April 2022

Is salvation a do-it-yourself project? After upbraiding God’s people for their many sins, the prophet Ezekiel declares:

“Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, people of Israel?” – Ezekiel 18:31

Where should  they go to pick up a new heart and spirit? No store sells them!

Besides the question of where, another issue is how. Is Ezekiel telling the Jews to change themselves? That would make sense. Since they’re the ones who’ve sinned, they’re the ones who can stop sinning. If they have responsibility for the former, they have it for the latter, too.

Except that Ezekiel doesn’t go in that direction. In two other instances, he announces the source of new life:

“I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.” – Ezekiel 11:19

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” – Ezekiel 36:26

God will do it! Salvation isn’t a do-it-yourself project after all!

The Lord is fair hold the Jewish nation to His righteous standards. He won’t compromise, but He also cares for His people. Sin is deadly and He doesn’t want to see them die. So God warns them through Ezekiel, but He also promises hope.

These verses remind me of the prayer of Augustine: “Grant what You command, and command what You will.” We’re so accustomed to living apart from God that we don’t understand what righteousness entails. We fall short, but so does everyone else. That’s our reality; it’s all we know.

But God is gracious; He intervenes to make us right. Yet He doesn’t treat us only as passive recipients. He calls us to respond! The new life Ezekiel proclaims integrates divine and human action. 

Paul adopts a similar perspective.

“We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles ¹⁶know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.” – Galatians 2:15-16

He makes it clear doesn’t he? Salvation doesn’t depend on our efforts. Christ’s work saves us; we receive that gift by faith.

But Paul isn’t finished. Toward the end of his letter to the Galatian church, he writes the following:

“Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.” – Galatians 6:8

Destruction and eternal life–polar opposites yet both are the fruit of “sowing.” Is Paul suggesting that what we do determines our eternal outcome? This doesn’t seem to jibe with what he wrote in chapter 2.

Galatians 5-6 explores the social dynamics of faith-based commitment to Christ. To keep it simple, we don’t walk alone with Jesus. We’re part of a community of disciples. How we treat fellow Christians makes a spiritual impact on ourselves and on them.

We can’t afford to neglect this truth. The relationships we have with others will affect our relationship with Jesus.

And theirs.

We either tempt or support each other. We can’t berate brothers wrestling with temptations while we celebrate sisters walking in victory. Our words and deeds make a difference–we can make or break the spiritual lives of other Christians.

Let’s make sure we’re building up the saints. Because in such ministry, God is working through us.

Salvation is much more than a do-it-yourself project. It’s a partnership of ourselves, our church, and the Lord.

“Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed–not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence–continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, ¹³for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose.” – Philippians 2:12-13