There are two important mountains in the Bible, Mount Sinai in the Old Testament and Mount Calvary in the New Testament. Mount Sinai is the mountain where God promulgated the law through Moses, and the law was condemned. Calvary is where God announces forgiveness through Jesus. The life experience of Christians is that they first came to Mount Sinai to be condemned, and later Golgotha was justified.
Legitimacy is a court term. A suspect was acquitted in court. This is the meaning of justification. The opposite of defense is condemnation. The poem sings: "What peace and joy it is to be justified by faith and not to be condemned again."
Paul explained from Romans 1: 18-3:20 that we are all under sin and condemned. There is a word "Dan" at the beginning of 3:2 1 of Sparidae, indicating that things have changed dramatically, which is a turning point from conviction to defense. From rom. 3:2 1-5:2 1 Paul used three chapters to discuss the doctrine of justification.
Martin Luther believes that the doctrine of justification by faith is the basis of the whole Christian doctrine. Martin Luther rediscovered the gospel, which was justified by faith, and set off a great religious reform movement in the16th century.
Understand the principle of justification, Romans. 3:2 1-3 1 is the key scripture.
First of all, we see that justification is the only grace.
Grace is unworthy, not earned by your own efforts, but benefited in vain.
On the defense issue, without our participation or contribution, our contribution is zero.
Our justification stems from the abundant grace of God, and the Bible says that we should be justified in vain. The doctrine of grace leaves us no room for boasting before God. He who boasts should boast about the Lord.
Secondly, we see that only Christ is justified.
Jesus Christ is the foundation of our justification. Without Jesus Christ, there is no possibility of justification.
Jesus Christ made a double sacrifice for us so that we could get the righteousness of God.
First of all, Jesus made a redemption sacrifice for us.
Redemption is a market term that takes us to the slave market, pays a ransom to buy a slave, and sets him free and free. This action is called redemption.
Jesus Christ redeemed us with his own precious blood, not with gold and silver, and set us free. He paid the ransom to God and satisfied God's just demand. We owe God's righteousness, and Jesus gave his life and shed blood to satisfy God's righteousness.
Second, Jesus made a redemption sacrifice for us.
Salvation is a sacrificial term that takes us to the altar. Jesus offered himself as a sin offering to redeem God's anger. A sinful man stands before a righteous God, and his wrath against sin is enough to destroy us. At the moment when God tried to overthrow us, Jesus Christ intervened between God and us and walked on the cross. All God's wrath against sinners was poured out on him, and Jesus drank the cup of God's wrath for us.
Everything in the world is bad, and God can fix everything with a word. But man is broken, and God must pay the price of his son's life before man can be repaired. Such elegance scares me!
Finally, we see that justification is the only confidence.
Like a pendulum, we tend to go to two extremes, either legalism or non-legalism.
Legalists believe that only by obeying the law can justice be achieved. The problem is that none of us can obey the law. The law is a whole. If you violate one, you violate all the terms.
The gospel tells us that Jesus kept all the laws for us that we could not keep. When we believe in Jesus, his obedience is equal to our obedience, and all the righteousness he gained by obeying the law belongs to us.
Martin Luther said, "The gospel is not what we have done, but what Jesus Christ has done for us."
Therefore, Paul pointed out that people who are justified by faith do not care about keeping the law. This is not the law of merit, but the law of believing in the Lord, so that none of us can boast before God.
Non-legalists believe that the law was abolished because of the doctrine of justification by faith. Paul pointed out that this is not to abolish the law, but to strengthen it.
The law and the gospel complement each other. The law makes people sin, but the gospel makes people righteous. The law paves the way for us to accept the gospel.
Besides, the gospel gives us the ability to keep the law. Reformed theology believes that the third function of the law is that the law becomes our guide to sanctification.
The way to prove it is only confidence, which itself is worthless, and the value of confidence lies in the object of confidence. Justification by faith is easily misunderstood as "I am justified by faith". In fact, the "cause" here is "borrowing", which is easier for modern readers to understand.
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Finally, I want to emphasize that the truth of justification by faith is not pure theory, but real experience. We may understand the truth of justification by faith, but we may not have experienced justification by faith. The important thing is that we must experience justification by faith. Have you ever been justified by faith?