Romans 5 New Living Translation (NLT)
Faith Brings Joy
5
Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have
peace[a] with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. 2
Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved
privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to
sharing God’s glory.
3
We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that
they help us develop endurance. 4 And endurance develops strength of character,
and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. 5 And this hope will
not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has
given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.
6
When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for
us sinners. 7 Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright
person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is
especially good. 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to
die for us while we were still sinners. 9 And since we have been made right in
God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s
condemnation. 10 For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of
his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the
life of his Son. 11 So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship
with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.
Calvary Covers it all, Hillsongs
Calvary Covers it all, Hillsongs
Adam and Christ
Contrasted
12
When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death
spread to everyone, for everyone sinned. 13 Yes, people sinned even before the
law was given. But it was not counted as sin because there was not yet any law
to break. 14 Still, everyone died—from the time of Adam to the time of
Moses—even those who did not disobey an explicit commandment of God, as Adam
did. Now Adam is a symbol, a representation of Christ, who was yet to come. 15
But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For
the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s
wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man,
Jesus Christ. 16 And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from
the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s
free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of
many sins. 17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over
many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness,
for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one
man, Jesus Christ.
18
Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of
righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone.
19 Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other
person obeyed God, many will be made righteous.
20
God’s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as
people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant. 21 So
just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s
wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting
in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Reformation Study Bible
5:1–11
The implications of justification by grace through faith are now drawn out. The
transition from wrath (1:18) to grace (3:21) transforms both the status and the
experience of the believer. Instead of estrangement (3:10–17) there is now
peace (5:1); in place of falling short of God’s glory through sin (3:23), there
is the hope of glory (5:2); instead of suffering as judgment (2:5, 6), there is
joy in tribulation because of what God produces through it (5:3); instead of
fearful uncertainty, there is assurance of God’s love (vv. 6–8) and joy in Him
(v. 11).
5:12–21
Paul’s “Therefore” (v. 12) indicates that what follows is connected in Paul’s
mind with what has preceded, so that the comparison and contrast he draws
between Adam and Christ is his theological elaboration on what has already been
said. Paul’s stress on the “one man” throughout the passage (vv. 12, 15–17, 19)
indicates that he viewed both Adam and Christ as historical individuals. In the
case of Adam, the focus of attention is on his “one trespass” (vv. 16, 18, and
text note) by which all “were made sinners” (v. 19). They had solidarity with
Adam as their representative before God, and this constituted them sinners when
Adam sinned.
NIV Application
Commentary
We Hope Because God
Loves Us in Christ (5:5–8)
Our
claim that Christ will rescue us from God’s wrath will some day be vindicated.
God will do what he promised.
How
can we be sure? In Romans 5:5b–10, Paul gives two basic reasons: God’s love for
us in Christ (vv. 5b–8) and God’s work for us in Christ (vv. 9–10). God does
not mete out his love for us in tiny measures; he “has poured” (ekcheo) it into
our hearts. This verb is used to describe the “pouring out” of the Spirit on
the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:17–18). Paul therefore cleverly alludes to the
Spirit here. It is the Spirit, dwelling in the heart of believers, who
communicates God’s love to us (cf. Rom. 5:5). Paul says much more about this
ministry of the Holy Spirit and about God’s love for us in chapter 8.
Alongside
this subjective evidence of God’s love, we also have objective proof of that
love in the cross of Christ. At the time God determined, at just the right
point in salvation history, “Christ died for the ungodly” (v. 6; cf. also, for
this sense of time, 3:26; 8:18; 13:11). Sending his Son to die for people who
refused to worship him (the basic connotation of “ungodly”) reveals the
magnitude of God’s love for us.
To
make sure we do not miss this point, Paul reinforces it in verse 7 with an
analogy: “Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good
man someone might possibly dare to die.” Though the issue is disputed, a
difference between “a good man” and “a righteous man” seems to be the key to
the interpretation. A “righteous” person is one we might respect, but a “good”
person is one we might love. Rarely will a person give his or her life for
someone they merely respect; but occasionally a person dies for the sake of
someone they love—a soldier for his buddies, a parent for her children. The
awesome quality of God’s love for us is seen in that Christ died for us while
we were “still sinners”—hating God, in rebellion against him (v. 8).
