A permanent righteous standing before God
Hi,
My e-mail signature is a one-sentence summary of the gospel. It looks like this:
Forgiveness of sins and a permanent righteous standing before God are found solely by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, based on his perfect life, sacrificial death, and resurrection from the dead, according to the Scriptures.
I sent an e-mail to cbflist to see if anyone needed a ride to church last Sunday (cbflist is the mailing list for the Christian Bible Fellowship at WPI). I received a reply to my e-mail that looked like this:
I like your signature.
I was wondering if you could point me at some Scriptures that discuss a permanent, righteous standing before God. It sounds really good and I want to know where I can find it in the Bible.
Well, I like my signature too... so I wrote a reply this past week (for those interested in reading more about justification, check out the articles at www.monergism.com):
I'm delighted to be able to answer your inquiry about where the scriptures address the concept of "a permanent righteous standing before God." First of all, that's not a strictly Biblical phrase; it's more of how I've attempted to re-state (or paraphrase, if you will) the doctrine of justification. To some, justification is just another name for forgiveness of sins... it is that, but it's also more than that. It's kind of like the other side of the coin.
So first of all, the question that must be asked is, biblically speaking, what does it matter what kind of standing we have before God? It matters because of the Bible's teaching of a future day of judgment, a day when the living and the dead will be judged according to what they have done. This is mentioned briefly in the Old Testament in various places (Job 34:11; Psalm 62:12; Proverbs 24:12; Isaiah 59:18; Jeremiah 17:10, 21:14, 25:14, 32:19; Lamentations 3:64; Ezekiel 7:3ff, 18:30, 24:14, 33:20, 36:19; Hosea 12:2). Yet all of that alone would only lead us to the conclusion that we are judged by God during our natural earthly lives.
One Old Testament passage that speaks of a future resurrection and judgment, though, is Daniel 12:1-3, which speaks of a future time when "many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." So even though we may experience some judgment in part during our earthly lives, there is a future judgment with everlasting consequences. The question, then, of whether God views us and our deeds as wicked or righteous, becomes a very important question. Since he is our Creator, we are accountable to him for our words, thoughts, and actions.
That is the relevant Old Testament background for the teaching in the New Testament on the day of judgment. What was a minor recurring theme in the Old Testament (with one key passage and a small handful of supporting passages) becomes a major theme in the New Testament (with many key passages and innumerable supporting passages). It is part of the New Testament to such an extent that it is rare to not come across the doctrine regularly in any book (it is only mentioned about half a dozen times in the gospel of John, and I don't believe it's mentioned at all in his epistles). For example, to just choose a chapter... in 2 Timothy 4, we see a reference to the future judgment of the living and the dead by Christ, his appearing, and his kingdom in verse 1. Then in verse 8, Paul refers to the "crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge," will award to him and all believers on "that Day." And in verse 14 we see the line that sounds like it's almost a direct quote from the Old Testament: "the Lord will repay him according to his deeds."
There are several chapters in Matthew where Jesus speaks at length about the coming judgment. In some places, he just mentions it briefly, like in Matthew 16:27: "For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done." But earlier, in chapter 13, and later, in chapters 24 and 25, he speaks at length about the coming judgment, the separation between the wicked and the righteous. Matthew 13 contains both the parable of the weeds (13:24-30, 36-43) and the parable of the net (13:47-50). In both, Jesus says that at the close of the age angels will separate the wicked from the righteous. Matthew 24 starts with a description of the coming destruction of Jerusalem (in 70 AD) and then moves into a description of the end of the age. Again, Jesus uses a number of parables to show what it will be like at that time. The faithful and wise servant will be rewarded, but the wicked servant will be punished (24:45-51). The wise virgins are allowed into the wedding feast, but the foolish virgins are excluded (25:1-13). The good and faithful servants will be rewarded, but the wicked and slothful servant will be punished (25:14-30). And "when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne... and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats." And the goats will "go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life (25:31-46)."
There is much more about this point that I could go through in the New Testament. We could take a look at Paul's speech to the Athenians in Acts 17:22-31, or his descriptions of the coming judgment in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11 and 2 Thessalonians 1:5-2:12. We could look at Peter's exhortations about the promise of our Lord's coming in 2 Peter 3, or we could look at pretty much anything in the book of Revelation, a book that is all about the coming judgment (although that book is subject to so much misinterpretation by so many Christians that I'll definitely leave that one alone for now). But it should be clear enough from what we've seen already that our standing before God is a very important issue if we are to take seriously the teachings of Jesus and his apostles.
