12. Preaching

WINNING TO BE

It is written like this, in Paul's letter to the Romans, chapter 3, verses 27 and 28:

“Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.“

And it is written thus, in the letter of James, chapter 2, verse 24:

"Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only."

Many are called, but few are chosen, Jesus said. Many know what to say and do, but few show it. This is how one can understand the apparent contradiction between these two scriptures.

It is obvious that it is by faith that one is justified. Because, if it is decided what one should be and do, then it is a task one has been given, regarding what matters to be fair and just. With the task, one wants to satisfy certain expectations, and one plays a role in the effort to do so. One is not wholeheartedly with. This is the case with acts of law, as these are such that they make demands on what to do. We become justified when we are not sure what to do, but when we believe. God cannot be proven, and it does not do, in terms of salvation, to end up in the pattern prescribed by the Law of Moses. Salvation is precisely to be released from the doubt or the condemnation that our way of being or acting triggers by not being grounded in any law.

One cannot be a fool and hope for justification. At the same time, it is the case that love is inactive if it is not shown. Virtue and deed are one for the one who wants to prove himself. The works follow naturally from faith, and it is when the works are motivated from within, by faith, and not from without, by being works of the law, that one can be called righteous before God.

There can be so many expectations of what one should be and do. One such expectation is that one should be happy, as a Christian. And of course, you get a lot done if you're happy. However, one does not achieve anything by playing happily. There are times when it is not possible to be so happy. And you have to smile to be able to laugh. And you must be light to show joy. But it is the joy that is contagious.