This question is very interesting for me. Before going to the answer, maybe it is proper to question is it true that if we believe in the idea that we can save ourselves through our works leave us so open to sin? The short answer: Yes. Why then? And what is the evidence? Well, I won’t go to any theological thoughts. My answer is simply based on one story that is written in the bible. That is, the story of Cain and Abel.
Cain and Abel were told how to worship God; how to offer sacrifices to God. As we know, Abel obeyed God’s command to offer Him a lamb while Cain tried another way; fruits of the soil. The act of these two men, in my opinion, shows us the two ways that the men of all ages will try in order to get justification: by faith or by works. Abel obeyed God’s command and God accepted it. Cain tried his own way, or his own works, and God ignored it. The interesting part is what happened after that. Having been rejected by God, Cain planned to kill Abel and then he did. He became the first murderer in the earth! The idea of being justified by his own works, led Cain to kill Abel when he saw that God rejected his works. This story gives us an evident that believing in the idea that we can save ourselves through our works leave us so open to sin.
The next question is, why then? In my opinion, it goes like this: when we believe that we could have the justification by our own works, then the center is now ourselves. We focus to ourselves to make it rightful for the justification. But, it won’t work. The bible tells us that all men have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (roman 3:23). By our own power, no matter how hard we try, we will never be able to satisfy the demands of the law. As long as we try to obey the law by our own power we will always fail and fail again. We will sin and sin again. We are so open to sin. In other hand, if we confess that we couldn’t save ourselves through our works and thus, need some external powers, we will come to God to get His help. We need God to make it done for us, and as the result, the center is not ourselves anymore but God. We depend on Him to get the justification; and, the result of this dependence is closer relationship to God that off course, will give us a power to obey the law of God in turn.
