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justification

Sola Fide | #TheSolae

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Hello again dear ones! It has indeed been a while since the last post on this series, and I do feel bad for breaking the promise I had made, to put up these posts weekly.

Not to dwell on the past and could-have-beens, and to move forward with this wonderful trip we have been having of exploring the pillars of Reformed Christianity.

A bit of an update about where I vanished to; work took a rather interesting and deep dive, and a lot of my efforts went there (stewardship and priorities, and rent doesn’t pay itself 😅). It was a whirlwind of activity. Now that things have settled a bit, I had better get this going before I (probably) disappear again into that black hole.

Here we go!! Buckle up!

From where we left off, we saw that it is only by God’s grace that we are saved. There is nothing we can do to earn our salvation; it is free, given without any meritorious advantage to us who believe. What we do cannot save us, no matter how well intentioned it may seem, or how altruistic the heart behind it appears. The church led the masses to believe that, yes, truly it is God’s grace that saves us, but you have to supplement that grace with good works. Then, and only then, will you be truly saved.

Not so.

After a look into what Scriptures had to say, plus the life story of John Newton, we can clearly say it is only God’s grace that saves us. Our response, then, should be to seek how to live a life that shows the beauty of God’s grace; love the unlovable, kindness and generosity to those who seemingly would deserve the opposite, joy in every circumstance.

Let’s continue with this journey; onto the next stop. The Reformers had been able to show where the church had failed in showing with whom supreme authority lay with, and that whatever power traditions and human achievements held had no means in play at redeeming the human soul from its sin and wickedness. A prevailing question then arose; on what basis is man justified before God?

A question which I believe dwells deep within the hearts of many. And with good reason too.

God’s grace is indeed great, that even the most vile of hearts is not too far to be redeemed. How can we reconcile these two extremes, a holy God and a sinful people? How is this holy God able to welcome the most impure of people into His family and call them His own?

Of course, it would automatically make sense to include good works onto the grace already given, but we saw that would nullify grace as grace. If, then, man is not justified (pronounced righteous) before God by works, on what basis then is one able to stand before Him?

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God

Ephesians 2:8, NIV

Faith alone. Sola fide.

Faith is a word we have heard over and over again, preached from the pulpit, proclaimed as a means (by some sects) through which someone can gain material wealth, but what exactly is it? Martin Luther described it as a vital, deliberate trust in God’s grace, so certain that one would die a thousand times for it. Hebrews 11:1 describes faith as the confidence of things not seen; the assurance of things hoped for.

What then do we hope for, may have most probably been the very next question that followed. Obviously not our works, because we can see them, and they are already nullified in the steps that lead one to salvation.

We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.

Galatians 2:15-16, NIV

According to sola Scriptura, this holds to be true and inerrant. We are made right in the sight of God solely by hoping in and placing our trust and confidence (faith, in simpler terms) in what Christ has done. This truth is echoed in many other places within Scripture itself; Romans 4:4-5, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Romans 5:19 are just a few to mention.

As simple as it may seem, it couldn’t be further from the fact that this is one of the most difficult things to accept. It is easy to say, I gave of myself in church, so God must save me, or, I volunteer to feed street families and the poor, and give almost half of what I earn to charity. That must count for something.

It is noble, and from our moral viewpoint, it does indeed make sense that one good turn deserves a reward or another good turn. But it doesn’t work that way with God.

Faith means seeing yourself as incapable of even approaching the throne of God, yourself being your entire being; your deeds, your strengths and weaknesses. It means seeing all the grand things we have done as nothing of value before God. It means even seeing our own selves as pitiful striving vapours in the wind.

Faith is knowing and understanding that we can’t save ourselves, but that a means has been offered. That means is the man Jesus. None of us have seen Him, but we believe He is God the Son made flesh, lived among us perfectly and died having fully obeyed and loved God and loved people. Thus, in Him we place our trust and confidence. This is faith that saves.

Faith is not only the foundation we stand on, but the shield that defends us from lies, deceit and slander the enemy and the world may throw at us.

Much like grace, faith is a great gift we know we don’t deserve, but try to justify our deserving of it anyway. Much like the Catholic Church at the time of Luther. Make penance, go to confessions, recite this prayer and count those beads. Then you will be saved.

How I pray that we turn our gaze fully upon Jesus, and see in Him the perfection of our imperfections; that we may be granted the ability to even see Him in that light because of the darkness that fills our being.

On our next post, we will take a look the object, or person, of our faith; Jesus Christ. We will see why faith in Him alone, and no one else, is what makes us right in God’s eyes. I pray we all may be strengthened and preserved until then.

