Justification

Marvel Anew

Right now, Christians are being sanctified. But we are not totally sanctified because sin still invades our lives and disrupts our pursuit of holiness. It's a painful thought, but one we must be well aware of if we are to guard ourselves from sin. For now and again we can still smell the stink of its rottenness and see the traces of our old self rear its ugly head.

Have you ever wondered what the root of your sin is? In his excellent book, Not by Sight, Jon Bloom shared this insight:

The greatest enemy of our souls is the pathologically selfish pride at the core of our fallen natures. If we look deep enough, this is what we will find feeding the strong sinful cravings of our appetites.

And pride is born directly from idolatry. What is the root of our sin? Pride, and more directly, idolatry. Yet what is the first of the Ten Commandments?

You shall have no other gods before me.

It's not complicated. But it has massive implications. Why is it so hard for us to mentally grasp this? Or really, why is it so hard for us to practically grasp this? We sin a lot. Let's not sugar coat it. Our sins are vicious affronts against a holy God. Though the Holy Spirit is purifying us, our motives are not yet pure. Our actions still reek of selfishness and vanity. Our sins are many.

But there is news of joy that slays the pain our pride and idolatry cause. And His name is Jesus.

Romans 5:6-10:

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

We were still sinners, ridden with guilt and pride and that factory of idols going double speed in our hearts. And Christ died for us. Take a minute and simply marvel. He is sinless, spotless, totally pure, totally holy, without blemish or stain. And He shouldered the weight of the cross, the burden of our sin. Ours. Yours and mine. Every sin washed away by the blood of Jesus. Marvel. There is nothing that could be better, no news that could plant more joy. For each person who would repent of their sins and trust in Christ, He has "borne our griefs and carried our sorrows."

Our pride, our prejudice, our idolatry, our fear, frustration, anger, bitterness, depression, hostility, violence, malicious thoughts, careless words - they are bought by the blood of Jesus. Marvel anew at the wonder of the cross today.

"What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus." - Doane and Lowry

What Colossians Says About Salvation: Part 1

Today we'll be looking at the theme of salvation in Colossians by way of answering three important questions.

Who Worked Salvation Out?
To answer this, we'll start with Colossians 1:21-22:
"Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds because of your evil actions. But now He has reconciled you by His physical body, through His death to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before Him."
The first thing I noticed in this passage is how it focuses on Christ working our salvation out. It starts with us being alienated and hostile in our minds because of our evil actions, our sin, and then He reconciled us by His physical body, through His death so that we may be presented before Him. He did everything. We learn that later in Colossians 2:13-14: "And when you were dead ... He made you alive with Him and forgave us ... He erased the certificate of death ... and has taken it out of the way by nailing it to the cross." We were dead people; we could do nothing. It was He who was able to work our salvation out and raise us from our old, lifeless selves to new creations. It starts with sin, our evil desires which separate us from God. But then Jesus' atoning death saves us. We're new creatures. Now we have a responsibility ...

What Must We Do Once We're Saved?
"Therefore put to death what belongs to your worldly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry ... But now you must also put away all the following: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another since you have put off the old self with its practices." (Colossians 3:5, 8-9)
My dad got a sweatshirt for Christmas with a famous John Owen quote: "Be killing sin or sin will be killing you." Profound and true. Once we've been saved, we have a responsibility. What we once served, we must now slay. We must daily be putting sin to death. Romans 6:8, 10-11 sheds a little more light on this - "Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ... For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus." (emphasis mine) Our duty as Christians is to put sin to death. But what does that really mean? It means to literally remove each sin from our lives permanently. This isn't a temporary thing; it's for good. We need to get rid of sin, or, you see, sin will get rid of us.

We have one more question to answer, but we'll save that for the next post. What is that question? you wonder. I'll leave it for you to ponder on - How must we live once we're saved?

Unpacking the True Biblical Definition of Justification


Justification. It's one of those "Christianese" words that Christians use all the time without really understanding its true definition. Many half-sorta-kinda-true definitions exist out there, but what about the biblical definition?

The Bible is replete with phrases that refer to Christians being "justified by faith" or "justified by His grace." But, really, what does that mean?

Justification is a legal act of God in which He declares Christ's righteousness to cover our sin and forgives us our trespasses. We're justified before God because of Christ. Wayne Grudem adds to this in "Christian Beliefs: Twenty Basics Every Christian Should Know:"
The sins of those justified are considered forgiven because God considers their sins as belonging to Christ, and Christ already paid the penalty for those sins. But not only does God consider those sins as belonging to Christ, he also considers Christ's righteousness as belonging to us. Christ took the place of guilt that we all deserved so that we could take the place of acceptance we all long for."
That is justification.

But a common, catchy definition that's been taught widely (this was the definition that first introduced me to the doctrine of justification) is "just as if I didn't sin." Unfortunately, there's a problem with that definition. It puts more emphasis on us than Christ. My dad likes to say, "just as if Christ didn't sin, because He didn't." My youth leader refers to justification as Christ "imputing his righteousness on us." It was Christ who justified us by his death. That is why Paul could say to Titus, "Being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life." (Titus 3:7) And that is why Paul could say to the Romans, "[We] are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." (Romans 3:24) We are justified, we are forgiven, we are granted grace, only through Jesus' atoning sacrifice. It was a gift. There was nothing we could do to gain justification; it was all on God's part. He chose us. He called us. And He justified us.

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified." ~ Romans 8:28-30

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