Thursday March 30, 2017
“To be rightly related to God and His Law“
"As for me, I will see Your face in
righteousness;
I shall
be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness." - Psalms 17:15
Justification
Martin
Luther, whose grasp of the gospel was better than most, once said that the doctrine
of justification was the article by which the church stands or falls.
‘This article,’ he said, ‘is the head is
cornerstone of the Church, which alone begets, nourishes, builds, reserves and
protects the Church; without it the Church of God cannot subsist one hour.’
Luther was
right. Although for our understanding of the general shape and direction of the
Christian life, we have suggested the doctrine of regeneration is important, the
doctrine of justification is central. Not only is it the article of the
standing or falling church, but also of the standing or falling Christian.
Probably more trouble is caused in the Christian life by an inadequate or
mistaken view of this doctrine than any other. When a child of God loses his
sense of peace with God, find his concern for others dried up, or generally
finds his sense of the sheer goodness and grace of God diminished, it is from
this foundation that he has ceased to drink. Conversely, if we can gain a solid
grounding here, we have the foundation for a life of peace and joy.
What is
Justification?
In
Scripture, the words for justify
and justification convey the
idea of being righteous, or being in the right relationship. In
contrast, in Greek moral philosophy, righteousness was one of the four cardinal
moral virtues (along with sobriety, goodness and piety) and fundamentally meant
conformity to the accepted ethical norms of society in general. But in
Scripture, righteousness is of an altogether higher order. To be righteous in Scripture means to be rightly related to God and
to his law.
Justification and righteousness are legal
terms.
What is at
stake in a court is the question – how is this person related to the law? In
the United States, that includes the question – how is this person related to
the authority of the state? So a trial may be described as the state of
California v. Mr. Smith (the accused).… Thus when the court pronounces its
verdict, it declares how the accused now stands in relation to the law.
So, in
Scripture to justify does not mean to make righteous in the sense of changing a
person’s character. It means to constitute righteous, and to do so
by declaration. Sometimes it is sad that this is rather in adequate because it
reduces justification to a mere declaration. Justification is therefore a legal
fiction. But, in fact, this is quite untrue, as one writer (James Buchanan) indicated
in contrasting human justification with divine justification:
The sentence
of a human judge is merely declarative,
it does not constitute a man either innocent or guilty, it only pronounces him
to be so in the eye of the law; it may even be erroneous, and may pronounce one
to be innocent who is really guilty, and another to be a guilty who is really
innocent; where is in justifying a sinner, God does what no human judge can do,
– he
first constitutes him righteous, who was not righteous before, and then declares
them to be righteous, in his infallible judgment, which is ever according
to truth.
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
– Joshua 9-13; Luke 16
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