Views, Visions and Values.: Saints Set Free, A look at the Believer's Justification & Sanctification, Romans 8 NASB. The In-depth Series

Monday 22 May 2017

Saints Set Free, A look at the Believer's Justification & Sanctification, Romans 8 NASB. The In-depth Series

Romans 8 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Deliverance from Bondage

8 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life [a]in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For what the Law could not do, [b]weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of [c]sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, 7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

9 However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. 10 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is [d]alive because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies [e]through His Spirit who dwells in you.

12 So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— 13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you [f]must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery [g]leading to fear again, but you have received [h]a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, [i]in hope 21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. 23 And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. 24 For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

Our Victory in Christ

26 In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; 27 and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the [j]saints according to the will of God.

28 And we know that [k]God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. 29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; 30 and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? 33 Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; 34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was [l]raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. 35 Who will separate us from the love of [m]Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 Just as it is written,

“For Your sake we are being put to death all day long;

We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Westminister Confession of Faith,

Chapter XI

Of Justification

I. Those whom God effectually calls, He also freely justifies;[1] not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous; not for any thing wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ's sake alone; nor by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them, as their righteousness; but by imputing the obedience and satisfaction of Christ unto them,[2] they receiving and resting on Him and His righteousness by faith; which faith they have not of themselves, it is the gift of God.[3]

II. Faith, thus receiving and resting on Christ and His righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification:[4] yet is it not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces, and is no dead faith, but works by love.[5]

III. Christ, by His obedience and death, did fully discharge the debt of all those that are thus justified, and did make a proper, real and full satisfaction to His Father's justice in their behalf.[6] Yet, in as much as He was given by the Father for them;[7] and His obedience and satisfaction accepted in their stead;[8] and both, freely, not for any thing in them; their justification is only of free grace;[9] that both the exact justice, and rich grace of God might be glorified in the justification of sinners.[10]

IV. God did, from all eternity, decree to justify all the elect,[11] and Christ did, in the fullness of time, die for their sins, and rise again for their justification:[12] nevertheless, they are not justified, until the Holy Spirit does, in due time, actually apply Christ unto them.[13]

V. God does continue to forgive the sins of those that are justified;[14] and although they can never fall from the state of justification,[15] yet they may, by their sins, fall under God's fatherly displeasure, and not have the light of His countenance restored unto them, until they humble themselves, confess their sins, beg pardon, and renew their faith and repentance.[16]

VI. The justification of believers under the Old Testament was, in all these respects, one and the same with the justification of believers under the New Testament.[17]

NIV Application Commentary

Romans 8:28

In this time of expectant suffering, the Spirit’s intercession is one great support. Another is the providence of God. “Providence” is the word we use to describe God’s beneficial rule over all the events of life. The famous promise of 8:28 is one of the great biblical descriptions of providence. Translations, affected by a textual variant, differ considerably. Three questions must be answered. (1) What is the subject of “work”? The Spirit (the subject in vv. 26–27; see reb)? God (the subject of the last clause of v. 27; see niv; nasb)? Or “all things” (nrsv)? The most natural way to read the verse is with “all things” as the subject. In the last analysis, however, the identity of the grammatical subject does not make much difference, for it is only God, through his Spirit, who can cause “all things” to work for our good.

(2) Another question is whether the verb (synergeo) should be translated “works together” (most translations) or simply “works” (niv). The niv is probably correct here. So we would translate, “We know that all things work toward the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose.” In this context, the “good” is especially the final glory to which God has destined us. But it also includes the benefits of being a child of God in this life (see Contemporary Significance section).

(3) Finally, for whom is this promise valid? All believers. Paul defines Christians from a human direction (“those who love [God]”) and from the divine direction (“who have been called according to his purpose”). “Those who love God” is simply a way of describing God’s people (see 1 Cor. 2:9; 8:3; Eph. 6:24); it is not a qualification of the promise, as if Paul means that God only works good if believers love God enough.

