In this chapter, the Biblical doctrine of salvation will be presented. Since God is the source of salvation, the Biblical doctrine of God will be discussed first. Because the Biblical doctrine of salvation is the main subject presented in this chapter, this discussion of the Biblical doctrine of God need not and is not an exhaustive discussion of this doctrine. Accordingly, only the love and the righteousness of God will be discussed here. The discussion of the righteousness of God will lead to the main presentation of the Biblical doctrine of salvation. There it will be shown that this is the salvation required by the Biblical doctrine of sin and death. In particular, it will be shown how God has delivered man from death, sin and wrath by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This salvation will be shown to be primarily from death to life and secondarily from sin to righteousness and then from the wrath of God. Finally, the Biblical doctrine of justification by faith will be presented.
God is the source of salvation. "Salvation is of the Lord" (Jonah 2:9 KJV. See also Genesis 49:18; Exodus 14:13; I Sam. 2:1; I Chron. 16:23; II Chron. 20:17; Psa. 3:8; 9:14; 13:5, etc.). This is so, because God is a God of love (Psa. 13:5; 85:7; 86:13; 98:3; 119:41). "God is love" (I John 4:8, 16). This is not just an attribute of God; it is what God is in Himself. Before God ever created anything outside of Himself and thus created beings for Him to love outside of Himself, love existed in God. Since love is the choice of a person to do for another person that which is good for him, a person cannot love without another person to love. Love involves a relationship to another person. And since God has made Himself known as three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, there is another person in God for Him to love. These three persons of the Godhead love each other (John 3:35; 5:20; 15:9-10; 17:23-26; 14:31). And God is love in Himself because these three persons love each other. God created beings outside of Himself, not because he needed objects for His love (these already existed within Himself), but because of the abundance of His love that existed within Himself. Love is creative and this is true in the supreme sense of God Himself. Creation and salvation are the overflow of the love of this triune personal God of love.
When man fell from the image of God because of sin, God provided a way to take away man's sin and to restore him to the image of God. This involved God sending His Son to become man to die for him. But God raised His Son from the dead. And in this resurrected God-man, Jesus Christ, the Son of man, who is the image of God, man is being and shall be restored to the image of God. God provided this salvation because He is love. This so great salvation (Heb. 2:3) is the outflow of His superabundant love.
"9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us,The love of God is the source of our salvation from death and sin.
that God sent his only Son into the world,
so that we might live through him.
10 In this is love,
not that we loved God but that he loved us
and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."
(I John 4:9-10 ERS)
The grace of God is God's love in action.
"But God, who is rich in mercy,God's grace is more than His favor; it is His love acting to do something for someone. Because God loves us, He has acted to save us. Salvation is by God's grace. "The grace of God brings salvation" (Titus 2:11 KJV).
out of the great love with which he loved us,
even when we were dead in our trespasses,
made us alive together with Christ
(by grace you have been saved)." (Eph. 2:4-5 ERS)
The Biblical concept of the righteousness of God is not the legalistic concept of justice. The righteousness of God in the Scriptures is not an attribute of God whereby He must render to each what is he has merited nor a quantity of merit which God gives, but is the act or activity of God whereby He puts or sets right that which is wrong. [1] In the Old Testament, the righteousness of God is the action of God for the vindication and deliverance of His people; it is the activity in which God saves His people by rescuing them from their oppressors.
"In thee, O Lord, do I seek refuge;Thus the righteousness of God is often a synonym for the salvation or deliverance of God. In the Old Testament, this is clearly shown by the literary device of parallelism which is a characteristic of Hebrew poetry. [2] Parallelism may be defined as that Hebrew literary device in which the thought and idea in one clause is repeated and amplified in a second and following clause. This parallelism of Hebrew poetry clearly shows that Hebrew poets and prophets made the righteousness of God synonymous with divine salvation:
let me never be put to shame;
in thy righteousness deliver me!" (Psa. 31:1)"In thy righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
incline thy ear to me, and save me!" (Psa. 71:2)"11 For thy name's sake, O Lord, preserve my life!
In thy righteousness bring me out of trouble!
12 And in thy steadfast love cut off my enemies.
and destroy all my adversaries,
for I am thy servant." (Psa. 143:11-12)
"The Lord hath made known His salvation:From these verses, it is clear that righteousness of God is a synonym for the salvation or deliverance of God.