Matthew Henry's
Commentary
Verses 1-5
The
precious benefits and privileges which flow from justification are such as
should quicken us all to give diligence to make it sure to ourselves that we
are justified, and then to take the comfort it renders to us, and to do the
duty it calls for from us. The fruits of this tree of life are exceedingly
precious.
I.
We have peace with God, Rom. 5:1. It is sin that breeds the quarrel between us
and God, creates not only a strangeness, but an enmity; the holy righteous God
cannot in honour be at peace with a sinner while he continues under the guilt
of sin. Justification takes away the guilt, and so makes way for peace. And
such are the benignity and good-will of God to man that, immediately upon the
removing of that obstacle, the peace is made. By faith we lay hold of God’s arm
and of his strength, and so are at peace, Isa. 27:4, 5. There is more in this
peace than barely a cessation of enmity, there is friendship and
loving-kindness, for God is either the worst enemy or the best friend. Abraham,
being justified by faith, was called the friend of God (Jas. 2:23), which was
his honour, but not his peculiar honour: Christ has called his disciples
friends, John 15:13-15. And surely a man needs no more to make him happy than
to have God his friend! But this is through our Lord Jesus Christ—through him
as the great peace-maker, the Mediator between God and man, that blessed
Day’s-man that has laid his hand upon us both. Adam, in innocency, had peace
with God immediately; there needed no such mediator. But to guilty sinful man
it is a very dreadful thing to think of God out of Christ; for he is our peace,
Eph. 2:14; not only the maker, but the matter and maintainer, of our peace,
Col. 1:20.
II.
We have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, Rom. 5:2. This is a
further privilege, not only peace, but grace, that is, this favour. Observe, 1.
The saints’ happy state. It is a state of grace, God’s loving-kindness to us
and our conformity to God; he that hath God’s love and God’s likeness is in a
state of grace. Now into this grace we have access prosagogen—an introduction,
which implies that we were not born in this state; we are by nature children of
wrath, and the carnal mind is enmity against God; but we are brought into it.
We could not have got into it of ourselves, nor have conquered the difficulties
in the way, but we have a manuduction, a leading by the hand,—are led into it
as blind, or lame, or weak people are led,—are introduced as pardoned
offenders,—are introduced by some favourite at court to kiss the king’s hand,
as strangers, that are to have audience, are conducted. Prosagogen
eschekamen—We have had access. He speaks of those that have been already
brought out of a state of nature into a state of grace. Paul, in his
conversion, had this access; then he was made nigh. Barnabas introduced him to
the apostles (Acts 9:27), and there were others that led him by the hand to
Damascus (Rom. 5:8), but it was Christ that introduced and led him by the hand
into this grace. By whom we have access by faith. By Christ as the author and
principal agent, by faith as the means of this access. Not by Christ in consideration
of any merit or desert of ours, but in consideration of our believing
dependence upon him and resignation of ourselves to him. 2. Their happy
standing in this state: wherein we stand. Not only wherein we are, but wherein
we stand, a posture that denotes our discharge from guilt; we stand in the
judgment (Ps. 1:5), not cast, as convicted criminals, but our dignity and
honour secured, not thrown to the ground, as abjects. The phrase denotes also
our progress; while we stand, we are going. We must not lie down, as if we had
already attained, but stand as those that are pressing forward, stand as
servants attending on Christ our master. The phrase denotes, further, our
perseverance: we stand firmly and safely, upheld by the power of God; stand as soldiers
stand, that keep their ground, not borne down by the power of the enemy. It
denotes not only our admission to, but our confirmation in, the favour of God.
It is not in the court of heaven as in earthly courts, where high places are
slippery places: but we stand in a humble confidence of this very thing that he
who has begun the good work will perform it, Phil. 1:6.
III.
We rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Besides the happiness in hand, there is
a happiness in hope, the glory of God, the glory which God will put upon the
saints in heaven, glory which will consist in the vision and fruition of God.
1. Those, and those only, that have access by faith into the grace of God now
may hope for the glory of God hereafter. There is no good hope of glory but
what is founded in grace; grace is glory begun, the earnest and assurance of
glory. He will give grace and glory, Ps. 84:11. 2. Those who hope for the glory
of God hereafter have enough to rejoice in now. It is the duty of those that
hope for heaven to rejoice in that hope.
The Bible Panorama
Romans 5
V 1–5: RESULTS The immediate results
of being justified by faith are peace with God through Christ, access by faith
into His grace, and rejoicing in the hope of God’s glory. But even tribulations
bring their character-shaping blessings for those who are justified. This is
especially so because of God’s pouring His love into our hearts through the
Holy Spirit.