NIV Application Commentary

Romans :38-39

Paul concludes his celebration of God’s love for us in Christ with his own personal testimony: “I am persuaded.…” The list following is arranged in four pairs, with “powers” thrown in between the third and fourth pair. We can easily “overinterpret” such a list, insisting on a precision of definitions that misses the point of Paul’s rhetoric. In general, however, “death” and “life” refer to the two basic states of human existence. “Angels” and “demons” (archai, i.e., “rulers,” which Paul uses to denote evil spiritual beings [see Eph. 6:12; Col. 2:15]) summarize the entirety of the spiritual world.

A few interpreters take “present things” and “coming things” (lit. trans.) as spiritual beings too, but evidence is lacking for these as such titles. Probably Paul chooses to summarize all of history, along with the people and events it contains, in a temporal perspective. It is not clear why Paul disrupts his neat parallelism with the word “powers” at this point, but the word refers again to spiritual beings (1 Cor. 15:24; Eph. 1:21).

“Height” and “depth” are the most difficult of the pairs of terms to identify. Since these words were applied to the space above and below the horizon, and since ancient people often invested celestial phenomena with spiritual significance, Paul may be referring to spiritual beings again. Yet Paul uses similar language in Ephesians 3:18 in a simple spatial sense. Thus, perhaps, he chooses yet another way of trying to help us understand that there is nothing in all the world—whether we are dead or alive, whether they are things we now face or things we will face in the future, whether they are above us or below us—that can separate us from the “love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” As the chapter began with “no condemnation” (Rom. 8:1), so it ends with the bookends of “no separation” (8:35, 39).

The Bible Panorama

Romans 8

V 1–8: CONDEMNATION Although every sinner deserves condemnation for his sin, there is ‘therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’. The evidence of being in Christ is a new walk according to the Spirit, which also produces liberty and freedom from the law. This means that spiritual-mindedness replaces a carnal following of ‘the things of the flesh’. Such a carnal mindset reveals enmity with God, whereas a spiritually renewed mind shows reconciliation with and justification by God. Without this mindset we cannot please God.

V 9–11: CHRIST Because Christ lives within the believer, he is possessed by Christ and possesses the ‘Spirit of Christ’, also identified as the ‘Spirit of God’. No person can rightly claim to belong to Christ unless He has the Spirit of Christ. The benefits springing from this relationship are spiritual righteousness through Christ, and sharing His resurrection life. The wonderful and indivisible union in the Trinity is seen here as the Holy Spirit is interchangeably described as the ‘Spirit of God’, the ‘Spirit of Christ’, the ‘Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead’, and ‘His Spirit who dwells in you’.

V 12–17: CO-HEIRS Because of this new relationship, liberty, and indwelling Spirit, we are the Spirit-led children of God and therefore His heirs, and co-heirs with Christ. If we suffer with Him here below, we need to remember that we will be glorified with Him one day!

V 18–25: CREATED Until that final state of affairs in glory, we are not the only ones who groan because of our sufferings, which are light in comparison with the glory to come. The whole creation groans to be delivered from the ‘bondage of corruption’. One day there will be a new heaven and a new earth, as well as completely renewed believers to enjoy them, in worshipping and having fellowship with their justifying God. Believers eagerly and patiently wait for that.

V 26–27: COMFORT In our groanings and problems within, we have the help of God’s Spirit in our weakness, who intercedes for us ‘according to the will of God’.

V 28–30: CALLED Those whom God has called can be absolutely certain that, in God’s sovereign purpose, everything will work together for their good. Their salvation is not an accident. God planned it in eternity, performed it in time, works it out in time, and will eventually perfect it in eternity. Our standing in Christ is absolutely watertight because of who He is and because He has chosen us and planned our way.

V 31–39: CONQUERORS A whole range of problems, trials, disappointments, and suffering will come against the child of God. In all this he is to remember that God ‘did not spare His own Son’ but freely gave Him for us, and freely gives us all other things that we need. With God on our side as our Justifier, our Intercessor, our Lover, and our Keeper, we are more than conquerors ‘through Him who loved us’. Once saved by Christ, nothing at all in the past, present or future, and nothing on this earth or anywhere else is able to ‘separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord’. We conquer because we have the Conqueror living within and working for us.

