Why Work For a Gift?

January 30th, 2025
by Dr. D. Lance Waldie

Romans 10:3-4 For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Loving his fellow Jews, the Apostle Paul prayed to see them converted to Christ as he had been, being delivered from his own ignorance (cf. Acts 9). Israel’s salvation was not impossible, so Paul did not attempt to resolve reasonably the seeming clash between God’s sovereign election and Israel’s freewill. Israel’s problem was “not knowing about God’s righteousness.” “Not knowing” (Gr. agnoeō) in this context, however, is not the same as lacking intellect.

When one has true knowledge (Gr. epignosis) of who Jesus Christ is (v. 2), they are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and are distinct from those who are agnoeō— “not knowing” about God’s righteousness (v. 3). One can have “zeal” (Gr. zēlos), or passion, for something, but if it is not in accordance with knowledge, it is misguided passion. Israel’s problem was that they were zealous to know God, but they sought to know Him on their own terms, not on God’s terms. Sadly for mankind, his idea of righteousness is never the same as God’s idea of righteousness.

Paul himself was at one time extremely zealous for God (Gal. 1:13-14), trained under one of the most prominent rabbis of the day (Acts 22:3), zealous for being Jewish (Phil. 3:5-6). When he stood before the Roman commander Festus, along with King Herod Agrippa, he said, “As the Jewish leaders are well aware, I was given a thorough Jewish training from my earliest childhood among my own people and in Jerusalem. If they would admit it, they know that I have been a member of the Pharisees, the strictest sect of our religion” (Acts 26:4-5, NLT). But by his own admission, though he was blameless to fulfill the outward demands of the Law, Paul knew that he was blinded to the real truth of Jesus as the Christ through his willful ignorance.

Paul therefore knew exactly what the problem with the typical Jewish mind was. Israel lacked the discerning spiritual knowledge that comes only from a saving relationship to God through Jesus Christ—a righteousness that comes by faith alone. What the Jews possessed was a mere external religious knowledge that made them proud (1 Cor. 8:1). What they lacked was the knowledge stemming from the Holy Spirit that produces the fruit of meekness and piety. This is the kind of knowledge that Paul longed for everyone to have (cf. Eph. 1:17-18; 3:14-21). Paul’s battle, as is the battle of every Christian seeking the salvation of lost souls, was that Israel had created their own brand of righteousness through good works and succeeded at their own standards. As a result, the only reason they looked for a Messiah was for political reasons. To subject oneself to the righteousness of God was the key to salvation. But they rejected that key.

The truth was, and is, that “Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (v. 4). In other words, for those who trust in Jesus Christ alone for their salvation, He is their righteousness. The Law adds nothing, for it comes to an “end” in Christ. Although the Law will always reflect God’s righteous character, it fails as an instrument of justification because no one can keep it perfectly (cf. 8:3-4), for no one but God is God. Any attempt to keep the Law of God as a “law of righteousness” fails, then and now. So since the Law is the tutor that leads us to Christ (Gal. 3:24-25), the law of righteousness is fulfilled in Christ (cf. Matt. 5:17).

Food for Thought

The JB Phillips version says, “For Christ means the end of the struggle for righteousness-by-the-Law for everyone who believes in him.” So why would anyone strive for that which is impossible to attain by works but is freely granted by God? Although the answer is pride, since we like to work for things, let us not be stubborn but simply receive God’s free gift of grace!