Union with Christ: Justification

To be united to the King of kings is the most wonderful reality in the universe. Over the next few months, I want to blog about what that entails. What does it mean to be one with Jesus Christ? Understanding this is so key to our walk with God; the more we understand our identity in Christ, the more powerfully we will be able to embrace that identity. The more clearly we will see our beautiful Father through Jesus :) 

Today, I want to cover justification. What does it mean to be "justified by faith alone"? Let's find out. 

"I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” (When all the people heard this, and the tax collectors too, they declared God just, having been baptized with the baptism of John, but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.)" (Luke 7:28-30 ESV)

The phrase "they declared God just", in the Greek, is literally "they justified God". You cannot make God righteous...but you can declare God to be righteous. In other words, justification is a declaration of one's righteousness. It is God's legal pronunciation of our status; when God justifies man, He declares them righteous. Well, there are two issues to deal with then. A) Biblically, on what basis does God declare us righteous? Is it by...faith alone? Or is it by faith and works? Or is it by works? B) If justification is by faith alone, then how can God do it? Isn't he lying when He declares a sinner like me righteous?

The Condition of our Right-Standing

According to Romans 8:7-11, I am dead in my sin. When I didn't belong to Christ (prior to having His Spirit in me), my mind was hostile to God. I could not submit to God, and I was unable to please Him. Why? Because the truth is that outside of Christ, man is totally depraved. Pretty much, we suck. We suffer from suckiness unto death. Romans 3 says that no one is good, and no one seeks after God. So my right-standing with God cannot be on the basis of works. Why? If it were, then I'd be screwed. In the presence of a holy God, I am not holy in and of myself. Since my crime is infinitely offensive before a holy King, I would be infinitely worthy of His wrath. So what is the condition of our right-standing before God? 

"What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.” (Romans 4:1-8 ESV)

So let's dig into that Scripture a bit. If Abraham was justified by the stuff he did, he would be able to boast in the presence of God. He would be able to look to himself, and say "see Lord? I AM righteous!" Well, we're gonna have none of that. Abraham's ungodly. So Paul quotes Genesis 15:6 to remind his readers that Abraham's "belief" was "counted/credited to him as righteousness". The next two sentences are extremely key in understanding justification.

"Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness"

This is the analogy Paul uses to draw out what he means. "To the one who works", something external (wages) are coming to him as his due. It's not a gift; it's something that is owed To the one who does not work, but believes, his faith is credited as righteousness. So the first thing we must notice is that Paul frame wages as something external coming to a subject as his due. It's something that the subject deserves. So if these two situations are parallels, Paul must have in mind the idea that something external (righteousness) is coming to you on a condition (faith). That's the only way these scenarios have parallel structures.

However, there is something even more important (and less complex) to note. For "the one who works" and "the one who does not work", there's a key difference. To one one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. What does that imply? A gift is not something that is owed to us. It's something that we do not deserve (see Romans 3:24-we are justified by God's grace as a gift....and "grace" is the unmerited, undeserved favor of God. We deserve God's wrath, not His mercy, but out of the wonderful kindness of His heart, He shows us abounding mercy). That means that for the one who does not work, his "faith" is being counted as something it is not. His faith is being counted as righteousness as a gift, not his due. Faith is not intrinsically righteous. It's not as though God has a checklist in heaven, sees "faith" and then says "yup! that dude's solid". No, faith in and of itself is not righteous, but nevertheless is the condition for righteousness (we'll get to how that works shortly). Whereas wages are one's due on the basis of works, righteousness is a gift credited to us on the basis of faith....and faith alone. How do I know that? Paul contrasts faith and works here. He sets up faith in opposition to works when he's talking about how we're counted righteous before God. "To the one who does not work, but believes, his faith is counted as righteousness." Our works are excluded before God...our deeds cannot make us right with Him. That doesn't mean they aren't important; in Romans 6, Paul highlights the fact that a true right-standing with God results in right-living with Him as well. Out of the abundance of our new hearts in Christ, obedience flows. However, that obedience is not the grounds of our confidence. So what is? Well, faith alone is the condition of our right standing. But if faith isn't itself righteous, then why can God declare someone who is ungodly to be righteous? Isn't He lying? Nope. Here's why.