There are two of Paul's epistles that deal primarily with our standing before God. Galatians was written because of a specific problem in a specific geographical area, but Romans was written to a church that Paul had never visited, and he wanted to lay out the details of his gospel at length. This is the book in the New Testament that deals with the doctrine of justification at length, and is the one I would point to as the scriptural source of a "permanent righteous standing before God."
Paul begins Romans 1 with a greeting to the church at Rome, and he expresses his desire to visit them at some time. The reason he gives is that he is "eager to preach the gospel to [them] also who are in Rome" (1:15). He then gives his reason for wanting to preach the gospel, which is that it is "the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes" (1:16). And he makes the statement that in the gospel "the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith" (1:17).
This enigmatic phrase (which is unpacked further in the epistle) has been the source of much controversy throughout church history. For example, Martin Luther used to think that "the righteousness of God" was just the attribute of God whereby he damns sinners. But when he realized that it referred not to that but rather to the righteousness of God whereby he declares sinners righteous and saves them, it sparked the Protestant Reformation. The context provides a strong argument that Luther had the right idea here. Paul says he's talking about the gospel, the good news. Now, is God's righteous damnation of the wicked good news for sinners? Or is God's declaration of sinners as righteous good news for sinners?
Next, Paul begins to address the "ungodliness and unrighteousness of men" (1:18) for several chapters. This is why we need justification, because by nature we all lack a righteous standing before God. In fact, we have just the opposite: we have a guilty standing before God. Even now, "the wrath of God is revealed from heaven" against us. All of creation bears witness to God's existence and attributes, yet in rebellion mankind has forsaken the knowledge of God and worshiped the creation rather than the Creator (1:19-23). Therefore God has given mankind over to all sorts of sinful behavior (1:24-32).
In chapter 2, Paul speaks of the future day of judgment that appears often in the New Testament's teaching. He warns those of us who are inclined to judge other sinners that we too are guilty of the same things. By the grace of God some sinners aren't as bad as others, but we're all bad. In verses 6 through 8 Paul sets up the same criteria for judgment that we find elsewhere in his epistles and in Jesus' parables. God "will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury." The question remains, though... won't we all by nature end up in the second group?
In verses 9 through 11, Paul states that this judgment applies to every human being, both Jew and Gentile. For, as he says in verses 12 through 16, even though the Gentiles have not been given the Law that was given to the Jews, they can still sin. The choices are to either sin without the law and perish without the law or to sin under the law and be judged by the law. Ignorance will not be a valid excuse "on that day when... God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus" (2:16).
Paul brings his indictment of humanity to a completion from 2:17 to 3:8. Jews have no ethnic advantage at the time of judgment. Adherence to the law regarding circumcision is no advantage, either. God is looking for much more. Paul's quote of Psalm 51 in Romans 3:4 is helpful in this section. The verb "to justify" is essentially the same as the noun "righteousness." But there is no English equivalent, "to righteous." The two competing ideas historically concerning this is that it can mean "to declare righteous" or "to make righteous." The former is concerned with a legal declaration, the second is concerned with internal transformation. But how does Paul use the word "justify" in Romans 3:4? He uses it of God. If we look at the original context of Psalm 51, we see that the "you" in that verse is God. David says that he has sinned against God, so God is "justified" in his words (specifically, his words of judgment against David in 2 Samuel 12:7-14). Now, is David (in Psalm 51) or Paul (in Romans) asserting that God is in any way "made righteous" when he speaks his words of judgment against sinners? Certainly not! On the contrary, he is "declared righteous."
So based on what Paul says next, what kind of standing does everybody have before God? He "has already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin" (3:9). He then uses a string of quotes from the Old Testament to describe the sinfulness of mankind in verses 10 through 18. His conclusion about the standing of mankind before God is clearly a negative one: "Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, through the law comes knowledge of sin." How will anyone be declared righteous in God's sight? It won't be by works of the law, because no one is good enough. God's revelation of his will to sinners just gives them knowledge of their sin and leaves them just as guilty as before. If the gospel ended here, we would all face the insurmountable task of accomplishing the impossible, and we could do nothing but despair.
