David Wellons - Justification- Oct 24, 2021

JF Thrive Class Lesson – Justification

Romans 3:21 through 5:21

October 24 2021

SLIDES

You must pay for everything in this world, one way and another. There is nothing free except the Grace of God. You cannot earn that or deserve it.

Justification of the Believer – What is it and how does it work?

In earlier chapters of Romans, Paul demonstrated that we are all sinners – the Gentile, the Jew and the world. He explained how sinners can be saved – called ‘justification by faith”. This is where God declares the believer to be righteous based on the finished work of Christ on the cross.. There are several parts of this to consider carefully:

Justification is an act, not a process. – there are no degrees of justification, therefore each believer has the same standing before God

Justification is something God does, not man.

Justification does not mean that God makes us righteous, but that He declares us righteous.

Justification is a legal matter – God put Christ’s righteousness on our record in place of our own sinfulness.

Justification is not sanctification. – Sanctification is where God makes the believer more and more like Christ.

In today’s study, we will see how Paul answers 2 points – How can God declare sinners righteous, and what is justification, is it merely as fictional idea that has no real foundation? Paul answers this with a discourse on justification by faith. And second he illustrates it from the life of Abraham.

Justification Explained (3:21-31) - (don’t read yet)

God revealed His righteousness in many ways before the full revelation of the gospel – by his law, his judgments against sin, his appeals through the prophets, his blessing on the obedient. But in the gospel, a new kind of righteousness has been revealed (Read Rom 1:16-17) – the characteristics of this righteousness are spelled out in today’s section.

First Apart from the law (read v3:21) In the OT righteousness came from behaving, in the NT it comes from believing. The OT law bore witness to this gospel righteousness even though it could not provide it.. The law could witness to God’s righteousness, but it could not provide it for sinful humanity. (Read Galatians 2:21).

Next – through faith in Christ (read v 22a) - Faith is only as good as its object. Everyone has faith in something if only in themselves.- but Christians trust Christ.

Next – for all men (read 22b-23). While God gave his laws to the Jews and not gentiles, the good news of salvation through Christ is offered to all.

Next – by grace. (Read v24). There are 2 attributes of God – absolute (what he is in himself) and relative (how he relates to the world and man). One absolute is love – (read 1John 4:8). When God relates that love to us, it becomes grace and mercy. And grace is God’s free gift since there is not cause that would merit God’s grace to us.

Next – At great cost to God. (read 24b-25). Salvation is free but it isn’t cheap. God paid a 3-part price for our salvation = propitiation, redemption and blood. Propitiation is the satisfying of God’s holy law so that God can freely forgive those who come to Christ. Blood was the price paid for that.

Next – in perfect justice (read vv 25-26) – God must be perfectly consistent with Himself – he cannot break his own laws. There is a tension – God wants to forgive sinners out of his love, but his holiness must punish sin and uphold his righteous law. How does he do this and be both the just and the justifier? Answer is Jesus and his shed blood on the cross.

And Finally to Establish the law (read vv 27-31). The doctrine of justification by faith is not against the law, because it establishes the law. God obeyed his own law in working out the plan of salvation – Jesus completely fulfilled the demands of that law. In Romans chapters 4 – 8 Paul later explains how God’s great plan of salvation was in complete harmony with the OT scriptures. We first start in CH 4 with the father of the Jewish nation – Abraham.

2) Justification Illustrated (4:1-25) Don’t read yet.

So the Jew hearing Paul’s sermons would ask “How does this doctrine of justification by faith relate to our history? That this doctrine is witnessed to by the law and the prophets. Well, what about Abraham? Paul gives 3 important facts about Abrahm’s salvation that prove his spiritual experience was like that of believers today:

He was justified by faith, not works (read 4:1-8)

Paul uses 2 witnesses – Abraham in Gen 15:6 and David in Ps 32:1-2. Abraham had defeated the kings and asked God if they would return to fight. God assured him that He was his shield and “exceeding great reward” (read Gen 15:1 – 6). But the thing Abraham wanted most was a son and heir.

Read Ex 23:7 – then read Rom 4:5 – God makes a startling statement – he justifies the ungodly. Q: how can that be and how does it true with scripture when He says the opposite in Ex 23:7? . A: Because there were no godly people at the time to justify. He put our sins on Christ’s account so that he can put Christ’s righteousness on our account.

In David’s passage about Bathsheba, David makes two amazing statements – God forgives sin and imputes righteousness apart from works and 2) God does not impute our sins. Once we are justified our record contains Christ’s perfect righteousness and can’t contain our sins..

He was justified by grace, not law (read 9-17)

Jews liked external obedience and signs of the law, such as circumcision, but Paul had already made it clear in Rom 2:12-29 that there must be an inward obedience to the law and a “circumcision of the heart.” Abraham was 90 years old when he was circumcised, - it didn’t seal his salvation, it merely attested to it. Keep in mind that Moses brought the law AFTER Abraham had died, so Abraham’s salvation was a pure gift of God. So today, God justifies the ungodly because they believe his gracious promise, not because they obey his law. The fact that Abraham was justified by grace and not law proves that salvation is for all.

He was justified by resurrection power, not human efforts (read vv 18-25)

Paul saw the rejuvenation of Abraham’s body as a picture of resurrection from the dead, and then he related it to the resurrection of Christ. The reason that God waited until Abraham and Sarah were so old is that they had to be “dead” physically to demonstrate God’s power.

