Reflecting on Truth #33

Q: Should those who have faith in Christ seek their salvation through their own works, or anywhere else?

A: No, they should not, as everything necessary to salvation is found in Christ. To seek salvation through good works is a denial that Christ is the only Redeemer and Savior.

Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. (Galatians 2:16)

Why does this matter?

Faith in Christ has an element of inclusivity and another element of exclusivity. It is inclusive in its subject of faith, in that people from all sorts of backgrounds are invited to trust in Christ. But it is exclusive in its object of faith, in that Christ is the only one to be trusted by people. The reason for this is that Christ alone is both God and human, and not just any human, but the only perfect human ever. For this reason, Christ alone is sufficient to cover our plight of sin.

When we seek our salvation through our own works, or somewhere else, we not only no longer have faith in Christ, we also deny Christ’s sufficiency for us. Once we rely on anything but Christ, we are faced with the perfection of God, which presents us with an impossible situation outside of Christ. Our works, and any other works outside of Christ, which are insufficient to meet God’s perfect standard in the beginning of our salvation, remain insufficient since God remains unchangingly holy and, apart from Christ, we remain unchangingly sinners. On the other hand, Christ’s work, which is sufficient to meet God’s perfect standard in the beginning of our salvation, remains sufficient since God remains unchangingly holy and Christ remains unchangingly perfect. Only in Christ do we have hope, yesterday, now, and forever.

What does this mean for us?

This means that we ought to cling to Christ, no matter what happens.
Cling to Christ in the beginning. Cling to Christ now. Cling to Christ continually.
Cling to Christ when times are tough. Cling to Christ when things are smooth. Cling to Christ even when things are mundane.

We must not think of this just as a matter of keeping to our religious allegiance. Shifting our religious allegiance may not happen to most of us. But in reality, it is easy for us to be tempted to let go of our cling to Christ. We may still be a “Christian” but rely on things that promise us temporal, worldly comforts. Such is in essence a denial of Christ if our goal is ultimately to find comfort instead of to rely on Christ irrespective of our circumstances. Therefore, we must persevere in clinging to Christ, even in matters that we consider to be trivial, for usually that is where we are tempted the strongest to let go of Christ.

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand: all other ground is sinking sand.