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justification
Justification is an act of grace from God in and through Jesus Christ, through which the believer is justified in God's eyes. Thus, through faith in Jesus Christ, man is granted God's forgiveness and he finds peace with his Lord and Savior. Christ is the descendant and the old covenant is out of date. In the new covenant, our relationship with God is based on a different foundation, it is based on a different agreement. (Romans 3: 21-31; 4,1-8; 5,1.9; Galatians 2,16)
Justification by faith
God called Abraham from Mesopotamia and promised his descendants to give them the land of Canaan. After Abraham was in the land of Canaan, it came to pass that the word of the Lord came to Abram in revelation: Fear not, Abram! I am your shield and your very great reward. But Abram said, Lord my God, what will you give me? I go there without children, and my servant Eliezer of Damascus will inherit my house... You gave me no offspring; and behold, one of my servants shall be my inheritance. And behold, the Lord said unto him, He shall not be thy inheritance, but he that shall come forth from thy body shall be thy inheritance. And he bade him go out, and said, Look up to heaven, and count the stars; can you count them And said to him: Your descendants shall be so numerous.1. Moses 15,1-5).
That was a phenomenal promise. But even more amazing is what we read in verse 6: "Abram believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness." This is a significant statement of justification by faith. Abraham was considered righteous on the basis of faith. The Apostle Paul develops this idea further in Romans 4 and Galatians 3.
Christians inherit the promises of Abraham on the basis of faith - and laws given to Moses simply cannot undo those promises. This principle is used in Galatians 3,17 taught. This is a particularly important section.
Faith, not law
In Galatians Paul argued against a legal heresy. In Galatians 3,2 he asks the question:
"I want to know this from you alone: Did you receive the Spirit through the works of the law or through the preaching of faith?"
It asks a similar question in verse 5: "So he who gives you the Spirit and does these things among you, does he do it by works of the law or by preaching of faith?"
Paul says in verses 6-7, “So it was with Abraham: he believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. Therefore know that those who are of faith are Abraham's children.” Paul quotes 1. Moses 15. If we have faith, we are Abraham's children. We inherit the promises God made to him.
Notice verse 9, "Therefore they that are of faith will be blessed with believing Abraham." Faith brings blessings. But if we rely on keeping the law, we will be condemned. Because we do not comply with the requirements of the law. But Christ saved us from that. He died for us. Notice verse 14, "He redeemed us, that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, and that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith."
Then, in verses 15-16, Paul uses a practical example to tell the Galatian Christians that the Mosaic Law cannot cancel the promises made to Abraham: “Brothers, I will speak in a human way: Man yet do not revoke a man's will when it is confirmed, nor add anything to it. Now the promise is made to Abraham and to his seed.”
That "offspring" [seed] is Jesus Christ, but Jesus is not the only one to inherit the promises made to Abraham. Paul points out that Christians also inherit these promises. If we have faith in Christ, we are Abraham's children and inherit the promises through Jesus Christ.
A temporary law
Now we come to verse 17, "Now I mean this: The covenant which was previously confirmed by God is not broken by the law which was given four hundred and thirty years afterward, so that the promise would come to naught."
The law of Mount Sinai cannot break the covenant with Abraham, which was based on faith in God's promise. That's the point Paul is making. Christians have a relationship with God based on faith, not law. Obedience is good, but we obey according to the new covenant, not the old. Paul is emphasizing here that the Mosaic law—the old covenant—was temporary. It was only added until Christ came. We see that in verse 19, "What then is the law? It was added because of sins, until the offspring come to whom the promise is made.”
Christ is the offspring and the old covenant is outdated. In the new covenant, our relationship with God is based on a different foundation, based on a different agreement.
Let's read verses 24-26: "So the law was our tutor unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under the disciplinarian. For ye are all children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” We are not under the laws of the old covenant.
Now let's move on to verse 29, "If ye be Christ's, then ye are Abraham's children, heirs according to the promise." The point is that Christians receive the Holy Spirit on the basis of faith. We are justified by faith or declared righteous with God by faith. We are justified on the basis of faith, not by observance of the law, and certainly not on the basis of the old covenant. When we believe God's promise through Jesus Christ, we have a right relationship with God.
In other words, our relationship with God is based on faith and promise, as in Abraham. Laws added to Sinai can not change the promise made to Abraham, and these laws can not change the promise given to all who are children by the faith of Abraham. This law package became obsolete when Christ died and we are now in the new covenant.
Even the circumcision, which Abraham received as a token of his covenant, cannot change the original faith-based promise. In Romans 4, Paul points out that his faith declared Abraham righteous and therefore became acceptable to God when he was uncircumcised. It was at least 14 years later when circumcision was ordered. Physical circumcision is not required for Christians today. Circumcision is now a matter of the heart (Romans 2,29).
The law can not save
The law can not give us salvation. All it can do is condemn us because we are all lawbreakers. God knew in advance that no one could keep the law. The law points us to Christ. The law can not give us salvation, but it can help us see our need for salvation. It helps us realize that justice must be a gift, not something we can earn.
Suppose the Judgment Day comes and the judge asks you why he should let you into his domain. How would you answer? Would we say that we have kept certain laws? I hope not, because the judge could easily point out laws that we did not keep, sins that we unconsciously committed and never regretted. We can not say that we were good enough. No - all we can do is beg for mercy. We have the faith that Christ died to redeem us from all sins. He died to free us from the punishment of the law. That is our only basis for salvation.
Of course, faith leads us to obedience. The new covenant has a lot of own bids. Jesus places demands on our time, our hearts and our money. Jesus abolished many laws, but he also re-affirmed and taught some of those laws that they should be kept in the spirit and not merely superficial. We need to look to the teachings of Jesus and the apostles to see how the Christian faith in our lives should function in the new covenant.
Christ died for us so that we could live for him. We are freed from the slavery of sin so that we become slaves of righteousness. We are called to serve each other, not ourselves. Christ demands of us everything we have and everything we are. We are called to obedience - but are saved by faith.
Justified by faith
We can see this in Romans 3. In a short passage, Paul explains the plan of salvation. Let's see how this passage confirms what we saw in Galatians. “…because no man can be righteous before him by the works of the law. For through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God is revealed, attested by the law and the prophets” (vv. 20-21).
The scriptures of the Old Testament foretold salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and this is done not by the law of the old covenant, but by faith. This is the basis of the New Testament conditions of our relationship with God through our Savior Jesus Christ.
Paul continues in verses 22-24, “But I speak of the righteousness before God, which comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. For there is no difference here: they are all sinners, and lacking in the glory which they ought to have with God, and are justified without merit by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”
Because Jesus died for us, we can be declared righteous. God justifies those who have faith in Christ - and therefore no one can boast of how well he keeps the law. Paul continues in verse 28, "So we hold that man is justified apart from the works of the law, by faith alone."
These are deep words of the apostle Paul. James, like Paul, warns us against any so-called faith that ignores God's commandments. Abraham's faith led him to obey God (1. Moses 26,4-5). Paul talks about real faith, the kind of faith that includes loyalty to Christ, a holistic willingness to follow him. But even then, he says, it is faith that saves us, not works.
In Romans 5,1-2 Paul writes: “Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; through him we also have access by faith to this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in the hope of the glory to come that God shall give.”
By faith, we have a right relationship with God. We are his friends, not his enemies. That's why on the Day of Judgment we will be able to stand before him. We have faith in the promise given to us by Jesus Christ. Paul explains in Roman 8,1-4 continue:
“So now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit that gives life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, being weakened by the flesh, God did: he sent his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin's sake, and condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness required of the law might be in would be fulfilled for us who now live not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit."
Thus, we see that our relationship with God is based on faith in Jesus Christ. That's the agreement or covenant that God made with us. He promises to consider us righteous if we have faith in his son. The law can not change us, but Christ can. The law condemns us to death, but Christ promises us life. The law can not free us from the slavery of sin, but Christ can. Christ gives us freedom, but it is not freedom to be complacent - it is the freedom to serve Him.
Faith makes us willing to follow our Lord and Savior in everything He tells us. We see clear commandments to love one another, to trust Jesus Christ, to preach the gospel, to work for unity in the faith, to gather as a church, to build one another in faith, to do good works of service, pure and moral To lead a life, to live peacefully and to forgive those who do us wrong.
These new commandments are challenging. They take all our time. All our days are dedicated to serving Jesus Christ. We must be diligent in doing his work, and it is not the broad and easy way. It is a difficult, challenging task, a task few are willing to do.
We should also point out that our faith cannot save us - God does not accept us based on the quality of our faith, but through the faith and faithfulness of His Son, Jesus Christ. Our faith will never live up to what it "should" be - but we are not saved by the measure of our faith, but by trusting in Christ, who has faith enough for all of us.
Joseph Tkach
