Friday March 31, 2017
“Justification is the opposite of condemnation
“
"He who justifies the wicked, and he who
condemns the just,
Both of them alike are an abomination to the
LORD." - Proverbs 17:15
Justification
What is
Justification? – continued…
With this
knowledge we still have questions: how do we know that in Scripture
justification means constituting a person righteous by declaration? Several
pieces of evidence from the case.
1) Justification
is the opposite of condemnation. In Deuteronomy 25:1, the judges are to acquit
(justify) the innocent and condemn the guilty. Clearly to condemn does not mean
‘to make them guilty’ but rather ‘to declare them to be guilty’ and
so to constitute them ‘guilty’ by this wording. By virtue of the parallelism
between the two expressions acquit cannot mean ‘to make innocent’ button must
mean to declare a person to be innocent, to constitute them ‘innocent’ by
declaration (Proverbs 17:15).
2) The terms with which ‘righteous’ is
associated have a judicial character - as for example the emphasis in Genesis
18:25 on God as the judge. Similar evidence is found in Psalm 143:2.
Challenge:
What an
incredible reality for the Christian! To be “constituted” as “righteous” by
God, then “declared” RIGHTEOUS by the Righteous Judge of the universe! Who does
that? GOD DOES THAT! What did we ever to do to deserve this? NOTHING!! And we
can try for a million years, we will never come close to it. It will be like
building a straw bridge to the moon…IMPOSSIBLE! But, GRACE made this possible!
Praise God for Justifying us in Christ!
Memory Verse:
"He ko
e mamahi ‘oku faka‘otua hono fai, ‘oku ne langa‘i ha fakatomala ‘oku iku ki ha
fakamo‘ui, ‘a ia ‘e ‘ikai tālakitu‘a ai ha taha: ka ko e mamahi ‘oku
fakaemāmani ‘oku ne fakatupu mate." – 2
Kolinitō 7:10
"For
godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but
the sorrow of the world produces death." - 2 Corinthians 7:10
Bible
Reading Plan: (52 weeks; 5
days a week)
Week 13
– Deut 27-34; Joshua 1-13; Psalm 13,
143, 14; Luke 12-16
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