V 6–8: REMARKABLE! The demonstration of God’s own love for us, in
dying for us ‘while we were still sinners’, is remarkable. Very occasionally
someone will give his life for a good man, but Christ gave His life for us
while we were hopeless and weak rebel sinners.
V 9–11: RECONCILED There is a double
reconciliation to God. Because of our justification through His blood we shall
be saved from wrath through Him: His death has reconciled us. But now, having
been justified through that blood, we find that we are reconciled through His
saving life in that, each day, we seek to live reconciled lives through His
strength, presence and power. This causes us to rejoice because we have
received this reconciliation.
V 12–17: REIGN Death reigned over
humanity since man’s fall in sin. But now the gift of righteousness reigns
through God’s abundance of grace to those who are justified through Christ and
freed from the condemnation deserved. Thus the sin that spread and led to death
need no longer reign in the life of those who are justified and who have
received His righteousness.
V 18–21: RIGHTEOUSNESS The law shows sin
abounding, but God’s grace has abounded much more producing eternal life
through Christ our Lord. Through one man, Adam, sin and judgement came upon
all. Through another Man, Jesus Christ, and His righteous act in dying on the
cross for us, many are ‘made righteous’, which is what justification means.
Dictionary of Bible
Themes
6678 justification, and
Jesus Christ’s work
On
account of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the demands of the law
of God are met, and believers are granted the status of being righteous in the
sight of God.
Justification
is grounded in the death of Jesus Christ
Jesus
Christ’s death shields believers from God’s wrath Ro 5:9 See also Ro 3:24; Ro
4:25; Ro 5:18; 1Pe 2:24
Jesus
Christ’s death fulfils the demands of the law of God Ro 8:3-4 See also Ro
3:25-26; Gal 3:13; 1Jn 2:2
Justification
is grounded in the resurrection of Jesus Christ
Ro
4:25; Ro 10:9-10 See also Ac 2:22-39; Ac 4:10-12; Ac 17:30-31; 1Pe 3:18-21
Justification
means believers are reckoned as righteous through the death of Jesus Christ
Ro
5:19; 1Co 1:30; 2Co 5:21 See also 1Co 6:9-11; Php 3:8-9 The term “imputation”
is used to refer to the process by which God treats believers as being
righteous in his sight on account of Jesus Christ’s death.
Justification
is received by faith
Ro
1:17 pp Gal 3:11 See also Hab 2:4; Ro 5:1; Eph 2:8
The
example of Abraham Ge 15:6 See also Ro 4:1-5,9-22; Gal 3:6-9,16-18
The
example of David Ro 4:6-8; Ps 32:1-2
Apostolic
teaching on the need of faith for justification Ac 13:39 See also Ro
3:22,25,27-30; Ro 4:5; Ro 5:1; Ro 9:30-32; Ro 10:10; 1Co 6:11; Gal 2:16; Gal
3:8,14; Eph 2:8
Justification
is a gift of God’s grace
Ro
3:24 See also Ro 5:15-17; Ro 8:33; Tit 3:7
Not
by works or the law Gal 3:11 See also Ro 3:20; Ro 4:5; Gal 2:16,21; Gal
3:2-5,24; Gal 5:4-6; Eph 2:8-9
Dictionary of Bible
Themes
6674 imputation
The
crediting by God to believers with righteousness on account of Jesus Christ.
Paul argues that Abraham did nothing which earned him the status of being
righteous in the sight of God. Rather, Abraham believed the promise of God, and
for that reason was granted the status of being righteous before God. Likewise,
all who trust in Jesus Christ have righteousness imputed to them—that is,
reckoned as if it was theirs. Imputation should not be confused with impartation.
Believers are not made right ethically (impartation), but put right
relationally (imputation). What God changes is not the character of believers
but their legal standing before him. From this new position, believers are
called to co-operate with the Holy Spirit in sanctification so that their
character increasingly reflects their new standing.
Righteousness
imputed through faith not works
The
example of Abraham Ro 4:1-3 See also Ge 15:1-6; Ro 4:9-22; Gal 3:6-9
The
testimony of David Ro 4:6-8 See also Ps 32:1-2
The
principle holds true for everyone Ro 4:4-5,23-24 See also 1Co 1:30; 2Co 5:19;
Gal 3:7-9; Php 3:9
Believers’sins
are imputed to Jesus Christ
2Co
5:21
Imputed
righteousness expresses itself in good works
Jas
2:20-24 James does not contradict, but complements Paul’s teaching by showing
that the person who has been credited with righteousness will always express
this in works.
