“It must follow, then, that the Pharisaic interpretation must be wrong; that eternal life is not a reward for faithful observance of the Law, and indeed never was. Do you agree?”
“Yes, that follows.”
“At least in terms of the promise of eternal life, then—whatever other benefit there may have been, and may still be, to being a descendant of Abraham and to observing the Law—there is no advantage to being a Jew. For purposes of gaining eternal life at least, Jew and Gentile are on an equal footing.”
“So it seems.”
“And perhaps we can be even more general: If even observance of the Law—the very precepts for behavior given by God Himself as a commandment to His own chosen people—does not have as its reward eternal life, then perhaps eternal life is not strictly a reward for human behavior at all. After all, had God intended eternal life to be a quid pro quo for the performance of some set of humanly achievable acts or forbearances, surely it would have been to Israel that such a reward for conduct would have been offered; don’t you agree?”
“I do.”
“And if it is not a reward, eternal life must then simply be a gift; does that not follow?”
“I suppose it does. Still, I cannot believe that our actions are of no concern to God, that He does not care how we behave, or whether we lead just and moral lives.”
“Nor do I make any such claim, Mark. Certainly He cares! And we shall return to this subject in due course. For now, I simply mean to draw the distinction between earning salvation as a reward for a moral life, and receiving salvation as the unmerited gift of God.”
“I see the distinction. But if, indeed, eternal life is simply a gift, who receives it, and how?”
“To this subject, we will turn in earnest tomorrow. For now, however, let us break from our discussion. See, we are approaching Melos!”
Chapter 5
Early the next morning our convoy departed Melos and headed southwest to Cythera, opposite the southern tip of the Peloponnesian peninsula, and according to legend the island of Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty, who was carried there on a giant sea shell. The sea was choppy, but again with a tailing wind that strained at the sails and creaked at the timbers of the ship. This stretch of the journey was a bit longer than yesterday’s; we would need favorable winds throughout the day if we were to make the island before darkness.
After a breakfast of cakes and honey, Timothy was ready to indulge my inquisitiveness again, and began the conversation. “We were speaking yesterday of the distinction between earning eternal life, and receiving eternal life as a gift; were we not?”
“Yes. And I questioned, on whom is the gift bestowed.”
“Ah, yes. To answer your question, let us begin by asking, what else is there besides a person’s conduct which can serve as a basis for having this precious gift bestowed upon him? What, aside from how one lives one’s life, would induce God to extend that life beyond the grave? If not one’s actions, it must be one’s beliefs, must it not?”
“That would certainly make sense. It would naturally be those who believe in God who are most likely to gain His favor, if that is what you mean.”
“But let us be more specific, Mark. To believe ‘in’ God is too amorphous. What, precisely, is it about God that must be believed? Simply that He exists? Or something more?”
“In truth, it must be something more—yet I am not sure that I could compile a complete list of the propositions that must be believed. I suppose the first such proposition must be that He is One, and supreme over all creation.”
“Ah, but the Torah already teaches that—yet as we have agreed, its precepts are not sufficient for one to gain eternal life. Focus on His gift, Mark—on what must be believed about His gift. Must we not start with the proposition that eternal life is, indeed, a gift, and not something we earn through our actions?”
“You mean, accepting the notion that eternal life cannot be earned through our actions is itself a prerequisite to receiving it?”
“That is my meaning precisely—giving up the prideful belief in eternal life as a reward for one’s conduct opens one to the possibility of receiving it. Is this not the point of the story recounted in these very parchments, regarding the man who approached Jesus to ask what he must do to share in eternal life?”
“What do you mean?”
Timothy reached into his trunk for the parchments, and spread them before us. “Here,” he gestured. “Read with me:
‘A man asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus answered, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.’” He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.” Jesus answered, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” At this, the man left in sadness, for he had many possessions.’
Do you understand, Mark? No human is ‘good’ so as to merit eternal life, nor is keeping the commandments enough to result in one’s own salvation. One must instead have faith that God will provide that salvation.”
“But was not this man told to give all his possessions to the poor? That seems to me to refer to actions he needed to take; and if he did, he would be saved.”
“Yet by giving away his worldly goods, would not this man be demonstrating complete faith in and reliance on God, rather than on himself?”
“I suppose that is so.”
“And here, Mark, we see the relation between faith and action. If a man truly believes something, he then will act as though it is true. Our very lives attest to this. If we believe it will be a cold day, we dress for the cold; if we believe that fire burns us, we refrain from touching fire; and so on. Is it not always thus?”
“Undoubtedly.”
“So, if this man had truly believed in Jesus as the way to salvation rather than in his own obedience to the Law, he would have divested himself of his possessions and gone with Jesus, would he not?”
“That follows.”
“Then by his actions, or rather inactions, he demonstrated that he lacked the faith that was necessary to save him, did he not?”
“I would have to agree.”
“And looking closer, his lack of trust in Jesus’ approach to salvation is mirrored by a reluctance to give up what he had accumulated on his own; he wished to continue his self-reliance, to trust in himself rather than to let go of those things and trust completely in God. In a word, we may say his was the sin of pride; do you agree?”
“Yes.”
“So it is in every case where one relies on one’s own efforts. In the end, the sin of pride is always the truly deadly sin. As the Proverb puts it, ‘Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.’ It is precisely what Paul meant when he first wrote: ‘Salvation is yours through faith. This is not of your own doing; it is God’s gift; neither is it a reward for anything you have accomplished, so let no one pride himself on it.’”
“I agree, Timothy. It is pride we must overcome.” I quickly shrugged aside the thought that Timothy might have had me in mind when saying this. More likely, the truth was simply hitting close to home.
“And what is the opposite of pride, Mark? Is it not humility?”
“Yes.”
“And if we have humility, will we not then, and only then, be able to trust completely in God, who alone can bring us to eternal life?”