What does it mean to be justified before God? Joyfully Justified explains the biblical doctrine of justification by faith alone and why this truth brings assurance, freedom, and joy to the Christian life.
Roger Smalling
Preface
Eating dry cereal without milk is distasteful. Nourishment, yes. Pleasure, no. So it is with some theology literature. True, but it is dry and lacks passion.
Of all topics that ought to be drenched in passion, justification by grace is supreme. Why? It’s the gospel! Not a mere concomitant, but the gospel itself. New Testament writers always discuss it with passion.
Though this subject requires sound scholarship, I have tried to make it tasteful. For, as faith without works is dead, so is justification without passion.
About the Author
Dr. Roger Smalling and his wife, Dianne, are missionaries to Latin America with the Presbyterian Church in America, a theologically conservative branch of the Reformed movement. He is director of “Visión R.E.A.L.” (Reformación En América Latina), dedicated to training Latin American Christians in principles of biblical leadership and sound theology.
He is the author of a popular book in Spanish, Si, Jesús, on the subject of God’s grace. He is also a professor with Miami International Seminary, which shares his vision for a Latin America reformation.
The Smallings have traveled extensively throughout Latin America, holding seminars and conferences in churches of various denominations.
Study guides, essays, and books written by the Smallings are available on their website in French, Spanish, and English. The teacher’s manual for Joyfully Justified is found there.
Chapter 1: Let’s Get Emotional
The apostle Paul was no icy theologian, expounding from nosebleed heights about judicial points. Though justification is a decree, not a feeling, it should have a visceral impact. First comes the knowledge we are justified, then enjoyment of the fact.
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 5:1
How fitting he mentions peace first. The war is over. God is no longer angry. A sense of safety results, knowing God will never change his verdict of not guilty.
Gone is performance-based hope. Gone is conduct-based acceptance.
One way to enjoy our justification is to dwell on its permanence. This is our “state of grace.” Paul said,
…we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Romans 5:2
Now. Once justified, we stand in grace…now, (present continuous tense.) The state of grace for a justified believer never changes. This is true of weak and new believers, for the Lord is able to make him stand. Romans 14:4
No wonder Martin Luther said justification is the article on which the church stands or falls.[i]
Why justification matters
While other key doctrines illuminate grace in the gospel, justification by faith alone IS the gospel. This justifies (excuse the pun) why we devote an entire manual to justification.
Justification is high on the list of truths worth living and dying for. After all, it answers the question, “How can sinners be reconciled to a holy God and avoid his judgment?”
Justification by faith was the battle cry of the Reformation. Rightly so. The reformers wanted people to be saved, including themselves. What a shock it must have been to discover that for centuries Rome had deceived millions into believing a message of salvation that never saved anybody.
Paul and the gospel of justification
The reformers’ zeal and unwavering convictions were well justified. To our present age, known for its tolerance of everything, including sin, they may seem to have overreacted. Not so. A predecessor modeled their passion: the apostle Paul.
Paul was usually congenial. His letters contain warm expressions of affection. From his parental tenderness toward the Thessalonians to his willingness to live or die with the wayward Corinthians, we see Paul’s genuine sensitivity. Yet we hear him calling down anathemas thick and fast, on those who are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ (Galatians 1:7).
When Paul uses the term “gospel” in Romans and Galatians, he means justification by faith. He declared any other description of the gospel as really no gospel at all (Galatians 1:7). Any alteration of his teaching was not a mere difference in perspective. It was apostasy.
For Paul, the term justified is virtually synonymous with saved.
Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! Romans 5:9
For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. Romans 10:10
We notice Paul’s flexibility on minor issues such as in Romans 14. Yet we detect no yielding when it comes to defining the gospel.
In Romans, he called the gospel, the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes (Romans 1:16). What happens when the message is perverted? Any alteration is fatal because it loses its power to save. RC Sproul asks rhetorically:
“Does saving faith require a trust in the righteousness of Christ alone as the grounds of our Justification? Or may a person have a different view of the gospel and still be a Christian?” [ii]
A distorted gospel strikes at the heart of the righteousness of Christ himself, giving man glory due to God alone. It undermines his own security. He destroys the very ground which he thought was solid.