His righteousness hath he openly showed
in the sight of the heathen." (Psa. 98:2 KJV)"I bring near my righteousness, it shall not be far off,
and my salvation shall not tarry;
and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory."
(Isa. 46:13 KJV)"My righteousness is near, my salvation is gone
forth, and mine arms shall judge the people;
the isles shall wait upon me,
and on mine arm shall they trust." (Isa. 51:5 KJV)"Thus saith the Lord, keep ye judgment
and do justice [righteousness]:
for my salvation is near to come,
and my righteousness to be revealed." (Isa. 56:1 KJV)
(See also Psa. 71:1-2, 15; 119:123; Isa. 45:8; 61:10; 62:1)
Very often in the Old Testament the Hebrew noun, tsedeq and tsedaqah, is derived from the Hebrew verb, tsadaq. [3] Although it is usually translated "to be righteous" or "to be justified," the verb has the primary meaning "to be in the right" rather than "to be righteous." (Gen. 38:26; Job 11:2; 34:5) [4] The causative form of the verb (hitsdiq) generally translated "to justify" means, not "to make righteous" nor "to declare righteous", but rather "to put in the right" or "to set right." (Ezekiel 16:51-55). Thus it very often has the meaning "to vindicate" or "to give redress to" a person who has suffered wrong. Thus the Hebrew noun (tsedeq) usually translated "righteousness" means an act of vindication or of giving redress. When applied to God, the righteousness of God is God acting to put right the wrong, hence to vindicate and to deliver the oppressed.
The righteous acts of the Lord, or more literally, the righteousnesses of the Lord, referred to in Judges 5:11; I Sam. 12:7-11; Micah 6:3-5; Psa. 103:6-8; Dan. 9:15-16, means the acts of vindication or deliverance which the Lord has done for His people, giving them victory over their enemies. It is in this sense that God is called "a righteous God and a Savior" (Isa. 45:21 RSV, NAS, NIV) and "the Lord our righteousness" (Jer. 23:5-6; 33:15-16).
A judge or ruler is "righteous" in the Hebrew meaning of the word, not because he observes and upholds an abstract standard of Justice, but rather because he comes to the assistance of the injured person and vindicates him. For example, in Psalm 82:2-4:
"2 How long will you judge unjustly
and show partiality to the wicked?
3 Vindicate the weak and fatherless;
do justice [judgment] to the afflicted and destitute.
4 Rescue the weak and needy;
deliver them out of the hand of the wicked."
(See also Psa. 72:4; 76:9; 103:6; 146:7; Isa. 1:17.)
For the judge to act this way is to show righteousness. A judge in the Old Testament is not one whose business it is to interpret the existing law or to give an impartial verdict in accordance with the established law of the land, but rather he is a deliverer and thus a leader and savior as in the book of Judges (Judges 1:16-17; 3:9-10). His duty and delight is to set things right, to right the wrong; his "judgments" are not words but acts, not legal verdicts but the very active use of God's right arm. The two functions of a judge are given in Psalm 75:7:
"But God is the judge:Since this is a statement concerning God as a judge, it could be taken as a general definition of a Biblical judge. In Psa. 72:1-4, these two functions of Biblical judge are given to the king of Israel.
he puts down one and exalts another." (Psa. 75:7 NAS)
"1 Give the king thy justice [judgment], O God,These same two functions are ascribed to the future ruler of Israel, the Messiah, according to Isaiah 11:3-5.
and thy righteousness to the royal son!
2 May he judge thy people with righteousness,
and thy poor with justice [judgment]!
3 Let the mountains bear prosperity for the people,
and the hills, in righteousness!
4 May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,
and give deiverance to the needy,
and crush the oppressor!"
"3 And His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.His righteousness is shown in the vindication of those who are the victims of evil, the poor and meek of the earth.
He shall not judge by what His eyes see,
or decide by what His ears hear;
4 but with righteousness He shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and He shall smite the earth with a rod of His mouth;
and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the girdle of His waist and
faithfulness the girdle of His loins."
The righteousness of God is not opposed to the love of God nor does it condition it. On the contrary, it is a part of and the proper expression of God's love. It is the activity of God's love to set right the wrong. In the Old Testament this is shown by the parallelism between love and righteousness.