So the application to salvation is clear. God must wait until the sinner is “dead” and unable to help himself before He can release His saving power. As long as the lost sinner thinks he is strong enough to do anything to please God, he cannot be saved by grace.

Remember, Abraham didn’t have a Bible and was surrounded by heathens. It was his faith alone that saved him.

Thus, just as for Abraham, it is for us. Salvation and justification are by faith and faith alone.

Paul has demonstrated that the whole world is guilty before God and that no one can be saved by religious deeds such as keeping the law. He shows that God’s way of salvation has always be “by grace, through faith”. In Romans 5 we will see 2 parts – the blessings of our justification and the basis for our justification.

The Blessing of our justification (Read 5:1-11)

Paul describes how wonderful it is to be a Christian and then that our justification is lasting. When God declared us righteous in Christ, He gave us seven spiritual blessings that assure us that we cannot be lost: they are

1. Peace with God (v1) The unsaved person is at odds with God (READ Isa 48:22 and 32:17). Q: What does condemnation mean? A: that God has declared us sinners – a declaration of war. So Q: what does justification mean? A: God declares us righteous – a declaration of peace.

1. Access to God (V2a) – Jews were kept from God’s presence by the veil in the temple, and the Gentile was kept out by a wall in the temple that warned they would be killed if they crossed in. But when Jesus died, he tore the veil. Now, believing Jews and Gentiles have access to God and they can draw on the unending riches of God’s grace.

1. Glorious hope (v2b) – Peace with God takes care of the past, Access to God takes care onf the present – we can come to Him at any time for the help we need.

1. Christian character (vv 3-4) – Just because we are justified, it does not mean that we don’t face life’s trials. For the believer trials work for him and not against. No amount of suffering can separate us from the Lord. Suffering builds Christian character. The word “tribulation” comes from the Latin word tribulum – a piece of timber with spikes that is drawn through grain for threshing – it separates the wheat from the chaff. In the same way, so do our tribulations. They free us up to be closer to God.

1. God’s love within (vv 5-8) While we wait for the hope of being with God to be fulfilled, the love of God is poured out into our hearts. This gives us the patience we need to grow in character and become a mature child of God.

1. Salvation from future wrath (vv 9-10) – Paul is arguing from the lesser to the greater – if he saved us when we were His enemies, surely He will keep on saving us now that we are His children. There is a wrath to come but no true believer will experience it (Read 1 Thess 1:9-10 and 5:8-10)

1. Reconciliation with God (v 11). The word atonement means “reconciliation, brought back into fellowship with God.” Although man had previously declared war on God, and thus deserved to be eternally condemned, God never declared war on us but instead sent His Son to be the peacemaker.

2) The Basis of our Justification (Read 5:12-21)

How does Christ’s death on the cross substitute for us and our sins? This section explains it. Note a few things – not the repetition of the word “one”, used 11 times, which speaks to our identity in Adam and Christ, Next note the repetition of the word “reign” used 5 times – Paul saw Adam and Christ each reigning over a kingdom. Finally note the phrase “much more” is used 5 times. This means that in Jesus we have gained much more than we ever lost in Adam.

In short, this section is a contrast of Adam and Christ. Adam was a kind of king over the old creation, but he sinned and lost it and because of that sin, we are all under condemnation and death. Christ became the King of the new creation (Read 2 Cor 5:17) He not only undid the damage that Adam caused, but he made us Sons of God. Some ask the question – was it fair to condemn us all because of one man? Answer is yes, because otherwise we’d each have to be tested, and we’d all fail. By condemnation through one man, it made it possible for salvation for all of us to come through one person – Christ. Q: Does this salvation also include the fallen angels? A: no, they are not a race, they sinned individually and are condemned individually.

Q: How do we know we are racially united to Adam? A: Because we know all men die, and that death is because of Adam’s sin and disobedience. Paul then give some contrasts between Adam and Christ

1. Adam’s offense is contrasted with Christ’s free gift (Read v15). Because of Adams trespass, many died, because of Christ’s obedience, God’s grace abounds to many, bringing life.

2. The effect of Adam’s sin is contrasted with the effect of Christ’s obedience (Read v16) Adam’s sin brought judgment and condemnation, Christ’s work brings justification.

3. He contrasts the 2 reigns (read V 17) Because of Adam’s disobedience, death reigned. All through the OT, we see the phrase “and he died”. In Adam we lost our kingship, but in Christ we reign as kings.

4. The two “one acts” are contrasted (vv 18-19). Adam did not have to commit a series of sins, just the one time God tested him and he failed. (Read Gen 2:16-17). In contrast to the offense of one, is ‘the righteousness of one’ meaning the righteous work of Christ on the cross.

5. Law and grace are contrasted (read 20-21) “Then the law came in beside”. Grace is not a addition to God’s plan, it has always been a part of His plan. Sin and death continue to reign in this world, but God’s grace is also reigning through the righteousness of Christ. There is a contrast seen in the story of David and Saul. Saul lost God’s favor as king. Ultimately, those who followed David lived in peace and joy, and those who trusted Saul ended in defeat and shame.. Like David, Christ is God’s anointed King. Like Saul, Satan is still free to work in this world and seek to win people’s allegiance. Sin and death are still reigning in this Old Creation – as we just saw this past week – but we have a choice to be a part of the New Creation in Christ.

The OT is the book of the generations of Adam and the Malachi ends with a curse. The NT is the book of the generations of Christ and ends in Revelation with “no more curse”.

We cannot escape “being in Adam” since that is how we were born. But we can experience a second birth (be born again) from above, that puts us all in Christ.