The mystery of justification by faith
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1 KJV)
After briefly considering the meaning of righteousness and justification, let us quickly review a profound truth about our salvation: justification by faith. Justification means to be declared righteous or in more practical terms to be made righteous. It is not as though God merely chooses to see us as righteous though we are not. No. We are indeed righteous, made to be, through faith in Christ. When God looks at us, He sees the very righteousness He sees in Christ. How did we obtain that righteousness?
Fundamentally, the only means to demonstrate that you have complied with God’s laws or righteous commandments is by acting in line with those commandments. Justification means we are in line with the laws or requirements of God, and the only logical way to do that is that we were given the rules and acted out of our free will to obey those laws. That is what happened to the Jews in the Old Testament. They had to obtain righteousness by keeping the law. It is called the righteousness of the law because it is obtained by complying with God’s requirements.
However, something beyond human comprehension occurs in grace. When a human being believes in Jesus, they obtain the very righteousness of Christ without doing one single thing right by themselves. Faith is a mystery that connects humans to the Person and Work of Christ, such that whatever Christ is and accomplished passes down to them. We are justified without works. We are justified by faith! If we ever dream of living a holy and righteous life practically now, then this message of being justified by faith must be fully understood and believed.
MEDITATE
What is justification by faith? Do you truly believe it? How does that relate to your practical day to day life?
APPLY THE WORD
Justification by faith is at the heart of grace. The Jews vowed to kill Paul because of this message. They could not handle his teaching that they do not need to keep the Law to be justified. Strangely enough, many Christian circles still struggle with this teaching. However, until we receive this truth, we will never be empowered to live a righteous life practically. Please take a moment to understand and believe this mystery!
PRAY
Ask the Lord to unveil the mysteries of the riches of the grace in Christ Jesus.
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