Question was asked on FB: “Why do so many people reject God’s grace by faith in Jesus, alone, and insist that we must be obedient to a Law or become sufficiently good to earn God’s favor and eternal life?”

Christian response,

Mankind, the Jews, Israelites, Legalists, Religions, Cults, insist that works of the Law, obedience, “cleaning up our behavior” by pulling our own self up to God’s standards by our boot-straps, are necessary for salvation; actually, the root of a works salvation is pride, self-righteousness, arrogance, a refusal to believe God and allow God to be God over His creation. Far too many religions, cults, perceive simple faith – “belief” in the death of Jesus as payment for our sins – to be far too simple for God to be pleased and satiated concerning the self-defilement of sin and payment for same; basically, the legalist calls the Holy Spirit a liar through their unbelief in what He has said concerning the sufficiency of Jesus’ death as atonement for our sin.Truth is…God is all about love-relationship-with His created beings, both angelic and human…it is man that muddies up the simplicity of God’s grace with works, effort, worry, self-righteousness i.e. legalism.

The legalist, to justify their legalism, then accuses the one who lives by grace through faith in Jesus as being a law breaker and disobedient and using God’s grace as a license to sin…but this is obfuscation on the part of the legalist as the one who is truly born again by the Spirit abhors sin because sin saddens the Father and interrupts intimacy with our Lord. The faithful in Jesus walk in the Spirit, daily, and follow Him in sanctification as the law is written upon our heart in the New Covenant.

The faithful in Jesus pursue obedience to God’s will for our life because we LOVE and respect God…not in fear but in adoration and thankfulness for what He has done for us…in this covenant relationship with our Father established by grace through faith in Jesus, there is peace.