Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness (Romans 4:4-5)
Commentary and explanation. When we talked about salvation in Step 11, we said that the word salvation in the Bible is a word including many things, and, among them, we mentioned justification. It is time now to study that word in more detail, and try to understand what it means. In this Step let us see in particular the following:
a) By justification man is declared righteous. We understand, according to the New Testament, that justification is an act of God by which the believer is declared righteous, by the merits of Jesus Christ.
Justification is then to declare the sinner just. It is as if a criminal is brought to his judge to hear that there are no charges against him, and that he has been acquitted of all his wrongdoings; or, even more, to declare him innocent as if he had never had any guilt. Judges however can forgive the penalties for the wrongdoings, but they are not able to make free of guilt or blame whomever has committed a crime.
The sinner comes before God to hear that his punishments have been forgiven, and that his guilt is removed too. It is as if God would tell the sinner: I do not have anything against you; you do not have anything for which I can accuse you; I look at you, and you are as if you had never sinned. God acquits the sinner both of the penalties and of the guilt.
Who shall bring a charge against God's elect —Paul says. It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died (Romans 8:33,34). He will not condemn you.
b) Justification is an act of God. God is the person offended by the sin of the sinner; so He is also the One who declares the sinner just, by the merits of His Son. We read in the quotation for this Step, that God is the One who justifies the ungodly. When Abraham believed God, it was accounted to him for righteousness (Genesis 15:6; Galatians 3:6). Abraham believed God and God credited him His justice.
c) The result of justification is the justice of God. Justification is more than to forgive the penalties and guilt of the sinner, or to declare him acquitted of wrongdoing; justification is to give him, and put on him, the justice of God.
This justifying act of God is called justification, because its result is justice. Which justice? The justice of God, the justice of Christ. The sinner is just with the justice of God which is in Jesus Christ.
The righteousness of God is revealed... through faith in Jesus Christ, Paul says in Romans 3:22,23. When he says that the justice of God is revealed to us, he is talking about Jesus Christ, because He was the one who manifested Himself; there is no other.
The believer becomes a slave of justice and slave of God. Being set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness... slaves of God (Romans 6:18,22). The believer not just owns justice but he is owned by the justice of God; that is why he is the slave of justice.
d) The friendship with God is reestablished by justification. Because the believer has the justice of God, which is the same as the justice of Christ, a tie or bond of friendship is created between God and the believer. A resemblance and image of the Son is now on him (Romans 8:29), and a relationship of love and friendship between God and the believer is established.
When we were enemies we were reconciled to God... through our Lord Jesus Christ we have now received the reconciliation (Romans 5:10, 11).
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But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:4-5).
Commentary and explanation. In the Steps about grace, Steps 39 to 43, and 46, we saw that the whole work of salvation is by grace, namely, that it is a gift of God through the merits of Jesus Christ; and we saw also that we could not earn it with our deeds. We are going to see next the same doctrine of grace —gift, mercy, free— applied to justification. Let us say then, that
a) Justification is by grace, not by works. The heading text for this Step from the letter to Titus teaches that God saved us, or justified us, by His mercy: Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us.
Two things are taught here: one, that our works do not intervene as a cause to produce justification, since it says that God has saved us not by works of righteousness which we have done; and the other one is that He saved us by His mercy. It is denied that works have had any salvific power, and it is stated that the cause and motive for salvation is the love and grace of God, that is the goodness of God.
That is the reason why Paul is so emphatic when writing to Ephesians and saying: you have been saved through faith, and that (salvation) not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; (salvation is) not of works, lest anyone should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).
b) If works would justify, then Christ would have died in vain. This conclusion is from Paul who says that if we could become righteous before God by our own works, then the death of Christ would have been useless. Let us see his reasoning.
I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain (Galatians 2:21). The Apostle is telling us: I do not want to risk my own salvation managing it through other means except the grace of God: I do not set aside the grace of God. If I were to look for another means, different from the grace of God, to attain my justice, I would be making the plan of God of giving salvation through His Son Jesus Christ useless, and Jesus Christ would have died in vain.
A little further, in this letter to Galatians, Paul repeats the same truth and says that, if the law could have given life, then the promise of God, which is righteousness, would come from the law. But it was not so, because according to Scriptures, everything is under sin (see below), in order that there would be only one means to obtain the promise of justice, and that means is faith in Jesus Christ. Paul writes thus:
If there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe (Galatians 3:21,22).
