Justification In The Book Of Romans

Dating to the writing of the book of Romans there has been a basic misunderstanding as to what Paul meant by justification by faith. The Jewish culture had been educated in the law and yet the Gentile culture was being instructed that the law was death. The Jewish community was confused and aghast that God would justify sinners. Nonetheless that is exactly what Paul said God would do and he would do it based on the simple faith of the believer.

The Jews viewed the Gentiles as inferior and hopeless in any redeeming qualities. The Jews, seeing themselves as privileged in God’s sight, were unwilling to hear that Paul was preaching to the Jews and Gentiles alike (Romans 1:16-17). Today, racial profiling and bigotry exist to an even greater degree. Each culture, has the belief that their version of the law is correct, so everyone else should align with them. People are separated by cultural differences and are willing to fight for their beliefs. God sent Paul to tell the Gentiles that the good news applied to them also in Romans 1:3-7. Just as the issues in Paul’s day influenced the people then, today’s society is influenced by television, Hollywood, and social media. Man has idols whose culture may or may not be based in the one true God. Godly culture is pushed farther and farther away in lieu of a “me “centered culture. Reality is that sin is sin (Romans 2:12-14).

     Paul began his argument of Romans by proving that the Gentiles are sinners before God. Although God has revealed His truth to them, they have suppressed it, resulting in the darkness of their inner man and rebellion against God to the point of worshipping animals (1:18-23). As a result God gave them over to do the desires of their heart (1:24, 26): idolatry (1:25) and homosexuality (1:26-27). Seeing that they had no desire to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a depraved mind to do every sort of evil (1:28-31).

With righteousness we are made okay with God and proclaim our faith through Abraham that Jesus was resurrected by God.

How is the term justification defined by scholars? What is your own definition based on your research?

In Romans 3:28-30, Paul explains that people are saved by faith, not by the law. During that time period, it was a big adjustment for Jewish culture that the law was not the main focus anymore. Many Jews were still so focused on the law that it took away from their opportunity to witness to the Gentile cultures around them. Most Jews at this time had beliefs about the gentiles that they were not worthy to be justified, because of their life styles and ideas. The New Testament addresses this and points to the fact that Jesus died for the World and all its cultures.

The theme of Romans 5:1-5 Justification by Faith. When believers are justified and declared righteous, we have peace with God. Previously, we learned that the sinful nature of humankind provoked the wrath of God. Then Paul explained that the righteousness of God was needed. Additionally, through God’s grace, His righteousness was revealed to those who believed in Jesus Christ. Now Paul explains that through the death of Christ, believers find peace with God. Believers are no longer disobedient and God is no longer angry. Justification means believers are acquitted of guilt and have a right relationship with God. However, being in right relationship with God does not exempt us from suffering. Just as the grace of God is necessary for believers to be declared righteous, suffering is necessary to give us the strength to press on. Nevertheless, we can be sure that God is with us through our sufferings. Our sufferings give us strength and the glory of God helps us endure through the suffering.

• Be able to define “justification,” “sanctification,” and “glorification.” Justification – saved from the penlty of sin; the moment an individual is saved formt he pently of sin, we literally move from darkness to light, change course from hell to heaven and gain peace with God – pg. 26 Sanctification – Saved from the power of sin; 3. Glorification – saved from the presence of sin.

Romans 1-4 is the first section of Paul’s letter. This section has two major structural units. The first unit defined the human problem of sin. The second unit of the first section defined the solution to the human problem of sin. Paul’s outline of this solution is the first section’s single most compelling issue. Romans 3:22-24, “This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” The solution to our human problem, righteousness credited to us as a result of faith in Christ’s sacrifice, is available to all of us only because of God’s compassionate grace.

In essence we are totally indigent within ourselves. As humans we have things wrong with us that we cannot fix on our own, we need Jesus to justify, sanctify, and to glorify us. Paul proclaims that knowledge of the law brings wrath, the Gentiles conversely didn’t have the law. The Jews by Paul’s teaching are under a stronger condemnation because they had the law all along (Romans 4:15). Essentially, the Jews are held to a higher standard than the gentiles. No matter if we are Jew or Gentile, we are all condemned by God the same but held to different standards. Romans 3:20, “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.” God and sin cannot be together. Rome in Paul’s day and our world today are truthfully no different. We are all sinners and the only way we can be justified is by His grace through the redemption of Jesus (Romans

The next important topic I want to talk about is condemnation. Now what is condemnation? Webster’s definition of condemnation is this: an act of judicially condemning. Condemnation to me means not only condemning someone, but also condemning ourselves, because of sins we have committed. Romans 8:1 says this “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.” What is this saying? Through Jesus we do not have to feel guilty for the wrong we have done. Jesus has already paid for our sins through his sacrifice. Justification is a term that goes with both condemnation and grace. Justification is defined in the Praxis the assigned book for Theo 104. “Justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein He pardoned all our sins, and accepted us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness

We hear justifications and excuses every day. Both words in our world can be used in similar fashion. That being said, within the world of law, a justification is about giving reasonable reason for what was done or not. Excuses in the other hand, is a defense that recognizes a crime was committed, but that for the defendant, although committing a socially undesirable crime, conviction and punishment would be morally inappropriate. Justification and excuses are the most common affirmative defenses utilized to be exculpated from a criminal offence. Throughout this essay justifications and excuses are going to be explored in depth as there is a fine line between them. Justifications and excuses are going to be compared and contrasted. Also, court cases are going to be used as examples to expand on this two simple but yet complicated words.

Once Paul establishes the definition of justification for his readers he moves on to define the basis for justification. In doing so, Paul again returns to comparing condemnation and justification. Paul demonstrated both how condemnation entered the world along with how justification entered the world, both of which each occurred through one man. When defining justification, Paul first described condemnation which helped readers understand the need for justification. Similarly, Paul starts his discussion about the basis of justification by first discussing the basis for condemnation. The contrast Paul wanted to demonstrate to the recipients of the epistle is that of Adam and Christ. Death claimed everyone from Adam to Moses and every one since,

The generic conception of Romans 8:1-11 is that there is no condemnation to them which are in Jesus Christ because Jesus brought new covenant and the era of the Spirit. The Mosaic Law brings recognition of sin, but cannot save people, whereas Jesus condemned sin and freed humans from bodily death and gave eternal spiritual life.

The unmerited favor of God expressed unto those who did nothing of their own power to earn this gift. Because of Christ Jesus obedience unto the death of the cross, the grace of God is given unto us through justification by faith unto righteous, when one truly repents for their sins, (Romans 5:17-19).