Looking Outside of Ourselves

“We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 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 2:15-16 ESV)

There’s nothing new under the sun. Not even that statement is new! And we see this also when it comes to our mindset regarding our justification. We have the same tendency that people have always had.



Most of us have heard the gospel countless times. Most of us know the gospel, and can even explain it. We can explain that Jesus gave his life on the cross, paying the penalty of our sin.



Yet, even though this is true of us, this is not how we live. It’s not where we place our trust. Instead of looking outside of ourselves, to the completed work of Jesus, we tend to look within. 



Most of us rely upon our actions for salvation. We rely upon works of the law for the assurance of salvation. We rely upon our obedience to God to gain for ourselves the forgiveness and salvation that we so desperately need.



The same is true as we consider others. We believe that “good” people are saved and that “bad” people are condemned. Even if someone has no faith in Jesus whatsoever, we tend to believe they are saved because of their goodness.



However, as Paul reminds us in the above passage, we are not justified by works of the law. He tells us that no one will be justified by works of the law. In other words, we are not made right with God by anything that we do. We are justified only through faith in Jesus Christ.



If we, then, are trusting in ourselves for salvation, we are not saved. If we’re trusting in our obedience to the law to gain for us the salvation that we need, we are not saved. If we’re relying on our inherent goodness for salvation, we are not saved.



We can possess a greater morality than most, and still be lost. We can do more good works than most, and still be lost. We can still be lost because, regardless of what we do, we are sinners deserving only death and hell.



Nothing we do can change this fact. Nothing we do can erase our guilt. Nothing we do can remove original sin from our heart. And nothing we do can make up for our shortcomings.



Only Jesus can do this. Only he can cleanse us from our sin. Only he can provide the perfect righteousness required for our salvation.