Thu, 29 September, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.
2 Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.
Paul has been arguing against those who add conditions to the Gospel. They were requiring people to become Jewish and follow the ceremonial law to be Christian, adding rule upon rule as conditions for salvation. This is summed up in the requirement that men to be circumcised.
In today’s passage, Paul comes directly to the point: if you expect to be saved by getting circumcised, there is no salvation for you. You are severed from Christ.
What do we learn from this?
We are saved by grace through faith, and not by any works we do. If we are trusting in something we have done for our salvation rather than trust in God, we are damned, because as soon as we are trusting in our own works, we are trusting in ourselves rather than in God.
As Paul puts it, when you trust in in yourself Christ will be of no advantage to you. Because if you rely upon yourself, you must completely keep the law always. Since no one can keep that standard, there is no salvation for you if you are trusting in yourself. You are severed from the Christ who can save you.
Where is Christ in this passage?
To trust in yourself is to be severed from Christ. He is the one who has perfectly kept the law that we have all failed to keep. He is the one who pays the penalty for the sins of His people, and He gives His righteousness to those who come to Him in faith.
But if we come to Him dressed in our own righteousness, trusting in what we have done, we are separated from Christ and are in our own sins. We are damned.
The command here is to trust in Christ and Christ alone for our salvation, and not to trust in anything that we have done, no matter how good or pious it might be.
