It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you.

—Galatians 5:1-8 (TNIV)

Here Paul addresses the persistent problem that besets humans: an unhealthy and destructive reliance or trust in works righteousness. Setting aside for a moment the fact that this is delusional thinking, here Paul zeroes in on the root of the problem. When we believe we can only be made right in God’s sight by the works we do—and if we are really honest with ourselves, most of us harbor this delusional thinking in some form and to some extent—we immediately impede our trust in Christ, our only real and true hope. Why? Because we are putting the focus and trust on us, not Jesus, and as he reminded us, we cannot give our ultimate loyalty to two masters (Matthew 6:24).

You see, until you understand that there is nothing, nothing, you can do to earn eternal life, the focus and emphasis will necessarily be about you. And if you are really honest with yourself, you must admit that you really don’t need a Savior because you are trying to serve in that capacity by the good works you do.

But the moment you realize the utter futility of the human condition and the fact that there is nothing you can do that satisfactorily addresses the root problem of human sin and the alienation from God it causes, then you become aware of your desperate need for a Savior. The Good News, of course, is that we have one in Jesus Christ. It does not matter who we are or how bad we’ve been (or are). When we give our lives to Christ and trust in the saving work of his cross, we are declared not guilty in God’s eyes. That’s it. No fine print. No hidden agenda. Only the free love of God manifested in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Good works will necessarily come, but they will come from a deep and profound gratitude to God for doing the impossible for us, for loving us when we were unlovable, and for doing what was necessary to obliterate the alienation our sin has caused.

When you finally get this, you are ready to receive the Good News of Christ by faith and you can stop worrying whether you are doing enough to be made worthy to be in God’s kingdom and Presence forever. You are not. But it’s not about you. It’s about the love of God made manifest in the shed blood of Jesus Christ for your sake. By his blood we are made clean and fit to live in God’s Presence, now and for all eternity.

The Good News is not about you. It is about God. Rejoice and be glad in it! You will be amazed at how free it makes you feel and you will begin to understand why later on in this same chapter, Paul wishes that those who are trying to enslave us through a false gospel of works righteousness would go and castrate themselves.

And it is impossible to satisfy such a soul, a soul that is athirst for God, the living God, with what the world accounts religion, as with what they account happiness. The religion of the world implies three things: (1) The doing no harm, the abstaining from outward sin; at least from such as is scandalous, as robbery, theft, common swearing, drunkenness: (2) The doing good, the relieving the poor; the being charitable, as it is called: (3) The using of the means of grace; at least the going to church and to the Lord’s Supper. He in whom these three marks are found is termed by the world a religious man. But will this satisfy him who hungers after God? No; It is not food for his soul. He wants a religion of a nobler kind, a religion higher and deeper than this. He can no more feed on this poor, shallow, formal thing, than he can “fill his belly with the east wind.” True, he is careful to abstain from the very appearance of evil: he is zealous of good works: he attends all the ordinances of God: But all this is not what he longs for. This is only the outside of that religion, which he insatiably hungers after. The knowledge of God in Christ Jesus: “the life which is hid with Christ in God:” the being “joined unto the Lord in one spirit:” the having “fellowship with the Father and the Son:” the “walking in the light as God is in the light:” the being “purified even as He is pure:”—this is the religion, the righteousness, he thirsts after: Nor can he rest, till he thus rests in God.

—John Wesley, Sermon 22.5.268

Human beings should be like the earth and bear fruit. When you give to the poor, you are bearing fruit which you will gather in for yourself, since the reward for good deeds goes to those who perform them. You are going to leave your money behind you here whether you wish to or not. On the other hand, you will take with you to the Lord the honor that you have won through good works.

—Basil the Great, Sermon on Charity 3.6.31

As you read this remember that faith perforce expresses itself in obedience, and Christian obedience always manifests itself in good works. Basil is not preaching salvation by works but rather a manifestation of saving faith.

The goal set before us is no trifling one; we are striving for eternal life. [It is] for this as Christians we are struggling. Now real and true life is none other than the Father, who is the fountain of life and who pours forth his heavenly gifts on all creatures through the Son in the Holy Spirit, because of his love for us.

—Cyril, Bishop of Jerusalem, Catechesis 18.28.33

Therefore if the world is falling and we embrace it by loving it, we are choosing rather to be overwhelmed than to live in it. Nothing separates us from its ruin insofar as our love binds us by our attachment to it.

—Gregory the Great, Forty Gospel Homilies 4.2

If God brought us near to himself [through the cross of Christ] when we were [far] off, how much more will he keep us now that we are near!

—John Chrysostom, Homilies on Romans 9