But earlier Paul said that the gospel was the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes, both Jew and Gentile. This is good to hear, because both Jews and Gentiles are alike under sin and need a Savior. And in this gospel the righteousness of God is revealed. This is also good to hear, as we have seen that "none is righteous, no, not one," and no human being will be declared righteous in God's sight by works of the law, but we need righteousness in order to be given eternal life instead of wrath and fury on the day of judgment.
How does all this work together? How is this righteousness given to unrighteous sinners? Paul presents that in Romans 3:21 and following. "But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it - the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and 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. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."
Man's problem is that we are universally sinful and we therefore have a guilty standing before our Creator, who will one day call his creation to account. God's solution is that he sent his Son to live a perfect life, die a sacrificial death, and rise from the dead. Jesus redeems sinners with his blood, by being a propitiation for them, by satisfying God's wrath against their sin. At the cross, God declared Jesus guilty of our sins and treated him as we deserved to be treated. And because of the cross, God now declares us righteous and treats us as he deserved to be treated. Jesus is held legally responsible for our unrighteousness, and we are held legally responsible for Christ's righteousness. As you can see, forgiveness of sins is only half of the coin; the flip side is that we are now declared righteous by God.
As we move forward in Romans, we see that Paul continues to speak of justification for the rest of chapter 3 and throughout chapters 4 and 5. In them we learn that we are justified through faith alone (3:28), that since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (5:1), and that since we have now been justified by his blood, we shall certainly be saved by him from the wrath of God (5:9).
How does this all relate to the future judgment? How does the doctrine of justification through faith alone relate to Christ's judgment of the world on the last day? By Christ's work, God has essentially moved the judgment to determine our eternal destiny from the distant future to the present. We can know now what the verdict will be on the last day. We can know this because of two things. On the one hand, the universal sinfulness of mankind tells us that we can never be justified by works of the law. But on the other hand, the gospel of Christ tells us that we can be justified by faith now. And God is not a man, that he should lie; if he declares us righteous by the work of Christ now, we can know for certain that he will declare us righteous by the work of Christ on the judgment day.
Paul discusses the permanence of our justification, of our righteous standing before God, in Romans 8 as well. Without it, what kind of good news do we have? What would it matter if our present righteous standing before God was dependent on our works? We'd essentially be in the same position we were in before. But on the contrary, Paul says in Romans 8:1 that "there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." And in the golden chain of redemption later in that same chapter, Paul says that those whom God justified (every one of those and only those), he also glorified. It is so certain that it can be spoken of in the past tense even though it hasn't happened yet.
And Paul continues even further in verse 33: "Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies." If God himself has declared us righteous, no one can bring a charge against us that will change our legal standing before God. Is it something that God did not know of? Impossible. Is it something that Jesus' work on our behalf does not take care of? Verse 34 answers that: "Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died - more than that, who was raised - who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us." Christ's work on our behalf didn't end 2000 years ago; he now stands at the right hand of his Father and intercedes for us. He is not propitiating God's wrath anymore, but he is even now asking his Father to consider us righteous because of his life, death, and resurrection, and we know that the Father always hears the Son.
The ending verses of Romans 8 answer the best question of all: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" (8:34). If Christ loves us enough to die for us, will anything be able to stop him from loving us? Christ, who died to save us, will not turn around and condemn on judgment day those who he redeemed at Calvary. Paul's concluding sentence is worth every word: "For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (8:38-39). Amen!
Moving from Romans to the rest of the New Testament, we can see the doctrine of justification, our permanent righteous standing before God, elsewhere. Jesus' parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18:9-14 mentions justification. In 1 Corinthians 1:30, Paul says that Christ is our righteousness. 2 Corinthians 5:21 mentions both our sin being credited to Christ and Christ's righteousness being credited to us. And in Philippians 3:9, Paul contrasts the righteousness of his own that comes from the law to the righteousness from God which comes through faith in Christ. And Galatians has much to say about justification as well, as Paul was refuting the argument of the Judaizers who insisted that conversion to Judaism was necessary in order to be saved by Christ. Paul defends the opposing view, that both Jews and Gentiles are justified through faith, not works of the law.
Those are the scriptures I would use to defend the idea of a permanent righteous standing before God. I pray that God uses them to teach us so that we may worship and obey him rightly and bring all glory and honor to him and him alone.
