Romans 4--What is Justification?

It was a hot, August day in Istanbul Turkey. I was leading a short-term missions team on a project there. I was fed up by my high-maintenance, low stamina, quick to grumble team. I was so frustrated. My roommate, a seminary professor took me out to the only place in Istanbul (that I knew of) that made real American coffee at the time. He said to me words that I will never forget. “Do you know what is wrong with these people? (thankfully he did not give me time to answer) They don’t understand the difference between their justification and their sanctification.”

At that point, that wasn’t just their problem. It was mine also. I didn’t know the difference and it was my spiritual life. Do you? Do you understand the how God has given you the gift of both justification and sanctification and how they differ?

This is a large degree what Paul is getting at in this chapter and the next few chapters of Romans. Simply speaking, our justification and sanctification are both gifts that we receive through our union with Christ. Our union with Christ is another way of saying we are “in Christ” or have a relationship with Him. This is how justification and sanctification differ: Our justification is our legal declaration that we are innocent (of transgression) and righteous (having displayed full obedience) before God. At the cross, Jesus identifies with us and takes our guilt and unrighteousness. His death is the due penalty for sin. Not only that, but also we take his legal status of being fully innocent and fully righteous. In a sense, we trade our legal status. This justification is the grounds of our acceptance before God. That is why we can pray in Jesus’ name—not in our righteousness, but in his name by which we can stand before God (Heb 4:18)

Sanctification is spoken of in two ways through scripture. First, it speaks of a definite state where we are set apart and made holy to God—similar to the way the Temple or a Priest would have been (Hebrews 10:10). Secondly, scripture teaches us about progressive sanctification. This is our day to day Spiritual growth (1 Thessalonians 4:3).

When we mix up the two, we equate our acceptance before God based upon our progress in sanctification. This makes our sin hang heavy upon us for we cannot feel or experience the wonder of forgiveness. It makes us unwilling to enter into the presence of God. We assume our entrance ticket to his presence is based upon our performance rather than Christ’s performance.

This chapter shows us that grace has always come first--ever since Abraham. He was credited with righteousness before he ever fulfilled any law. Yet, from a well of acceptance, wonder and grace, Abraham not only submitted himself and his sons to circumcision (Paul uses as representative of the law), but displayed the faith that would trust God with everything that is dear to him (Gen 22). Abraham was justified by faith and then fulfilled the law later. If we base our relationship with God based upon how well we perform, we misunderstand Christian faith, and set aside the grace of God in the death of Christ (Galatians 2:21)

Now, let me ask you this: Does this make any sense?

Posted by Marc

1 Corinthians 6: Freedom and Oneness

Since we have received grace, does that free us to do whatever we want? This chapter is all about being free and being bound, or to put it another way, to be in union with another. Paul’s perspective is an assault against the teaching of the environment we swim in. Our environment would teach us that our body and possessions are our own. We can do whatever we want with our body; as long as it doesn’t hurt another person (it can hurt another person as long as there are two mutually consenting adults at the outset). And if someone hurts us, the legal system is available to make restitution for our damages—so that we might personally be made whole again.

Paul’s view of the world is different. Paul views it this way. We have more freedom than anyone in all creation (“Everything is permissible for me” 6:12). That doesn’t mean we are autonomous. No one is autonomous. We are either united to sin and idols or we are united to Christ. And if we are united to Christ, we are inseparably united to the rest of the family of God. These Spiritual realities must reveal themselves in concrete forms.
So what does this look like? Christians must learn to resolve their disputes with one another through one another. To go outside the church would be like asking a soccer referee to umpire a baseball game. They are two different environments and the laws are different inside and outside the church.

Sexual sin is a concrete violation of our union with Christ. Our body is a temple--a physical space united to a heavenly person; A dwelling place for God; A place for worship. Everything we do in our body is an expression of worship. Do we celebrate the goodness of God in food? Do we celebrate marital love? Or, are we mastered by our body and enslaved to it? If we serve the appetites of our body, whether they are physical appetites, emotional, social or sexual appetites, we find ourselves serving them. Service is the best Old Testament word for worship. Whom do we serve? That is where the gospel gives us genuine good news. We should not be mastered by anything because that would betray the basic principle that Jesus Christ is our master and we are united to him.

Posted by Marc