This is what Rome has done to millions. Time has not improved Rome’s perversion of justification, despite Vatican II or the Ecumenical movement. There is as much need for exposing it today as ever.
Even among Evangelicals, misunderstandings occur about justification. These rarely jeopardize the gospel itself, though they always affect one’s view of God, one’s self, and principles of Christian living.
Questions this study will answer
In this study, therefore, we will explore the two key elements of justification: Forgiveness of sin and the imputation of the righteousness of Christ. Some questions we will consider:
- Exactly what does the term “justify” mean?
- What is the difference between saving faith and any other kind?
- What is meant by the righteousness of Christ? Is there a spiritual essence infused into our soul?
- What is imputation?
- What are the objective and subjective benefits?
Afterwards, we will compare the biblical teaching on justification to Catholicism. Doing this is not meant to be unkind. It is intended show the devastating consequences of errors involving this doctrine.
To define these errors is not theological hairsplitting. Like the doors of history, theology also turns on small hinges. Just as little events can generate huge impact over time, so minor errors can produce heresies.
Calvin calls this doctrine the “principal ground” on which the Christian stands:
The doctrine of justification…is the principal ground on which religion must be supported, so it requires greater care and attention. For unless you understand first of all what your position is before God…you have no foundation on which your salvation can be laid, or on which piety toward God can be reared.[iii]
A Christian friend recently lamented, “Why can’t we just stay simple? Why do we have to complicate everything?” The answer could well be stated: “We are not the ones complicating the issue.” Others have taken the simple gospel and complicated it with unbiblical additions. Careful theologians know how to detect the errors that obscure the simple gospel. Nevertheless, this can be a complex task.
Let’s clear up a potential misunderstanding. When we say justification by faith alone is the gospel, we do not mean everyone must understand the doctrine of justification to be saved. Most evangelistic preaching in the book of Acts expresses justification as forgiveness of sins through Christ alone.
That, in fact, is the doctrine of justification in its simplest form. We are preaching justification by faith when we say, “If you trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, God will forgive you all your sins and give you eternal life.” Paul used the term justified when preaching to people who understood the concept, such as in the synagogue in Antioch. (Acts 13:39)
Through this study we will see why Paul was passionate enough to write two large Epistles on justification: Romans and Galatians. We also will discover why the reformers were willing to be burned at the stake for it. We will be challenged to preach the gospel with greater conviction, knowing that the outcome is inevitably, …those whom he justified, he also glorified (Romans 8:30).
Conclusion
Justification by faith alone deserves special focus because it defines the gospel. Distortions of the gospel throughout history have made it necessary to distinguish the true gospel from false ones.
From this chapter we learn…
- Justification by faith alone is the biblical gospel.
- Various movements have distorted it into something unrecognizable as the gospel of Christ.
- We must be uncompromising on this doctrine precisely because it is the gospel. The apostle Paul and the reformers exemplified unwavering commitment to this doctrine.
Study Questions for Chapter 1
- Explain why the doctrine of justification by faith merits thorough analysis.
- Explain why Paul, in Galatians 1, felt it appropriate to pronounce anathemas on those who disagreed with the correct definition of the gospel.
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Continue reading Joyfully Justified
What does it mean for God to justify a sinner, and how is Christ’s righteousness credited to us? Discover the answers in the complete book.
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Unlocking Grace: Describes how the doctrines of grace relate to each other.
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Notes:
[i]. Luther did not actually say these words. In his commentary on Psalms 130, he said, “This article standing, the Church stands. This article falling, the Church falls.” This statement is a bit exaggerated because the Church can fall in other ways than erring on justification. Yet it summarizes his views on the importance of justification. The work where Luther said this has never been translated from German. For those interested, it is:
Luther, Martin. Luther Werke, Weimar Ausgabe. Herman Boehlau: Weimar, Germany, 1930, Vol.40, p.130.
[ii]. Sproul, Faith Alone, p.16.
[iii]. John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Two Volumes. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI, 1964 2:37 (3.11.11).