DO WE NEED MORE THAN FAITH TO BE RIGHT WITH GOD?

We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. Romans 3:22 (NLT)

Have you ever struggled with thinking it takes more than accepting Christ to be right with God?

The early church struggled with the same issue. Why? Because different false teachers kept trying to tack on rules and legalism to the Gospel and drag it back into the burdensome Old Covenant ways.

Acts chapter 15 tells us the Apostle Paul and Barnabas argued vehemently against Jewish Pharisees who had begun teaching that salvation for Gentile believers required circumcision and following the law of Moses. Paul also wrote letter after letter to the early churches, urging believers to stick to the true Gospel message of Christ and to get rid of the religious rules they were adding. Why?

Because Paul knew adding old rituals and man-made traditions would enslave new believers and deny the true freedom found in the Gospel.

As a former hard-core Pharisee, Paul knew the joyless burden of legalistic religion. He also knew the incomparable personal transformation he experienced through Christ. No wonder he passionately shared over and over that salvation is available to everyone by faith alone in what Jesus accomplished through the cross.

Paul wanted to make sure believers didn’t get bogged back down in the mud of works-based religion but stayed rooted in the free gift of righteousness available through Christ.

Centuries later, the Gospel remains unchanged. We are still “made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law” (Galatians 2:16, NLT). What a message of great comfort and joy for us!