Justification By Faith Alone (Galatians
"Yet we know that a person is not
justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also
have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and
not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be
justified." (Galatians 2:16, English Standard Version)
In our last look at the book of
Galatians, we saw the Apostle Paul confronting the error of a group of people
called the Judaizers; people who wanted to add the works of the Jewish law to
the finished work of Jesus Christ. Paul
further drives his point home with a personal confrontation he had with the
Apostle Peter when he visited the
Paul closes this section of his letter
with the central theme of the entire letter.
This verse encapsulates the reason for writing the letter, and is the
central tenet of Christian salvation: Justification by faith in Jesus Christ alone. This is what the Protestant Reformers fought
and died for. This is the gospel! Notice in this verse that Paul repeats the
fact that we are justified by faith in Christ and not by works three
times. Do you think he was trying to
drive a point home? There are three
questions I want to answer from this passage:
1) What is "justification?"; 2) How
is one justified?; and 3) How is one not justified?
1.
What is "Justification?" The word "justification" is
one of those $10 theological terms. In
the original Greek, the word means "to declare one righteous." It is a judicial term. The imagery is one of the sinner
standing in the courtroom of God while God pronounces the sinner
righteous. Now there are a couple of
things to take note of here. First, it
is God who declares the sinner righteous.
Just as a criminal in a courtroom has no control over the verdict
process, the sinner has no control in the process of being declared
righteous. Secondly, as we will see
shortly, the sinner does nothing to earn this divine pronouncement. By all rights, the sinner (and when I say
"sinner," I mean all of us) should be condemned as guilty before God,
but God declares us righteous (I'll explain the "how" in a
moment). Thirdly, this is a once-for-all
declaration. When God declares a sinner
righteous, the sinner is eternally considered righteous. It's not as if the "sin" slate has
been wiped clean for the sinner to fill it up again; when God wipes the slate
clean, it stays clean. No future sin
will ever remove our righteous status in God's eyes.
2.
How is a person justified? Four simple words: Faith
in Jesus Christ. It's mentioned
twice in this verse; a person is justified by their faith in Jesus Christ. The sixteenth century reformers had a slogan,
Sola Fide, which is Latin for Faith Alone. Faith is the conduit of all
spiritual blessing. In his letter to the
Ephesians, Paul writes, "For by grace you have been saved
through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God"
(Ephesians 2:8). The word
"saved" in Ephesians is being used synonymously with the word
"justified" in Galatians.
Notice the word "through."
As I said, faith is a conduit; through it flows the blessing of
salvation. God does the work of
justification, and the Holy Spirit applies this work of justification through
our faith. The crucial thing to keep in
mind is that this faith must be in
Jesus Christ. Not faith in His
teachings; not faith in His miracles; faith in Him--the person! I have heard the gospel summed up in four
words: Jesus in my place. Jesus
died in my place to pay the price for my sins and was raised from the dead to
validate His life and ministry and to prove He was God incarnate. Our faith must be placed in the person of
Jesus Christ.
3.
How is a person not justified? Again
from the text, not by works of the law.
This is mentioned three times in this verse. Not by works of the law. Not by works of the law. By works of the law no one will be justified. How much more can I break this down for
you? There is NOTHING you can do to
receive the blessing of salvation from God.
The prophet Isaiah said, "We have all become like one who is
unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment" (Isaiah
64:6). Anything of merit that we
do is like a polluted garment in God's eyes (I won't gross anyone out with what
the phrase "polluted garment" really means). Now someone might say, "isn't the very act of believing in Christ a meritorious
work?" Fair question, but the
answer is no. Faith is not a work, it is a response to a work. Go back to the quote from Ephesians 2
above. Our faith is a gift from God. God opens our eyes to the truth of the
gospel, and we respond in faith--we believe in the truth of the gospel when
previously we did not.
Application Time. OK, let's bring
this home into our lives. Very simply,
stop trying to earn God's favor through good works! God's love for His children doesn't rise or
fall on the basis of how many good works we do.
Yes, He desires, and commands, our obedience, but our obedience is the
natural outpouring of His grace and mercy in our lives. I obey God because He is so good to me and has done so much for me, not because I think God will love
me more if I'm obedient.
Now, if you haven't yet given your life
over to God, don't think you're going to earn your way to heaven. There is no amount of good works that will
overcome your sin debt in God's eyes.
Our sin debt is measured by the goodness of the person we have sinned
against. If I sin against my wife, I can
pay back the sin debt over time. But since all sin is ultimately against God,
and He is infinitely holy and good, the debt incurred is infinite! You will never be good enough! Stop trying and place your faith in the Son
of God who paid the price for you.
Bottom Line. I close with this
final thought from the Apostle Paul, "I have been crucified with Christ. It
is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in
the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for
me" (Galatians
Have a blessed day!