Dictionary of Bible Themes

6679 justification, results of

Justification brings a changed relationship with God and a future hope. It will also bring a change in behaviour.

The results of justification

Peace with God, access to his presence and the hope of his glory Ro 5:1-2 See also Ro 8:30; Tit 3:7

Assurance of forgiveness Ro 5:9; Eph 1:13-14

Knowing Jesus Christ and participating in his resurrection Php 3:10-11 See also Ro 6:5

Freedom from condemnation Ro 8:31-34 See also Ro 8:1-4; Gal 3:13-14

Freedom from domination by sin Ro 6:14,17-18

Adoption into God’s family See also Ro 8:15-17; Gal 4:6-7

Righteousness in the sight of God Ro 5:17; Php 3:8-9 See also Ro 3:20-22; 1Co 1:30

Justification must lead to good works Jas 2:24 See also Ro 6:15-18; Gal 5:13-16; Jas 2:14-26

Dictionary of Bible Themes

6746 sanctification, means and results of

Sanctification results from the renewing work of the Holy Spirit and leads to the renewal of believers and their being equipped for ministry in the world.

The means of sanctification

The work of the Holy Spirit 1Co 6:11 See also Ro 8:9-11; Ro 15:15-16; 1Co 12:13; 2Co 1:21-22; Eph 1:13-14; 2Th 2:13; Tit 3:4-7; 1Pe 1:1-2

Meditation on the Scriptures 1Pe 2:2-3 See also Dt 11:18; Ps 119:12-18,48; Ps 143:5-6; Jn 17:17; Col 3:16; Jas 1:25

The active pursuit of holiness and righteousness 1Ti 6:11-12 See also 2Co 7:1; Gal 5:24; Eph 4:1; 1Th 5:22; 1Pe 2:9-12; 3Jn 11

Obedience and self-denial Ro 6:19-22; Ro 8:5-14; Gal 2:20; Gal 5:16-24; 1Pe 2:11

Prayer Ps 145:18 See also Mt 7:7-8; Ac 4:31; 1Ti 4:4; Jas 5:16; Jude 20

Confession of sin 1Jn 1:9 See also Ne 1:6-9; Ps 32:5; Ps 40:11-12; Pr 28:13; Isa 64:5-7; Jer 14:20-22; La 3:40

Obstacles to sanctification

A lack of faith Mt 5:13; Jn 15:6; 2Co 12:20-21; 1Ti 1:18-19

Rebellion against God Eze 18:24 See also Dt 32:15-18; Job 34:26; Isa 65:11-12; Gal 1:6-7; Gal 5:7-9; Heb 12:15; Rev 2:4-5

Satanic temptation 1Pe 5:8-9 See also Ac 5:3; 2Co 2:8-11; Jas 4:7

Self-indulgence and greed Lk 12:15 See also Lk 21:34; Ro 13:13; 2Co 12:21; Eph 4:19

Yielding to sinful desires 1Pe 1:14 See also Mk 4:18-19; 1Co 10:6-8; 1Pe 2:11; 2Pe 2:14-18; 1Jn 2:16-17

The results of sanctification

Good works 2Co 9:8 See also Eph 2:10; Col 1:10; Col 3:15-17; 2Th 2:16-17; Heb 10:24-25; Jas 2:14-26

Becoming like Jesus Christ 1Pe 2:21 See also Jn 13:15; Ro 8:28-30; 1Co 11:1; 2Co 3:18; Gal 3:27; 1Jn 3:2-3

Becoming like God Mt 5:48; Eph 5:1-2; Col 1:21-22

Perfection Mt 5:48 See also 2Co 13:11; Col 1:28

Blamelessness in the sight of God 2Pe 3:14 See also Eph 1:4; Col 1:21-22; 1Th 5:23

Being able to see God Heb 12:14

Encyclopedia of The Bible

SANCTIFICATION (קָדﯴשׁ, H7705, ἁγιασμός, G40, santification, moral purity, sanctity; cf. Lat. sanctus facere, “to make holy”). One of the most important concepts in Biblical and historical theology, this term and its cognates appear more than a thousand times in the Scriptures. Sanctification may be defined as the process of acquiring sanctity or holiness as a result of association with deity. Its synonyms are consecration, dedication, holiness, and perfection.

