Psalm 3:8 tells us: “Salvation belongs to the LORD.”

In Exodus 14, the Israelites were trapped between their Egyptian slave masters, and the Red Sea.

They could do nothing to save themselves.

They cried out in helpless, hopeless despair. Why? Because they were gazing at their own puny navels. We can’t save ourselves! And so they believed no one could save them.

Moses corrected them: Their salvation would most definitely not come from themselves.

Don’t be afraid. Stand firm and see the Lord’s salvation that he will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you must be quiet.

Exodus 14:13-14 CSB

Well, we know how that story went. Moses raised his hands out over the Red Sea. The glory cloud of the LORD’s angel protected the Israelites and terrorized the Egyptians, as the Sea parted and the Israelites passed on dry ground. When the Egyptians pursued them, the Sea collapsed on them, crushing and drowning them all.

This familiar story teaches us about a concept the theologians call extra nos. Extra nos is a Latin phrase that means outside of us.

Salvation is always extra nos. It comes from outside of us, just like it did for the Israelites that day. Salvation belongs to the Lord. It is of Him, by Him, and from Him.

In salvation, we are the Israelites, trapped helplessly between the Egyptians—Satan, sin, and guilt; and the Red Sea of judgment, death, and hell.

The only hope we have is salvation outside of ourselves. The glory cloud that covers and protects us is Christ and His perfect righteousness. When He covers us, we are able to pass through judgment safely. Meanwhile, our sin and guilt are swallowed up in the waters of baptism, and Satan is defeated.

Do you see how this is all extra nos—outside of us? Would the Israelites have been brazen enough to take any credit for their own salvation because they walked?

It is the same with us and our salvation in Christ.

We must never look to ourselves or inside ourselves at all for anything related to salvation.

Why? Because nothing good dwells in us (Romans 7:18). Christ says that all we will find in ourselves is evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, evil actions, deceit, self-indulgence, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. (Mark‬ ‭7:21-22‬‭CSB‬‬)

We must never look to our own works, accomplishments, or virtues to contribute anything to our salvation. Because all of us have become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like a polluted garment (Isaiah 64:6 CSB).

Even our virtues are rotten, and even our best deeds on our best days are a dirty diaper before God.

And certainly we must never look in our own hearts, intentions, or a decision we made using our free will. Because scripture says: The heart is more deceitful than anything else, and incurable — who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)

It does no good to say: I’m saved because I gave my heart to to Jesus.

For one thing, why should you get a gold star for offering your Lord something as dirty and defiled as your heart?

Meanwhile, our hearts are deceptive creatures. How would you ever know you really meant it when you gave your heart to Christ?

I know it’s terribly uncool to talk this way anymore. So much of popular Christianity now is more or less baptized Up with People.

But the stark reality is, if we do not proclaim a salvation that is extra nos—completely outside of us—we are not proclaiming the Gospel of Christ.

And practically speaking, if we do not despair of finding in ourselves deliverance from our sin and misery, we will not be able to hear the Gospel rightly. We may still be saved—an imperfect faith can still lay hold on a perfect Christ—but we will not enjoy the comfort, joy, and assurance in this life that comes with being able to look completely outside of ourselves for our righteousness, holiness, and wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:30).

We will be striving to muster them up within ourselves—and it will never be enough.

But Romans 3:22-24 gives us the goods by telling us both who is our extra nos salvation; and how we can receive this salvation which is outside of us.

The righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe, since there is no distinction. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

CSB

Christ Jesus is our extra nos salvation.

And the means of receiving Him, and all of His benefits—vindication before God, a mighty refuge in the day of judgment, being clothed in the seamless garment of His righteousness, our sin-stained works made holy before God, and the promise of a future with hope—are by grace, through faith.

Grace is extra nos. It’s from God. But so is faith: it is not your own doing, it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8 ESV). Even your faith is extra nos—it is a gift from God: God has distributed a measure of faith to each one (Romans 12:3 CSB).

Your salvation does not even depend on you being able to muster up enough faith from within yourself to be saved.

God gives faith as a gift, and however much faith He gives you is enough. It’s not the quality or quantity of faith that saves you.

It’s that your faith is in Christ.

Like the English Puritan Thomas Watson used to say: A weak faith can lay hold of a strong Christ.

Your salvation rests upon the finished work of Christ—and so does your faith.

A real Jewish carpenter (who also happened to be God the Son, enfleshed) lived an actual perfect life so you could be built anew in Him.

He was sentenced to death by an historically verified Roman bureaucrat named Pontius Pilate. He was crucified to death on an actual Roman cross, with real splinters, one Friday afternoon.

He really died. And was really buried. And He physically, bodily rose from the grave on the third day. And not only did His disciples see Him and touch Him, He ate with them. Not only that, but 500 others witnessed the resurrected Christ, and most were still alive when the New Testament was being written (1 Corinthians 15:6).

All of that is the basis for our salvation, and it comes from outside ourselves. Christ has also given us physical, tangible signs and seals of our salvation in baptism and the Lord’s Supper. In ordinary water, with ordinary bread and wine.

We do not baptize ourselves, and the Lord’s Supper did not come from us, but from Christ. In baptism, by faith we pass through the Red Sea of His blood poured out for the forgiveness of sins. And from His table, we are fed His body and blood, to nourish us with the promise that we are forgiven.

This is all from outside of us. As St. Paul says: this is not your own doing (Ephesians 2:8 ESV).

So rest in the extra nos salvation God has freely given. It is from the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit.

It’s all from outside of you; but it’s all for you.