Observation: Paul is frustrated. He's writing to a church he founded. Some other evangelists have come through, saying that to be saved from their sin, they have to adopt the customs and practices of Jewish law: first and foremost, if you're a man, to be circumcised. Paul's rebuttal: "If that's how you want to do it, you'll have to do it perfectly. Every law, big and small. No mistakes. OR...you could just do what I taught you, and have faith in God, and be saved by God's grace."
Application: Even though my wife was a much bigger George Michael fan than I (I was kind of vaguely aware of his existence), when I read the letters of Paul, his song always pops into my head: "I gotta have faith, faith, faith..." Maybe it doesn't apply directly. The song was about "holding out" for a healthy romantic relationship rather than one that's based on playing games and hurting each other, having "faith" that someone will come along who will treat you right.
Or maybe...maybe it applies better than I thought.
Every relationship we know here on earth--our romantic relationships, our friendships, our family relationships, even business and community relationships--are based on give and take. I do this, you do that. I give this, you give that. Sure, there may be times when I take care of you more than you take care of me, but in the long run it's understood to be a two-way street. The idea of a truly unconditional love, a love that is truly one-sided and does not wane no matter what we do or don't do, seems ludicrous. But that's the kind of love we have with God. It doesn't make sense, and so it's understandable that we'd want to settle for something that does: some system of rules by which we can play, some religious apparatus of give and take, so we feel we're contributing to the relationship. We want to play the same kind of games we have learned from other relationships, so we can somehow "know" that we are owed salvation, rather than trust in it as a gift. But God stubbornly refuses this arrangement. God simply gives, and loves, and shows us again and again throughout our faith narrative, and throughout our lives, that God does not play those games. God gives, we take. That's it. It's hard to believe, because it's so different. But it's the only way this thing will work. Our works will never do the trick. Settling for some kind of give-and-take relationship with God will always leave us feeling empty. So...
We gotta have faith, faith, faith...
[RIP, George Michael, and thanks for the music.]
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