The Proper Object of Our Trust (Saturday, June 6)

The word for today is “faith.”  This word seems commonplace. But our scripture study today will probe more deeply into its meaning for us.

 Our currency announces, “In God We Trust."  Do "we"? And what is "our" conception of God, the object of our trust? Today, we emphasize that the One who has earned our trust is the Lord Jesus Christ. Our study will suggest that if we put our faith in anything else (the Mosaic Law, our cultural or ethnic background, our education, our abilities, even our fate), then the Cross will be meaningless to us.  

 Today’s reading from Romans doubles back to Romans 3:19-26. In this passage, we hear that in Christ, the righteousness of God is manifest "apart from the Law" (Romans 3:21). This is the righteousness that is freely given "by faith to those who “believe” (Galatians 3:22).

 Belief and Faith Have Different Meanings

 Note that in Greek, the word “to believe" is the verb form of the noun "faith." In English, the term denotes the affirmation that something or someone is true. But in Greek, "faith" is best translated as "trust in" something or someone. This definition of "faith means that it must have an object in which faith is placed.

 This understanding clarifies the issue that St. Paul raises in this passage. What or who is worthy of our "trust"? In Paul's day, the answer for Paul's Jewish Christ opponents was circumcision. That meant Paul's adversaries believed that we should trust in our efforts to keep the Mosaic Law.

 Trusting in the Law or the Cross

But Paul insisted that we are justified “apart from the Law” (Romans 3:28). Therefore, salvation is by the grace of God. Accordingly, in Paul’s view, we trust in Christ and His saving work.  

 Paul's is convinced that boasting about our ability to keep the Law of God only proves our guilt before God is a humbling truth. The more we brag about keeping the law, the more the law exposes our sinfulness.  Therefore, instead of securing our salvation by our observance of the law, the law reminds us of the need for God's grace.

 St. Paul said, “I do not set aside the grace of God for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain (Galatians 2:21). If we do not trust entirely in the Passion of Christ for our salvation, then there is no Gospel, no grounds for the forgiveness of sins, and no significance of the Cross.

 For Reflection

 Our thoughts bring us a question for reflection: If we, as Gentiles, do not rely on keeping the Mosaic Law to earn God's favor, in what are we trusting for spiritual blessings? Who are we trusting for material good fortunes? Which of these is our ultimate trust?