only a gift

Tuesday June 7^th, Galatians 2: ¹⁵ We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; ¹⁶ yet we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in/of Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in/of Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law.  There is that little word that can be translated as either in or of that sometimes throws us for a loop.  In the Greek, the word can mean either in or of and carries a bit of the meaning of both.  If however as is understood in English that it is faith in Christ, then it is our doing.  We muster up the faith and build the faith and are in charge of the faith and that faith can and often does become its own work for which we can take self-righteous pride.  But faith is a gift from God, and like any gift, it is useful only in as much as it is used for the benefit of all.  So faith is not something we achieve, only a gift we nurture, and sometimes help nurture in others in the process.  Faith is less about boasting than it is about giving thanks.