In Christ,
Nate
My e-mail signature is a one-sentence summary of the gospel. It looks like this:
Forgiveness of sins and a permanent righteous standing before God are found solely by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, based on his perfect life, sacrificial death, and resurrection from the dead, according to the Scriptures.
I sent an e-mail to cbflist to see if anyone needed a ride to church last Sunday (cbflist is the mailing list for the Christian Bible Fellowship at WPI). I received a reply to my e-mail that looked like this:
I like your signature.
I was wondering if you could point me at some Scriptures that discuss a permanent, righteous standing before God. It sounds really good and I want to know where I can find it in the Bible.
Well, I like my signature too... so I wrote a reply this past week (for those interested in reading more about justification, check out the articles at www.monergism.com):
I'm delighted to be able to answer your inquiry about where the scriptures address the concept of "a permanent righteous standing before God." First of all, that's not a strictly Biblical phrase; it's more of how I've attempted to re-state (or paraphrase, if you will) the doctrine of justification. To some, justification is just another name for forgiveness of sins... it is that, but it's also more than that. It's kind of like the other side of the coin.
So first of all, the question that must be asked is, biblically speaking, what does it matter what kind of standing we have before God? It matters because of the Bible's teaching of a future day of judgment, a day when the living and the dead will be judged according to what they have done. This is mentioned briefly in the Old Testament in various places (Job 34:11; Psalm 62:12; Proverbs 24:12; Isaiah 59:18; Jeremiah 17:10, 21:14, 25:14, 32:19; Lamentations 3:64; Ezekiel 7:3ff, 18:30, 24:14, 33:20, 36:19; Hosea 12:2). Yet all of that alone would only lead us to the conclusion that we are judged by God during our natural earthly lives.
One Old Testament passage that speaks of a future resurrection and judgment, though, is Daniel 12:1-3, which speaks of a future time when "many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." So even though we may experience some judgment in part during our earthly lives, there is a future judgment with everlasting consequences. The question, then, of whether God views us and our deeds as wicked or righteous, becomes a very important question. Since he is our Creator, we are accountable to him for our words, thoughts, and actions.
That is the relevant Old Testament background for the teaching in the New Testament on the day of judgment. What was a minor recurring theme in the Old Testament (with one key passage and a small handful of supporting passages) becomes a major theme in the New Testament (with many key passages and innumerable supporting passages). It is part of the New Testament to such an extent that it is rare to not come across the doctrine regularly in any book (it is only mentioned about half a dozen times in the gospel of John, and I don't believe it's mentioned at all in his epistles). For example, to just choose a chapter... in 2 Timothy 4, we see a reference to the future judgment of the living and the dead by Christ, his appearing, and his kingdom in verse 1. Then in verse 8, Paul refers to the "crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge," will award to him and all believers on "that Day." And in verse 14 we see the line that sounds like it's almost a direct quote from the Old Testament: "the Lord will repay him according to his deeds."
There are several chapters in Matthew where Jesus speaks at length about the coming judgment. In some places, he just mentions it briefly, like in Matthew 16:27: "For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done." But earlier, in chapter 13, and later, in chapters 24 and 25, he speaks at length about the coming judgment, the separation between the wicked and the righteous. Matthew 13 contains both the parable of the weeds (13:24-30, 36-43) and the parable of the net (13:47-50). In both, Jesus says that at the close of the age angels will separate the wicked from the righteous. Matthew 24 starts with a description of the coming destruction of Jerusalem (in 70 AD) and then moves into a description of the end of the age. Again, Jesus uses a number of parables to show what it will be like at that time. The faithful and wise servant will be rewarded, but the wicked servant will be punished (24:45-51). The wise virgins are allowed into the wedding feast, but the foolish virgins are excluded (25:1-13). The good and faithful servants will be rewarded, but the wicked and slothful servant will be punished (25:14-30). And "when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne... and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats." And the goats will "go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life (25:31-46)."
There is much more about this point that I could go through in the New Testament. We could take a look at Paul's speech to the Athenians in Acts 17:22-31, or his descriptions of the coming judgment in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-5:11 and 2 Thessalonians 1:5-2:12. We could look at Peter's exhortations about the promise of our Lord's coming in 2 Peter 3, or we could look at pretty much anything in the book of Revelation, a book that is all about the coming judgment (although that book is subject to so much misinterpretation by so many Christians that I'll definitely leave that one alone for now). But it should be clear enough from what we've seen already that our standing before God is a very important issue if we are to take seriously the teachings of Jesus and his apostles.
