Throughout
the ages the gospel has been attacked over and over again by satanic
forces that want to water down the truth of salvation found only in
Christ. That attack will continue all the way through the millennial
reign of the Lord Jesus. The cults always distort and twist the truth of
salvation by grace but lately, the attack and distortion is coming from
within our own evangelical circles.
Some are promoting a cross-less salvation,
or a works salvation. Whatever the changes are that depart from what
the Bible teaches bends the truth and weakens the marvelous fact of what
God did to save lost humanity.
While many more points can be listed,
below are seven essentials that are necessary pillars of salvation by
grace through faith in Christ.
(6) Complete Justification by Faith
There is no gospel without the truth of
justification by faith. Some have problems getting their hands around
this subject. Many do not fully understand what the doctrine is all
about. Justification (dikaioo) carries the idea of being completely acquitted of sin before the bar of God. The Lord imputes (puts
to our account) the very righteousness of Christ. Therefore God sees us
clothed in His righteousness not our own. Paul saw the things he had
accomplished as dung "in order that (as he said) I may gain Christ, and
may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law" (Phil. 3:8b-9). Salvation he adds, "is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith" (v. 9b).
The words justification and righteousness are
really one word. "Justification" is generally the word as a verb;
"righteousness" is the noun. We do not earn this justification, it is
imputed, imparted to us as a free gift based on our trust in Christ.
The Roman Catholics teach that by faith one
starts the justification process or that it is but the first stage
towards salvation. A person then must complete justification by works,
by self efforts. But the Scriptures teach that it is a completed work in
that only God could accomplish such acquittal because of the work of
Christ on the cross.
To be legally acquitted, or justified, is an Old
Testament concept. The key verse has to do with Abraham in Genesis 15:6.
Abraham believed what God had promised and God in turn then saw him as
one legally acquitted in His sight. "Abraham believed God and He counted
it to him for righteousness." Even Abraham and all the Old Testament
saints would be justified only by the forward coming work of Christ on
their behalf on the cross. In prophecy Isaiah 53:11-12 says, "My Servant
(the coming Messiah) will justify the many, as He will bear their
iniquities. … Yet He Himself will bear the sin of many, and intercede
for the transgressors."
Christ illustrated this justification in His
story about the Pharisee and the Tax Collector in Luke 18:10-14. The
self-righteous Pharisee thought he deserved the favor of God by his good
deeds but then reasoned that the Lord would look down with disfavor on
the Tax Collector. But it was the Tax Collector who confessed his sins.
Christ said the Tax Collector "went down to his house justified rather
than the (Pharisee)." When the Tax Collector cried out "God, be
merciful to me, the sinner!" he was claiming the grace of God as
exemplified in the Mercy Seat in the temple.
In my Luke Commentary I write,
"Paul says that God ‘justified as a gift by His grace
through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus’ (Rom. 3:24). Now in the
church age, this happens by direct trust in Jesus, the object of faith,
because of His finished work at the cross. Paul says that we receive
‘the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ [meant] for all
those who believe’ (Rom. 3:22)." (p. 178)
It may be said that justification is the
cornerstone of salvation and the gospel. This is certainly indeed "good
news." God through His Son has done it all for lost sinners.
This justification is complete and whole. We are
seen as righteous as the Son of God by the fact that this righteousness
has been put to our account. Whom God saves and justifies cannot be
"un-justified". As with the Pharisee in the Luke 18 story, we have a
choice to "be trusting in ourselves" or trusting in the finished work of
Christ! Trusting Him gives eternal life and this truly is good news—the
gospel!
