Faith And Righteousness

I've been writing until I'm blue in the face (that's a mixed metaphor, for those of you who keep track of such things) about the difference between Old Testament righteousness and the new Covenant introduced through Christ's death and resurrection. To reiterate, Old Testament righteousness was found through obeying the Law as described in Deuteronomy 6:25. Paul updates that in Romans 3:21-22:

But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. ²² This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.

The word "faith" occurs over 250 times in the Bible, but only 15 times in the Old Testament, and even in those instances, weren't referring to a faith in God except in a couple of instances:

Joshua 22:16

2 Chronicles 20:20

Habakkuk 2:4

Adam and Eve didn't need faith, they lived with God. The Patriarchs had regular communication with the Lord, the people of Israel had a visible representation of the Lord in front of them as they wandered through  the desert, God spoke directly to the kings and the people through the prophets, and Jesus was a man in flesh that the people could hear and talk to. However, with Jesus' ascension, the era of man communicating directly with God was over, and it was over for one very simple reason--there was no reason for that to continue.

God promised to send his Son as the ultimate sacrifice for us. He did that, and as such, everything we will ever need to know about Christianity has happened before human eyes and been recorded. Every promise made in the Bible (except for those dealing with the End Times) has occurred, so we shouldn't need proof anymore. That which happened already doesn't require proof. What it does require of us is faith, in that we take to heart the promises that God has made to us and understand that nothing has happened in the past 2,000 years to make those promises change. Our salvation won't be achieved through obedience of the Law, indeed, it won't be achieved through anything we'll ever do. It will be because we have faith and believe.

It's a tough thing to relinquish control, and that's what Paul was telling the Romans to do. Obedience through the Law means that YOU have to follow the Law, and if YOU don't, YOU won't be saved. In the Age of Grace, that's all been done for us, and I won't speak for the rest of you, but that works plenty well for me.

Scott