Abel - Justification
In this session again we are reminded of God's continual love. Before looking at this session please thoink about the following questions and what they mean to you:
1. What is the source of justification? Explain your answer with scripture references if possible.
2. How does God treat us when we are justified?
3. What can we loose sight of when we only speak of our legal standing before God?
4. Why will God not share His glory with others?
Through Christ we now have a legal standing before God - yet we have also entered into a loving relationship because He is our loving Father.
Our Father enables us to sustain our part of this relationship, and grow in all that He has provided, in the power and intimacy of His Spirit.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Rom 3:23-24
The source of justification is the love and grace of God alone. Justification originates in the heart of God and not man and is offered, without compromise to the holiness of God, through the blood of Christ.
Abel was accepted because He took hold of God's provision and did not provide anything that pointed to self justification.
By faith our lives are about appropriating all that God has done and the way we live should clearly reveal that which has already taken place - we have been accepted into His family. We have been forgiven. 'The doctrine of justification invites us to acknowledge our imperfection and sin - while rejoicing in the purpose and power of God to transform the poverty of our nature into the likeness of Jesus Christ.' Prof A. McGrath in Self-Esteem, p 100
In order to know God's forgiveness we need to accept that His judgment of our lives is true - we are sinners who need salvation. This fact alone highlights the danger of a 'gospel', which simply promises help to those who are struggling. People do not need a self-help guru or hero figure. They need a Saviour.
The believing man hopes at the very point where there is, in the earthly sense, nothing more to hope for
Kaseman in The Faith Of Abraham, p92
So what is justification all about?
Justification is more than pardon since it declares that the demands of the law are satisfied, not waived.
To pardon someone can speak of exercising a prerogative to waive the execution of the law that has been broken (for example Barabbas was released Mat 27:26). Yet a criminal who has been released in this way still remains a criminal.
We are justified without the deeds of the law (Rom 3:28; Gal 2:16) despite the fundamental idea of justification being that of perfect conformity to the requirements of the moral law.
This is only possible through the life, death and resurrection of Christ who perfectly fulfilled the law in every thought, word and deed, no matter the situation or circumstances He found Himself in. He alone has satisfied all the demands of the law.
There are not two alternative ways of being accepted by God, but there are two figures by which acceptance is expressed: the verdict of the judge and the blessing of the priest. Both are found in the New Testament. In Romans, the language of the law-court is used to describe our justification; in Hebrews the language of the sanctuary includes the same truth. Christ's once-for-all sacrifice makes forever before those who are thereby sanctified Heb 10:14 Hebrews clearly locates this perfecting in the past with respect to its accomplishment in the present with respect to its enjoyment.
Right with God. Justification in the Bible and the World p 29. Ed Dr D.A. Carson
I am seen as forgiven, yet still need to deal with sin. This is not a contradiction and is only possible through Christ.
If justification were mere pardon it would simply release us from penal suffering, but would provide no further good for us. But 'Justification through faith in Christ,' secures not pardon only, but also peace, grace, reconciliation, adoption of sons, coheirship etc.
Prof A. Hodge, Outlines of Theology p 507
To justify does not mean that I have been made righteous in the sense that I'll never do anything wrong again and perfectly conform to God's law of love.
To justify speaks of pronouncing as righteous (biblically this means being made right with God). God the Holy One has declared that believers in Christ's saving work are justified. This is all about His righteousness (Rom 3:24, Phil 3:9) being imputed to us.
Imputation is the charging or crediting to one's account the work of another.
But this idea of 'being right with God' is relational rather than moral.
It is primarily about the way in which we relate to God, not about any moral or ethical qualities we may possess.
Prof A.McGrath in Self-Esteem p 96
In being justified through the work of Christ we are no longer under condemnation (Romans 8:1). We have been restored to favour with God and are now clothed in His righteousness Galatians 3:27
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1
The word 'condemnation' in Romans 8:1 is translated from the Greek word 'Katakrima'. The suffix - ma - makes it the result of judgment. There is no condemnatory judgement because of the work of Christ being attributed to our lives.