"But the steadfast love of the Lord is fromGod expresses His love as righteousness in the activity by which He saves His people from their sins. In His wrath, He opposes the sin that would destroy man whom He loves. In His grace, He removes the sin: the grace of God is the love of God in action to bring salvation (Titus 2:11; Eph. 2:8). The grace of God may properly be called the righteousness of God. For in His love, God acts to deliver His people from their sins, setting them right with Himself.
everlasting to everlasting upon those who fear him,
and His righteousness to children's children."
(Psa. 103:17; see also Psa. 33:5; 36:5-6; 40:10; 89:14.)
The righteousness of God is God acting in love for the salvation or deliverance of man. This righteousness of God has been manifested, that is, publicly displayed, in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Rom. 3:21-22). God was active in Jesus Christ, particularly in His death and resurrection, for salvation (Acts 4:12; I Thess. 5:9; I Tim. 2:10; 3:15; Heb. 5:9). Because He is the act of God for our salvation, Jesus Christ is the righteousness of God (I Cor. 1:30). The gospel or good news is about this manifestation of the righteousness of God. The gospel tells us about God's act of salvation in the person and work of Jesus Christ (I Cor. 15:3-4; Eph. 1:13). God acted in Him to deliver man from death, from sin, and from wrath. But since wrath is caused by sin and sin is caused by death, salvation is basically the deliverance from death to life. Man cannot make himself alive. Only God can make alive, for He is the living God and the source of all life. Because God loves man, He did not leave him in death but has provided for deliverance from death by sending His Son into the world.
"For God so loved the world,Thus God in His love for man sent His Son to become a man -- Jesus Christ, the God-man (John 1:14). He was the perfect man; He lived perfect fellowship with God and perfectly trusted God throughout His entire life (John 1:4; 8:28-29; 12:50; 16:32; 17:25). But He came not just to be what we should have been or just to give us a perfect example. He came to die on our behalf in order that we might have life in Him.
that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth on him should not perish,
but have eternal life." (John 3:16 KJV)
"10 I came that they might have life,He entered not only into our existence as man, but he entered into our condition of spiritual and physical death. On the cross, He died not only physically but spiritually. For only this once during His whole life was He separated from His Father.
and have it more abundantly.
11 I am the good shepherd:
the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep."
(John 10:10-11 KJV)"In this was manifested the love of God toward us,
because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world
that we might live through him." (I John 4:9)
"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matt. 27:46 KJV)He was forsaken for us; He died for us.
"Hereby know we love, because he laid down his life for us"
(I John 3:16).
But God raised Him from the dead. He entered into our death in order that as He was raised from the dead we might be made alive with and in Him (Eph. 2:5). Hence Christ's death was our death, and His resurrection is our resurrection (II Cor. 5:15). He became identified with us in death in order that we might become identified with Him in His resurrection and have life. He became like us that we might become like Him. As Irenaeus said,
"...but following the only true and steadfast teacher,He tasted death for every man (Heb. 2:9).
the Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ,
who did, through His transcendent love, become what we are,
that He might bring us to be even what He is Himself." [5]
"14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood,He acted as our representative, on our behalf and for our sake.
he himself likewise partook of the same nature,
that through death he might destroy him
that has the power of death, that is the devil,
15 and deliver all those who through fear of death
were subject to lifelong bondage." (Heb. 2:14-15)
"For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge,that is, in Christ who represents all. Adam acting as a representative brought the old creation under the reign of death. But Christ acting as our representative brought a new creation in which those "who have received the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life" (Rom. 5:17).
that one died for (on the behalf, huper) all,
therefore all died," (II Cor. 5:14)
"For since by man came death,Acting through our representative, God has reconciled us to Himself through Him, that is, God has brought us into fellowship with Himself.
by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die,
even so in Christ shall all be made alive."
(I Cor. 15:21-22)"Wherefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature:
the old things are passed away;
behold, they are become new." (II Cor. 5:17)(Jesus said) "Because I live ye shall live also."
(John 14:19 KJV)
"18 But all things are of God,
who reconciled us to himself through Christ...
19 to wit, that God was in Christ
reconciling the world unto himself."
(II Cor. 5:18-19;
see also Rom. 5:10-11; I Cor. 1:9; I John 1:2-3).
