we all have. We want to bring something from the law into our salvation. This is a problem because the law has nothing to do with salvation. Salvation is a gift. It is a free gift given by God and made possible through the death and resurrection of Jesus. We can and do struggle with this. This is the Christian life, to struggle with the way we want things to be and the way that God has made them.
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