You are Justified by Faith
You are justified by faith in believing in God or is there something else you can do within your power to feel justified? Learn how!
The story of Job, in some ways, is the story of the human race. For all of us, the difficulties of life and the imperfections of creation highlight the gulf that separated humankind from God and His perfection. Job’s aim to bridge that gulf was summarized touchingly when he asked: “How can a man be righteous before God?” (Job 9:2).
There it is – the human dilemma: How can sinful human beings be accepted by a holy God?
Our natural human response to suffering or to sin is to try to undo whatever wrong may have originally caused our trouble. If we have done something that made us unrighteous in God’s sight, then we think that doing the opposite should restore our righteousness. If we have done wrong, then certainly doing some good should make us right, shouldn’t it?
Unfortunately, Scripture tells us that in God’s sight, committing one sin is equivalent to committing an infinite number of them (James 2:10). So our good works can never make up for even one transgression. Trying to undo sin by good works is a prescription for righteousness that leaves us falling hopelessly short.
Of course, God knew that we could not be justified by our own efforts, so He arranged to remove our sin Himself. God gave to Israel (and to the world through Israel) access to a temporary state of reconciliation through ongoing sacrifices as outlined in His law.
What the Law Teaches
The law had two purposes, First, it perpetually reminded people of God’s standards and our inability to meet them that is, our inability to make ourselves righteous before God. Second, the law was our teacher to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith, (Galatians 3:24). As a teacher, the law revealed humanity’s lack of righteousness so that when Jesus Christ came as the once-and-for-all, perfect sacrifice – our justifier by faith – Israel and the world at large would be ready to embrace Him.
Is Faith Alone Enough?
This is a key part of Paul;s letter to the Jews and Gentiles in the region of Galatia. Although these men and women had embrace the gospel of faith in Christ, they were being persuaded that their faith alone was not enough, and so they needed to add certain works of the law in order to be saved – a step backwards in their spiritual growth. Paul even had to correct the apostle Peter (Galatians 2:11-21; Matthew 26:69-75) and the stalwart Barnabas (Galatians 2:13) on this topic. Paul was direct, even blunt: “I do not set aside and grace of God (as you, Peter, are doing); for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain” Galatians 2:21.
Why would Christ need to die for our unrighteousness if we could earn our way back to God by our own efforts? That would make His coming unnecessary. To add human works to faith would be, as Paul said; to “set aside the grace of God.” There is no need for grace if our good deeds could be sufficient for righteousness.
In his argument against Peter and the Galatian Judaizers, Paul concludes that being justified comes only through the work of Christ and not through any human effort: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
In his commentary The Message of Galatians, John R. W. Stott summarized justification by faith as “God’s act of unmerited favor by which He puts a sinner right with Himself, not only pardoning or acquitting him, but accepting him and treating him as righteous” (Acts 13:38, 39; Romans 1:17). The only way we can be declared righteous is by putting our faith in God’s provision: “Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1).
Being crucified with Christ has both a legal and relational component. Legally, God looks at us as if we had died with Christ; we are no longer condemned for our sins because that price has been paid. Relationally, we share in Christ’s sufferings and have died to our old way of living; He now indwells us through the Holy Spirit, empowering us to live a life of obedience.