by pukeko
We are only correct intermittently
June 2, 2010 in Daybook by pukeko
We are only justified by the sacrifice of Christ. For no man can keep the law. We all have failed. We all condemn ourselves.
We all are unreliably correct.
Galatians 2:11-21
11But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood self-condemned; 12for until certain people came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But after they came, he drew back and kept himself separate for fear of the circumcision faction. 13And the other Jews joined him in this hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 14But when I saw that they were not acting consistently with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?”
15We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16yet we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law. 17But if, in our effort to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have been found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! 18But if I build up again the very things that I once tore down, then I demonstrate that I am a transgressor. 19For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; 20and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.
Most people rebel here. They think that if they have done good, it will outweigh the bad. Indeed, this is the logic of both the papal indulgences and the Wahabite fighting in a holy war: this act will give them justification.
But this is a lie. And this was a known like 2000 years ago: for Jesus ripped the veil of the law away and showed the justice that underlied it. And no one can live to that standard but intermittently unless they are divine: truly righteous, truly set apart.
This idea — of incarnation — also offends. But the truth offends. Let us seek the mercy of God, and live in the truth, for by ourselves we are merciful rarely and truthful intermittently.