II. In the NT

A. Vocabulary. Perhaps the most important Gr. term for sanctification is hagiasmos, which connotes the state of grace or sanctity not inherent in its subject, but the result of outside action. The term occurs ten times in the NT (Rom 6:19, 20; 1 Cor 1:30; 1 Thess 4:3, 4, 7; 2 Thess 2:13; 1 Tim 2:15; Heb 12:14; 1 Pet 1:2). The act of sanctifying is expressed by the verb hagiazo which occurs some thirty-six times and in several cases means moral purification (John 17:17, 19; Acts 20:32; Eph 5:26; 1 Thess 5:23; 2 Tim 2:21; Heb 13:12; 1 Pet 3:15). The noun hagios, tr. “saint” sixty-one times, was the common NT designation of a believer. It means that such a person is now separated from the world and joined to Christ (1 Cor 1:2; cf. Num 16:3-10; 2 Chron 23:6). In Ephesians hagios is joined with amomos where the church is described as being “holy and blameless” (Eph 1:4; 5:27), the latter term referring to the unblemished sacrificial victim, and twice used of Christ (Heb 9:14; 1 Pet 1:19; cf. Lev 22:21). Thrice hagiosune is used of moral purity which the Gospel requires and imparts (Rom 1:4; 2 Cor 7:1; 1 Thess 3:13).

B. Facets of sanctification. Four clearly definable distinctions in the NT meaning of sanctification emerge.

1. The sanctification of God the Father. When Jesus prayed, He acknowledged the holiness or sanctity of His Father (John 17:11). In the model prayer believers are taught to pray for the hallowing of the Father’s name (Matt 6:9; Luke 11:2; cf. 1 Pet 3:15). Moses’ failure at this point led to his exclusion from the Promised Land (Num 20:12; Deut 3:26).

2. The sanctification of the Son. The Son was “sanctified” by the Father (John 10:36) at the Incarnation, and the Son “sanctified” or dedicated Himself for the sake of His disciples (17:19). In these instances the meaning clearly is “separation”; it designates a relationship rather than inner moral renewal.

3. The sanctification of the believer a. Positionally. Positional sanctification is also properly called status sanctification or cultic sanctification. What was the predominant meaning in the OT is retained, but to a lesser degree in several NT passages. The meaning of separation with reference to gifts to God is clear (Matt 23:19—“the altar that sanctifieth the gift” [KJV]; cf. Rom 15:16 RSV; 1 Tim 4:5) and with reference to believers (1 Cor 1:2—“sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints,” hagioi; cf. Rom 1:7). The Corinthian believers were “sanctified” in the sense of being set apart and yet remained “carnal” or unsanctified spiritually. Sanctification in this sense is attributive or imputational; it designates one’s status, position, or relationship, and not necessarily one’s nature or spiritual condition. It is imputed righteousness or justification.

b. Progressive. Initial or progressive sanctification begins in the believer from the moment of his becoming “in Christ.” Actual sanctification is the most common usage of the term; it designates imparted righteousness. Progressive sanctification occurs when one becomes a “partaker of the divine nature” (2 Pet 1:4), a “new creation in Christ” (2 Cor 5:17), or is “born anew” (John 3:5, 8). It involves not only a changed relationship to God but also a changed nature, a real as well as a relative change. Among the passages which stress this aspect of sanctification are Acts 26:18; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 6:11; and Hebrews 9:14 (cf. Rom 5:1-4; 2 Cor 5:17; James 1:21; 1 Pet 1:3, 22, 23; 2:1). The epistle to the Hebrews, in particular, speaks of initial sanctification in this manner, thus linking the OT and the NT concept and nomenclature (Heb 2:11; 8:10; 9:14; 10:10, 14; 13:12) and making it the equivalent of regeneration.

