Justification

Please review both yesterday's commentary and Romans Chapter 5.

Romans 5:5 "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2  By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. 11 ... we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.18 ... by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. 19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous."

"Justification" is just a big word meaning "to make right". Before a person is made right, first it should be known what is wrong. The wrongness is sin. Simply put, God has standards of living for all humankind. Sin is "missing the mark" with one or more of those standards, and in effect all are missing the mark of "loving God". God loves each and every person and expects love in return. Love is both a work and an emotion. We are commanded to love God (work), but out of gratitude for grace, those sinners strong feelings for the one who saved them (emotion).

Think on it this way. We love our father because he sired us. When people are born usually there is a natural bond between parent and child. When anyone is "reborn" there should be an affection for the one who loves us. We should at least love the Father as much as the father, but even more! The biological father births unto sin, but our spiritual Father births us from sin! We should love him so that we never want to displease him, but even if we do, jut like our natural father, he still loves us so!

The "given" is that we all do wrong. We all need "to be made right".  The payment is already there for the penalty. Justice is that we face the penalty for our wrongness, but Jesus paid our fine. In effect he "redeemed", or paid the ransom for us, from God's vengeance for our doing wrong!

How did Jesus redeem?

Romans 3:25 "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;"

1 John 2:2 "And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."

"Propitiation" is Jesus appeasing God for us. It's him receiving the punishment which we deserve to make things right again. How did he do that? He died in our place! We know that we deserve death for our wrongs. God tells us that. Without the shedding of Jesus' blood there is no forgiveness of sins:

Hebrews 9:22 "And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission."

In order to be made right again (remission of sins), those wrongs must be cleansed with blood. Before Jesus came, he provided the animals and their blood was shed until the Lamb of God came, then he shed his own blood. Salvation was always by the shedding of blood! The patriarchs knew that the blood of lambs represented the blood of the Lamb (Jesus) who was to come.

The shedding of blood is a living sacrifice for our sins. For that, we never have to shed our own blood. The forgiven person presents themselves a living sacrifice. What that means is that the sinner is willing to change. He is willing to submit the old ______ (your name here) for a new ________ (your name here). The change is from adversary to disciple! Disciples are those who are willing to do the Father's will.

When Jesus died, all mankind was redeemed. He paid the price for all because all have sinned and missed the mark.

Now we are at this point in the process: temptation > sin > guilty > convicted >  guilt >  sorrow > repentance > forgiven > redeemed.

Of course redemption was long ago. Rather than "redeemed" maybe it should be  "acceptance of our redemption". The sinner must believe that Jesus paid the price and has the ability to save. That is faith. Faith drives a person to accept Jesus and in doing so, it's Jesus who saves through faith.

Ephesians 2:8 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:"

God's part is grace. Your part is the acceptance of his grace. That is trusting God, called faith.

When the process is complete, the sinner has been "justified". Jesus has made the sinner right! The sinner is restored to where he was before the sin. God forgets the sin!  It's erased from his divine mind because he has the power to do that!

"Justification" is NOT "just as you never sinned." To be, that it undercuts the gift which God bestowed. That forgiveness is a great gift and it must never be forgotten. It should be opened and put on the mantle for all to see. One should never forget the sin, but be thankful for the payment.

"Justification" is "just as if you did sin, but are totally forgiven!" It's when the sinner is made right. You did it and God forgave it. That must never be forgotten. If it were "just as if you never sinned", that elevates the person to the level of Jesus. That just aint right!