Justification (verb: justify/justified
[Graphic
from http://pewtopractice.wordpress.com – Brent Osterberg]
“But now, apart from law, a righteousness of God has been
manifested (being witnessed by “the Law and the Prophets”), even a
righteousness of God that is via faith in Jesus Christ for all those who
believe – for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of
the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption
which is in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation by his
blood, via faith. This was to
demonstrate His righteousness (because in the forbearance of God, He passed
over the sins previously committed); for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness
at the present time, that He might be
both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law – of works? No, but by a law of faith. (Romans 3:21-27)
Whether
we like it or not, God is both Just – and The Justifier of those who have faith
in Jesus. And whether we are prepared to
admit it or not, many of us humans have a problem with God overlooking sin –
or, more accurately, “passing over” sin.
We are scandalised and our sense of human fairness and justice is
offended. If you analyse what many who
call themselves ‘christians’ believe, it is a Western form of karma: just
deserts; come-uppance; pay-back
Even
though God ended “an eye for an eye” as just treatment two thousand years ago,
many people (and indeed many peoples) still adamantly live by that code,
thinking it is God’s justice. And the
most profound thing it does is make a complete mockery of the life, death,
resurrection and ascension of Jesus because that old code says our sin is not
removed from us and transferred to Jesus.
We say Jesus’ life and mission does not mean what God says it means; we
make ourselves the arbiter of forgiveness, mercy and redemption; we end up with
god made in the image of man, instead of being man made in the image of God.
Many
reject God – even the idea of God – because, in their arrogance, they determine
that God doesn’t live up to their expectations or definitions or wishes. It never occurs to us that maybe it’s the
other way round: we don’t live up to His expectations, definitions or
wishes. Indeed, that is one of the
bible’s definitions of ‘sin’: falling short of the mark, as Romans 3:21 above
says.
Two
important references need to be made here to things well known to us that come
from the old covenant. First, the idea
that “a leopard can’t change its spots” (Jeremiah 13:23) – which was their way
of saying one accustomed to doing evil cannot also do good. This corresponds to Proverbs 27:22, “You can
grind a fool in a mortar and pestle, yet his folly will not depart from
him.” The second is one of the most
important festivals in the Hebrew calendar – the Passover. God Himself set the whole idea of “passing
over” (overlooking and forgiving) the sins of the people into the fabric of the
life and culture of the Hebrews.
Remember He said, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed
our sins from us.” (Psalm 103:12) And He
said, “I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will remember no more.”
(Jeremiah 31:34)
The
problem has long been one law for the law-makers and a different law for the
‘plebs’, the serfs, the masses. The
law-makers want to be both just and the justifier – a role that uniquely
belongs to God: yet another case of god made in the image of man, instead of
the other way round. One of Jesus’
problems with the Scribes and the Pharisees was that they did two things well:
one, they insisted they were without sin (after all, they kept the law
flawlessly).
The
second thing they did well was they put religious and legal burdens on their
subjects that they themselves did not carry, neither did they lift a finger to
help. Listen to Matthew’s record of Jesus
speaking: “The scribes and the Pharisees have
seated themselves in the chair of Moses; therefore all that they tell you, do
and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do
not do them; they tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men's shoulders, but
they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger.” (Matthew
23:3-4)
And
note how Luke records the same thing: “Jesus
replied, ‘And you experts in the law, woe to you, because
you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves
will not lift one finger to help them.’” (Luke 11:46)
What
was Jesus’ approach? “Come to me all who
are weary and heavily burdened and I will give you rest. My yoke is easy and my load is light.” The Pharisees were scandalised and insulted by
such ideas! Enough to want to kill him –
now!
Because
of the salvation prepared and delivered by the life, death and resurrection of
Jesus; because of the price paid for the redemption of mankind to his proper
place; because of the grace gift of righteousness to all who put their faith in
Jesus … God, as just justifier, makes the pronouncement of “not guilty”,
acquitted, the charges dropped. By
acquittal from guilt, a person is actually just. It is fitting therefore that the just
justifier makes the pronouncement. That
is justification. Listen to how Paul put
it in Romans 8 – “Therefore there is
now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus… Who will bring a charge
against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns?”
(verses 1 and 33)
Justification
is a concrete expression of righteousness; it is a declaration that a person or
thing is righteous. For us humans, it
comes back to the fundamental importance of the nature of the relationship we
enter into with the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is an organic union, not a functional contract. Since it is an organic union, we are in
Christ and Christ is in us. The Father
calls us sons, Jesus calls us brothers, and we are marked with God’s Spirit as
the seal of our inheritance. We are
justified – declared right and acceptable – by means of that relationship and
because of that relationship.
One
of the most persistent problems I have encountered over 40-plus years of the
disciple life is that so many of us do not see or experience the relationship
as a close, intimate, organic union (of the same order and quality as
marriage), but rather as an external contractual agreement with the CEO and
Board of Heaven Inc. This of course fits
with the style of things under the old covenant. We often fail to realise that, since Jesus,
all such contractual arrangements ceased.
