You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.
27 Where [pou] is boasting [kauchesis] then [oun]? It is excluded [ekkleio]. By [dia] what [poios] law [nomos]? of works [ergon]? Nay [ouchi]: but [alla] by [dia] the law [nomos] of faith [pistis]. KJV-Interlinear
27 Then
what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of
works? No, but by the law of faith. ESV
Why do people continue to boast? Why do people continue to pursue their own version of the spiritual life, by ignoring Gods will? Why do people presume that they do not need to follow the instructions given in the Bible? Why do people presume that they do not need to learn, do not need to pursue a daily study, do not need to support the spiritual effort of others?
Why? Because people are both ignorant, because they do not learn their obligations, and they are arrogant and under the presumption that they have no obligations, or that they can pick and choose what they will or will not abide by.
But works is excluded. Therefore boasting is excluded by default. Since people can do nothing to secure their salvation, or even their spiritual growth by their own effort, then they are left with only faith.
But faith does not mean that you do nothing, that God will somehow pour information into your brain without you doing even so much as opening up a book.
Faith is based on wisdom, and wisdom is based on understanding, and understanding is based on knowledge. And how do you get knowledge? You have to learn it. And in learning, you have to be taught.
To look away at the place in which God placed you, to look away and presume that you have no personal obligations in life, is the quintessence of arrogance through stubbornness and indifference.
Faith is non-meritorious, which simply means that we can earn no credit to ourselves, in so far as the spiritual life goes. It does not mean that we have no obligations, because the spiritual life is filled with obligations and responsibilities, which to most folks are obvious.
But works, reaches into our lives and becomes an excuse or the basis, for our justifying our not doing that which we are supposed to do.
And so God has set up a system or plan, which obliterates works, and the boasting and the reliance that accompanies them. And that system is faith.
Faith is not just a simple trusting thought, it is a whole system of living and growth and maturity and completion and fulfillment of the very essence of our existence.
