Daily Devotional

Pop quiz: what makes Christianity different from other world religions? On the one hand, we could point to a myriad of differences, all the distinctive points of Christian theology: the Trinity, the deity of Christ, the historical resurrection of Jesus, the authority of Scripture, and so on. On the other hand, as I once heard it remarked, the difference between biblical Christianity and EVERY other world religion, cult, and false gospel boils down to just two letters. Let me explain.

Every religious system besides Christianity spells salvation “D-O.” The Five Pillars of Islam, the Eightfold Path of Buddhism, the Torah obedience of orthodox Judaism—all these religious systems require their adherents to keep a set of rules, perform a set of rituals, or otherwise earn their way to salvation. Even the vague “belief in God” that many Americans have (sometimes called “moralistic therapeutic deism”) usually includes a belief that if your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds, that’s enough to get into heaven. Man-made religion is always salvation by works... man seeking after God.

Here's the problem: a quick survey of Scripture reveals that this good-deeds-vs-bad-deeds way of thinking isn’t going to cut it. According to Scripture, just ONE “bad deed” is enough to merit eternal punishment: “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it” (James 2:10). Even our “good deeds” maybe aren’t as good as we might think they are: “all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment” (Isaiah 64:6). If our salvation is dependent on us DOing anything, we are utterly without hope. This is why Paul concludes that “by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20).

But here is where the beautiful news of the gospel shatters the paradigm of works-based religion.  If the world spells “salvation” D-O, biblical Christianity adds two letters: D-O-N-E. Salvation isn’t about what we do; it’s about what God has done for us. We aren’t trying to earn our way into God’s good graces; God in His grace reached out and saved us “while we were still sinners” (Romans 5:8). True religion isn’t man seeking after God; it’s God seeking after us.

We see this most clearly in Ephesians 2:8-9: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so that no one can boast.” In this passage, Paul SEVEN TIMES replaces DO with DONE:

• By grace: Throughout Scripture, grace is “unmerited favor,” God’s blessing on those undeserving. Paul notes elsewhere, “if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace” (Romans 11:6).
• You have been saved: Notice the verb is passive: not something we do but something done to us. In Greek, it’s in the perfect tense, describing a past, completed action with continuing results in the present. Salvation is not something we accomplish, but something accomplished in the past (by Christ’s death and resurrection) and applied to us in the present.
• Through faith: This salvation is received, applied, imputed to us not by anything we do, but by faith: simple trust in and dependence on God. Once again, Scripture contrasts “by faith” with a merit-based approach to religion: “And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness” (Romans 4:5). Paul argues in Romans 4 that going all the way back to Abraham, God has always accepted people on the basis of trust in His salvific work, not reliance on their own merits.
• This is not your own doing: Hear the death-knell of the D-O spelling of salvation! It requires NO “doing” on our part. God has done what we could not do (Romans 8:3); salvation is His work, not ours. As Jonah exclaimed from the belly of the fish, “Salvation belongs to the LORD!” (Jonah 2:9).
• It is the gift of God: Paul points out elsewhere (Romans 4:4) that the idea of a “gift” also excludes the concept of merit. If you work for a gift, it’s no longer a gift. It becomes wages, something we are due. For a gift to be a gift, we can’t have done anything to earn it.
• Not by works: Notice the term is not “by works of the law” (which Paul certainly uses elsewhere), but “by works,” plain and simple. This kills not only the Pharisaical approach to religion centering on the Mosaic law but EVERY man-made religion of earning our way to God. We are not saved by works. Period. “He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy” (Titus 3:5).
• So that no one can boast: If salvation was a joint effort—even God contributing 95% and us 5%—we would have reason to boast, to be proud of our contribution: “For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about” (Romans 4:2). The only way in which the statement “so that no one can boast” is true if the playing field is totally level... if none of us did any of the work of salvation. God did it all. In the words of Jonathan Edwards, “You contribute nothing to your salvation except the sin that made it necessary.”

Y’all, we live in a world where D-O is supremely important. We measure success by things like productivity and efficiency. Our lives are governed by the sovereign rule of the to-do list. May today be a reminder that when it comes to the most important thing – our salvation, our relationship with God, our eternal destiny—what matters is not ANYTHING we D-O, but what Jesus has D-O-N-E for us. Today, enter into God’s presence with joy and freedom, praising him for the free, gracious gift of your salvation.

"English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers."