Why Just by Faith?

Just a short meditation on why God designed our justification, our being declared righteous, to be accomplished by means of faith alone.
1. So that all boasting would be eliminated.
Romans 3:27-28 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
God, in His infinite wisdom, designed such a salvation that there would be no grounds for pride in those whom He saves. He desired for those whom He would save to be a humble, meek people. He desired that we would be trophies that display the glory of His grace (Eph 1:6). He desired that our only boast would be "in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." (Gal 6:14) Oh that I could get this deep in my heart and never boast in anything I've done!

2. So that it would be by grace.
Romans 4:16 That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all
God chose faith because it was the perfect complement to grace. Salvation from the hand of God is an unfathomable gift that we have not merited in any way. We have only merited condemnation. In God's perfect plan, the one thing that could perfectly connect us to God's undeserved favor was faith. Faith connects us to grace in such a way as to eliminate boasting from us and to make the promise "guaranteed" to those who have faith like Abraham.

3. So that God would glory for doing what only God can do.
Romans 4:18-22 In hope he (Abraham) believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness."
When we believe God to do things that are absolutely impossible to do unless God Himself does it, then God gets glory. When things are not possible for man to accomplish, and they are contrary to the laws of nature, and yet we will believe God to do such things because we see that He is powerful and trustworthy, then God gets glory. When we believe God is able to justify us through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son Jesus, to pardon all our sins and declare us righteous through His Son Jesus, when we believe God can take our dead bodies and raise them up again on the last day, and we believe that when He does that He can cause them to be glorified bodies that are free from sin and death and able to dwell in His awesome presence; then we are believing Him for things that are absolutely impossible by any law of nature and any strength of man. Therefore, when we believe this way, God is glorified in our faith.