What is justification by faith? Why is this doctrine very important to the fundamental understanding of man’s salvation?
Justification by faith has been a very controversial issue in many Christian denominations. Justification by faith has been the subject of heated debates not only between different denominations but also between members of the same denominations. Justification by faith has been the reason of so many petty quarrels between brethren in churches, and between friends and loved ones that caused a lot of backsliding and cooling off in faith.
Justification by faith has been an unsettled issue for centuries. Since the time when men started to read the Holy Bible, justification by faith started to kindle heated discussions in forums and in debates. The pioneers and leaders of the early Christian churches discussed and debated this issue without arriving to a united settled belief about justification by faith.
Why is this so?
It is because man has not fully understood what justification by faith is. There are many reasons why man has not fully comprehended the meaning of justification by faith. But the main primary reason is man’s lack of spirituality. As a mortal being, man’s wisdom is very limited to comprehend spiritual things about God.
Man’s lack of spirituality is due to his strong tendencies to materialism and secularism. Man’s love for the world and for the things therein has driven him to an insatiable desire to covet for more material possessions, and to aspire for lofty positions in this world.
Loving the world is not of the Father but is of the world. Loving the world and covetousness are both sins of idolatry against God. And when we commit sin, we grieve the Holy Spirit, and he does not dwell in us.
Spiritual things are spiritually discerned. Without the guidance and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in us, we cannot fully understand what really justification by faith is.
Justification by faith, in layman’s term, is simply forgiveness of sin through faith in Christ Jesus. In its simplest essence, justification by faith is fully believing with all our heart and trusting the Lord Jesus Christ that He is very much able to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
How can we fully believe and trust in the Lord with all our heart?
To fully believe and trust the Lord with all our heart is to know Him intimately. We cannot trust and rely on anybody whom we have not fully known. So it is imperative that we must know the Lord for us to trust Him fully.
How can we know Him? We have not heard Him nor seen Him.
There are many ways to know Him, but we will discuss the three most effective ways to know Him.
First, to know Him is to study and know His word. The Holy Bible is the Word of God. Prophets, apostles, disciples, and other holy men of God were inspired by God to write the holy scriptures. More than 35 authors from different eras and cultures wrote individually and separately the Holy Bible in a span of over 1500 years without contradictions. If we are not convinced of the divine inspiration of the Holy Scripture, consider the statistics of the fulfilled prophecies written in it.
The second best way to know God is through nature. Gaze upon the sky and see the innumerable stars. See the trees grow and bear fruits. See how the flowers bloom in their due season and how they exude sweet fragrance in the air. Hear the birds singing in the air. Breathe the fresh air around you. Feel the invigorating warmth of sunshine in the morning. Look at the sea and wonder how inexhaustible an ocean of water. All these are glaring manifestations and loudest testimonies of the existence of a very loving Designer and Creator: God.
The third best way is to consider ourselves. Have you not wondered why you are alive? Why are you able to read this article? Why do you hear the sounds around you? Why do we behave the way we do? Why are we worried and troubled when we have done wrong to our fellowmen and other creatures? Is it not wonderful?
Indeed, it is so wonderful and so beyond explanation! Our body is composed of so many irreducible complexities that cannot be explained by the human mind. It suffices to say that there is an omniscient Almighty God that created us fearfully and wonderfully.
The LORD God Almighty is a very loving God. His loving kindness and tender mercies endure forever and ever. God created us is his very own image and he breathed his very own breath into our nostrils to enliven us. He designed the world and the whole universe and everything in it solely for our own good. Scientists can tell us how God designed precisely and accurately the space, time, events, and conditions in this whole universe for the comfort and well being of his masterpiece of creation: man. More than 150 anthropic coincidences have been discovered by scientists that show how tender is the love of God for us all!
Indeed, God is very loving God. He gave his only begotten Son and sacrificed Him on the cross to redeem us from the curse of the law. Can there be any greater love than this?