c. Entirely. Entire sanctification is the most debatable aspect of the subject. All major theological traditions agree with reference to sanctification up to this point. The Reformed traditions, Orthodox, and Catholic do not, however, find in Scripture or in experience provision for full deliverance from sin while “in the flesh.” This may be attributable in part to the influence of oriental dualism imported into Christian theology via Augustine who was influenced by a Manichaean philosophy before he became a Christian.

Those who find in Scripture and in grace provision for complete victory over sin prior to death are many in the Arminian, Pietist, Quaker, and Wesleyan traditions. Caspar Schwenk-feld, a contemporary of Luther, was among the earliest of the reformers to call for a “reformation of the Reformation” and to protest against a tendency to an accommodation of sin in some Catholic and Reformation theology.

Basic to the concept of entire sanctification is one’s concept of sin. If his definition of sin is influenced by hamartia (ἁμαρτία, G281), i.e. any want of full conformity to the will of God, then sanctification can hardly be “entire” or complete. If, however, like Wesley, he stresses sin as anomia (ἀνομία, G490), “lawlessness” (1 John 3:4), i.e. a conscious and deliberate departure from the known will of God, then he may embrace promises which offer entire sanctification as a gift of grace (Rom 6:1-23; 1 Thess 5:23; 1 John 3:3). Such readers gather from Scripture (Matt 5:8; John 17:17; Rom 6:6-19; 2 Cor 7:1; Eph 4:24; 5:26; Phil 2:15; Col 1:22; 1 Thess 3:13; 5:23; and 1 Pet 1:16, among other passages) that the call to salvation is nothing less than a call to full deliverance from indwelling sins of attitude and motive as well as deeds. The position of the Scriptures which can be cited in support of entire sanctification is both negative and positive.

The negative aspect: Paul, after reminding his readers that as “holy ones” (hagioi) they are temples of God (2 Cor 1:2; 6:16), exhorts them: “Beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, and make holiness perfect in the fear of God” (2 Cor 7:1). The negative aspect is seen in the command for cleansing from all “defilement” (molusmos), a pollution that is both religious (disloyalty to God) and ethical (association with iniquity, 2 Cor 6:14) and yet that to which the “saints” are subject.

The positive aspect is seen in the command to “perfect” or bring to completion the quality of holiness (hagiosune) which is now only potential. That this is a present option is apparent from the tense of the verbs and also from the closing words of the letter—“Be perfect” (KJV, καταρτίζεσθε).

C. Crisis or process?The evidence from Scripture, reason, and experience leads to the conclusion that sanctification is both process and crisis. The process begins when one is “risen with Christ” in the new birth. Paul’s emphasis on faith blends well with this emphasis upon a stage in the Christian’s life when he recognizes his inner defilement, deliberately renounces a self-centeredness, and embraces by faith God’s provision in Christ for full deliverance and perfection in love (Col 1:22; 1 Thess 5:23; Eph 3:19; Rom 6:11-14; Gal 2:20).

“This conscious self-consecration to the indwelling Spirit...is uniformly represented as a single act...(2 Cor 7:11)...Such an awakening and real consecration...was rather a thing of definite decision (expressed by the aorist, Rom 13:14; Col 1:9f.; Eph 6:11, 13-16) than of vaguely protracted process (expressed by presents)” (Bartlet, HDB, IV, 393).

