Justification by One's Own Efforts will Result in Condemnation - Chrysostom

But someone might say: "Is there so much harm in circumcision that it makes Christ's whole plan of redemption useless?" Yes, the harm of circumcision is as great as that, not because of its own nature but because of your obstinacy. There was a time when the law was useful and necessary, but now it has ceased and is fruitless. If you take it on yourself to be circumcised now, when the time is no longer right, it makes the gift of God useless. It is because you are not willing to come to him that Christ will be of no advantage to you. Suppose someone should be caught in the act of adultery and the foulest crimes and then be thrown into prison. Suppose, next, that judgment was going to be passed against him and that he would be condemned. Suppose that just at that moment a letter should come from the Emperor setting free from any accounting or examination all those detained in prison. If the prisoner should refuse to take advantage of the pardon, remain obstinate and choose to be brought to trial, to give an account, and to undergo punishment, he will not be able thereafter to avail himself of the Emperor's favor. For when he made himself accountable to the court, examination, and sentence, he chose of his own accord to deprive himself of the imperial gift. This is what has happened in the case of the Jews. Look how it is. All human nature was taken in the foulest evils. "All have sinned," (Romans 3:23) says Paul. They were locked, as it were, in a prison by the curse of their transgression of the Law. The sentence of the judge was going to be passed against them. A letter from the King came down from heaven. Rather, the King himself came. Without examination, without exacting an account, he set all men free from the chains of their sin. All, then, who run to Christ are saved by his grace and profit from his gift. But those who wish to find justification from the Law will also fall from grace. They will not be able to enjoy the King's loving-kindness because they are striving to gain salvation by their own efforts; they will draw down on themselves the curse of the Law because from the works of the Law no flesh will find justification. So it is that Paul says: "If you be circumcised, Christ will be of no advantage to you." (Galatians 5:2) For the man who strives to gain salvation from the works of the Law has nothing in common with grace. This is what Paul hinted at when he said: "If out of grace, then not in virtue of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace: otherwise work is no longer work." (Romans 11:6 with a textual variant) And again: "If justice be by the Law, then Christ died in vain" (Galatians 2:21). And again: "You who are justified in the Law are fallen from grace" (Galatians 5:4). You have died to the Law, you have become a corpse; hereafter you are no longer under its yoke, you are are no longer subject to its necessity. Why, then, do you strive to make trouble for yourself when it is all to no purpose and in vain? Fathers of the Church, St. John Chrysostom, Discourses Against Judaizing Christians, translated by Paul W. Harkins, Discourse II, section I, paragraph 6, to section II, paragraph 1 (pp. 37-39)