By Pat Travis
A Commentary on the Sabbath School Lesson for March 5–11, 2005
First the Bad News
Last week, our study was about the meaning of the cross and why it was necessary for Christ to die. By the time of Paul’s apostleship, Greek philosophy and Philo of Alexandria taught that "god" was not wrathful, but rather an emotionless entity not subject to wrath. In that day and ours, a Holy God who has righteous anger toward sin is not a popular concept.
In the setting of Romans 1–3, Paul counters this view and tells us that we are dealing with a God who expresses wrath against unrighteousness and that he is a God of righteous judgment. He then gives us the "bad news"; that is, not "the hearers of the law are just/righteous before God but the doers of the law shall be justified," and "none are righteous no not one." How then shall we who are "children of wrath" escape the coming of judgment and wrath?
Justification’s Foundation
The classical Protestant answer to this question is that God’s grace saves, but that it must save in a just manner. In love, the Godhead provided the means to redeem the banished ones through the atoning blood of Christ. Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and made peace and reconciliation through the blood of the cross. In doing so, God upholds his righteousness, in which his law is embedded. He demonstrates his justice at the present time, even while justifying the ungodly who trust in Christ. Christ’s sacrifice magnifies the law and forms the just grounds of our justification.
The Historical Meaning and Application of Justification
This week’s lesson, "The Cross and Justification," discovers the good news of applying the benefits of the enormous atoning sacrifice of love made in our behalf. When referring to the doctrine of justification by faith alone, Luther states, " If this doctrine be lost then is also the doctrine of truth, life, and salvation lost and gone."
What, then, is the meaning of the important biblical word justification? From the Greek root dik we witness forms that are used as nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Old Testament Hebrew root sdq words share similar usages and meanings. No normative meaning of the root words is possible; but the usual equivalent words are found in either the words righteous or just. The best ultimate meaning is always found within the context of the specific text.
For example, when referring to God, righteousness may refer to his faithfulness in saving or to his righteous judgments, both of which have covenant salvific application to his people. When it refers to man, we can see examples of both inherent and reckoned righteousness. In Philippians 3:8–9, Paul refers to his inherent righteousness "according to the law." Yet, he states that it is incomplete when compared to Christ’s righteousness.
The Psalmist said, "Do not enter into judgment with thy servant for in thy sight no man living shall be justified." Likewise, in Romans we discover Paul saying it is not possible for Abraham or us to be just before God though our law keeping. Rather, we are told that none are "just, righteous," no not one, and "by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified." Paul here clarifies how Abraham and David, while inherently unrighteous, were imputed/ reckoned/considered righteous while trusting in God’s merciful forgiveness and covenant provision for their salvation. To be reckoned righteous is not to have obtained it, but to be considered in that state. Likewise, Christ was "reckoned" to be sin for us while having no sin within himself.
Perhaps the major issue of the Protestant Reformation was how one could be just before God. The Protestant view was that by grace we are reckoned "righteous/just through faith alone," trusting in the "outside of us" obedience and merits of Christ for justification with God. Theologians call this imputed or forensic justification. The main debate of the Reformation lies here. Are we justified by a righteousness that is infused and inherent, or by a righteousness that is imputed, which is not in us but in him? The reformers held that we are reckoned righteous and not made righteous by biblical justification.
Those who remember discussion during the 1970s and 1980s on righteousness by faith in the Seventh-day Adventist Church must acknowledge that we have always been reluctant to attribute righteousness by faith to justification by faith alone. Although many scholars put forth the classical Protestant view, to maintain unity administrative leaders and others preferred terms such as salvation through faith in Christ, which correctly includes both justification and sanctification.
In this vein, it should be noted that both the Protestant and Roman Catholic faiths contend that "salvation by grace" and not "our works" save us. However, that position alone does not answer the question of how one can be righteous/just before God? So, due to lack of uniformity on this issue, we continued in the "uncertain and doubtsome faith" that the reformers had complained about in the Roman church. If the concepts of unity and community had been used as the only operating truth, would the Protestant Reformation have been legitimate? Or is the true community known by always having a mind for truth and a heart for God as it speaks the truth in love while growing in God?
Our problem has always been that if we are just/righteous by faith alone we discount the need for holiness. Scripture does not require us to grow in diakaiosune/justification by faith, but it does require that true believers grow in hagiosune/holiness (sanctification). Inward holiness comes through faith, but never by faith alone. It is an inward work of the Holy Spirit, by which we bring about the salvation already given to us by God, whereby the fruits/works of the Spirit become evident in our lives. This is not entirely passive because it requires us to put to death the "fleshly" deeds of the body. That process is our character, but that’s for next week!
In contrast, righteousness by faith alone means that we are reckoned as righteous, even though we are still unholy, because by faith Christ’s obedience under the law is presented to God for us. We are thus justified apart from law by Christ’s personal righteousness reckoned to us by faith. In him, we are reckoned as "doer[s] of the law."
Concerning faith, it is important to see that it is the means by which we receive the gift of justification. Faith reaches forth and receives Christ, the object of our faith, who embodies all the promises. Our faith does not save us; it grasps the One who loves us and redeems us, along with his faithful promises!
My fellow saints, our righteousness/justification resides in Christ, who now reigns and mediates at the right hand of God. The Spirit of God is working in us to conform us into the image of his Son’s holiness, but that work will never be completed in this life. It has been said, "The closer you come to Jesus, the more faulty you will appear in your own eyes." Therefore, for peace and joy we must ever find perfection in Christ, who is seated at the Father’s right hand, by faith alone, and not in the Spirit’s inward work being done in us. For it is by one sacrifice that he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
So what? "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life" (1 John 5:13).
EMAIL THIS ARTICLE
|