This representative work of Christ should not be understood as a vicarious act, instead of another, but as a participation, a sharing in the act of another. Christ took part or shared our situation. He entered not only into our existence as a man, but also into our condition of spiritual and physical death. On the cross, He died not only physically but also spiritually (Matt. 26:46). We were reconciled to God through the death of Christ because He shared in our death (Rom. 5:10; Heb. 2:9). But He was raised from the dead, and that on behalf of all men (II Cor. 5:15). He was raised from the dead so that we might participate in His resurrection and be made alive with Him (Eph. 2:5-7). His resurrection is our resurrection. He was raised from dead for us so that we might participate in His resurrection and life, both spiritual and physical, in Him. Since spiritual death is no fellowship with God, being made alive with Christ we are brought into fellowship with God. Hence, we are reconciled to God (Rom. 5:10; II Cor. 5:17-19). Reconciliation can therefore be defined as that aspect of salvation whereby man is delivered from death to life. The source of this act of reconciliation is the love of God. It is a legalistic misunderstanding of reconciliation which says that God was reconciled to man. The Scriptures never say that God is reconciled to man but that man is reconciled to God (Rom. 5:10; II Cor. 5:18-19). The problem is not in God but in man. Man is the enemy of God; God is not the enemy of man. God loves man, and out of His great love He has acted to reconcile man to Himself through the death and resurrection of Christ. It is true that God in His wrath opposes man's sin and in His grace has provided a means by which His wrath may be turned away. But this aspect of salvation is propitiation, not reconciliation. Reconciliation should not be confused with propitiation. God in reconciling man to Himself has saved man from death, the cause of sin, and hence has removed sin, the cause of His wrath -- no sin, no wrath. Reconciliation is salvation from death to life.
God not only acted in Jesus Christ to reconcile us to Himself, that is, to deliver us from death unto life, but also to redeem us from sin.
"In Whom [Christ] we have our redemption through his blood,The redemption that is in Christ (Rom. 3:24) is deliverance from sin by the payment of a price which is the blood of Christ, that is, His death. The price is not the payment of the penalty, but is the means by which the redemption is accomplished. The death of Christ ("his blood") sets free from the slavery of sin.
the deliverance from our offenses,
according to the riches of his grace"
(Eph. 1:7 ERS; see also Col. 1:14).
"18 Knowing that ye were redeemed not with corruptible things,According to the English translation of Eph. 1:7 and Col. 1:14 redemption is equivalent to forgiveness of sins. But the basic meaning of the Greek word translated "to forgive" is "to send off or away." Hence to redeem from sins is send them away. That is, redemption is the deliverance from sins and this redemption was accomplished by the death of Jesus. Jesus was "manifested in order to take away our sins" (I John 3:5). He is "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).
with silver or gold, from your vain manner of life
handed down from your fathers;
19 but with the precious blood,
as of a lamb without blemish and without spot,
even the blood of Christ."
(I Pet. 1:18-19; see also Heb. 9:14-15)
Salvation is not just forgiveness; it is basically deliverance from death; it is the resurrection of the dead. Forgiveness of sins is not enough; man needs to be made alive to God because he is spiritually dead. And he is dead, not because of his own sins, but the sin of another, Adam. So the forgiveness of a man's sins does not take away spiritual death because the spiritual death was not caused by that man's sins. Removing his sins does not remove the spiritual death. But the removing of spiritual death removes his sins. Salvation as resurrection from the dead is also salvation from sin and thus is also the forgiveness of sins. Thus to be alive to God means that sins are forgiven.
This redemption from sin was accomplished by the death of Jesus Christ because His death is also the means by which we were delivered from death, the cause of sin. Since spiritual death leads to sin (Rom. 5:12d ERS), sin reigns in the sphere of death's reign (Rom. 5:21). And since Christ's death is the end of the reign of death for those who died with Christ, it is also the end of the reign of sin over them. They are no longer slaves of sin, serving false gods. We were all slaves of sin once, serving our false gods when we were spiritually dead, alienated and separated from the True God, not knowing Him personally. But we were set free from this slavery to sin through the death of Christ. For when Christ died, He died to sin (Rom. 6:10a) as a slave master. Sin no longer has dominion or lordship over Him. For he who has died is freed from sin (Rom. 6:7). That is, when a slave dies, he is no longer in slavery, death frees him from slavery. Since Jesus died for all, then all have died (II Cor. 5:14). His death is our death. Since we have died with Him and He has died to sin, then we have died to sin. We are freed from the slavery of sin and are no longer enslaved to it (Rom. 6:6-7). But now Christ is alive, having been raised from the dead, and we are alive to God in Him. His resurrection is our resurrection. "But the life He lives He lives to God" (Rom. 6:10b). This is the life of righteousness. And so we who are now alive to God in Him are to live to righteousness. For just as death leads to sin, so life leads to righteousness.
