Scripture: Romans 3:21-26; Matthew 12:35-40; Romans 5:1; Galatians 3:28; Colossians 3:11; Galatians 2:16; John 5:24-25; 1 Corinthians 13:12; Matthew 25:32-33; Isaiah 40:3-5; Jeremiah 18:1-6; Acts 2:44-47; Romans 3:23 Series: The Way of Salvation
Because all have sinned alike, we are made righteous not by any work but by grace as a gift through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, who tears us down to the foundation only to rebuild us upright and square before God.
Illustrations: skyscraper-foundation-square, lego-building-downtown, airport-arrivals-pickup, atonement-at-one-ment, crowbar-crooked-building
Justification
February 9
But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed and is attested by the Law and the Prophets, the righteousness of God through the faith of Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed; it was to demonstrate at the present time his own righteousness, so that he is righteous and he justifies the one who has the faith of Jesus. - Romans 3:21-26
The good person brings good things out of a good treasure, and the evil person brings evil things out of an evil treasure. I tell you, on the day of judgment you will have to give an account for every careless word you utter, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to him, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so for three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth. - Matthew 12:35-40
Construction Introduction
In Austin, we often see new construction all around us; New houses, new condos, new apartments, new skyscrapers. One of the things I always find fascinating about those tall buildings downtown is how it takes the contractors a long time to finish the foundation. I mean, they clear the lot, they dig super deep hole. And this deep hole seems like it stays there for many months. Then, they build up slowly to ground level and then an amazing burst. They go straight up into the sky. Going straight up is rather important. Now, some buildings, like a newer one downtown that we call the Lego building, go up and then to the side and then up and then to the other side and then up like that. But it’s going straight. The building is square, in a certain older way of speaking. The building is justified. Were it not, when they set those first steel heights or whatever they’re using for structural stability, instead of being at 90 degrees, it was at 85 degrees and another was at 88 and another was at 93 and another, but 90. It would not be a stable building. If they had to justify it after the fact, if they had to make it square, it would take a lot of work. In fact, they would probably have to demolish it and start over. The land would be the same. The real estate would be the same, but they’d probably have to dig down deep in order to build things right again.
Justification Introduction
Last week we talked about original sin, that cheery topic that really just points to our need for God. All of our needs for God. Original sin names the reality that we cannot save ourselves. In Romans 3, Paul goes through this in detail.
In Greek, the word for righteousness and the word for justice is the same word, Dikaisuné. It’s not a different word. In English, these are very different words. In French, they’re different words. I’m assuming in other languages that they are different words. In Greek, they are not. Not only are these two different words in English, they have two completely different valences. Justice language is often found in more progressive leaning churches, whereas righteousness language is more often found in more traditional leaning churches.
If you have your Bible, please go ahead and pull it out or pull it out on your phone and turn to Romans 5:1 and you will see this language of justification.
Therefore having been made righteous out of faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Here is the NIV Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
When we look at translations, justice language is often used in external situations, and righteousness language is used with internal ones. But again, it is the exact same word.
So with that, let’s look at Romans chapter three starting with verse 21.
But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed and is attested by the Law and the Prophets, the righteousness of God through the faith of Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith.
Paul talks about unity in a few different places. In Galatians and Colossians, the focus is on the fact that there not a distinction between us through Jesus Christ. He says this in Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” He says this in Colossians, Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.”
Logically, there’s no difference going on between Romans 5:1 and Galatians 3:28 or Colossians 3:11. There’s a unity. There’s a unity of sinfulness, there’s a unity of redemption.
But gosh darn it, we want to make distinctions. We want to make this about us and them. In the early church, in Acts chapter 2 after Pentecost, if you turn to the end of Acts chapter 2, this is happening.
There is no distinction, and yet, pretty soon, they start making distinctions. They say they’re sharing everything but they keep some for themselves. The rule applies to others. It doesn’t apply to them. They think that they are the exception. I think one of those aspects of original sin is that we all have a tendency to see ourselves as the exception, or at least that temptation is always there.
Have you ever picked anybody up from the airport? You going through the arrivals line and you are so excited to pick up your person and see them. It always feels like every single person there thinks of themselves as the exception to the rule. They all want to stay a little longer when it says no parking, “but you don’t understand my loved one’s over here!” Even if the reality is that everyone’s loved one is right there. The point of the rule, no parking, is to facilitate the dispersal of arriving passengers to the city as easily as possible. But if you think of yourself as the exception, the rule doesn’t apply to you the system.
We make this distinction between people we like and people we don’t like; between people who deserve love and people who don’t; between people we want to spend time with and people we don’t. I’m not even talking about prejudices and sexism and racism and all these. We’ll just start with your life, the distinctions we make, and Paul sweeps those all aside in Romans 3: for all have sinned and falls short of the glory of God.
