Tulip
Tulip
You and I must hear, believe, and obey the gospel, each of our own volition. That decision for Christ and obedience to the gospel is essential. It is a condition of receiving salvation by grace. However Jesus puts this into perspective for us: "When you have done all that is commanded of you, say, 'we are unworthy slaves and we have done only what was our duty'" (Lke 17:1-10).
We cannot boast that we, by believing and obeying the gospel, have earned our salvation.Paul makes this clear in several statements...
"Where then is boasting? It is excluded ...by a law of faith apart from works of law" (Rom 3:27-28). "God has chosen the 'foolish' things... to shame the 'wise'.. that none should boast before God" (1Co 1:27-31). "May I never boast, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Gal 6:14). "By grace you have been saved though faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works lest any one should boast" (Eph 2:8-10).
Unfortunately these passages are sometimes taken to mean that if we claim to do anything that contributes to our own salvation, if we think we have the intelligence to make a decision for or against God's way, then we are boasting..
This is not Paul's point at all. He is talking about people who say they don't need Jesus, they are good enough to go to heaven on their own. I once heard a person say, "I don't need your Jesus. I live a good life, and when I stand before God I'm quite sure I'll go to heaven." Now that is certainly a boast, and it is that kind of boasting that Paul is talking about.
There are four key words in the scriptures (sacrifice, plan, gift, and glory) and these words show that, even though we examine the gospel with our own intelligence, and follow it of our own will, we have nothing to boast of, and indeed make no boast..
A sacrifice is required to make atonement for sins. However any sacrifice we offer to God is going to fall short of his perfect standard just as surely as we do ourselves. So whilst it's a lovely thought that God would accept a sacrifice for our sins, we can't find one that's sufficient.
God long ago anticipated that obstacle. God himself could provide a perfect sacrifice for us. He could see no reason why he should reject a sacrifice just because it was from himself, not from us. What mattered was that it be perfect. It's sufficiency did not consist in our providing it. What God provided was the sacrifice of his only begotten Son because nothing else would do (1Pe 2:21-25).
Firstly
God ordained that his Son should become flesh; he should become as those for whom he was to be sacrificed (Jhn 1:14).
Secondly
God ordained that his Son, having become one of us, should live the righteous life that all of us have failed to live (1Pe 2:21-25).
Thirdly
God ordained that his Son should suffer and be put to death as a wrongdoer, although he had done no wrong (Lke 24:25-26).
Fourthly
God ordained that his Son should rise from the dead and ascend into heaven as our great High Priest, having sacrificed his own flesh and blood that it might be accepted as the sufficient and perfect sacrifice once and for all (1Co 15:3).
With these facts in mind, we can see that we have nothing to boast of. Even though we claim the capacity to understand and believe these facts, to be humbled by them, and to give thanks to God of our own volition, where is the boasting? As Paul says, it is excluded.
Peter proclaimed that the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross came about "by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God" (Acts 2:22-24). God had a plan of salvation, and he made it come to pass.
Now you and I didn't have any plan. Did you plan your first sin? I'm sure you didn't. That's why most people can't even remember when they personally sinned for the first time. It was an unplanned event, and what a terrible pickle it got us into. You and I had no plan to get out of that pickle, any more than we had a plan to get into it. How foolish was that? Nothing to boast about there. We came under the wrath of God, under eternal condemnation, and for what? Most of us have to say, "I dunno!"
Now God is not foolish. He is the All Wise God. He knew we would be in a pickle, so he planned a way out of it. Where would we be if God had not ordained that plan for us? This is God's plan of salvation, not ours. Even though we accept that plan and decide to follow it of our own volition, what have we to boast of? We can but offer thanks to God.
“Gift” and “Glory”