"And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross,Having been redeemed from the slavery of sin through the death of Christ, we who are now alive in Him have become slaves of righteousness (Rom. 6:17-18). Redemption is salvation from sin to righteousness.
that we might die to sin and live righteousness;
for by His wounds you were healed" (I Pet. 2:24).
Now that God has redeemed us from sin, we also are delivered from the wrath of God. Salvation is not only deliverance from sin but also deliverance from the wrath of God (Rom. 5:9). God put forth Jesus Christ as a propitiation through faith in His blood (Rom. 3:25). The death of Jesus Christ is a propitiation because it is the means that God has appointed for turning away His wrath from man. [6] While God in His love could have mercy on man and turn away His wrath from man (Psa. 78:38; Exodus 34:6; Numbers 14:19-20), He has appointed the means whereby His wrath will be turned away. In the Old Testament, God's appointed means for turning away His wrath were the sacrifices and offerings. When these sacrifices were offered in true repentance and faith, they were an atonement or propitiation. But the Old Testament sacrifices could never take away sin (Heb. 10:4, 11). On the contrary, there is in those sacrifices a continual remembrance of sin year by year (Heb. 10:3). That is, the worshippers, not having been cleansed of their sins, still have a consciousness of sin (Heb. 10:2). Therefore, those that draw near could never be made perfect by those sacrifices (Heb. 10:1). But Christ has put away sin once for all by the sacrifice of Himself (Heb. 9:26; 10:12), and having taken away their sins, He has made perfect them that are being sanctified or set apart to God (Heb. 10:14). Now there is no more remembrance of sins (Heb. 10:17) since those drawing near having been cleansed from their sins have no more consciousness of sins (Heb. 10:22). It was to accomplish our cleansing from sin that Christ "gave Himself for our sins" (Gal. 1:4) and "died for our sins" (I Cor. 15:3). God acted in Jesus Christ to to redeem us from sin.
The Old Testament sacrifices could never take away sin (Heb. 10:4, 11), that is, they could not bring about repentance and faith, because they could not make alive (Gal. 3:21). The Old Testament sacrifices could not reconcile man to God. But through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, man is reconciled to God and his sins are taken away. And since there are no sins to cause wrath, the wrath of God is also turned away. Thus Christ's death is the perfect sacrifice for turning away God's wrath because by it man is redeemed from sin. Christ's death is a propitiation because it is a redemption; it is both a propitiation and a redemption. Propitiation is the sacrificial aspect of Christ's work of salvation and redemption is the liberation aspect of His work. And it is a propitiation and a redemption because it is a reconciliation to God. Being made alive to God, the cause of sin and of wrath has been removed. Propitiation is salvation from wrath to peace with God.
God has acted in the death and resurrection of Jesus
Christ for the salvation of man from death, sin and wrath.
Since wrath is caused by sin (Rom. 1:18) and sin by death
(Rom. 5:12d ERS), salvation is basically from death to life and
then from sin to righteousness and then from wrath to peace
with God.
Reconciliation is salvation from death to life;
redemption is salvation from sin to righteousness; and
propitiation is salvation from wrath to peace.
These three aspects of salvation are accomplished through
the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Propitiation is the sacrificial aspect of His work,
redemption is the liberation aspect of His work, and
reconciliation is the representative aspect of His work of salvation.
This threefold act of God for the salvation of man is
the righteousness of God; God in this threefold act sets or puts man right
with Himself. This righteousness of God (salvation) has been manifested
(publicly displayed) in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ
(Rom. 3:21-26). The gospel tells us about this act of God,
about this manifestation of the righteousness of God. In the
preaching of the gospel the righteousness of God is being
continually revealed or actualized (Rom. 1:17). That is, God
is exerting His power for the salvation of man in the preaching
of the gospel (Rom. 1:16).
The gospel is not only about the righteousness of God manifested in the past on our behalf, but in the gospel the righteousness of God is being continually revealed in the present.