Dictionary of Bible
Themes
8157 righteousness, as
faith
Full
faith and trust make a person pleasing in the sight of God.
Human
righteousness compared with God’s righteousness
Human
beings cannot by themselves achieve righteousness in the sight of God Ecc 7:20;
Isa 64:6; Mt 5:20 See also Pr 21:2; Da 9:18; Mt 23:28; Lk 16:15; Lk 18:9; Ro
3:10,20; Php 3:6-7
True
righteousness is the result of the action of God
Ro
8:3-4; Eph 4:24; 1Jn 2:29 See also Ro 6:13,16-20; Ro 8:10; Ro 14:17; Gal 5:5;
Eph 5:9; Php 1:11; Heb 12:11; Jas 3:18; 1Pe 2:24; 1Jn 3:10
Faith
pleases God
Ge
15:6; Heb 11:6 See also 1Sa 26:23; Ps 32:10; Ps 40:4; Ps 84:12; Ps 106:30-31;
Jer 17:7; Hab 2:4; Heb 10:38; Heb 11:4,7
Righteousness
and faith in Jesus Christ
It
is God-given and not the result of human effort Ro 1:17; Php 3:8-9 Paul is
contrasting this righteousness with his own previous efforts. See also Ac
13:39; Ro 3:21,27-28 It is apparent that faith is not regarded as another kind
of “work” which earns salvation; Ro 4:1-8; Ro 5:17; Ro 9:30-31; Gal 3:11-12
Faith
is centred on Jesus Christ and what he has accomplished Ro 5:1-2 “justified”
means “declared righteous” in a legal sense. See also Ro 3:21-26; Ro 4:18-25;
Ro 10:6-10; Gal 3:6-9
Saving
faith is not mere belief, but acting on the basis of that belief Jas 2:21-24
Easton's
Bible Dictionary
Justification
a
forensic term, opposed to condemnation. As regards its nature, it is the
judicial act of God, by which he pardons all the sins of those who believe in
Christ, and accounts, accepts, and treats them as righteous in the eye of the
law, i.e., as conformed to all its demands. In addition to the pardon (q.v.) of
sin, justification declares that all the claims of the law are satisfied in
respect of the justified. It is the act of a judge and not of a sovereign. The
law is not relaxed or set aside, but is declared to be fulfilled in the
strictest sense; and so the person justified is declared to be entitled to all
the advantages and rewards arising from perfect obedience to the law (Rom.
5:1-10).
It
proceeds on the imputing or crediting to the believer by God himself of the
perfect righteousness, active and passive, of his Representative and Surety,
Jesus Christ (Rom. 10:3-9). Justification is not the forgiveness of a man without
righteousness, but a declaration that he possesses a righteousness which
perfectly and for ever satisfies the law, namely, Christ's righteousness (2
Cor. 5:21; Rom. 4:6-8).
The
sole condition on which this righteousness is imputed or credited to the
believer is faith in or on the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is called a
"condition," not because it possesses any merit, but only because it
is the instrument, the only instrument by which the soul appropriates or
apprehends Christ and his righteousness (Rom. 1:17; 3:25, 26; 4:20, 22; Phil.
3:8-11; Gal. 2:16).
The
act of faith which thus secures our justification secures also at the same time
our sanctification (q.v.); and thus the doctrine of justification by faith does
not lead to licentiousness (Rom. 6:2-7). Good works, while not the ground, are
the certain consequence of justification (6:14; 7:6). (See GALATIANS, EPISTLE
TO.)
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.
2.
Justification according to the Apostle Paul. When the Apostle Paul preached the
doctrine of justification in the ancient Rom. world it would seem that the term
was readily understood by both Jew and Greek (Rom 1:14). The apostle does not
take great pains to define the term, although the word usually may be
understood from the context in which it is used. To the Corinthians he simply
wrote, “But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor 6:11) and
let it go at that. Even in the Epistle to the Romans, the longest and most
detailed presentation of justification in the Bible, the apostle does not pause
to explain these terms but assumes that his readers understand them. Although
in his inspired written record of God’s revelation of salvation to sinful man,
the apostle uses other picture words to describe God’s action (apolytrosis),
“redemption” (Rom 3:24) and katallage, “reconciliation” (5:11), his favorite
term, esp. in his Epistle to the Romans, is (dikaiosis) “justification” (4:25,
5:16) and words closely related such as (dikaios) “just” or “righteous”
(dikaiosyne), “righteousness” (dikaiō), “to justify”
(dikaioma), “judgment” or “decree”
(dikaiōs), “righteously.”