There are two of Paul's epistles that deal primarily with our standing before God. Galatians was written because of a specific problem in a specific geographical area, but Romans was written to a church that Paul had never visited, and he wanted to lay out the details of his gospel at length. This is the book in the New Testament that deals with the doctrine of justification at length, and is the one I would point to as the scriptural source of a "permanent righteous standing before God."
Paul begins Romans 1 with a greeting to the church at Rome, and he expresses his desire to visit them at some time. The reason he gives is that he is "eager to preach the gospel to [them] also who are in Rome" (1:15). He then gives his reason for wanting to preach the gospel, which is that it is "the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes" (1:16). And he makes the statement that in the gospel "the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith" (1:17).
This enigmatic phrase (which is unpacked further in the epistle) has been the source of much controversy throughout church history. For example, Martin Luther used to think that "the righteousness of God" was just the attribute of God whereby he damns sinners. But when he realized that it referred not to that but rather to the righteousness of God whereby he declares sinners righteous and saves them, it sparked the Protestant Reformation. The context provides a strong argument that Luther had the right idea here. Paul says he's talking about the gospel, the good news. Now, is God's righteous damnation of the wicked good news for sinners? Or is God's declaration of sinners as righteous good news for sinners?
Next, Paul begins to address the "ungodliness and unrighteousness of men" (1:18) for several chapters. This is why we need justification, because by nature we all lack a righteous standing before God. In fact, we have just the opposite: we have a guilty standing before God. Even now, "the wrath of God is revealed from heaven" against us. All of creation bears witness to God's existence and attributes, yet in rebellion mankind has forsaken the knowledge of God and worshiped the creation rather than the Creator (1:19-23). Therefore God has given mankind over to all sorts of sinful behavior (1:24-32).
In chapter 2, Paul speaks of the future day of judgment that appears often in the New Testament's teaching. He warns those of us who are inclined to judge other sinners that we too are guilty of the same things. By the grace of God some sinners aren't as bad as others, but we're all bad. In verses 6 through 8 Paul sets up the same criteria for judgment that we find elsewhere in his epistles and in Jesus' parables. God "will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury." The question remains, though... won't we all by nature end up in the second group?
In verses 9 through 11, Paul states that this judgment applies to every human being, both Jew and Gentile. For, as he says in verses 12 through 16, even though the Gentiles have not been given the Law that was given to the Jews, they can still sin. The choices are to either sin without the law and perish without the law or to sin under the law and be judged by the law. Ignorance will not be a valid excuse "on that day when... God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus" (2:16).
Paul brings his indictment of humanity to a completion from 2:17 to 3:8. Jews have no ethnic advantage at the time of judgment. Adherence to the law regarding circumcision is no advantage, either. God is looking for much more. Paul's quote of Psalm 51 in Romans 3:4 is helpful in this section. The verb "to justify" is essentially the same as the noun "righteousness." But there is no English equivalent, "to righteous." The two competing ideas historically concerning this is that it can mean "to declare righteous" or "to make righteous." The former is concerned with a legal declaration, the second is concerned with internal transformation. But how does Paul use the word "justify" in Romans 3:4? He uses it of God. If we look at the original context of Psalm 51, we see that the "you" in that verse is God. David says that he has sinned against God, so God is "justified" in his words (specifically, his words of judgment against David in 2 Samuel 12:7-14). Now, is David (in Psalm 51) or Paul (in Romans) asserting that God is in any way "made righteous" when he speaks his words of judgment against sinners? Certainly not! On the contrary, he is "declared righteous."
So based on what Paul says next, what kind of standing does everybody have before God? He "has already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin" (3:9). He then uses a string of quotes from the Old Testament to describe the sinfulness of mankind in verses 10 through 18. His conclusion about the standing of mankind before God is clearly a negative one: "Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, through the law comes knowledge of sin." How will anyone be declared righteous in God's sight? It won't be by works of the law, because no one is good enough. God's revelation of his will to sinners just gives them knowledge of their sin and leaves them just as guilty as before. If the gospel ended here, we would all face the insurmountable task of accomplishing the impossible, and we could do nothing but despair.