"For in it [the gospel] the righteousness of GodRevelation in this verse is not just a disclosure of truth to be understood by the mind, but it is a working that makes effective and actual that which is revealed. [7] Hence, the revelation of the righteousness of God is that working of God that makes effective and actual that which is revealed, the righteousness of God. In other words, the revelation of the righteousness of God is the actualization of God's salvation. And the righteousness of God is revealed when the salvation of God is made actual and real, that is, when salvation or deliverance takes place. In the preaching of the gospel there is taking place continually an actualization of the righteousness of God. That is, salvation or deliverance is taking place as the gospel is preached. This is the reason that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. (Rom. 1:16. Compare Rom. 1:16-17 with Isa. 56:1 which is no doubt the source of Paul's concepts and words in these verses.)
is being revealed from faith unto faith" (Rom. 1:17a ERS).
Faith is the actualization of the salvation of God. Faith is not the means nor the condition of salvation but is the actualization of salvation. Salvation is not a thing which is received by faith but is God's activity of deliverance which produces faith and is accomplished in that faith. This is expressed by Paul in Romans 1:17 in a twofold way: "from faith unto faith". These prepositional phrases modify the verb "being revealed", not the words "the righteousness of God." The revelation is "from faith unto faith."
In this decision of faith they who believe are saved from death to life. To have faith in God is to believe in Jesus Christ, His Son (John 14:1; 6:29; 8:42; 5:38). And to believe in Jesus Christ is to receive spiritual life. For Jesus is the life (John 5:26; 6:33-35, 38-40, 57-58).
"11 And this is the testimony,To have life is to have passed from death to life. Jesus said,
that God gave us eternal life,
and this life is in His Son.
12 He who has the Son has life;
he who has not the Son of God has not life" (I John 5:11-12).
"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my wordThe one who believes has passed from death to life because he has in the decision of faith also identified himself with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christ identified Himself with us in death; He entered into our spiritual death on the cross and died physically for us. His death was our death. In faith, we accept His death as our death and identify ourselves with His death. But since God has raised Jesus from the dead, so also are we raised from the dead and are made alive with Christ. His resurrection was our resurrection. In faith we identify ourselves with Him and His resurrection. To receive life in Christ is to be raised from the dead with Him. To pass from death to life is to have died and been raised with Jesus from the dead. We are now spiritually alive in Him. We have entered into fellowship with God and are now reconciled to God. As the gospel is preached, God exerts His power and men are made alive, raised from the dead. Jesus said,
and believes Him who sent me, has eternal life;
he does not come into judgment,
but has passed from death to life." (John 5:24)
"Truly, truly, I say to you, the hour is coming and now isWhen the good news of the death and resurrection of Jesus for us is proclaimed, God speaks to men, revealing Himself in Jesus Christ. Those who hear and believe in Jesus are made alive in Him, being raised from the dead. They are reconciled to God (II Cor. 5:20). They are saved from death to life.
when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God,
and those who hear will live." (John 5:25)
But in the decision of faith, men are not only saved from death to life but also from sin to righteousness. To have faith in God is to acknowledge Jesus as Lord. In general, faith is not just belief that certain statements are true but it is the commitment of oneself and allegiance to something or someone as one's own personal ultimate criterion of all decisions, intellectual and moral. Saving faith in Jesus Christ is the commitment of oneself to Jesus Christ as one's own personal ultimate criterion ("My Lord and my God," John 20:28). The living person, the resurrected Jesus Christ, not just what He taught, becomes in the decision of faith our ultimate criterion. This decision of faith is a turning from false gods (idols) to the living and true God (I Thess. 1:10). Faith in the true God is righteousness.
"Abraham believed God, and it [his faith]To believe God is to be righteous (Rom. 4:5). To acknowledge Jesus as Lord is to believe God that He raised Him from the dead. (Rom. 4:22-24).
was reckoned to him as righteousness." (Rom. 4:3)
"9 If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord,To believe God that He raised from the dead Jesus who in faith we confess as Lord is to be righteous. Thus, this decision of faith is salvation from sin to righteousness.
and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead,
you will be saved;
10 for with the heart man believes unto righteousness,
and with the mouth he confesses unto salvation."
(Rom. 10:9-10; ERS).