Whether Paul speaks of “justification by faith”
and/or of the negative opposite impossibility, justification by works, the
meaning of the word “justify” by itself is basically declarative or forensic
(the word “forensic” always is used in connection with law, courtroom
procedure, judgment, or public discussion and deba te). A man justified by works
would be pronounced righteous because he did the works and a judge says so; God
pronounces sinners righteous because of Christ’s work for him. In both cases
the act of judging or justifying is forensic. A study of Paul’s Epistle to the
Romans reveals that the idea of judgment or rendering a decision is the
leitmotif of his entire presentation on justification. When he says that “God
gave them up” (1:24-28) in speaking of the sins of natural man, this act
involved a judgment on the part of God. The section in his treatise (2:6-11)
esp. exemplifies this meaning of justification. Since God’s justice is
righteous and perfect, He will pronounce judgment upon every man according to
his works. Paul says a judgment, a “justification,” will be rendered for all men,
eternal life to those who have done well, wrath and damnation to those who have
disobeyed. The verdict will be as it should be, for there is no partiality with
God. The forensic situation is the same as that of which Moses writes: “If
there is a dispute between men, and they come into court, and the judges decide
between them, acquitting (LXX: δικαιόω, G1467) the innocent and condemning the guilty,
then if the guilty man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall cause him to lie
down and be beaten in his presence with a number of stripes in proportion to
his offense” (Deut 25:1, 2). The apostle states that the “doers of the law will
be justified” (Rom 2:13). Using the term in a context of law and judgment, the
apostle does not say the doers of law become righteous, or make themselves
righteous, but that they are pronounced or judged righteous before God. Paul is
not teaching salvation or justification by works but maintains the basic
meaning of the term “justify.” No man can fulfill the law of God perfectly and
cannot receive a judgment or justification by work s. Nevertheless, even if he
could fulfill its demands, man would not thereby make himself righteous, but
would have to be pronounced righteous or innocent by the judge. In the phrase
“justified by faith” (Rom 3:28), the term means to judge a sinner not guilty,
that is, to acquit a guilty man rather than an innocent man. Justification is a
reversal of God’s attitude toward the sinner because of his justification by
faith in Christ. The sinner is declared free from guilt and the punishment of
sin (cf. 2 Cor 5:19-21; Acts 13:38, 39). This is Paul’s unique use of the term
justification, God’s acquittal of the sinner. A just man is not pronounced just
because he is just, but a sinful man is pronounced just because his sins have
been atoned for by the righteousness of Christ. In another illustration on this
point, in Romans 2:26, Paul says that a man’s uncircumcision is regarded or
counted as circumcision. In other words, one thing is simply counted for another,
or a person is regarded as something he really is not. This is the basic,
Scriptural concept of the idea of “to justify” or “justification.”
Accordingly,
the old Lutheran theologian, Martin Chemnitz (Loc. II 250), writes of Paul’s
teaching on justification; “Paul everywhere describes justification as a
judicial process, because the conscience of the sinner accused by the divine
Law before the tribunal of God, convicted and lying under the sentence of
eternal condemnation, but fleeing to the throne of grace, is restored,
acquitted, delivered from the sentence of condemnation, is received into
eternal life, on account of obedience and intercession of the Son of God, the
Mediator, which is apprehended and applied by faith.” According to this,
justification signifies “to be pronounced righteous,” or “to be acquitted.”
8.
Justification as imputation of righteousness. Justification as forgiveness of
sin involves God’s act of imputation. Imputation is both negative and positive:
in justification there is non-imputation of sin, and on the other hand,
imputation of Christ’s righteousness. The merits of Christ are imputed to the
sinner. He is given a righteousness alien to himself, namely, Christ’s
righteousness just as his sins are not imputed or counted to him (2 Cor 5:19).
