“Being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” —Romans 3:24-26
When we consider the greatness of our own sin in the sight of a holy God, one naturally wonders how creatures such as we can ever be seen as righteous and acceptable in the tribunal of our Creator. The problem for post-modern man is that, although he recognizes by and large that he is certainly far less than perfect, he does not really understand just how sinful he really is when set in the light of God’s perfection. I believe that if each of us could have the veil pulled aside just for one moment and truly peer into the reality of our own sinfulness, we would be horrified. Martin Luther understood far more about his own unworthiness before His Lord than most of us do and was positively haunted by it. Undoubtedly, the age in which he lived (where there was a much greater awareness of the things of God than today) as well as his personal background (his legal training prior to his entrance into an Augustinian monastery) conditioned him to possess a greater appreciation for the greatness of his own sin. For years, Luther struggled with what he considered the impossibility of a sinful man to ever truly be made right with a holy God. Because His Roman Catholicism set the template for his understanding of justification (by works), he was right at the time – it really is impossible for a man to be made right before God by what we do or do not do.
The truth about justification, however, is much more encouraging and hopeful. Because a man is made right before God on the basis of what Christ has done and not ourselves, the grounds of our justification (the legal basis by which God can declare us righteous) is sure and secure because it is truly perfect in God’s sight.
The Scripture relates very early on what God’s demands are regarding our justification:
“For I am the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God; thus, you shall be holy, for I am holy.” —Leviticus 11:45
To simply read this verse (and those like it) sends chills up my spine – it is a sheer human impossibility. This fact was lamented by the disciples in their conversation with the Master:
“ ‘Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle , than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.’ When the disciples heard this they were very astonished and said, ‘Then who can be saved?’ And looking at them, Jesus said to them, ‘With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’” —Matthew 19:24-26
How does God pull off the impossible in justifying sinful man? The dilemma here is that if God simply “waves off” our sin debt graciously, He would fail to be just as we would be literally getting away with murder (or something worse: multiple crimes against the Judge of the Universe). There must be sentencing and punishment against sin – so God directed His wrath to His Son who took the place of the elect and acted as their Substitute in absorbing what we should have rightfully suffered. In this act of substitution, this Lord who lived the perfect life we should have lived (thus, fulfilling the demands of the law) and in doing so as the God-Man (whose life is of infinite value), we possess by faith in Him the Perfect propitiation for our sins (the One who fulfills God’s righteous demands that we could never ourselves fulfill) and the legal grounds for being declared righteous.
So does the man or woman who has faith in Jesus actually become perfect? I think we all know the answer to that question – although important changes take place in the heart and life of the person who has been regenerated by the Spirit of God, we certainly do not become perfected this side of eternity. This is why it is important to understand that justification is forensic (legal) – it is a declaration by the Judge of all men that we are considered righteous on the basis of what Someone Else did for us, namely, Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross of Calvary. In dying for us and through faith in Him and Him alone, two important things take place in the tribunal of heaven: Christ takes our sins because they were “credited” to Him on the cross where He bore them and paid the price for them, and we are “credited” with His righteousness where now we are seen as the very righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21). This act of double imputation (this dual transaction where our sin is transferred to Christ and His righteousness transferred to us) ensures that God may remain just (because the sin was fully paid for) and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus, just our key passage states.
It has been said by opponents to the gospel that this is nothing more than “legal fiction” – God cannot declare someone righteous who is in fact not righteous, such as us; this is a fantasy of theological “legalese.” However, what escapes these critics is that what they are denying in one direction they are admitting in the other. Consider this: even the critics admit that a truly righteous man was declared a sin offering when He died on the cross for us (in bearing our sins in His body on the tree as 1 Peter 2:24 states), but they deny that a truly sinful man (or woman) can be declared righteous because of the same transaction! So, if men cannot be legally declared righteous because of what Jesus did on the cross, then Jesus could not have bore our sins because He was never truly sinful. This is not legal fiction, this is the genius of God. This is our justification and this is why it can only be possessed by faith alone in the One who secured it for us.
—Larry Carrino
Post By: Dr. Larry Carrino, Educational Director of The Omega Institute. ©2007 The Omega Institute
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