Justification. As forensic it has to do not with a sinner's personal condition but with his relation to the Ruler and Judge of the Universe. It is the pronouncement of the righteous Judge that the believer is acquitted from all guilt of sin.
Prof D. Carson in Right With God, p 66
Since God has pronounced us as righteous on the basis of the work of His Son, He always takes note of that which has been attributed to us.
As we have already been saying, in justification God does not create right conduct in us. Rather, He imparts righteousness to us as a new standing before him. It is the ongoing change of heart and mind - of character and attitude- that reveals those who have accepted God's offer of life, not adherence to outward ritual as a means of gaining acceptance.
Justification. It signifies that relation to the law into which we are brought in consequence of the righteousness of Christ being made legally ours. We are absolved from all liability to the penalty, and the rewards promised to obedience are declared to belong to us.
Prof A. Hodge, Outlines of Theology page 498
Because of Christ alone we are now treated as one in whom the covenant is fulfilled. Christ's righteousness satisfies the penalty of the law and believers are now treated as those with respect to whom the covenant is fulfilled and to whom all its promises and advantages legally accrue.
You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. Gal 3:26-27
If our inheritance were based on good works then salvation would have been credited to us as a debt paid for work we had done. Yet what do the scripture say?
Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. Rom 4:4-6
In His book 'Justification' (p684) Prof J. Packer writes:
'It is for Paul God's fundamental act of blessing for it both saves from the past and secures for the future.'
We are those who have been given new birth
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade - kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 1 Peter 1: 3-5
We have been included in Christ
And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession - to the praise of his glory. Ephesians 1;13-14
Justification has an eschatological significance because the judgment of the last day is brought into the present with its final verdict.justification brings peace with God (because sins and forgiven) and the hope of Gods glory (because the sinner is accepted as righteous).'...it is only through a proper understanding of justification by faith alone that we are able to have a true estimate of sin and a proper grasp of the significance of the cross.Good works, even miraculous good works, have intruded as Christians have looked to these to provide the grounds for their day-to-day confidence and assurance.
Prof P.T. O'Brian in Right With God p84-85 ed D.A. Carson
As has been pointed out, justification is not an initial judicial act of God when the believer was first saved, which is then followed by a further justification that is based on my good works on the day of judgement to see whether I am worthy of heaven.
In and of my own self I am worthy of nothing except condemnation.
Scripture clearly reveals that I will be called to account concerning how I have lived my life (2 Corinthians 5:10). Yet the rewards that are spoken of in scripture do not earn me salvation, or maintain it since it is possible to loose all rewards and yet be a saved person.
If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames. 1 Cor 3:14-15
The law is a rule of life and not of justification.
Concerning 2Cor 5:10. The Corinthians knew that Paul had appeared before the judgment seat (bema; Acts 18:12). Here he alludes to the O.T. Jewish image of God's throne as the ultimate judgement seat. The emphasis in the verse is on the deeds of the body, which he makes to reiterate his opposition to the remaining elements of Greek ideas concerning the destruction of the body. See also 1 Cor 6:12-14.
- We are called to receive and grow in that which his already ours. We are not called to achieve salvation.
Since Christ's life, death, and resurrection accomplished our salvation, our part is not to achieve it, but to receive it.when he died to sin, so did we; when he rose to eternal life, we rose with him. When he ascended to heaven we entered the heavenly places with him. For that reason our justification is not simply a future hope but a present reality, made ours through faith.
D Carson in Right with God p 47
And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:6-7
In our own strength and resources none of us have been, nor ever will be worthy for heaven. The whole basis of my justification - from first to last - is the work of Christ. Good works (seen in character, attitude and a willingness to deal with sin for example) reveal the presence of true faith.
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Heb 11:6
In Romans 5:1 we read that we have been justified through faith. Faith does not justify because it produces the fruit of love for Christ but because it has received the fruit of Christ's sacrificial love. Under the anointing of the Spirit we now reach out to others in the fruit of His work. Before we look at what we do as believers, we should be looking at what we are like!
