Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.

-Parallel verse:
I Peter‬ ‭2:11‬
Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.

What I think Paul is doing here is trying to take human arguments and show that they are couched from the wrong perspective. Do you hear it? He presents the human arguments: 1) “So what about boasting? Can we not longer boast in our accomplishments or our works?” 2) “So if I, as a person who grew up in faith, had rules to live by, and someone else, who did not grow up in the faith, did not have these rules, am I not better than them?” 3) “If I lived by the law, and now you say I am justified by faith, what good is the law?”

And in presenting these arguments, he does not go into a detailed explanation of why they don’t make sense. Why is that? It is because he is not trying to show the reader he is right, as much as he is trying to get them to view their human life from a different perspective. I Peter 2:11 says that we are foreigners and aliens in this world. This means 1) we belong to a different world or kingdom, and 2) our thinking and logic should be based on the truths in the world we are from. It says in Colossians‬ ‭3:1-4‬: “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” We have been raised with Christ into a new kingdom!

‭‭Brothers and sisters, we who have Jesus Christ as Lord think from a different world-view. We can understand spiritual things from God’s perspective. We can reconcile a life justified by faith where the law still matters. We can accomplish great things and still not need to boast, because we delight in giving God the glory and we know our glory will come to us in our new world. We are living as a LIGHT to this new world today. Our identity is in Jesus Christ and our home is in heaven, though we live on earth. We belong to God! We must train our minds to think with our future, other-worldly home in mind.

I Peter‬ ‭2:9-10‬ ‭(emphasis mine) says it well:‬‬ “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, GOD’S SPECIAL POSSESSION, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but NOW YOU ARE THE PEOPLE OF GOD; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

Lord, thank you for claiming me, rescuing me, calling me your own. I am now a member of your family, and live in the confidence of your kingdom, though still on earth. Change my thinking to be more and more aligned with you and your Kingdom. Teach me to view my life as alien to this world. And just like the movies we see of an alien invasion, may your people unite to bring an other-worldly form of love and joy and peace to this world, in your name!