We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified. But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker. For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!

—Galatians 2:16-21 (TNIV)

Here Paul cuts to the chase regarding the Good News of Jesus Christ. He reminds us that none of us can be in God’s presence because of our sin and so our attempts to earn our way into his direct Presence (heaven) are futile.

Pretty bleak stuff, don’t you think?

But then Paul delivers the punchline. We do not have to worry about earning our way to heaven anymore because we have been declared “not guilty” in God’s eyes by of the blood of Christ. By faith, we believe that in Jesus Christ, God has overcome the intractable problem of human sin and the separation from God that it causes.

I grow increasingly convinced that many people really have not made the Good News of Jesus Christ their own because they do not really believe that God is that good or gracious. I know that was the case for me for a long time. We still delude ourselves and think our salvation depends on us and our efforts. Not so, says Paul.

When we finally begin to wrap our minds around this wondrous grace and truth, it is a life-changing event and we perforce want the kind of intimacy with Christ that Paul talks about here when he says that he has been crucified with Christ so that it is no longer he who lives but Christ who lives in him. Our faith in Christ makes us want to be like him and live for him. In other words, our faith results in a life of holiness and obedience to Christ, not because we think we have to live that way but because we want to live that way.

Do you have the Good News of Jesus Christ?