Peace! 🤸🏾

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Considered Righteous: Justification (#KnowMore Part 6)

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Hey hey! Welcome back to the next part of our series #KnowMore. Part 6! Wow, I am glad we have made it this far, and it is my hope that we all are growing in the knowledge of these truths.

The beauty of the Gospel is that it is simple enough for a child to understand, yet has some aspects of it that defy our own logical ways of thinking and predetermined paths of reason. All it takes is faith in God to impart the wisdom to understand and accept the truths as they are. It is difficult trying to fit the round truths and teachings of God into our square shaped ideals and thought patterns; what can be done is to allow God Himself to shape our minds and hearts to then allow these truths to fit into our daily lives.

We looked at regeneration last week, the first of three guest posts in this series. We saw how God takes our hearts that are dead to sin and makes them alive through His Son, Jesus Christ. In no way are we able to quicken ourselves to acceptance; rather, we are given new life to be able to believe in Him and walk in His ways.

Today is the second post, done by a very good friend of mine. He has expressed the need to remain anonymous, and as a gesture of my respect for him, I will keep his identity unknown. It is his desire that God be glorified in his post, and not him as the writer, which is something I really commend him for.

He has been instrumental in my walk with Christ, and has helped me return to God’s word regarding my own sinful state and my continual need for Jesus’s strength. I pray this post on justification will be of great help to you.

Blessed Are Those Whose Lawless Deeds Are Forgiven, And Whose Sins Are Covered; Blessed Is The Man Against Whom The Lord Will Not Count His Sin.

The doctrine of justification has caused tremendous controversy in the history of Christianity. It provoked the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century, where the reformers stood for the Biblical truth that justification is by faith alone.

It addresses the most serious plight of fallen human beings-their exposure to the justice of a holy God. The truth of the matter is that God is just, and we are not. David, in Psalms 130:3, prays, “If you, O Lord, should mark iniquity, O Lord, who could stand?”

In fact, none could stand. “None is righteous, no not one…no one seeks after God…no one does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:10-12, ESV). Most of us would think that when we work hard enough to be good people, then we could survive when we appear at the judgement seat of the righteous God. That we could earn our merit before God is a great myth, and the truth is that we are debtors who cannot pay our debts.

The implication is that only another could pay the debt for us. Only God could pay the debt in our stead. Having paid the debt, He would be just, in justifying us. But what really is justification?

We consider this in parts: the nature of justification, the basis of justification, the means of justification and the result of justification.

The nature of justification is that it is an instantaneous legal act, and not an actual impartation or infusion of righteousness. God declares sinners as just before His sight, while yet, they continue to sin. It describes what God declares about the sinner, and not what He does to change the believer (but indeed, He does something to change them). Romans 8:33-34 contrasts “bringing a charge/condemning” with the justifying work of God. Just as bringing a charge is a declaration of judgement according to some standard, so is justification.

Is then God unjust when he declares sinful men righteous in His sight? Certainly not! Paul explains in Romans 3 that He upholds His justice when He declares sinful men righteous.What, then, is the basis of God declaring sinners as just? The answer is that sinful men are “justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith.” (Romans 3:24-25 ESV).

This is to say that the righteousness of any man is not from himself. Rather, it is an imputed righteousness from Christ. Moreover, it is to say that Christ took upon Himself the sins of the elect. For the sake of the elect, God “made Him [Christ] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV).

In upholding His justice, God punished for all the sins of the elect, and Christ bore this punishment on Himself, being the propitiation-appeasement of God’s righteous wrath due to sin.

The implication of the basis of justification is that Christ’s work on the cross must be applied, for any man to be justified. By what means are the works of Christ be imputed to anyone? Scripture consistently shows that the works of Christ are received by faith. “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” (Romans 3:28 ESV). Paul says, “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ, and be found in him, not having a righteousness of our own that comes from anything we do, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith” (Philippians 3:8-9 ESV).

Faith looks outward, to receive the free gifts from heaven, pure and undeserved as they are. “Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.”-truly, the wages of all works is death because they are sinful-“And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness” (Romans 4:4-5 ESV).

The result of justification will be that the believer will bear fruit. They will seek to obey the master who has bought them at a price, because they love Him. John rightly says that “we have come to know Him if we keep His commandments.” (1 John 2:3 ESV). A believer will not continue to make a practice of sinning, because the God who justifies them also tunes their hearts to love what He loves, and to hate what He hates. It is not to claim that they will be without sin, but that they will continue to grow in sanctification.