Through faith the sinner receives the righteousness which Christ worked on the
cross (Rom 3:25, 26). The Lutheran Confessions, for example, teach imputation
very clearly: “The second matter in a mediator is, that Christ’s merits have
been presented as those which make satisfaction for others, which are bestowed
by divine imputation on others, in order that through these, just as by their
own merits, they may be accounted righteous. As when my friend pays a debt for
a friend, the debtor is freed by the merit of another, as though it were by his
own. Thus the merits of Christ are bestowed upon us.” (The Apology of the
Augsburg Confession, Article XXI, p. 347.)
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).
(7)
Justification is reconciliation of the sinner to God. Justification by faith
restores the sinner to personal relationship with God as Father. Mere acquittal
or remission of sin would be tantamount to discharging a criminal from the
court room in alienation. Justification implies that God looks upon a sinner as
if he had not sinned since he is again His child (Luke 15:1ff.; Gal 3:6; 2 Cor
5:19, 20). (8) Justification is imputation of God’s righteousness. Since the
sinner has no righteousness of his own by which to be justified in God’s
spiritual court, the salvation which Christ wrought through His life and works
is imputed to the Christian as his own righteousness (Rom 3:25, 26; 2 Cor 5:19,
20). (9) Justification excludes salvation by works. Scripture not only teaches
that man is justified without works, but also denounces any introduction of
works into God’s justification (Rom 10:2, 3; Gal 3:10-14; 5:4). (10)
Justification presupposes God’s universal grace. By grace God justified man and
not because of the influence of man on God (Eph 1:1-4). God loves and therefore
justifies all men alike (John 3:16). (11) Justification is by faith. The fact
that justification is “by faith alone” does not exclude God’s grace, Christ’s
work, or the means of grace (Word and Sacrament). Being justified by grace, for
Christ’s sake, through the Gospel, is being justified by faith alone to the
exclusion of works. Faith alone is the instrument of receiving justification so
that works are excluded (Rom 3:28; Eph 2:8-10). (12) Justification is bestowed
through the means of grace. Although God justifies man, He offers His
justification through the Word of the Gospel and the sacraments. Justification
is pronounced in the Word of the Gospel (Rom 10:5-12). (13) Justification is
followed by good works and a life of faith. Although the presence of good works
is not the condition to receive justification, justification through the Gospel
by faith offers the power of the Holy Spirit in men’s lives so that they lead a
life of good works (James 2:14, 15; Rom 6:1-6). (14) Justification is central
to all Christian teaching. The teachings of God; the person and work of Christ,
sin, anthropology, Word and Sacrament, law and Gospel, are all involved in the
doctrine of justification. In this broad sense, “justification by faith” is
theological shorthand for the various terms and concepts of Scripture to
describe the entire action of God for man’s salvation.
2 Corinthians 5:17-21English Standard Version Anglicised (ESVUK)
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.[a] The old
has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through
Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19
that is, in Christ God was reconciling[b] the world to himself, not counting
their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of
reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his
appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might
become the righteousness of God.
Philippians 3:7-11New American Standard Bible (NASB)
7 But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as
loss for the sake of Christ. 8 More than that, I count all things to be loss
[a]in view of the surpassing value of [b]knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, [c]for
whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that
I may gain Christ, 9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my
own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the
righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, 10 that I may know
Him and the power of His resurrection and [d]the fellowship of His sufferings,
being conformed to His death; 11 [e]in order that I may attain to the
resurrection from the dead.
Galatians 2:16-21English Standard Version Anglicised (ESVUK)
16 yet we know that a person is not justified[a] by works of the law but
through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in
order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because
by works of the law no one will be justified.
17 But if, in our
endeavour to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ
then a servant of sin? Certainly not! 18 For if I rebuild what I tore down, I
prove myself to be a transgressor. 19 For through the law I died to the law, so
that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer
I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I
live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do
not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness[b] were through the law,
then Christ died for no purpose
The
Atonement. The In-depth Series
Justification
by Faith, Our Righteousness is found in Christ, a look at Imputed
Righteousness, Romans 4 ESV (UK), The In-depth Series
Set
Free from Sin and it's power, Redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb, Romans 6 ESV
(UK) , Some thoughts on Atonement and Justification, The In-depth Series
Jesus
paid it all , all to Him I owe The Believer's Justification & Propitiation,
Romans 3 NASB, The In-depth Series
He
is Risen, Christ is Risen, The Believer's Salvation, 1 Corinthians 15 NASB. The
In-depth Series
Read
more of the In-depth Series
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