“Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By one of works? No, on the contrary, by a law of faith. For we conclude that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Do we then nullify the law through faith? Absolutely not!  On the contrary, we uphold the law.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

We are naturally drawn to the concept of equality. Now, we often confuse equality for fairness because fairness is easier to get our minds and selfish hearts around. Small children don’t complain, “That’s not equal!” They complain, “That’s not fair.” But whether we are thinking in terms of fairness or equality, we have to clarify which end of the process is getting our attention. When it comes to salvation, the God who saves us is just. As a result, He has created a path way to salvation that is perfectly fair and equal for all people. Let’s talk about what this means, how it works, and why it’s such a good thing.

We like to feel accomplished. There are few things more satisfying than the knowledge that we have worked hard and completed a major task well. This desire manifests itself differently in different people such that there are some folks who look like they couldn’t care less about failing at everything they do. But everybody has something in which they exercise their pride muscle even if that is only in not meeting with the expectations of the people around them. Even in the various rebel subcultures, the biggest rebels against what society defines as success are counted successes…and the members of those cultures crave that recognition of their success.

During Jesus’ ministry, He told a parable about two different men who were praying to God. One was a Pharisee. He stood in a public place in the temple where everyone was sure to both see and hear him and prayed like this: “God, I thank you that I’m not like other people – greedy, unrighteous, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.”

Jesus was a master teacher who regularly took scenes that people had seen or experienced and could easily relate to in order to make spiritual points. We scoff at this prayer because of the structure of Jesus parable and its impact over time on our thinking about humility; an attitude toward the virtue that was not common anywhere in the ancient world. The people in Jesus’ audience connected with this parable because they had seen and heard Pharisees pray like this. They had probably celebrated them for it too.

Because everyone understood that the Law was the means of attaining the status of righteousness before God, everyone celebrated the people who were the most visibly committed to keeping the Law. People who were eagerly committed to keeping the Law trumpeted their own successes. They boasted of their accomplishments so that others knew how close to God they were.

This same thing happened in the Roman world. Wealthy people would host large, public gatherings at the local temple where they would organize huge sacrificial offerings to the god. Once the god got his portion of the goats (or bulls for the truly wealthy and pious worshipers), the rest was barbecued up and served to the public. This made sure that everyone knew just how wealthy and pious they were.

We still do the same kinds of things today. The details are different, but not the spirit. Now, after 2,000 years of the Christian worldview has highlighted humility as an important virtue, we don’t often do things quite so publicly as was more common in the ancient world, but we have perfected the art of the humblebrag. The truth is that we love to boast about how good and righteous we are.

The various systems of self-righteousness we have created over the centuries were made by and for a people who delighted in boasting of their worth. These systems, however, have also all resulted in the stratification of the societies where they operated between those who were capable of keeping them and those who were not. And, in most cases, the number of folks in the first group was a lot smaller than the number of folks in the second. The result has always been a society of haves and have nots; of people who can and people who cannot. Equality has never been a value in such cultures. They were designed that way.

What God introduced to the world in the new covenant was something radically different than this. It was sufficiently different that Paul felt compelled to stop here at the beginning to address the question that was likely rattling around in the minds of his audience. “Where, then, is boasting?” Now, again, we have been so shaped by the Christian worldview and its virtues that this question feels weird to us. We can’t imagine asking it. The thought of responding to the Gospel Paul has been spelling out by asking, “But where’s my chance to tell everyone how awesome I am?” doesn’t even register for us. But it did for Paul’s audience.

If this new system is based on faith in Jesus and not the things we do, then how are we supposed to know who’s good and who’s not? That system and its mindset are gone in the new covenant. “It is excluded.” Okay, but what’s the rule that outlaws that kind of thinking? Is there something we can do to keep it? “By what kind of law? By one of works?” See how ingrained this thinking was in that culture?

Paul continues, explaining that faith is the currency of the new covenant. “No, on the contrary, by a law of faith.” Getting right with God is no longer something that happens because of what we do or don’t do. The things we do or don’t do don’t and can’t affect our standing before God. Instead, getting right with God is something given to us when we place our faith in Jesus. “For we conclude that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.”

Okay, but how do we measure something like this? We don’t. That’s the beauty of this new system. We don’t measure it. God does. And the thing that is measured is whether or not we are willing to put our trust in Jesus and live according to His commands. Because of this, the status of righteous is something that anyone can have. It doesn’t matter how rich you are or how high on the social ladder you have climbed or how powerful is your political position or how many friends you have or how many people know your name. None of that counts for anything in the new covenant. The only thing that counts is whether or not you have placed your faith in Jesus. And, again, anybody can do that.

What Jesus came proclaiming was that the time had come when God was going to finally open the doors of a relationship with Him to all of the world. They had technically always been open to all of the world, but the demands of the Law meant that only a few could enter them. He could understandably then be spoken of as the God of the Jews and not of the Gentiles. The fact that the world was split into those two categories speaks to the hurdles to accessing Him that had been in place. Those were now gone. “Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.”

The new covenant offers something the world had never seen before its introduction. It offers an equality of opportunity. Everybody has the same opportunity to be in a right relationship with God. This doesn’t mean everyone is going to capitalize on the opportunity. It is not an equality of outcome which is what our culture often clamors for today. This latter form of equality is deeply unjust. God’s equality of opportunity, however, is. The poorest, most uneducated person in the world is just as capable as the wealthiest, smartest person in the world of placing her faith in Christ and receiving the righteousness God offers through Him.

This is good news. It means you can be right with God. Nothing about you can prevent that from happening. Nothing about you will make it more likely either. It’s all Christ from start to finish. God is good like that. He is worthy of your devotion and faith. There’s only life to be had when you are willing to walk that path.