Justification by Faith

     Some believed that since God’s righteousness is made evident when people commit unrighteousness, God would not be able to punish people for their sins because their sin showed God’s righteousness. Paul argued that if this was so, God could not judge the world (3:5-7). Some went so far as to allege that Paul taught that people should sin to bring about good (3:8).

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

DeVries argues, “It is not making ourselves righteous. It is not sanctification. It is not simply belonging to the Christian church because you profess Christ as Lord. Justification has to do with God as Judge. It is the declaration that you are free from guilt and condemnation in the sight of God. It is an anticipation of future judgment.” In his article “Justification: A Doctrine in Crisis,” Carl Henry asserts, “Justification is God’s declaration and implementation of his eternal will giving

To begin with, God’s faithfulness is displayed in the Pentateuch. One example is found in the opening chapters of Genesis. Even though Adam and Eve disobeyed his command, God does not let sin prevent him from being faithful. Instead, God enters the garden and asks the couple, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9) This example displays the theme that God

In verse 15, Paul writes, "We who are Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners" Paul seems to be telling his gentile reader that the Torah has no bearing on their salvation. I feel that he purposely or inadvertently gives the law merit more merit than intended by suggesting that Jews are not sinners because they received the law. He draws a distinction between himself and "the gentile sinners" yet he is telling his audience that the ways, some of which are still a part of his own way of life, are irrelevant. He seems to almost make a separation of culture and religion. He seems to be saying that the rectitude of the Jews dates from birth, because the Jewish religion is a part of their culture. Peter claims to

Our God is loving, kind and merciful, but there is another side to His personality, the side that defends and fights for His people. Paul declares we must know the “goodness and severity of God.” To understand the full character of God we must read the entire Bible. God is a lover of His creation and He is a warrior who fights for those whom He loves. The author makes an excellent point that since we are made in His image we must take on every aspect of the character

Martin Luther wrestled over justification his whole life, it tore him apart and tore him away from the church. He set out to challenge the belief of the church at the time. He came to the opinion, from his study of the gospel and the early church, that justification comes from God’s gift of grace, that only must be accepted through faith.

An observation of this compelling issue is, all humans are extended the opportunity to receive salvation. However, in order to receive salvation that brings credits us with righteousness, we must have faith that God the Father sent his son Jesus to take

As was discussed during our first post for the week, Capon (2002) stated, “You judge yourself by taking your stand on the law’s demands rather than on my righteousness which is yours for the believing” (p.368). The Gospel demonstrates that God has provided everything for our salvation including the death of His son. The only thing we need to do is to believe. Kinnaman, S. & Lane, L. (2010) stated, “While other religions teach that something must be done to earn God’s favor and salvation, Christianity teaches that Jesus has already secured our salvation. God reaches out to people in Christ, rather than people reaching out to God” (p.37). It is critical to comprehend that to stand on the law means to try to justify oneself before God on account of our own actions. The truth is, that we cannot follow God’s law to perfection, and can never accomplish what it demands.

A few Christians hold the possibility that faith and reason are in strife, separated by some unbridgeable gap. They imagine that one assumes control while the alternate one drops off. In all actuality, faith and reason cooperate flawlessly to help us know and love our Maker. Numerous Christians see a contention amongst reason and faith. From one perspective, God instructs us to reason (Isaiah 1:18). We are to have a justifiable reason/purpose behind what we accept, and we are to be constantly prepared to impart that motivation to other individuals (1 Peter 3:15). So we endeavor to show unbelievers that our faith in the Scriptures is sensible, legitimized, and intelligently solid. The Bible bodes well. In addition, we should have faith. We should trust God and not incline toward our own particular comprehension (Proverbs 3:5). The Bible lets us know that the "just shall live by faith" (Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11). It appears that we should trust God paying little heed to whether His words sound good to our

In reviewing the reading assignment, I believe when Paul says by righteousness, justification, and faith, he is speaking about the believing in God and the purpose of Jesus dying on the cross. Paul says that because Jesus’ voluntary death paid the price for all “lawbreakers”, stating, “through the law, I died to the law” (Harris, 2014 p.358). Paul suggested that the law of the Torah was irrelevant because we all will share, the God’s grace like never before, and if people believed that they would be judged based on following the law of the Torah, why did Christ die for our sins. Paul also says that it is our faith that equals righteousness and because of faith, not because of following the law, faith is the key to God’s divine approval (Harris,

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).

Justification by faith (Sola Fide), which known to be the core value of the Reformation. Is the believe that righteousness from God is viewed as being credited

somehow we were good enough for salvation, or that we add something by our own goodness and holy actions. That is dangerous nonsense. God does it all. We were vile sinners, far from God. God is pristinely holy and utterly apart from sin. There is no way we could reach His standards—it truly is of God.

Justification is defined as an act in which God declares all those who accept Him as their personal savior as being righteous and the penalty of sin is removed from their lives by Him. God removes a person who has faith in Him from a state of sin to a state of righteousness. It is stated in the book of Corinthians 5:21 that, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God”. The term is derived from the Greek word dikaiosis which is a legal term that means “to make a person righteous”. The council of Trent, view justification as a change in a person from being a child of Adam to being adopted by grace, to be among the heirs of God through the second Adam who is Jesus Christ (Denzinger, 1524 pg 115). In the New Testament, Paul declares that the law and prophets in the Old Testament are witnesses to how God’s is right in justifying those who are righteous at heart. In saying so, Paul declared that justification is an aspect that is clearly visible in the Old Testament. Although justification is not brought out as a subject in the bible, its mention or aspect in the biblical account serves as evidence of God’s purpose for His people. (Surburg 129)