DIY

There is a whole industry that caters to do-it-yourselfers. Gigantic stores are devoted to supplying the parts, the tools and sometimes the know-how for people to repair and enhance their homes, doing the work themselves. There’s another, parallel industry to do the same for people who want to do their own car repair or upgrades. Let’s not forget the industries that support preparing meals ourselves, doing yardwork ourselves, and so forth.

And then, there’s another industry—the comedy industry—that thrives on us DIYers. Comedians, comic strip artists and those who do video posts have an endless supply of material, drawn from the errors and failures of us who try to do the work ourselves.

Most DIY projects actually come out OK. Sometimes they even turn out to be great. They usually save money, although often at the cost of quite a lot of time. Sometimes also the cost of a few cuts, scrapes or burns. But the more practice we get, the fewer wounds and failures we have to endure.

You know where I’m going with this, right? When it comes to salvation, DIY does not succeed. Not that we humans haven’t tried. Cain thought his offering was just as good as what God required (Genesis 4:3-7). Nadab and Abihu thought the incense they concocted was just as good as what God commanded (Leviticus 10:1-3). Saul thought some animal sacrifices were even better than obeying God’s command (1 Samuel 15:1-23). In the New Testament, Jesus berated the religious leadership for honoring their own traditions and interpretations instead of heeding God’s word (Mark 7:6-9).

Paul echoes and expands on Jesus’s accusation, this time addressing Christians rather than Jewish leaders:

If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. (Colossians 2:20-23)

But wasn’t the Law of Moses supposed to provide rules that would cover everything, so that if you kept all the commandments, you would save yourself? In a word, no. The Law was given to expose the inability of humans to save ourselves. (Romans 3:20 & 9:30-32, Galatians 2:16 & 3:10-12, and numerous others)

There’s no DIY salvation.

Salvation comes via grace, a gift. We know this. It’s the essence of Christianity. We also know that there is in fact a response needed from us—our faith (Romans 4:16, Ephesians 2:8, and others). Faith. There’s no recipe or blueprint to follow to save ourselves.

So what did this same apostle mean when he wrote, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling”? (Philippians 2:12) Maybe we’ll come back to that sometime. In the meantime, talk about it in your study group or around your dinner table. Pay attention to context. Use the cross-references and other tools you have available to you. You know, Bible study! Now that is something we can do ourselves. And it’s even better when we do it together.

Love, Paul