The call to sanctification is nowhere sounded more urgently than in Romans, where Paul, after explaining justification and its results (Rom 3:21-5:21), makes it emphatically clear that the Christian is to make no provision for residual sin (6:1-23). In the light of its context the struggle with indwelling sin in Romans 7 is not the description of the normal “saint” but rather the futility of justification by law, apart from Christ (7:24-8:1, 2). The same call to holy living is sounded in several other epistles including Colossians (1:22, 28; 3:1-15), Galatians (5:1, 13) and 1 Thessalonians (3:13; 5:23). In the latter the call is sometimes interpreted as an eschatological event in the future. In several passages (Col 1:23; 1 Thess 5:23; 1 John 3:3) the future is the climax, but there is little if any exegetical ground for concluding that full deliverance from sin must wait until the soul is separated from the body.

D. Actual or potential? Sanctification, defined broadly as the work of God’s grace in man’s perfection in righteousness, begins when he becomes a believer and hence is “in Christ.” It continues progressively until death brings him into Christ’s presence unless he “does despite to the Spirit of grace.” It is only as one by dedication and faith realizes in actuality what is provided in the atonement that this grace is experienced; it does not follow as a matter of course, as the exhortations in the NT imply. Parallel to the work of sanctification is the infilling of the Holy Spirit in the believer, perfection in love, having the “mind of Christ,” and “walking as he walked.”

Encyclopedia of The Bible

JUSTIFICATION (δικαίωσις, G1470, justification; δικαιοῦν, to justify). In Christian theology justification is that act of God by which the sinner, who is responsible for his guilt and is under condemnation but believes in Christ, is pronounced just and righteous, or acquitted, by God the judge (Rom 3:28; 4:25; 5:16, 18; 8:28-34). In the Scriptures God justifies by grace, for Christ’s sake, through faith.

9. Justification by faith. Because of the emphasis given faith in the Bible, Christians speak of justification esp. as justification by faith. The phrase “by faith” is just as vital as the term “justify” in understanding the nature of justification as taught in the Scriptures. Paul, for instance, in stating the theme of the Book of Romans, stresses faith without using the term “justification”: “The righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith” (Rom 1:17). The OT text Paul quotes here (Hab 2:4) also emphasizes the nature and function of faith: “The righteous shall live by his faith.” Faith and justification go hand and hand. Neither is meaningful or even possible without the other. We read in the OT that “Abraham believed the Lord,” but his faith is immediately linked to the words, “he reckoned it to him as righteousness” (Gen 15:6). In another epistle Paul also says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God—not because of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph 2:8, 9).

In justification, what exactly is the significance of the phrase “by faith”? Christians have always been aware of pitfalls at this point. Justifying faith is not faith in one’s works or merit; neither is it faith in a church, faith in an organization, faith in a certain system of theology, or knowing a certain set of facts. While saving faith is an act of the human intellect and will, it is much more than intellectual accepting the fact that God exists, that Christ died on the cross, etc.; saving faith is believing in the Gospel, relying on Christ’s merit, and receiving God’s declared righteousness.

For Paul, “by faith” essentially meant three things: (1) Salvation is without works. Faith and works in justification itself are mutually exclusive. Works never influence God in justifying a person; justification is “by grace.” Works always follow faith. No one can add to the atonement of Christ because Christ has done all (Gal 3:18, 23-29). (2) Faith in justification is the God-given instrument or means by which man accepts Gods’ justification of forgiveness in Christ. “By grace you have been saved through faith (dia pisteos)” (Eph 2:8). “The righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith” (Rom 1:17). Christ is to be “received by faith” (3:25). (3) Faith is always faith in Christ. It appropriates Christ’s work on the cross, which is the basis of justification or forgiveness. If faith justifies it does so only because it receives Christ’s merit. The righteousness of Christ is always intended for those who believe and all who believe receive this righteousness. Faith is essentially trust or confidence of the individual Christian, that full forgiveness is bestowed for Christ’s sake and that he is now a child of God possessing the Holy Spirit for a new life. Faith believes the Gospel. Faith is always personal; each person believes for himself. He himself relies on the promises of the Gospel. Thus faith is in no sense a moral achievement or ethical principle originating in man. If people call faith a good work, they do not mean that it merits favor or adds to Christ’s work or influences God in justifying a sinner, but that it receives Christ. Man believes, but faith is really God’s work in man, for “no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost” (1 Cor 12:3 KJV). This is what the Reformation leaders meant when they stressed sola fide, by faith alone, and sola gratia, by grace alone. If justification is without works, and if God justifies sinners before they come to faith (as He did Abraham before he was circumcised), then faith’s role in justification is to receive the forgiveness offered in the Gospel as one’s own. The Bible never says man is justified on account of faith or because of faith but by or through faith. To speak in terms of the courtroom, as Paul does, when a guilty man is acquitted by faith all he can do is take the judge’s word for it, and walk out of the court room a free man, exceedingly grateful and humble.

