Salvation is by Believing, not by Achieving

This "justification by faith alone" doctrine that the Apostle Paul believed and preached, does it have any grounds at all in the Torah? Or is this a message that he made up? The Judaizers believed the latter; many of Paul's disciples in Galatia were heading that way too; but Paul is adamant. He sets out in Galatians 3:6-12 to prove that his doctrine is God's. It originates and is deeply rooted in sacred Scripture. It is a central theme, not only in the New Testament message, but of the Old Testament as well. We need to keep stressing this in our day as Paul did in his. Many today believe that Old Testament religion was a religion of law and not gospel. If the false teachers wanted to reach back to Moses, Paul could go back further to Abraham, the esteemed ancester of the Israelites. He lived in a period prior to the law, the temple, and circumcision. In fact, he was even a Gentile before God called him! There, in the first book of the Bible, Paul finds the patriarch simply believing God's promise. What distinguished him as a man of God is that he simply took God at His Word. On that basis God justified him (Gen. 15:6). He did not win right standing with God by his own efforts. It was given to him as a result of his faith. The implication is obvious. Abraham's children are those who, like him, are trusting God to do for them what they have given up trying to do for themselves. Then Paul appeals to Scripture for a further point. Not only was Abraham justified by faith, he is definitely linked to the Gentile peoples. "In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed" (Gen. 12:3b). Reader, if you have never received Christ as your Savior, then hear this. The truth of justification, which was anticipated so clearly long ago, has now become visible and available in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Indeed, everyone who believes are even now blessed along with Abraham. They are enjoying God's favor because they are believing God just as he did. The only demand God makes on you in connection with salvation is the trusting attitude of faith.