God now relates to us intimately as father and son, but if we don’t (or
don’t want to) relate to Him in the same way, it is a dysfunctional
relationship.
So
many times and so often, He is waiting like the father in the gospel story of
the prodigal son, while we grieve for our dirtiness and our hunger, worrying
what His response will be if we attempt to return home. Or we pride ourselves in our
self-righteousness and see no reason to return home.
As
far as God is concerned, everything is finished and prepared; there is nothing
left to be done – except for us to do what the prodigal son finally did. He eventually saw himself as unfit and
unworthy to be called a son or to be treated as a son. He thought he could return home as a
household servant. But remember the
earlier analogy of Prince Charles and the palace servants? Servants never become sons and sons never
become servants. The father greets with
open arms a son who is returned to his proper place (saved, redeemed, righteous
and justified). The father throws a
party and prepares the best food and the best clothes for his returned
son. He effectively says to the returned
son, you are not guilty; you are acquitted; you are righteous; and I am going
to throw a party for you, even if your ‘old covenant brothers’ are scandalised
by what I am doing.
Is
God fair to do this – is He just? It
doesn’t seem to be ‘fair’ as we humans understand and define fairness. After all, everybody knows that you have to
pay for your sins. Wrong! Everybody should
know that Jesus has already paid the price and the sins have been transferred
to him. Should we then continue in sin
so we can see more of God’s grace? Paul
can answer that one:
“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that
grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any
longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus
were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism
into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the
glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” (Romans 6:1-4)
If
we think of salvation, redemption, righteousness and justification as pieces of
theology to be debated and believed or disbelieved, we will never comprehend
this or find a satisfactory answer to this scandalous thing. But, you see, salvation, redemption,
righteousness and justification are not theologies. They are, first, the core business of the
household of God and, second, the four pillars of that same household.
They
are not theological abstracts that God decides to implement for the sake of us
humans, they are the very heartbeat of God and the throbbing pulse of His
household. God in His being and nature
is saver, redeemer, righteous and just – in ALL His ways. It is His nature and character, therefore it
is what He does. And if He is just in all
His ways (Psalm 145:17) how could He not act consistent with His nature and
character? If He did not act consistent
with His nature and character, He would not be God, but a fraud and a
pipe-dream.
If
God is “the judge of all the earth” (Abraham in Genesis 18:25), his judgement
is final and everlasting. If He is not …
well, I’m not even going to go there.
The
judge’s decision is final; and his decision is that He justifies frail, faulty
human beings. In Jesus Christ, we are
acquitted; we are not guilty; we are righteous – indeed, if Paul is to be
believed, we actually become the
righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. We
are not failed sons who return home to be put on probation to see if we qualify
to regain son status. Is He fair and
just to do this?
I
believe God is eminently fair and just to do this. If He didn’t do it this way, some would be
able to qualify on the basis of their own assessment of themselves, their own
righteousness (Romans 10:3), and their ability to convince God that He would be
doing His household a favour by accepting them but not others. If you read Romans 9, 10 and 11, you will see
that this is how Pau describes the attitudes and actions of the Jews. And as the reference as the head of this post
says, He does it this way for two reasons: one, so it is not performance-based
(a law of works) but faith-based (a law of faith); and, two, to rule out any
boasting on our part!
This
is justification. This is our justification. But unlike the other three concepts,
justification is not a past, present and future concept, it is a once-for-all
legal pronouncement; a declaration that stands for all time and, more
importantly, it stands in eternity. But
like the other three, is does remain ever in His purview.
Angels,
we are told by Peter, long to look into these things (1 Peter 1:12). But we humans – well, we have this global
philosophy that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. So we tell ourselves it is all myth and
fairytales.
The
problem as I see it is that critics and non-believers alike are responding to a
profoundly weak and effete story of God, man and salvation – a story that is
barely believable to one who is not predisposed to religion. So often, salvation, redemption, righteousness
and justification are droned on about as theological ideas, doctrines or
philosophies that can be analysed and rejected or accepted.
I
believe the chief responsibility for this poor state of affairs rests with the
global institution that has come to be called ‘the church’. In public discourse in many parts of the
world, as soon as you mention God, people’s thoughts go to church and
religion. And I find that not just sad,
but deeply offensive. I believe it is a
gross misrepresentation of God – but that is for another post.
Whether
one accepts the pre-supposition of God or not; whether one starts from the
pre-supposition that man is basically good or that he is basically evil;
justification makes sense. And
justification requires righteousness, righteousness requires redemption and redemption
requires salvation.
Whether
our standard of right is human or divine, we don’t function properly without
being justified according to that standard.
And even if our starting point is that man is basically good, we are
burying our head in the sand if we refuse to acknowledge and address the
persistent presence of evil in our world and in our relationships. And the presence of evil demands redemption
and therefore salvation, even if it is about being saved from ourselves.
In the next couple of posts, I will attempt to draw all the pieces together - a bit like making a mosaic I guess.
Cheers,
Kevin.
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