Devotions on Grace

Rom 3:21-28 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. Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

God desire to establish a righteous kingdom is now going to be seen, not in a moral code, but by people having faith in Jesus as the Messiah who died for their sins and was raised. This right relationship with God under the Divine rule will come to both Jew and Gentile who believe in Jesus as their personal prophet, priest, and king. There is no prejudice towards any ethnic group or color of skin. All who believe will be made right with God through the work of the Messiah Jesus.

Both the Jew and the Gentile have fallen away from God and have either become lost in lawless deeds of depravity or legalistic systems of self righteousness and pride. The end result, they have all failed to reach the glorious reflection of being made in God’s image and living in accord with the divine reflection made within them. They have not become the incarnation of righteous love.

As Dr. Moule says: "The harlot, the liar, the murderer, are short of it; but so are you. Perhaps they stand at the bottom of a mine, and you on the crest of an Alp; but you are as little able to touch the stars as they." Every human being has failed to obey God. Every human being has failed to love God. Every human being has failed to love other people as they should have loved them.

All who have a true faith in the Messiah Jesus as the ultimate revelation of truth, the sacrifice for their sins on the cross, and the desired ruler of their lives are declared righteous before God by his unconditional mercy and as a gift. Even their faith is a work of God’s grace in their hearts. Faith comes from hearing the word of Christ and having this word empowered by the Holy Spirit to produce faith (Romans 10:17). Those who are declared righteous due to their union and communion with the Lord Jesus the Messiah are made right with God as a free gift entirely unrelated to their obedience to the law.

Justification was a legal term in the Greek culture and was used to describe a judge declaring an accused person not guilty and therefore innocent before the law. The importance of this is found in this quote by Pastor John McArthur.
“Justification is God’s declaration that all the demands of the law are fulfilled on behalf of the believing sinner through the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Justification is a wholly forensic, or legal, transaction. It changes the judicial standing of the sinner before God. In justification, God imputes (credits) the perfect righteousness of Christ to the believer’s account, then declares the redeemed one fully righteous. Justification must be distinguished from sanctification, in which God actually imparts Christ’s righteousness to the sinner. While the two must be distinguished, justification and sanctification can never be separated. God does not justify whom He does not sanctify.” (MacArthur, J: Romans 1-8. Chicago: Moody Press)
Pastor John McArhur’s concern about using the idea of grace to justify a life of lawless living is a needed reminder which Paul will make in Romans 6. However the main point here is that apart from any works God has declared us righteous as a free gift which is in Jesus the Messiah.
Paul develops his teaching about justification around three themes. The death of the Messiah Jesus and his resurrection from the dead has accomplished three divine acts.
Justification: an image from the court of law
Redemption: an image from the slave market)
Propitiation: an image from the world of religion, appeasing God through sacrifice
Justification solves the problem of man's guilt before a righteous Judge. Redemption solves the problem of man's slavery to sin, the world, and the devil. Propitiation solves the problem of offending God our Creator. We have been declared righteous in the divine court, freed from slavery and declared a Son of God, and cleansed from the filth of our sins.
God’s sacrifice of Jesus the Messiah on the cross for sins also demonstrated that forgiveness was not being done at the expense of justice. Grace did not mean we could just forget the right demands of the law. No, grace meant that the full price of the justice would be paid by another and the guilty would go free without any violation of the moral code of God. There is no cheap grace only infinitely expensive grace given by God.
It should be noted that the most popular New Testament scholar of the 21st century, Dr. N.T. Wright and his “New Perspective on Paul” would disagree with this view of justification. Within conservative reformed circles this new approach is called “The Federal Vision”. There are many complicated and complex issues related to both movements.
However, what they both seem to have in common is that ultimately being justified is based on the spirit-inspired works in/through them and not on the objective work of Christ on the cross outside of them. . In other words, Dr. Wright is saying that justification is not in Christ alone. Justification in this view involves the work of Christ (forgiveness of sin in the present) and the Spirit (being made righteous in our lives which will be judged in the future). This new perspective while lacking the rituals of the Roman Catholic Church is teaching the same basic view that was held to by the medieval church before the reformation. I do not believe that Dr. N.T. Wright’s perspective or that of the “Federal Vision” provides for us a right understanding of justification and my view is that the traditional protestant perspective of objective justification in Christ alone is the right interpretation of scripture.
Why is this important? This is important because legalism can corrupt the church just as easily as lawlessness. It takes very little for us to begin to think we are the best and the brightest. Feelings of being elite and superior need little encouragement. Nothing feels better to our brokenness than a baptized pride and self righteousness gained in “humility” before God.
However in the end only those who know they have been forgiven much will love much. Everything that takes away from grace also deadens our love for the LORD. Only a vision of pure grace will lead to a pure love for God. May we see God’s grace today! Amen