The Battle for "Justification by Faith!" - Part 2

Okay let’s spend a little time looking at some of the passages from scripture that deal with the issue of justification by faith.

The verse that is probably the most comprehensive in all of scripture comes from Paul’s theological treatise to the Romans:

Romans 4:5 (NIV)
5 However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.

Let’s start with the obvious issue of the one being justified. The verse tells us that God justifies the wicked. Notice that it does not say that God justifies the righteous, or the morally good, or even the one who has sought after God. No, He justifies the wicked. The one in rebellion. The one who has spent his/her entire life hating God. The one who openly flees from the light of God (John 3:19-20 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.) No God is justifying those who do not want to be a part of the light.

Do, you know who these wicked people are? They are me and you. They are all of us! The scriptures are clear that all of us were wicked people before Christ invaded our lives (Ps 42:1-2; Romans 5:6-11; Colossians 1:21).

So for us to understand the doctrine of Justification by Faith we must understand that the ones being declared “Not Guilty” are absolutely worthy to be called “Guilty” and be condemned to an eternity of God’s wrath. Not only that, but we must acknowledge that we had no righteousness of our own that we could add to the equation to help bring about our pardon. In other words, we had no ability to say, “Though I might be guilty on some points at least I was righteous when I did this or that, so shouldn’t that count for something?” No we stand before God as absolutely guilty with no excuse or payment!

Tomorrow we will look further at this doctrine, but today let it wash over you that without Christ we would all stand before the sure judgment of God as guilty! Let this simple truth allow praise to spring from your lips as you contemplate the wonder of our salvation!