When we become Christians, our relationship with everything and everyone is fundamentally transformed, in many cases utterly inverted. It affects us psychologically, volitionally, emotionally, spiritually, physically, relationally … and legally. The legal change in our standing before God is what the Bible is talking about when it uses the word justified / justification. ‘Justification’ is the opposite of ‘condemnation’ in the Divine Court of Law. It speaks not merely of acquittal, but of a right legal standing, a vindication, of being judged to possess a perfect human righteous. The implications are breathtakingly. The mighty Dutch Reformed theologian, Bavinck wrote: ‘Of all the benefits [of our union with Christ] first place is due to justification, for by it we understand the gracious, judicial act of God, by which He acquits humans of all the guilt and punishment of sin, and confers on them the right to eternal life’.
It is a powerful spiritual reality that takes us to the heart of one of the deepest mysteries in the Bible: How can God justify (i.e. declare righteous) the wicked (Rom.4:5)? How can God look on a life that is riddled with intrinsic sinfulness and declare it to be righteous, without violating His own righteousness? If he is going to do what is right, then He ought to look at a life that is sinful and wicked and declare it to be sinful and wicked, and deal with it accordingly (Dt.25:1; Prov.17:15; Ps.11:4-7 etc.). This is a question of God’s righteousness as much as it is ours. How can God ‘not treat us as our sins deserve, or repay us according to our iniquities’ (Ps.103:10)? It is the deepest problem of a fallen creation. How does God in His wisdom, resolve that problem without causing dissonance within His own being? How can He be gracious and righteous, forgiving and just?
The answer is found at the cross. God’s putting forth Christ as a sacrifice is first and foremost a demonstration of His own justice … so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus (Rom.3:26). It is what Martin Luther describes as ‘the great exchange’ that comes about through faith. In one direction, my sinfulness is credited, attributed, imputed to Jesus and as He takes to Himself a sinfulness that is not His own, so He takes to Himself God righteous condemnation of that sin. In the other direction, His righteousness as a Man who has lived in total obedience to the Law (Gal.2:16; 3:11) is credited to my account, and on that basis God declares me to be righteous (Rom.5:17-19). Remember that this is a legal transaction. None of this changes my nature, or affects my spiritual condition. I remain a sinner who is at the same time declared righteous. You may have heard this referred to in disparaging terms as a ‘legal fiction’. But as there is nothing fictitious about Jesus becoming sin on the cross and dying a God-forsaken death, so there is nothing fictitious about my becoming the righteousness of God and as such being vindicated (II Cor.5:21). It can feel counter-intuitive to begin with, but it is liberating, both for God and for us. The demands of obedience to the Law have been satisfied and fulfilled on my behalf by Jesus.
This has always been the understanding of the Church, and as such, it finds its place in the CofE’s basis of faith: We are accounted righteous before God solely on the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, through faith, and not on account of our own good works, or of what we deserve. The teaching that we are justified by faith alone is a most wholesome and comforting doctrine…’ (Art.11, see also the Homily on Salvation).
Questions
Have you ever wondered if God is continuing to punish you for sins you committed in the past? How does this study help you to think this through?
The Canons of the Council of Trent (1545-63) still stands as the official teaching of the Roman Catholic Church. Canon 9: “If anyone says that by faith alone the impious is justified … let him be anathema.” Why do you think RC-ism takes such a strident view of this? How do you feel about it?
Read Rom.3:21-31
How has the righteousness of God now been made known (v.21)? Why is it important to realise that this stands in line with the Old Testament?
How serious is that ‘all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God’ (v.23)? How would you describe the impact of sin on us as humans? …on the world?
What would you say to someone who said they knew people who weren’t Christians who were better people than the Christians they knew?
Why is Paul underlining the issue of ‘sin’ so emphatically in this whole opening section of Romans (see esp. 1:18-32; 2:1-16; 3:9-20)?
What is a ‘sacrifice of atonement’ (v.25, NIV)? What is Paul teaching us about the nature of Jesus’ death on the cross?
Other translations render it: propitiation (ESV - some of you may recognise this word from BCP); sacrifice for sin (NLT); or ‘God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear that world of sin’ (The Message).
In what sense has sin prior to the cross been left unpunished (v.25)? How does that call God’s righteousness into question? How is this resolved in the cross?
What does Paul mean when he describes God as ‘the One who justifies those who have faith in Jesus (v.26)? What does it mean to be justified (also vv.28 & 30)?
How does Paul’s teaching lead to humility (v.27)?
What is a Christian’s relationship to the Law of God as laid out in the OT? Should we keep the Law or not (v.27-31)?
