Five weeks ago, we began a discussion regarding
the results of personal salvation in Christ and why it might be associated with
enhanced wellbeing as found through Teleios’ research.1,2 The
current blogs are describing what happens at the time of salvation, as taught
in the Bible, which results in a new and wonderful position for a believer.
This week let us discuss justification. There is
no other more important result of Christ’s work on the cross than our
justification by faith. Let's examine in some detail the meaning of this great
promise.
Meaning of the New Testament word - This word is vital because the complete meaning in Greek of the word, “justification”
(δικαιος, dikaios) is not fully conveyed by the English. As you know, Greek is
the original language of the New Testament. The word dikaios carried a legal
meaning that still exists today in modern Greek. The word reflected then someone
who was found innocent in a court of law of all charges against them. Just like
now, in ancient times in the Greek and Roman world there was no double jeopardy.3
This important legal concept means once you have been found innocent you cannot
be charged again for the same crime.
Christ’s work in justification - The Bible indicates that each of us has sinned and “fallen short” of
what God requires of us (Romans 3:23). Because God is just, He demands
punishment for our misdeeds. However, because He is loving, He sent His Son,
Jesus Christ, to take the punishment in our place (Romans 3:24-26).
It's as though Christ acted as a courtroom judge and
found us guilty of our sins and gave us the death sentence but afterwards,
stood up, removed His judicial robe, came around in front of the judge’s bench and
took the punishment for us. This satisfied God's demand for righteousness but
also showed His great and gracious love for us.
Importantly, Christ is a sufficient sacrifice for
our sins as He is perfect, holy and without sin (Romans 3:25, Hebrews 7:26, IICorinthians 5:21). Therefore, Christ was
a sufficient sacrifice to satisfy God's judgment. Accordingly, He died once for
all sin, for all time, and He does not need to do this again as did the Old
Testament priests (Hebrews 6:1-14; 10:10-18).
Our legal position before God was pronounced
“innocent” when we trusted Christ for forgiveness of our sins. We do this only once and our sins are
forgiven for all time. Since Christ’s sacrifice was sufficient for all our sins
for all time, nobody can charge us again. There is no double jeopardy!
WOW! We are secure in our position before God. We
can come to him boldly because there are no limits on our access after we believe
and become a Christian (Hebrews 10:20-23). What a great promise we have in our
justification!
Indeed, God has given us, as Christian believers,
a marvelous salvation and a wonderful secure eternity with Him (Romans 10:9-10;
I Peter 1:4-5). Come back again next week and we'll complete this exciting
overview of the results of our salvation.
WC Stewart
1.
MacIlvaine WR, Nelson LA, Stewart JA, Stewart WC. Association of
strength of community service to personal wellbeing. Community Ment Health J
2014;50:577-82.
2.
MacIlvaine WR, Nelson LA, Stewart JA, Stewart WC. Association of strength
of religious adherence to quality of life measures. Complement Ther Clin Pract
2013;19:251-5.
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