The reality of this teaching staggers the human mind. Men have balked at the doctrine that God declares guilty men innocent, that He pronounces unrighteous sinners “not guilty as charged.” Men protest when they hear the teaching that God declares men to be what they are not and does so in strictest justice. They say, “In secular courts every effort is made to pronounce guilty men guilty and innocent men innocent. Every man must be responsible for his own sin. How can God do otherwise?” They label justification by faith as “a shocking doctrine,” “unjust,” “unworthy of God,” “unethical and immoral,” and “a license to sin.” Justification by faith is not reasonable, but theological. This is what it means to be justified by faith. It takes faith, which is the gift of God, to receive God’s forgiveness in this matter. Human protests and criticisms only document the fact that it is justification by faith.

Justification by faith is always total and complete. There are no degrees of justification as in sanctification. When God justifies, a man is forgiven completely, and that not in a long drawn-out process but in an instant. Also, all people are justified in the same way. Justification by faith is not regeneration, if this term is used to describe the entire life of a Christian; nor is it some psychosomatic or physical act which magically transforms an evil person into a righteous person. Justification by faith is complete and once-for-all; it involves nothing of injustice, since it is God who justifies man (Rom 3:26). If the judge himself has paid the debt, he has a perfect right to free the guilty person (8:31-34). This free forgiveness he gives in the Gospel and the sacraments by faith. These means of grace are God’s dynamic power to convey, present, and seal to us His forgiveness through faith (Gal 3:27; 1 Cor 6:11). The Lutheran Augsburg Confession presents this concise definition of what it means to be justified by faith: “also they teach that men be justified before God by their own strength, merit, or works, but are freely justified for Christ’s sake, through faith, when they believe that they are received into favor, and that their sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake, who, by his death, has made satisfaction for our sins. This faith God imputes for righteousness in His sight” (Rom 3; 4). In summary, then, justification by faith should include these seven items:

Outline

10. Justification by faith as central doctrine of Christianity. Justification by faith has been called the apex of all Christian teaching, the central and cardinal truth of Christianity. Paul declares: “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor 2:2). It is not only the central teaching of Paul, but also of Jesus and the apostles and of the prophets of the OT. In both the OT and NT, it is the heart of all of Gods’ mighty salvation acts. It is like the hub of a wheel from which extend all other doctrines of Scripture. Properly understood, all doctrines of the Scriptures serve the doctrine of justification by faith. It involves all the fundamental teachings of the law and Gospel and relates all truths of the Scriptures in one harmonious whole. If Christ is not God, how could He rise again? If He is not man, how could He die for man? If Christ were not man’s substitute, how could God justify a sinner, for then God could justify only the righteous man. If one denies that man is sinful, why bother with the Gospel or forgiveness? If one asks, what is the Church?, the answer must be “all those who believe in Christ for forgiveness and reconciliation.” This is why Dr. Martin Luther and the other reformers of the 16th cent. called the doctrine of justification “the doctrine of the standing or the falling of the church.” “This article is the head and cornerstone of the Church, which alone begets, nourishes, builds, preserves, and protects the church; without it the church of God cannot subsist one hour. Neither can anyone teach correctly in the church or successfully resist any adversary if he does not maintain this article” (Luther’s Works 14, 168).