I Trust Jesus; and Sometimes I Hate Him.

For we maintain that a man is justified by faith

apart from observing the law.

Romans 3:28

Still pondering the meaning of the Protestant Reformation, the above text comes to mind. It is faith alone that ties a person to God savingly. No wonder this came to Martin Luther as exceedingly good news, since he is known to have said that he sometimes hated God. You see, it is not your love for God that ties you to Him, or brings you into His family, or gets you a seat at the Father's table, or moves Him to welcome you in. It is your faith in His Son.

None of this is to belittle the great and first commandment that we love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Dt 6; Mt 22), or to minimize the sinfulness of hating the Lord. It is to distinguish correctly the most significant biblical categories of Law and Gospel. That we love God with all our being is a command, and command keeping does not bring us to God. That is the point of the Bible verse above. God justifies a person by faith alone without regard to one's command keeping.  Astounding. Unbelievable really, until He makes one believe. Salvation is gift, and that's why it is gospel (good news).

Saved THROUGH Faith, Not BY It

Perhaps one of the trickier matters of the Protestant Reformation, and our own day, was/is how to speak of the role of faith in salvation. During the Reformation this was highlighted due to the debate over the nature of justification. In simplest terms, the Reformers taught that a person is not justified because of his or her faith. In other words, God does not reward one's faith with then what is their due, namely justification, leading to a complete salvation. Instead, God gives faith to a person as the instrument through with he or she receives the gift of justification, leading to a full salvation. Faith adds nothing to God's saving work. It receives it. There is nothing in me, or about me, that commends me to God; not even my faith. It is my faith, in that it has been given to me to possess. Since it has been given to me, then of course it wasn't produced by me, or found in me, apart from being given to me.

On the last day I will not appear before God having anything natural to me in which I can boast. God saves a person without regard to his or her works, or worth. The gift is a true gift, meaning a free one. Their is no payment in it. There are no wages dispensed. There is no reward about it.