Sabbath: Justification by Faith
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Read for This Week’s Study: Rom. 3:19-28.
Memory Text: “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law” (Romans 3:28).
In this lesson we come to the basic theme of Romans: justification by faith-the great truth that, more than any
other truth, brought about the Protestant Reformation. And despite all the claims to the contrary, Rome has no more changed regarding this belief now than it did in 1520, when Pope Leo issued a papal bull condemning Luther and his teachings. Luther burned a copy of the bull because if there were one teaching that could never be compromised, justification by faith was and is it.
The phrase itself is a figure based on law. The transgressor of the law comes before a judge and is condemned to death for his transgressions. But a substitute appears and takes the transgressor’s crimes upon himself, thus clearing the criminal. By accepting the substitute, the criminal now stands before the judge, not only cleared of his guilt but also regarded as never having committed the crimes for which he was first brought into court. And that’s because the substitute-who has a perfect record-offers the pardoned criminal his own perfect law-keeping.
In the plan of salvation each of us is the criminal. The substitute, Jesus, has a perfect record, and He stands in the court in our stead, His righteousness accepted in place of our unrighteousness. Hence we are justified before God, not because of our works but because of Jesus, whose righteousness becomes ours when we accept it “by faith.” Talk about good news! In fact, the news can’t get any better than that.
Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, October 28.
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Praise the Lord. The truth of Rom 3:24 is that we ARE justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Rom 5:1,9 reminds us that having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, … much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
Isn’t it beautiful how the Word of God gives us the assurance of the work of justification that God has so freely bestowed on us!
Hence, we should have no fear of the judgment or the uncertainty of our salvation, because we are confident that God who has begun a good work in us will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Phil 1:6.
Awesome news!
Yes true Fred, when I try to become holy by my own works in keeping the law, I am attempting an impossibility. All that I can do without Christ, is polluted with selfishness and sin. It is the grace of Christ alone, through faith, that makes me holy as He is. Now, obedience is not a mere outward compliance, rather my service of love.
You know when I read this lesson, I get the idea on where we are to start our relationship with God. We must at the beginning of that relationship acknowledge that we are sinner and that knowledge can only be obtained by looking at the law itself or the life of Jesus Christ. After gaining the knowledge of our condition as sinners before God we ask of Him help which does not comes from the law. The help comes from God himself.Each one of us has a measure of faith given by our dear God.God activates that faith and it becomes living to accept the good news of justification through believing in what Jesus did and is doing for us and we are accepted in the Beloved.
This side of JESUS' SECOND COMING our "Obedience," is never a "Perfect or flawless Obedience." And while it may be that THE GRACE OF CHRIST ALONE, and through Faith that GOD CONSIDERS ME TO BE AS HOLY AS HIS SON, the reality still is that, this side of His Second Coming I WILL NEVER BE ANYWHERE NEAR to being AS HOLY AS HE IS. Another reality is what EGW herself wrote and that I fully agree with is that The closer I come to Jesus, the more faulty I will appear in my own eyes because my vision is clearer, and my imperfections are seen by me in BROAD AND DISTINCT CONTRAST to His Perfect Nature. So YES, in His Son Jesus, GOD considers us as having never sinned and as being AS HOLY AS HIS SON IS. But being CONSIDERED HOLY AND SINLESS is not the same as ACTUALLY BEING THAT 100 %. The repentant thief on the cross was seen by GOD as being as holy as His Son Jesus but that never made that thief actually that 100%.
Pete, as a condition to having your comments published, please supply a real email address that you actually use. (We have tried to contact you multiple times without success.) And please do not use CAPITALS for emphasis, as we specify in our Comment Rules
1) How can justification be based on the law, if it was manifested apart from the law? (Doesn't Jesus taking my place before the judge because I'm a law breaker makes the law apart of my justification? Doesn't Jesus living a righteous life by obeying the law perfectly, and then imputing his law keeping to me make the law apart of my justification?)
2) The Oct 24th lesson says I'm ungodly until I accept Jesus, that I am not justified until I accept Jesus, and that when I sin that justification will go away until I repent and ask Jesus to justify me anew. (This is confusing because Paul says Christ died for the ungodly Romans 5:6, while we were the enemies of God, that grace came upon all because there is no difference godly and ungodly Romans 4:5, and that God justified the ungodly Romans 3:22)
Hi Clyde.
1) Yes, we will all be judged. We will either be judged by our own record (of sin) or by Christ's record (of perfection) offered freely to us by grace. The choice is ours as Paul so frequently reminded the Galatians.
2) Tuesday's lesson (October 24) lays it out pretty clearly. It doesn't say "when I sin... justification goes away," since salvation is always readily available, by grace, whenever we accept Jesus as our Substitute and Savior.
In the lesson, it says if we "fall away...". This refers to rejecting Jesus as our Savior in which case we will be judged by our record (of sin) and we will perish, unless and until we again accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior and are again justified by His record (of perfection).
Sieg,
1) Did God justified me when I was ungodly, his enemy, while I was dead in my sins? (Scripture says yes.)
2) Did Christ bare in his body all the sins of the whole world on the cross? (Scripture says yes.)
3) If these things are true, then how can I be judged for sins that have been forgiven and taken away?
Perhaps I will be judged for something else. Jesus said we cannot serve two masters, that we are the slave of the one we serve. Perhaps I will be judged for the one I served.
Hi Clyde. When Christ died on the cross for our sins, he offered all of us a pardon for our sins IF we accept it by faith. If we reject that pardon, then we are choosing to be judged and to pay for our own sins.
Your sins have been paid for once (by Christ). If you reject that payment and insist on paying it yourself (by rejecting the pardon), then God grants you that wish and you will be judged for your sins (and will perish).
