Passage: The Gospel & Salvation | Lesson 06
JUSTIFICATIONCarl Sujo | October 26, 2014
In class, we took some time to complete a survey; here are the results:
Before moving on, here are some important definitions to know:
Justification - A legal declaration by God that we are considered righteous
Righteousness - The state of moral perfection required by God
Redemption - The act of buying something back, or paying a price to return something to your possession (Exodus 13:12-13)
Propitiation - The turning away of wrath by an offering
Read Romans 3:21-26
1.What does God's righteousness require for sin?
God is perfect. Sin requires His wrath.
2. What are the different ways this requirement is met?
The sinner can suffer the wrath of God or the sinner can be redeemed with a worthy replacement (Jesus) which becomes a blood offering (propitiation).
3. How are we justified?
Through faith in Jesus, we are justified as a gift by God's grace
Read Romans 4
1. Define "reckoned" or "credited"
This is also translated as ‘imputed’.
To credit something is to confer as status that was not there before. One example is that some houses can be “leased to buy.” I make payments that are rent; but if a decision is made to buy, then those past rent payments are now counted as mortgage payments. A new status is granted to those payments.
2. What does it mean that "Faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness" in v.9?
Faith does not equal righteousness and believing does not equal righteousness. But, because of what Christ did, Abraham was “credited to him as righteousness” v.3. If we look at Abraham’s life, he was not righteous, he lied about his wife, twice, he tried to have a child through sleeping with Hagar.
3. What is this saving faith?
It’s real easy to set Faith = to obedience. But they are not equal or the same thing. A person who is saved does not put their trust in obedience or their works to earn them righteousness or justification. A Christian is one who stops working to be saved, not one who stops working. Faith is related to trusting in God and His plan for salvation. That plan is for Jesus to redeem us and die for our sins. We could do nothing, and we did nothing that earns us that righteousness. Jesus even justifies the ungodly or wicked who have this trust in His plan for salvation.
2 Aspects of Justification:
- It provides forgiveness for our past sins (Romans 3:25)
- It provides forgiveness for our present and future sins (Hebrews 10:12-14)
So what does it mean? If we are not justified, can we just continue sinning? Do we no longer have to work for our faith?
Justification means that even though we have committed sins and are guilty before God, God forgives our sins and imputes to us the righteousness of Christ so that we are declared righteous and are not subject to punishment for our sins. Justification is just the first step of our salvation.
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