The Way to Eternal Life

Questions about salvation and how it is received are the most important questions of all. They are fundamentally religious questions, so we are not surprised that they were asked of Jesus, who is the preeminent religious teacher. Luke 10:25–28 tells us about an important exchange between Jesus and a lawyer, who asked Him, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

In essence, the lawyer was seeking to know how he could participate in the never-ending blessed life promised to servants of God in the final resurrection (see Dan. 12:1–2). Jesus responded not by immediately giving the answer to the lawyer’s inquiry but by asking him another question. Pointing to the Scriptures, Jesus asked him, “What is written in the Law?” (Luke 10:26). Or to paraphrase, “What does the law of God say is the path to eternal life?” Christ’s question to the lawyer demonstrates two things. First, it indicates our Lord’s high regard for the Scriptures. When asked the most important question of all, Jesus pointed to the Word of God. If we want answers to the most significant issues, we must turn there as well. Second, Jesus’ response shows that the way of salvation is taught in the Old Testament, particularly in the Law: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The New Testament makes the way of salvation especially plain to us, but God did not wait until the New Testament to give the way of salvation; He provided it to His old covenant people as well.

The lawyer answered that eternal life comes by keeping what Jesus elsewhere calls the two greatest commandments: love of God and love of neighbor (Luke 10:27; see Lev. 19:18; Deut. 6:5; Matt. 22:34–40). Jesus commended his answer (Luke 10:28), but how could this be? We know that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone (Eph. 2:8–10), but making love of God and neighbor the way of salvation seems to introduce a works-righteousness and to destroy assurance. If salvation is based on our love of God and neighbor, we are without hope, for we do not love God and neighbor flawlessly. We sin and do not love as we should (1 John 1:8–9). Here we remember that salvation is based on works—the perfectly righteous works of Christ (Matt. 3:13–17; 2 Cor. 5:21). Salvation comes by loving God and neighbor, but because sinners cannot do so fully, the Father sent Jesus to love God and neighbor perfectly in our place. The lawyer was right that salvation comes by keeping the commandments, but for sinners it comes through Jesus’ keeping the commandments for them.