The Ground of our Confidence: In Christ Alone
Let's summarize what we've covered. If God counts faith (something intrinsic, a condition fulfilled in us) as righteousness, He is counting it as something it is not. Thus, something alien to faith (that is, something not entailed in "faith" in and of itself) is being credited to us-righteousness. We have an alien righteousness before God...a righteousness that is alien to anything in us. So on what basis can God count us righteous? Where does the "righteousness from God" of Philippians 3 that is credited to us by faith come from? The answer is: Jesus Christ. Let's note a few things Biblically. Galatians 2:17 says that we're justified (counted righteous) in Christ. In Christ.

What happens when we trust in Christ? According to Romans 6, we die with Him and then are raised with Him. We are "united to Him". This is a very mysterious bit of Christian theology. Somehow, the Holy Spirit fixes a union between Jesus and me, such that His life is working in me and through me, making a new me. Galatians 2:20 speaks of us being "crucified with Christ". Paul isn't just speaking metaphorically here; he's saying that in some real sense, my old sinful self was crucified and killed in Jesus's own death. Through His resurrection, I experience newness in the present ("I HAVE been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live"...not "I will be crucified with Christ, one day I will no longer live"-Galatians 2:20). So how does that relate to justification?

[15] But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. [16] And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. [17] For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. [18] Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. [19] For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. (Romans 5:15-19 ESV)

I do not have the space here to expound Paul's argument in Romans 5. If you want a really really good treatment of this, see "Counted Righteous in Christ" by John Piper. It's a really good book. I'll post the free pdf at the end of this blog post for anyone interested. To summarize the argument, Paul connects Adam's sin to our death and condemnation before God. Through Adam's sin, we are both made sinful and condemned as such. This is the key issue inherent to original sin. (I'll post another article by RC Sproul about original sin, and why this is fair) One trespass leads to condemnation, yet one act of righteousness leads to justification. Through the one man Jesus Christ (through His life of perfect obedience-the "act" of obedience), we receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness. Through who's obedience do we receive righteousness, such that we're made right with God? Jesus's. 1 Corinthians 1:30 confirms this, in saying that Jesus became our "righteousness, sanctification, and redemption".

What does that mean? Imputation
Since you are united to Christ, your old man has been killed. You have been made alive with Christ (Ephesians 2). So if my old man is dead, that means that everything I was prior to Christ has been destroyed in the Cross. So when God sees me and pronounces me righteous, He is doing so in light of who I am in Jesus. God's counting me righteous because in Christ, and in Christ alone, I possess Jesus's own righteousness. This is what God credits to me on the basis of faith. God is not a liar to call the ungodly "righteous", because He calls them righteous on the basis of them being in Christ. So He's declaring them righteous on the basis of a very real obedience: Jesus's own.

Have I performed Jesus's deeds? No. But I'm dead-I have been crucified with Christ. Since Christ is the one who lives in me and through me, God sees me through the lens of His Son. He counts them righteous on the basis of faith alone, not because faith is itself virtuous, but because the object of our faith-Jesus Christ-is Himself perfect. God credits Jesus's obedience to my account. This is the doctrine of imputation. On the basis of Jesus's imputed righteousness (the righteousness God imputes/credits to my account), God declares me righteous. He can do that because I truly am united to Jesus; I am dead, nevertheless I live through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

So to be declared righteous by faith alone is really just shorthand for something far more beautiful: we are justified through Christ alone on the basis of faith alone because of God's grace alone. God's grace touching us through Jesus Christ is what saves us.

"In Christ alone, my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought, and storm..."

He is a far firmer foundation for hope than any we could possibly dream of. Praise the God who saves :)