God wants to save us more than we want to save ourselves. We are his creation and possession, and we rightly belong to him. He will never forsake us, unless we forsake him. God is not happy at the death of a sinner, but he rejoices for a repentant sinner who returns to him.
All power and authority, in heaven and on earth has been given to our Lord Jesus Christ. He will judge us all according to our works. But there is nothing to worry – the judge is our attorney Himself. Through our faith in Him, we will surely be justified and made righteous by the cleansing power of His blood.
What shall we do then to be justified through faith? Shall we obey the law and do good works to be saved?
The law is holy and honorable. It is the very character of God. The law is the righteousness of God. Obedience to the law is good, but we cannot obey it by ourselves. We are all sinners, and have come short of the glory of God. Our righteousness is just filthy rags unto God. No one is righteous, no, not one. When we obey the ten commandments and transgress the least in one of it, we are guilty of transgressing the whole law. Thus the near impossibility for man to obey the law by himself. The laws are tightly entwined with each other, and cutting a strand in it affects the whole.
By this very reason, no one shall be justified by the deeds of the law. Not because the law is not holy and honorable, but because man is weak and cannot obey the law apart from Christ. No amount of holiness and righteousness is acceptable to God the Father except the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Therefore it is very important that we acquire this righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ for us to be saved.
How can we acquire the righteousness of Christ? Can we pay for it, or exchange something for it?
The righteousness of Christ is a gift of God to everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is free for everyone, and there is no need to work for it. Salvation is a gift of God. We are saved by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Not by our works lest we boast.
There are three steps to acquiring the righteousness of Christ. These are justification, sanctification, and glorification. These three happen simultaneously on the very day when we genuinely repent our sins, fully surrender our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ and accept Him as our Savior and Lord of our lives.
Justification is the imputed righteousness of Christ. It is freely given to every repentant sinner who fully surrenders his life to God. Sanctification is the imparted righteousness of Christ. It is imparted by God through the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit that dwells in every believer in Christ. Sanctification is a day by day process until glorification when the Lord comes to change our vile mortal bodies and clothes us with immortality.
Justification by faith is trusting solely to the merits of the amazing grace of Christ on the Cross of Calvary and to His ongoing intercessory ministry for us in the Most Holy Place in the Heavenly Sanctuary as our High Priest forever in the order of Melchizedec.
We are saved by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not by our works. It is a gift of God. As a gift, we do not work for it nor pay for it. Christ has paid it fully for us with His blood on the Cross of Calvary.
The Bible says that we are no longer under the law but under grace. Shall we then discard the law because we are no longer under it? God forbid! God establishes the law!
How sure are we that the law is still binding up to this day, and that God establishes it?
Some people believe that the law was abolished and nailed to the cross, and we are no longer bound to obey it because we are now under grace. When will man ever see the glaring truth of how important God considers his law and how immutable it is when he paid a very great price by offering his only begotten Son as the greatest sin offering for us all on the cross of Calvary to fully satisfy the requirements of the law?
When we are justified through faith, the Holy spirit dwells in us and empowers us to obey the law. It is not us doing the works of the law, but God working in us through his Holy Spirit. For it is God that works in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure. We obey the law not to be saved, but rather, we obey the law because God has saved us already. It is not us obeying the law, but the Holy Spirit that dwells in us.
How sure are we that God has saved us already?
Why? Can there still be doubt as to the reality of the redemption made by the Lamb that was sacrificed on the Cross of Calvary for the remission of our sins? Was it a sham and of no effect that we should doubt the certainty of our salvation? John the Beloved, in one of his epistles, assured us of the absolute certainty that we have now eternal life through Jesus Christ. And very rightly so! Why? Because, God in his tender mercy and loving kindness will never fail us nor forsake us when we fully trust in him.
God is a very powerful God who can save us to the uttermost. And it is in this trust in the power of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that we have the assurance of salvation because the Holy spirit that dwells in us will guide us everyday and will see us through until the day of our final redemption.
