Key Verse:
“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” —Romans 5:1
Let me ask you an important question: “what is your biggest problem in life?” As we sojourn through this side of eternity, we face a myriad of problems – health, relationships, finances, situations (safety, success and advancement challenges, etc); each of these obstacles present many opportunities to trust God and obey Him as well as yield to temptation and do things our own way. I remember in my college years learning that in the Chinese language (a character rather than alphabet based language), the character that translates “crisis” also translates as the word “opportunity.” This is revealing – perhaps the Chinese were onto something when they decided to have these two words represent the same thing: crisis situations are excellent opportunities to put our faith into action and please our God with the faith His Word says brings glory to His name (Hebrews 11:6).
So what is your answer? Is it a health issue, a financial crisis or a relational challenge? The truth of the matter is: the majority of this planet’s populace is unaware of what their greatest problem in life is – a lack of peace with their Creator.
When we put our problems into perspective: all of them save one are merely temporary; yielding to the eternity we all face as creatures of a sovereign God. On the other hand, our biggest problem is eternal – it does not go away; in fact, if left unresolved, it will become a living nightmare that will never end.
I shudder to think of hell. To even conceive of a place of eternal torment and separation from the consoling presence of God (something we all take for granted in this fallen world) is terrifying at the very least. Nonetheless, hell is a real place and awaits those who do not find their refuge in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary (Psalm 2:10-12). Paul was very clear when he warned:
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
—Romans 6:23
The kind of death Paul speaks of here is not merely physical death: this is the universal consequence of the fall – he is speaking of a far more terrifying form of death, which John calls the “second death” in the book of Revelation –
“Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.” —Revelation 20:6
“Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.” —Revelation 20:14
Why are so many in danger of such a horrific eternity? Fallen man is at enmity with God – he is an enemy to God because of his rebellious and guilty status before the Judge of the universe. Paul speaks of this enmity (Ephesians 2:15, 16) and speaks of its removal solely in the finished work of Christ. This is one of the reasons why faith and works cannot remove this problem – Paul clearly notes that God’s response (solution) to the problem of our being God’s enemies was Christ’s death and nothing else (see: Romans 5:10). This is why our featured verse this week speaks of peace with God being attained solely by faith in what Jesus has done – it is by relying on what our Savior did on the cross that we are introduced to the grace of God which resolves our problem of being enemies with our Creator (Romans 5:2).
While the Scriptures will understandably speak of the role that works play in relation to the believer’s walk with God, they are never spoken of in relation to justification in a foundational manner – that which places a sinner into a right relationship with the Judge of the universe. Although some folks like to point to James 2 as an example of works playing a role in our justification, the context of the chapter makes clear that works are not grounds for our justification (meaning, the reason we are justified or a means to being justified) – they reflect our justification; they prove it or demonstrate it to human beings who, unlike God, cannot see into the heart of a person to see one’s faith (James 2:18b). This is the sense of the word justify as James uses it.
Because of what Jesus did, we are no longer enemies destined for God’s wrath (Ephesians 2:3) but now fully accepted children of God who are citizens of heaven; awaiting an eternal destiny marked by the bliss of enjoying His presence forever (Ephesians 2:4-7).
There are many dimensions to the blessing of justification; having peace with God is just one of them. Stay tuned for more of the benefits of justification (Psalm 103:2, 3) in the weeks to come.
—Larry Carrino
Post By: Dr. Larry Carrino, Educational Director of The Omega Institute. ©2007 The Omega Institute
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