The revelation of the righteousness of God (Rom. 1:17) is also called justification (Rom. 3:24). As we have seen the righteousness of God is the act or activity of God whereby God sets man right with God Himself. Hence the revelation of the righteousness of God is this act of setting right, and this act of setting right is called justification. Justification is not just a pronouncement about something but is an act that brings about something; it is not just a declaration that a man is righteous before God but is a setting of a man right with God: a bringing him into a right relationship with God. Justification is then essentially salvation: to justify is to save (Isa. 45:25; 53:11; see Rom. 6:7 where dikaioo is translated "freed" in RSV). [8] This close relationship between these two concepts is more obvious in the Greek because the words translated "justification" and "righteousness" have the same roots, not two different roots as do the two English words.
There is a difference between justification in the Old Testament and that in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, justification is the vindication of the righteous who are suffering wrong (Ex. 23:7). God justifies, that is, vindicates the righteous who are wrongfully oppressed. Justification requires a real righteousness of the people on whose part it is done. In Isa. 51:7, the promise of deliverance is addressed to those "who know righteousness, the people in whose hearts is my law." Similarly, in order to share in the promised vindication, the wicked must forsake his ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and return unto the Lord (Isa. 55:7). However, in the New Testament, justification is not only a vindication of a righteous people who are being wrongfully oppressed but also a deliverance of the people from their own sins. Thus, Paul says that God is He "that justifies the ungodly" (Rom. 4:5). In the New Testament, justification is not just a vindication of the righteous who has been wronged (this view is in Jesus' teaching in Matt. 5:6; 6:33; Luke 18:7), but also the salvation of the ungodly who is delivered from his ungodliness and unrighteousness. [9] But justification not only saves the ungodly from their sins, it also brings them into the righteousness of faith. To be set right with God is to have faith in God.
"Abraham believed God,Justification, as God's act of setting man right with Himself, brings man into faith, which is to be set right with God. Thus justification is through faith (dia pisteos, Rom. 3:30; Gal. 2:16) and out of or from faith (ek pisteos, Rom. 3:26,30; Gal. 2:16; 3:8, 24).
and it [his faith] was reckoned unto him
for righteousness." (Gen. 15:6;
see also Rom. 4:3,9; cf. Rom. 10:9; Phil. 3:9)
But justification as salvation is not only the deliverance from sin to righteousness but also the deliverance from wrath to peace and from death to life. Justification as deliverance from wrath to peace is set forth by the Apostle Paul in Romans 3:24-25:
"24 Being justified by His grace as a gift,Here Paul connects justification with redemption and propitiation. Redemption is the deliverance from the slavery of sin by the payment of a price called a ransom which is the death of Jesus Christ. This price is not the payment of the penalty, but is the means by which the redemption is accomplished. The death of Christ is the ransom that sets a man free from the slavery of sin when he puts his faith in the death of Christ, accepting His death as his death. (Rom. 6:6-7). And propitiation is the sacrificial aspect of salvation; it is the deliverance from the wrath by the sacrificial death of Jesus ("His blood") which turns away or averts the wrath of God through faith in that sacrifice ("through faith in His blood"). Christ's death as a propitiation turns away God's wrath from the one who has faith in that sacrifice. The wrath is turned away because the sin has been taken away ("forgiveness") by the death of Christ as a ransom, by which a man is redeemed or set free, delivered from sin. When sin has been removed, there is no cause for God's wrath. No sin, no wrath. Man is saved from wrath because he is saved from sin.
through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus,
25 whom God set forth to be a propitiation,
through faith in His blood." (ERS; see also Isa. 32:17)
"Being justified freely by faith
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
(Rom. 5:1)"Much more then, being justified by His blood,
we shall be saved through Him from the wrath of God."
(Rom. 5:9)
Justification is also deliverance from death to life. The believer is delivered from sin to the righteousness of faith because he is delivered from death to life. As sinners, we were enemies of God, but through the death of God's Son we have been reconciled to God and are now no longer enemies. To be reconciled to God means we have passed from death to life and we are saved in His resurrected life (Rom. 5:10; see II Cor. 5:17-21). We are delivered from death by being "made alive together with Him" in His resurrection (Eph. 2:5). He was "raised for our justification" (Rom. 4:25). Thus justification is "justification of life" (Rom. 5:18 KJV). To be set right with God is to enter into fellowship with God. And this right relationship to God is life. Justification puts us into right relationship to God and hence is a justification of life. Fellowship with God is established when God reveals Himself to man and man responds to that revelation in faith. Life is a relationship between God and man that results from this revelation and the faith response to it. Apart from this revelation the response of faith is not possible, and this revelation is the offer of life and the possibility of faith. But life is not actual unless man responds in faith to this revelation of God Himself. Life is received in the decision of faith. Since God's act of revelation is first, and man's response in faith is second and depends upon God's revelation, life results in the righteousness of faith and man is righteous because of life. Justification as the revelation of the righteousness of God brings about life and the righteousness of faith. Thus justification is deliverance from death to life.
