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There are those who simply cannot accept the belief that God himself paid the price for us, and that the righteousness we need can only be obtained by having him give it to us as a free gift. They want to 'pay their own way', earning their salvation through performing certain acts, or, which is more often the case, merely refraining from performing other acts.
Then there are some denominations and/or sects, especially in the more evangelical sector, which expressly teach that accepting Christ's sacrifice on the cross is only the 'starting line'. We begin there, but in order to keep our salvation (or get it back) we need to either perform certain acts, or accept certain agendas. Some go so far as to teach that Christ's sacrifice only saved sheep, not people. As far as they're concerned our salvation is still totally dependent on how strictly we abide by Mosaic Law as they interpret it.
But the Scripture doesn't support their teaching. I am referring not only to New Testament Scripture, but also to Old Testament Scripture. The truth is that the Mosaic Law was never intended as a 'roadmap to heaven'. Here is the promise which God actually made to the Hebrews in exchange for their keeping the laws of Torah:
If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the Lord your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your forefathers. He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land - your grain, new wine and oil - the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land that he swore to your forefathers to give you. You will be blessed more than any other people; none of your men or women will be childless, nor any of your livestock without young. The Lord will keep you free from every disease. He will not inflict on you the horrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but he will inflict them on all who hate you. (Deuteronomy 7:12-15,NIV)
There it is. That is what God promised the Hebrew nation he would give them. There is no mention of there even being an afterlife to attain, much less of attaining it through strict observance of the laws and commandments. Instead, it was a very pragmatic contract. They obeyed his laws and commandments in the here-and-now; they were rewarded in the here-and-now.
And why was this? It was due to the fact that the Mosaic Law was never meant to make a people perfect; its only goal was to make them civilized. Moses was working with what was, for all intents and purposes, a ragtag mob. The Hebrews had just left Egypt, where they had been subject to egyptian law, as well as egyptian slavery. Now they were to form their own nation. But that nation had to be cohesive and strong, because they were quite literally surrounded by others who were eager to 'erase' them from the face of the earth.
These goals (cohesiveness and strength) were achieved through their accepting the Mosaic Law. Neighbor could live next to neighbor, whether they knew each other or not, and remain confident that they were safe from harm or theft. An attack on any member of their society, either by a foreigner or by one of their own, was immediately dealt with under their laws. For another nation to threaten the people of any tribe (there were still 12 tribes) was seen as a threat to all the tribes, and was answered accordingly.
But it was only in the time following the end of the Old Testament and Jesus' coming among us that certain sects started teaching the law as a means of obtaining salvation. If you obeyed Torah without blemish, you could earn points with God and 'buy your own ticket' into heaven. But Jesus himself promptly 'shot down' all thoughts of currying favor with God through our own efforts:
"Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, 'Come along now and sit down to eat'? Would he not rather say, 'Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink'? Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.' " (The Gospel of St. Luke 17:7-10,NIV)
The only reward that we are to aspire to while we are working for the furtherance of the kingdom of God is the successful completion of whatever tasks God sets before us. There is to be no daydreaming of stars in our crowns (or crowns, for that matter), of earning points with God, of becoming perfect through our own efforts, or of any other reward besides completing the tasks.
But the righteousness which gains us admission into God's presence isn't a righteousness which makes us civilized; it's a righteousness that makes us perfect. And that righteousness is far beyond any effort we are capable of. But what is beyond our effort is not beyond God's. The chasm which we could never cross God himself built a bridge across to us. The righteousness required by God in order to merit salvation was quite literally earned by God himself for us, rather than being earned by us for ourselves:
Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished - he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:19-26,NIV)
We can obtain the righteousness that makes us civilized; that is within our grasp. But we are totally dependent on God himself to confer on us the righteousness that makes us perfect. He has done on our behalf what we could never do, nor even augment. God's righteousness stands alone. And only that righteousness is the truly salvific righteousness that we need.
