Justification by Faith
The salvation of the true believer is so certain that God sees
it as already done. The apostle Paul uses five verbs to outline what God has done in
fulfilling His saving purpose. It is a golden chain of salvation that stretches from
eternity past to eternity future.
God’s foreknowledge of the saved in Romans 8:29-30 is probably a
reference to the election of the saved person. Believers are those God foreknew. Divine
foreknowledge is a meaningful relation with a person based on God’s choice (Amos 3:2;
Jer. 1:4-5). “He chose us in Him before the creation of the world” (Eph. 1:4).
This eternal choice and foreknowledge involves the
goal or final end of that relationship. The Bible says those whom God
foreknew, those He also “predestinated to be conformed to the likeness
of His Son” (Romans 8:29). God determined beforehand the destiny of the
believer. We will be conformed to the image of Christ (1 John 3:2). When
all believers are made like Christ, our ultimate and complete
sanctification, Christ will be “the Firstborn among many brothers.” As
the ‘Firstborn’ He is in the highest position among others (cf. Col.
1:18).”
Not only are we saved for all eternity, but God has
created a new race of humanity purified from all contact with sin and
prepared to spend eternity with Him. The glorified Christ will the be
Head of the new humanity (cf. 1 Cor. 15:42-58).
Those whom God foreknew, He predestinated, He
called, He justified, and He glorified. When we heard the gospel of
Jesus Christ there was the effectual call of God that worked deep in our
hearts to bring about a spiritual birth. Those He called He justified
through faith in Jesus Christ. This leads to our glorification. The
apostle Paul is so sure of these things he speaks of the believer’s
glorification, which is a future event, as if it were already
accomplished (v. 30). It is a sure deal because it is God's eternal
plan.
This whole work of salvation begins in the heart of
God and is gloriously fulfilled by Him. Man does not in any way
contribute to the efficacy of salvation. It is wholly the work of God.
The effectual calling of God elicits the appropriate response of the
individual and justification is therefore through the instrumentality of faith. Faith does
not save the sinner. God saves the sinner by His grace through faith in the atoning death
of Jesus Christ for the sinner. These acts of God in the golden chain of salvation do not
occur irrespective of faith. It is God's purpose to save by grace
through faith in the atoning sacrifice of Christ Jesus. Even here it is
not to be defined in terms of human activities.
Justification of the believing sinner is the act whereby God declares
the sinful person to be in a right standing before Him, not on the basis of his own merit
because he does not have any, but solely on the basis of what Jesus Christ has done for
him by dying as his substitute on the cross. Jesus Christ took the penalty of all our sins
upon Himself and died to pay our penalty for sin. God punished those sins in the death of
Jesus Christ so that He imputes the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ to the believing
sinner’s account.
God acquits the believing sinner and takes him home to be with Him
for all eternity. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ
Jesus” (8:1).
Justification is the opposite of condemnation. We have all sinned and
come short of the glory of God. We are condemned by God’s law, and the penalty must
be paid in full. “The wages of sin is death.” No one can escape the
condemnation. We are guilty. We are not innocent. The Law condemns us.
In justification a person is declared by God to be in a right
relationship to God’s law. The believing sinner is not made righteous, but is declared
to be in a right relationship. We have no righteousness of our own. Believers are declared
righteous on the foundation of Christ’s atonement (Romans 3:25). The source of our
justification is the grace of God (3:24). No one can make or declare himself righteous
because we are all sinners. We can be right with God only if God does the saving work for
us and that is exactly what God did in sending Christ to the cross. God can now be just in
justifying us because of the atoning work of Christ on our behalf.
Justification is an act of the gracious justice of God in grace. God
pronounces the sinner legally righteous and free from any liability to the broken law
because His Son bore the penalty and paid it in full. We are therefore “justified by
His blood.” We receive that declaration of God through faith. Have you responded to
the effectual call of God by rejecting all other suggestions of salvation, and put your
faith in Christ alone?
Selah!
Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006
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