Remember the television commercials featuring John Houseman as the spokesman for an investment banking firm? Remember his famous words as he intoned, “We make money the old-fashioned way. We earn it.”
As I think of that television commercial, it seems to me that John Houseman, gold watch chain encircling his vested girth, perfectly fits the image of God that the scribes, Pharisees, and Judaizers envisioned— proper, solid, dependable, tolerating no nonsense, a comfort to do business with. They gained God’s favor the old-fashioned way. They earned it.
In the religions of the world, only two methods of salvation have emerged. One method is salvation by works which is legalism. Somehow by moral improvement, appeasing sacrifices, and prayer often accompanied by physical pain, men have sought to find favor with God. But in the amazing revelation of grace in the New Testament, it becomes clear that all efforts of securing favor with God by works, however sincere and costly, are to no avail. The New Testament way, as Paul puts it quite directly, is this: “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith—and this not from yourselves. It is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
What wonderful light breaks upon the human soul when we realize that we do not have to obtain favor with God by our own works. Through faith in Christ and his sacrifice on the cross, we are already objects of God’s love. Instead of punishing us for our sins, God can give us the opposite—his wonderful favor and blessing. We do not have to secure favor with God. We already have it.
Let us proclaim the message of grace. Let us thank God for this wonderful salvation and let us urge people to accept God’s best—to be in Christ. For to be in Christ is to be in grace. And to have genuine hope.