So what of boasting? I am a Christian! I am saved! I am forgiven! I have the one true faith! I suppose all these things might have some truth but they are contrary to the very beliefs that they proclaim. It is like so many Christians in the United States that wish to force their views on everyone else. Even worse perhaps, they have bastardized the Scriptures and their actions reveal a faith that is warped and contorted almost beyond recognition. It is not unlike the moralizing and rubrics that the Roman church does on one hand, while scrupulously covering up the indecent and horrific actions of some of the clergy. The words of Mahatma Gandhi ring so very true, “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
Of course we can all obey the rules. There are the ten commandments which, taken without love or faith are rather easy to follow. That was the literalistic view of Hebrew Scriptures. Jesus saw fit to clarify his own faith by noting the two great commandments.
No longer are we judged by what faith we are born into. It matters little whether you are circumcised or not. Every "rule" must be tempered with the lens of love. Is this "law"? No, not law as we have a penchant for. Tougher, it is faith in action. It is love. It is passion and respect for self, for others, for everyone, for all of creation. When you are concerned about loving, there is no room to boast or any other of the wicked and deceitful interpretations that we try to foist on others for control, submission and shaming. God does not work that way. What a revelation to think God never did and that is why Jesus walked as a human. To save us from our own sinful and "lawful" ways.
May I be ever so mindful of the unrelenting and boundless love of God for all of us. May I reflect on God's love for me and for everyone, we pray.
Romans 3:19-31
Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For ‘no human being will be justified in his sight’ by deeds prescribed by the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.
But now, irrespective of law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to show his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed; it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus.
Then what becomes of boasting? It is excluded. By what law? By that of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one; and he will justify the circumcised on the ground of faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.
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