Justified
At the heart of the book of
Romans is the idea that we are
justified by faith (Romans 5:1).
Most Christians know that it is
this idea that sparked the
reformation in the heart of
Martin Luther but few seem to
understand what it means to be
justified and even less seem to
appreciate the implications of
being justified.
Closely related to “justified”
is the term “righteousness”. In
fact, many translations make no
distinction between these two
words since they come from the
same Greek root. What then does
it mean to be “justified” or to
be “righteous”? To be righteous
is easy to understand. It simply
means “being right”. So if I am
righteous, then I am right. But
right in what respect and what
is the standard for being right?
The standard is God’s
righteousness. Romans 1:17 and
3:21 speaks of “the
righteousness of God”. How
right is God? Well He is one
hundred percent right. He is
right all the time and in
everything. God’s motives, His
thoughts, His deeds, His words
and even what God does not do is
always right. God never does, or
has done, or will do, anything
wrong. God is perfectly right
and He is perfectly righteous.
Some people may be righteous by
their own standards, but that
does not mean they are righteous
by God’s standards. A gang
member may be seen by his
friends as being righteous
because he always does the right
thing for and to them. But he is
not righteous in the eyes of the
law of the state or in the eyes
of society in general. A
businessman may be regarded as
righteous by everyone as he
always does the right thing,
pays his taxes, obeys the laws
and helps the poor. But he still
does not measure up to God’s
standard of rightness.
When Paul wrote the book of
Romans, many Jews felt they
could be righteous by keeping
the Law of Moses. Paul himself
said “touching the
righteousness which is in the
law, (I was) blameless”
(Philippians 3:6). Yet, once he
was confronted with God’s
righteousness he had to declare
“Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners; of whom I
am chief” (1Timothy 1:15).
In Romans 3:10 Paul says: “There
is none righteous, no, not one”.
The problem is that
righteousness is not a minor
issue. Without it we cannot be
saved: “the unrighteous will
not inherit the kingdom of God” (1Corinthians 6:9). So if none
are righteous and if without
righteousness we will not
inherit the Kingdom, then no one
can be saved! And that’s exactly
the problem.
What does it mean to be
justified? You don’t have to be
a scholar to recognize that to
justify has something to do with
legal matters since we use the
words “justice” and “judge” in
the context of legal systems.
When someone gives a good excuse
or reason for some sin or
mistake, we say that they
justified themselves. In other
words, they made themselves
right or righteous. We say that
the end justifies the means,
meaning that as long as the goal
is good, even if we use the
wrong method to achieve that
goal, the wrong method is made
right or justified. (This is of
course not true since God
requires the right goal achieved
by the right means.)
So here’s the problem. We need
to be righteous to make it into
the Kingdom, but we are not so
how can we become right? Paul
proves clearly that it is
impossible to become righteous
by keeping the Law of Moses (or
any other law, for that matter)
“Therefore by the deeds of
the law no flesh will be
justified in His sight”
(Romans 3:20).
We can become righteous only if
God will justify us. In other
words, only if God can and will
make us righteous can we become
so. There is no other way. But
even in this, there is a problem
because if God declares me
righteous when clearly I am not,
then God Himself becomes
unrighteous! Neither can God
simply forgive my
unrighteousness and give me a
pardon because if He does that,
He breaks His own law which
declares that the guilty must
die (Ezekiel 18:4).
The only solution was for Jesus
to die in my place and to take
my sin on Himself. 2Corinthians
5:21 declares that “He made
Him who knew no sin to be sin
for us, that we might become the
righteousness of God in Him”.
Since Jesus took my
unrighteousness and paid the
penalty for my sin, God is able
to give me the righteousness of
Jesus! That is truly amazing
grace that did such a wonderful
thing. But that still does not
mean that everybody is
automatically righteous. There
is still one more step. The
Judge has to declare me
righteous or justified. What
decides if He will give me that
righteousness or not? Faith!
That’s the key that connects me
to God’s gift of righteousness.
Over and over Paul (especially
in Romans and Galatians) uses
the phrase “justified by faith”.
But many misunderstand how this
works. Some people think that it
is faith that justifies them so
that faith equals righteousness.
No! Faith by itself cannot do
anything. It is God who has to
do it all. In a sense we are not
justified by faith, but rather,
we are justified by the work of
redemption on the cross. But it
is faith that flips the switch
that sets all the wonderful work
of God in motion. God justifies
me because of what Jesus did,
not because of what I do. But
without believing, righteousness
and justification is not
accounted or reckoned to my
account. It is just as if
someone opened an account in my
name and deposited a million
dollars into that account. But
if I never go to the ATM to draw
the money, I will remain broke.
It is all there and it is all
available, but I actually need
to accept and receive what was
given to me.
Millions of people will spend a
horrible eternity in hell just
because they refused to accept,
by faith, what cost Jesus so
much. We can be made right and
declared justified. God has done
it all and makes it available to
those who will simply believe. “For
with the heart one believes unto
righteousness, and with the
mouth confession is made unto
salvation. For the Scripture
says, "Whoever believes on Him
will not be put to shame.””
(Romans 10:10).
Oh the wonderful grace and mercy
of God that a sinner such as I
can actually become justified
and be made righteous. “To
Him who loved us and washed us
from our sins in His own blood
... to Him be glory and
dominion forever and ever. Amen”
(Revelation 1:5-6).
Anton Bosch
anton@ifcb.net
3310 W Magnolia Blvd
Burbank,
CA, 91505
Tel 818 846 5520
www.antonbosch.org
www.burbankchurch.org
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