Because all goodness stems from the heart of God, if we are really with Him then we become those who reveal the nature and character of Christ in our own lives by the gracious presence of the Spirit who works with us.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23
From this we see that Justification is not only about our legal standing before God. It is also the reason that sanctification can occur on a daily basis.
God's Spirit now lives with us and sanctification is the work of His Spirit with the yielded heart of the believer, but to what purpose? To enable us to become in experience what we already are in position - a son or daughter of the living God.
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. John 13:34-35
Since all blessing is of the Lord we should not be proud of our own achievements or point to self in any way. To act in this way could be likened to a person who steals a pie from a shop, cooks it and presents it to friends as if he or she had purchased the ingredients and made the pie. God will not share His glory with another.
I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols. Isaiah 42:8
For Paul then, getting in and staying in are covered by the seamless robe of faith as opposed to works, with the result that works come in as evidential rather than instrumental.
E.P. Sanders in Paul, the Law and the Jewish People p 92
Paul says that we are justified freely by God's grace (Romans 3:23-25). Justified freely is in the present tense.
God not only justifies but keeps on justifying. He is the One who brings us into a relationship with Him. He has come to our side despite what we deserve!
Our response to this should always be a grateful receiving of what God has done with the desire to point to Him in all things as the true source of life and blessing. Karl Barth captures something of the heart of the believer in this when he talks about prayer in one of his volumes on Church Dogmatics
When he comes to God simply with his request he comes with empty hands. But empty hands are necessary when human hands are to be spread out before God and filled by Him. He who is obedient to Him is ready to begin at the beginning every time he prays. He always understands God as the unique source of all-good and himself as absolutely needy in relation to Him. He puts himself joyfully under the fundamental law of the covenant relationship. He has nothing either to represent or to present to God except himself as the one who has to receive all things from Him.
Dr K. Barth in Church Dogmatics, ed by G. Bromiley and T.F. Torrence, vol 3
Think of the response to God of some of those who received so much (eg. Zaccheus, or Mary when she washed Jesus' feet). Surely those who have really met Christ deal with sin rather than simply wrestle with it, and show the fruit of salvation in nature and character? If they do not, and totally refuse to face or deal with issues then are they really saved?
Throughout scripture we see the fragrance of Christ reaching through the closed doors of hearts and minds, and continually challenging people to let go of old thought patterns that so easily imprison.
As can be seen in the lives of all believers, this does not mean life will be easy; we have been brought home, are being brought home and will finally arrive in the fullness of what God has done for us.
Please review the following questions and see what you can add to your answers.
1. It is the Holy Spirit who transforms the dry barrenness of legalism (man's attempts to adhere to law and justify self) to genuine freedom. We are able to follow God and serve him purely because of His love.
2. In the judgment it is the empirical reality of one's life before God (hence in the body) as 'works' that will be revealed and evaluated.
3. This does not contradict James who says faith without works is dead. James is speaking of those who nominally say they follow Christ yet have never really met Him - their lives continue in the old pattern of thinking feeling and acting. There is no power, no intimacy; no fellowship. James says that if you are really saved, it will be seen in a change of character and lifestyle.
Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behaviour. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation- if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant. Colossians 1:22-23
Without blemish - His work; free from accusation: our work, which does not merit maintaining salvation but gains rewards. True rewards come to those who recognise that reward is totally of grace.(Benjamin cleaning car).
We are called to live in community - a community has rules and regulations.
The word 'tasted' in Hebrews 6:4-5 is the same word found in Mt 27:34 where Jesus tasted wine mingled with gall, but refused to drink it. Hebrews 6 speaks of Israelites who had been associated with the works of God, or those who had initially sought to follow Christ having seen his works; whose lives have been influenced by Him, yet had not turned to Him.
Please review your answers and ask yourself what this session has taught you about God.