What Does God Expect?

How good must one be to enter glory with Christ? It's a royally important question, and Christianity itself hinges on the answer to it. It hinges first on how we answer the initial question: Just how good do we have to be? What is the standard of righteousness that God requires? The second manner in which we must answer then is: How is this standard fulfilled?

From the outset, all Christians agree that there must be some standard for eternal life. Likewise, there also must be some manner in which that standard is met. Since no one believes that ultimately everyone is condemned (and we won't deal with universalism here), then the two preceding conditions must have answers to them that result in some people being saved.

1. Just how good do we have to be? What is the standard that God expects?

This one should be pretty easy for all Christians to answer. I say that with reservation though, since it's answered incorrectly by many people now days.

Christianity is not a religion of "just do your best." God doesn't accept that. Your best is never good enough, nor can it be.

We all agree that God is perfectly and infinitely Holy, Righteous, and Just. And if we don't, what we worship is less than God. Therefore, the answer should be obvious: God requires a standard that is completely in-line with His perfect holiness, righteousness, and justice.

He requires absolute perfection.

To relax that standard would be for God to relax His attributes and God does not do that. To relax them would be to not hold to them in a sense. In another sense, He cannot relax them because relaxing them would mean that those attributes are not perfect and infinite in the first place.

Jesus' Sermon on the Mount gives us insight into this very truth. He states:

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. ¹⁸ For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. ¹⁹ Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. ²⁰ For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. (St. Matthew 5:17-20)

And then Jesus gets even more blunt later in His sermon, stating:

You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (St. Matthew 5:48)

To speak plainly, we must be perfect. We must keep God's Law to perfection. Top put it another way, God demands that we be sinless.

What is a good definition of what it is to be sinless? Well, we could go to the decalogue (10 commandments) and say; keep those perfectly. But I am going to go to Jesus' summation of the decalogue found later in the Gospel according to St. Matthew.

"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” ³⁷ And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. ³⁸ This is the great and first commandment. ³⁹ And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. ⁴⁰ On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (St. Matthew 22:36-40)

But wait a second. Aren't we all sinners? Yeah, we are. That is why the next question and answer is so vital to the Christian faith.

2. How is this standard of righteousness fulfilled?

Does God demand that we fulfill this standard? Yes, He does, we already addressed that in the last section. He demands that we be perfect and then tells us that we must love the Lord our God with our everything, all the time. And also love our neighbors as ourselves.

Have you done that today? Have you loved the Lord your God with your whole heart, mind, strength, soul, and everything of yourself for even one second? I would assert that if you say you have, you're breaking the 8th commandment regarding bearing false witness.

So, pretty clearly we as sinful humanity cannot meet this standard that God states and commands all in one fell swoop. Ironically, the theological camps that think they can meet these standards have quite a low view of sin, despite the fact that they talk all the time about not sinning!

Therefore, there must be another way, lest we all be universally condemned. Thanks be to God, the other way is the Gospel.

In other words, we have a substitute. We have an advocate. We have another who has fulfilled these demands on our behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, and He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (St. John 1:29).

You must be in Christ. If a person is in Christ, they are perfect on account of the work of Christ and His righteousness being imputed to them (Romans 4, 2 Corinthians 5:21). The only way that a person can be perfect is to be counted righteous on behalf of Christ. For you have died, and your life is hidden in Christ with God (Colossians 3:3). Not by works, lest anyone should boast (Ephesians 2:9).

Our works cannot ever save us. Our obedience can't either. Only the perfect Lamb of God can do that. Not because we are perfect obedient servants -repentant as we are, as Christians live a daily life of repentance- but that Christ is the perfect obedient Servant.

Such is the way of being simul iustus et peccator. Or in English: Simultaneously justified and sinful. Or, we are both sinner and saint.

Thanks be to God for His saving work in Christ!