The conclusion is the same that we have seen so many times: that justification is by grace, not by works, because if works could justify, then Christ would have died in vain.
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Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:24).
Commentary and explanation. We used this text in Step 13, when we were explaining that salvation was by faith, and we added then that it was through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Let us try to understand the meaning of these words in more depth, and see:
a) God might have saved humankind through different means. We just saw that God is the author of the believer's justification: It is God who justifies (Romans 8:33). And He does it by grace, for love, according to His mercy (Titus 3:5). These two items are true, nevertheless they do not explain the whole purpose of God (Romans 8:28). Something essential is missing, according to God's plan. This essential element is the redemption of Jesus Christ. If we forget redemption, God's plan would be incomplete.
If God wanted to save the sinful mankind He would be able to do it through different means. God might had forgive men their sins, just by His mercy. If God had done it that way, the outraged honor of God wouldn't have received any atonement, and the sins of men would have been left with impunity and without punishment.
Even if God was able to do so, it wasn't right because, in this case, the disobedience of man and his rebellion against the will of God, wouldn't have any penalty. It was then when, according to the eternal purpose of God, the most marvelous plan was devised to save mankind: the incarnation of the Son of God and His death for the redemption of man.
b) God wanted that human salvation would be by grace, but also that there would be a ransom. Two elements come together in the purpose of God to save mankind: one, the love and mercy of God who forgives and gives His justice freely, without merit from man; and two, a ransom that should be paid as the price for the sins of the world. This price was the blood and death of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. You were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold... but with the precious blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:18,19).
This means that, according to the purpose of God, man would receive God's justice as a gift of grace; but according to the same purpose, God demanded the payment of a price as atonement and ransom for men. It is here that the redemption of Jesus Christ intervenes in the plan of salvation.
c) The redemption of Jesus Christ was the ransom that God wanted. Jesus Christ takes upon Himself the penalty and guilt of sin: For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). Once the ransom was paid, —which is the blood and death of Jesus Christ,— then the justice of God is accounted to whomever believes. The atonement work of Christ becomes the base and cause for the justification of the believer.
The phrase that the New Testament uses referring to the ransom paid for the freedom of man is redemption of Jesus Christ. This redemption involves the death of Jesus Christ as well as His glorious resurrection.
d) Justification is ascribed to the blood of Christ. According to the Jewish tradition the atonement for sin should be done with blood, as it is read in Leviticus 17:11; and, as it is said in Hebrews: almost all things are purged with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission (Hebrews 9:22). For this reason, that without shedding of blood there is no remission, —although when we talk about redemption, we are talking about the death and resurrection of Christ,— nevertheless the redemption and justification of man is ascribed to the blood of Christ in the New Testament: Having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him (Romans 5:9; and compare Romans 3:24 and Colosians 1:14).
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And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the nations by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, "In you all the nations shall be blessed" (Galatians 3:8).
Commentary and explanation. This verse gives us a perspective of the whole plan of salvation, when it affirms that according to God's plan, the Gentiles would be justified by faith: The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the nations by faith, God said to Abraham: "In you all the nations shall be blessed". Why blessed? Because he believed, because he had faith.
In Step 49 which we just saw, we said that we were justified freely, through the redemption of Jesus Christ; in this Step we say that God requires and demands faith in the believer as a condition to justify. God declares righteous him who believes; justification is by faith.
In Steps 11 to 14, and in Step 16, we saw that the whole work of salvation depends on faith, and that salvation is obtained through faith. Without repeating what we said there we affirm now that justification is obtained by faith.
This does not mean that the believer's faith produces justification; it doesn't; but faith is the necessary condition for the justice of God to be credited to us. As there is no salvation without faith, by the same token there is no justification without faith.
There are many texts in the New Testament that bind salvation and justification with believer's faith.
In Romans 10 Paul says: For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes (Romans 10:4). What follows is a little more difficult to understand, but we could paraphrase what the Apostle says this way: Do not say that the justice that comes by faith is too far above, too high, and say, "Who will ascend into heaven?" or that it is too deep, and say, "Who will descend into the abyss?" Instead say, "The word is near you, even in your mouth and in your heart." That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved (verses 5 to 9).
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