But earlier Paul said that the gospel was the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes, both Jew and Gentile. This is good to hear, because both Jews and Gentiles are alike under sin and need a Savior. And in this gospel the righteousness of God is revealed. This is also good to hear, as we have seen that "none is righteous, no, not one," and no human being will be declared righteous in God's sight by works of the law, but we need righteousness in order to be given eternal life instead of wrath and fury on the day of judgment.
How does all this work together? How is this righteousness given to unrighteous sinners? Paul presents that in Romans 3:21 and following. "But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it - the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and 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. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."
Man's problem is that we are universally sinful and we therefore have a guilty standing before our Creator, who will one day call his creation to account. God's solution is that he sent his Son to live a perfect life, die a sacrificial death, and rise from the dead. Jesus redeems sinners with his blood, by being a propitiation for them, by satisfying God's wrath against their sin. At the cross, God declared Jesus guilty of our sins and treated him as we deserved to be treated. And because of the cross, God now declares us righteous and treats us as he deserved to be treated. Jesus is held legally responsible for our unrighteousness, and we are held legally responsible for Christ's righteousness. As you can see, forgiveness of sins is only half of the coin; the flip side is that we are now declared righteous by God.
As we move forward in Romans, we see that Paul continues to speak of justification for the rest of chapter 3 and throughout chapters 4 and 5. In them we learn that we are justified through faith alone (3:28), that since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (5:1), and that since we have now been justified by his blood, we shall certainly be saved by him from the wrath of God (5:9).
How does this all relate to the future judgment? How does the doctrine of justification through faith alone relate to Christ's judgment of the world on the last day? By Christ's work, God has essentially moved the judgment to determine our eternal destiny from the distant future to the present. We can know now what the verdict will be on the last day. We can know this because of two things. On the one hand, the universal sinfulness of mankind tells us that we can never be justified by works of the law. But on the other hand, the gospel of Christ tells us that we can be justified by faith now. And God is not a man, that he should lie; if he declares us righteous by the work of Christ now, we can know for certain that he will declare us righteous by the work of Christ on the judgment day.
Paul discusses the permanence of our justification, of our righteous standing before God, in Romans 8 as well. Without it, what kind of good news do we have? What would it matter if our present righteous standing before God was dependent on our works? We'd essentially be in the same position we were in before. But on the contrary, Paul says in Romans 8:1 that "there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." And in the golden chain of redemption later in that same chapter, Paul says that those whom God justified (every one of those and only those), he also glorified. It is so certain that it can be spoken of in the past tense even though it hasn't happened yet.
And Paul continues even further in verse 33: "Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies." If God himself has declared us righteous, no one can bring a charge against us that will change our legal standing before God. Is it something that God did not know of? Impossible. Is it something that Jesus' work on our behalf does not take care of? Verse 34 answers that: "Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died - more than that, who was raised - who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us." Christ's work on our behalf didn't end 2000 years ago; he now stands at the right hand of his Father and intercedes for us. He is not propitiating God's wrath anymore, but he is even now asking his Father to consider us righteous because of his life, death, and resurrection, and we know that the Father always hears the Son.
The ending verses of Romans 8 answer the best question of all: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" (8:34). If Christ loves us enough to die for us, will anything be able to stop him from loving us? Christ, who died to save us, will not turn around and condemn on judgment day those who he redeemed at Calvary. Paul's concluding sentence is worth every word: "For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (8:38-39). Amen!
Moving from Romans to the rest of the New Testament, we can see the doctrine of justification, our permanent righteous standing before God, elsewhere. Jesus' parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18:9-14 mentions justification. In 1 Corinthians 1:30, Paul says that Christ is our righteousness. 2 Corinthians 5:21 mentions both our sin being credited to Christ and Christ's righteousness being credited to us. And in Philippians 3:9, Paul contrasts the righteousness of his own that comes from the law to the righteousness from God which comes through faith in Christ. And Galatians has much to say about justification as well, as Paul was refuting the argument of the Judaizers who insisted that conversion to Judaism was necessary in order to be saved by Christ. Paul defends the opposing view, that both Jews and Gentiles are justified through faith, not works of the law.
Those are the scriptures I would use to defend the idea of a permanent righteous standing before God. I pray that God uses them to teach us so that we may worship and obey him rightly and bring all glory and honor to him and him alone.
In Christ,
Nate
posted by fargonate | 10:37 AM
|
3 comments
