For there is no distinction;
all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God.
We all need Jesus. Without him we don't have access to God. Heaven is closed to us. Fortunately his grace is freely available to us to expiate our sins and justify us. No one is any better off than anyone else. Whether we are born into a family that helps or whether we feel like we have to find the way on our own none of it happens without grace.
What occasion is there then for boasting? It is ruled out.
On what principle, that of works?
No, rather on the principle of faith.
We don't succeed at salvation by working hard. It is only by receiving grace freely given that we taste the grace of God. This is true in baptism, which we cannot earn, and in all of the other sacraments as well. This means that there is no one too lost to be saved. There is no one who doesn't qualify.
Yes, also to Gentiles, for God is one
and will justify the circumcised on the basis of faith
and the uncircumcised through faith.
This knowledge helps us avoid the problem of the scholars of the law. They know the law so well but use it to prove their superiority to others.
You have taken away the key of knowledge.
You yourselves did not enter and you stopped those trying to enter.
Nothing we have makes us better than anyone. There is only grace freely given to all who will accept it. Even the acceptance itself is a mystery of grace and free will cooperating. We cannot boast at how well we have accepted the invitation. Each further degree of progress is a response to love drawing us onward and upward.
The LORD isn't interested in building up our pride. He is interested in showing us mercy and the fullness of redemption. He is not interested in giving us wedges to separate ourselves from others. He is interested in making us one in Christ.
I trust in the LORD;
my soul trusts in his word.
My soul waits for the LORD
more than sentinels wait for the dawn.
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