Usually that verse is kind of plucked out of the space, but I think that’s a mistake when Paul goes on and says, they’re now made righteous by his grace as a gift in Jesus Christ, who God puts forward as an atonement of sins. Atonement is an old English word. At-one-ment. That’s what it’s describing, how we are made one in Christ Jesus. That is what atonement is. What does that look like? Well, Christians have been debating atonement for 1500 years: how does Christ save us? There are four main theories. Ransom, Satisfaction, Substitution, and Moral Influence, but ultimately it’s a mystery. Not a mystery as in something unknown, a mystery that God has revealed to us. God hasn’t argued it for us or logically followed it, but revealed it in the life of Jesus Christ. This is what Jesus does. The why it matters, this is how matters, but all these explanations ultimately falls short because, like Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13, we look through a glass darkly.
Faith is not an inherent human ability which we exercise in order to attain justified status.1 That would turn faith into a work among others. Faith is not this subjective relation to God, but the objective evidence of God’s pardoning love for us. Justification isn’t the result of any work, whether a sinner’s prayer, baptism, anything. Nothing we can do makes us worthy, makes us straight and upright. It is like trying to staighten a building that was built crooked with only a crowbar. It isn’t going to happen. We need to receive grace, receive pardon for our own crookedness, receive mercy, in order to be justified.
The language of justification is found almost exclusively in the letters of Paul. There are a few other epistles that you could point to, but it’s really the heart of it’s Paul. Paul in Romans, in Corinthians, in Galatians and Ephesians. Jesus uses different language. I don’t think we should see a conflict between the language of Jesus and the language of Paul. They work together. Paul is a servant, an apostle of Jesus Christ. It does not contradict but clarifies Christ. In this Gospel of John, Jesus says whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life (Jn 5:24-25). Justification is the process by which God rectifies us so that we can receive the gift of eternal life. God clears our foundation to build it up again upright and strong. We are saved by faith, not be works. We can’t earn it. The holiest person on earth cannot earn life with God, nor does the most sinful person lose out on the possibility.
In the passage from Matthew, which I read from Matthew 12,
The good person brings good things out of a good treasure, and the evil person brings evil things out of an evil treasure. I tell you, on the day of judgment, you’ll have to give an account for every careless word you utter. For by your words, you’ll be by your words, you will be condemn.
This does not seem like salvation by faith. It seems like salvation by works. We are justified, we’re made righteous by our words, or we’re condemned by our words. But part of it is that we need to understand that there are stakes involved in faith. There are stakes involved in our words, and going through motions is not going to be enough.
This is something Jesus refers to when he says that a rich man can’t go in through the eye of the needle when he says that a rich man is very heaven is as likely as a camel going through the eye of a needle. But nothing is impossible for God.
The way to make sense of Matthew 12 is to think back to the line in the apostles creed, from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
It is the final judgment spoken of again and again in scripture. This is the only way to make sense of Matthew 12. It is not about going to heaven when you die but preparing for judgment.
The most vivid moment of judgment, though, is not about my words or actions in a vacuum. The most vivid image is from Matthew 25: Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.
Our actions have consequences. We will see some of that next week when we talk about sanctification. But Paul’s language of justification frees us to stand before Christ on that day. We are made upright, square, through Christ’s blood by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. Pistous christou
Galatians 2:16 is the key so that even Matthew 12 is not about our works. It is commonly translated as faith in Jesus Christ, the better reading is the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. Here is my translation. now seeing (εἰδότες) that a man is not made righteous by works of law, if not through faith Christ Jesus, and we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be made righteous (δικαιωθῶμεν) out of the faith of Jesus Christ and not out of works of the Law; because out of works of the Law not any flesh will be made righteous.
It comes back to Jesus. Justification comes back to Jesus. To who he is. To what he is done. To how he lived and died and offered himself for us. How he rose again and sent the Holy Spirit and will come again.
Justifying grace is God tearing us down to the foundations like the building built with a tilt. But when God works in us, God doesn’t destroy us, but heal us. Like the potter’s house described in Jeremiah. Or the roads in Isaiah 40:3-5: Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. God does that to the world. God does that for our soul.
The power of justification is entirely found in God. It is not anything you can do. You can’t say a special prayer. You can’t do special dance. The faithfulness of Jesus Christ has opened a path for our lives to be made straight, square, justified, righteous.
Since there is nothing you can do to be justified, you have already done enough. Right now, you can be made upright by God.
Whether we respond or not, God is utterly committed to us. God died for us before we satisfied any conditions. So God is clearly prepared to do anything to reach us and to save us, irrespective of how we are behaving. And this deeply committed love for us was in place before the foundation of the world.2
God loves you. New life is offered for you. Take it. Hold it. Accept it. And next week we will talk about how to respond to it.
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.