Justification is the free act of God's grace (Rom. 3:24; Titus 3:7). The source of justification is the love of God. And the love of God in action to bring man salvation is the grace of God (Titus 2:11). Hence justification is the true expression of the grace of God and the act of the love of God. Because justification is a gift (Rom. 3:24; 5:15-17), justification is free and is not something that can be earned (Rom. 4:4; 11:6). Being a free act of God's grace, justification has nothing to do with the works of the law (Rom. 3:20, 28; 4:6; Gal. 2:16; 3:11; see also Eph. 2:2-9; Phil. 3:9; II Tim. 1:9; Titus 3:5). The whole legalistic theology is a misunderstanding of the righteousness of God and justification by faith, and is therefore unbiblical and false. The Scripture nowhere speaks of the righteousness or merits of Christ and of justification as an imputation of the merits of Christ to our account. The introduction of such a legalistic righteousness, even if it means the merits of Christ, into the discussion of the righteousness of God and of justification by faith, obscures the grace of God and misunderstands the law as well as the gospel of the grace of God. In principle, the grace of God has nothing to do with legal righteousness and merits. [10] God does not give man His grace by faith so that he can earn merits to gain eternal life nor to show that he is legally righteous before God. And Jesus Christ did not satisfy in our place the demands of the law, either in precept or penalty. Christ fulfilled the law (Matt. 5:17), but not for us. Nowhere in the Scripture does it say that Christ fulfilled the law for us. Neither did he fulfill it legalistically. Not because Christ was not able to do it but because God does not in His love and grace operate on the basis of law or legal righteousness. Christ fulfilled it by love, for "love is the fulfilling of the law" (Rom. 13:8, 10). His death for us is an act of His love, the grace of God, that saves us from death, from sin, and from the wrath of God.
[1] Alan Richardson,
An Introduction to the Theology of the New Testament
(New York: Harper & Brothers, 1958), pp. 79-83, 232-233.
[2] Edward J. Young, An Introduction to the Old Testament
(Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1950), pp. 281-282.
See also Gleason L. Archer, Jr.,
A Survey of Old Testament Introduction
(Chicago: Moody Press, 1964), pp. 418-420.
[3] C. H. Dodd, The Epistle of Paul to the Romans
(London and Glasgow: Fontana Books, 1959), p. 38.
[4] C. H. Dodd, The Bible and the Greeks
(London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1964), p. 46.
[5] Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book V,
preface Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, ed.
The Ante-Nicene Fathers vol. 1.
The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus
(Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1956), p. 526.
[6] Leon Morris, The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross pp. 167-172.
[7] Burton on Galations in the ICC in contrasting phaneroo
and apokalupto points out that
"for some reason apokalupto has evidently come to be used especially
of a subjective revelation, which either takes place wholly within the mind
of the individual receiving it,
or is subjective in the sense that it is accompanied by actual perception
and results in knowledge on his part:
Rom. 8:18; I Cor. 2:10; 14:30; Eph. 3:5."
Ernest deWitt Burton,
A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on
the Epistle to the Galations, in
The International Critical Commentary
(New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1896), p. 433.
He goes on to say that
"phaneroo throws emphasis on the fact that that
which is manifested is objectively clear, open to perception.
It is thus suitably used of an open and public announcement,
disclosure or exhibition: I Cor. 4:15; II Cor. 2:14; 4:10-11; Eph. 5:13."
Ibid.
The use of the word apokalupto by Paul in Rom. 1:17
thus seems to place an emphasis on something happening to the individual
receiving the revelation. The word "subjective" is probably not the right
word to use to describe this event because it suggests that
the source of revelation is from within the individual, the
subject. Clearly the revelation that Paul is speaking of is
from without the individual, from God. But it does make a
difference, a change; a response does take place in the
person receiving the revelation. It does bring about that
which is revealed, salvation.
[8] Richardson, Theology of the New Testament, pp. 232-238.
[9] Dodd, The Epistle of Paul to the Romans, pp. 39-40.
[10] Richardson, Theology of the New Testament, pp. 238-240.