Your statement is confusing. Paul says in Romans 3:3 "For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? 4 God forbid: " Paul said Christ died for the ungodly......that God justified the ungodly.......while we were dead in our sins......while we were the enemies of God. I was pardoned in full when Jesus died on the cross, that pardon is not conditional on my asking for it. My pardon was not only granted before I knew I needed it, it was granted almost 2,000 years ago long before I would be born.
God the Father cannot require me to pay for my own sins if Jesus has already paid them for me. At the judgment God the Father is not going to tell Jesus to get back on the cross an undied so he can give me my sins back.
Clyde. I'm not sure if you're being argumentative or just confused.
"I was pardoned in full when Jesus died on the cross, that pardon is not conditional on my asking for it."
That pardon is conditional on you accepting it by faith.
Please take the time to read the whole chapter of Romans 3. Then, carefully study this weeks lesson as it should clear up your confusion.
I was just reading "Mere Christianity" again and CS Lewis' comments on Christian love ( chapt 9 ) fit so well with this lesson. "Christian love, either towards God or towards man, is an affair of the will." It is not about feelings but having the will to act as if we love. God loves us, acts of our behalf, placing His Son on the cross in our place and providing the justice demanded by His law for us. Our response is not about feelings but to will ourselves to act inspired by the Spirit to do His will, to take care of our fellow man.
Sorry MR AND MRS MODERATORS I will try to do better about my use of CAPITALS
Yes, Pete, you broke the law!
(just a little light humor to ease the tension.)
May I propose that the metaphor/analogy used in Sabbath's lesson is problematic and at odds with Rom 6:23. According to this verse, the wages (Greek: opsonia) of sin is death. Wages are not a penalty/punishment - they are a consequential result of something.
Therefore, I would propose that it is more accurate to say that "the transgressor of the law comes before a judge and is condemned to death" by his transgression - not for his transgression. It is the transgression itself that is already inflicting death - that is what sin does.
I would further propose that such a view of sin being the source of death is consistent with Gen 2:17 where God warns/informs Adam and Eve that if they eat the fruit of the tree, they will die. God did not say that he would need to condemn them to death - sin would inherently do that.
It is sin itself that condemns us to a terminal condition - a death sentence. If this is true, why do we then need a judge to condemn us to death for our sin when we are already in a death condition by our sin in the first place? When the nature and inherent consequences of sin are considered, it doesn't make sense for a judge to need to condemn someone to death when they are already serving a death sentence.
It is not the nature or character of God to condemn - He doesn't need to because sin does that itself. However, condemnation is the nature and character of the deceiver.
Phil van der Klift,
Romans 6:13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
The transgressor comes before the judge at the end because of their rejection of grace not because of their sins. Jesus died for the sins of the whole world at the cross (for the ungodly) and His message is "neither do I condemn you." We let sin have dominion over us because we chose to yield to it and reject the way of escape Jesus provides for us every time we are tempted. At the judgment every knee will bow and every tongue will confess they were justified by the blood of Christ but rejected grace.
Hi Phil.
"It is sin itself that condemns us to a terminal condition - a death sentence."
Yes, we were all on (eternal) death row until Jesus came and offered not only to take our place and punishment, but to give us His place (as God's sons and daughters) and His perfection. This is accurately discussed in Sabbath's lesson.
As Clyde noted, the lost will ultimately join Satan in the lake of fire not because they sinned but because they rejected the pardon for those sins. Thus, sin condemns us to a terminal condition only if we refuse to accept the pardon offered by Jesus as a gift.
Hi Seig
Some questions if I may to follow up on what I think you are saying.
If it is 'sin' itself that is causing my death (which I have proposed is the case), why does God need to punish me on top of that?
And if it is sin that is causing my death, then if Jesus does somehow take my punishment, that still leaves me with sin causing my death. How do I get that fixed?
Or do I need Jesus to actually deal with the sin that is causing my death - and therefore there is no need of Him to take my punishment because there is no punishment (because it is sin that is causing my death)?
Jesus did not conditionally died for the sins of some on the cross but not for others, He died for the sins of the whole world. On the day of atonement was the sanctuary cleansed of sins? How many sins remained after the day of atonement? Did God tell the high priest that he was going to send back some sins that had been forgiven in years past because some people had fallen away?
The wages of sin is death and Jesus paid them once for all. Jesus is not going to get back on the cross at the judgment and give back sins. Sin will not cause your final death at the judgment nor will the law, your rejection of the free gift of salvation Jesus died to give you will cause it. The books that are opened, the records that are revealed will focus on which master you served; Jesus or Satan. Those rejected at the door said let us in because we did all these things in your name, they didn't say let us in because we didn't commit that sin, or that sin, or that sin.....
My observation is several of you spend a lot of your time trying to disparage the Ten Commandments by saying they are dead, gone and evil and I can't help but feel those efforts serves the wrong master as much as those that advocate the strict keeping of the law as a means to help in their own salvation.
Hi Phil. I think where you're getting hung up is on the notion that sin causes our eternal death. This was only true until Jesus offered Himself as our Substitute. In doing so, our sin and it's consequence (death) were placed on Christ, thus pardoning us from our sin and it's consequences. When we accept this by faith, it is as if we never sinned in God's eyes.
Our sin doesn't cause our eternal death. Our rejection of Christ's pardon causes our eternal death.
i believe when Jesus said in Matthew 5 blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven he knew that for us to accept the gift of salvation we need to see our true selves for what we are as nothing but sinners in need.The law demands death but the death of Christ has met those demands if anyone perishes then it will be by choice,because Jesus has paid it all.