Understanding the Process of Salvation in Romans (Part 6 - Therefore being Justified by Faith)
When you believed the message of the grace gospel, you acknowledged your sins and put your trust in the fact that the cross of Christ was the propitiation [appeasement, satisfactory fulfilment] that was made on your behalf, allowing God to remain just, while justifying you freely through that sacrifice, Rom.3:26. The moment you did that, your soul became redeemed and is now at peace with God, Rom.5:1. Being justified became the FIRST STEP of your salvation, as we will learn in upcoming parts of this study.
- What is the significance of justification? Well, you can spend the rest of your life in that justified state and still be saved, even if you never learn and receive the rest of God’s salvation.
This expression above is a biblically qualified fact, based on what we have already learned. However, even though this statement is true, it is not where we should stop and rest on those laurels. There is more to salvation and God would desire that we press on in our learning of Paul’s doctrine, Php.3:14, as much more blessings and glory are there for us to receive by the grace of God, as we will learn in Rom.5:10.
It is justification through Christ that saves you from hell and nothing can change that because justification is NOT based on your faith, works, and righteousness, but that of Christ, Php.3:9; Eph.2:8-9. This is why it is typically referred to as positional salvation, which means that it is settled by God in heaven and not dependent on anything you can do. The moment you believe, and Christ’s righteousness is imputed to you, it’s as if God signed a contract in heaven, —a contract in the blood of Christ on your behalf. This contract seals you into the Body of Christ and gives you direct access, by faith, to the grace of God, Rom.5:2. This contract is in heaven. It is stipulated by decree of God Himself and defines His will and good pleasure. Once it is signed, because we choose to believe in Jesus Christ, our justification is a done deal and cannot be overturned. In fact, as I always put it, the ONLY thing that can nullify that contract is if you had a time-machine and you travel back 2000-years to the trial of Jesus and you manage to stop his crucifixion. Well, either that or you go to heaven right now, pull that contract out of God’s hands, and tear it up. Dear reader, this is how absolute your justification is. It is based on, and dependent on, the righteous actions of Jesus Christ from 2000-years ago; NOT your actions from yesterday, or the day you were born, or tomorrow, or 500-years from now. God made this first step so easy for us because of the very fact that we cannot do anything in ourselves to save ourselves.
OK. That was a deep rabbit hole. Let me get back into the word of God again, our only source of truth and authority. I want you to notice how Paul starts Romans chapter 5. After everything he teaches us in Romans chapters 1 to 4, Paul brings us to the crux of the matter of justification with a statement that rings out bold, and true, and utterly final. Paul says,
Rom 5:1 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.
How can you argue against that statement? What can you say that can break that emphatic declaration? Let’s look at it more closely.
Therefore
Concerning this word, I have been taught the following. If you encounter a ‘therefore’ in the King James Bible (KJV), you must stop and ask yourself, “what is it there for?” Well, the word literally means, “taking into account all that was previously said, we can conclude the following…”.
being justified by faith
Paul is concluding the matter of justification here. Based on all he said in the previous chapters, and believing in and applying the content he penned, we can be sure that we are justified by faith. The word ‘being’ does not mean that we are in the process of being justified. Not at all! It means that we who believe have already been justified. It is fulfilled; the task having been completed 2000-years ago on the cross.
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace* wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Simply put, this is the result of being justified.
I always find this amazing about the KJV. It always blows my mind how much information can be extracted from just a few words. These truths are deep and profound. It is only God who can speak a few words, but every word of it has infinite significance and truth.
Justification is fully concluded at the end of verse 11 in Romans chapter 5. In the next post I’d like to wrap up on this first step of justification by delving into Romans 5:8-11. There are a few things I want to draw your attention to in these verses before we move into the next steps (or phase) of this broad term called ‘salvation’.
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Postscript
* What does the word 'grace' mean in Rom.5:2? Well, in order to find out, we must understand that Paul would have defined it somewhere earlier in the epistle of Romans. So, if we do a search for the word 'grace' before Rom.5:2, and consider the context of the word, we come to the following verse,
Rom 3:24 Being justified freely BY HIS GRACE through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:)
God's grace is defined by the redemption that is through Jesus Christ. So, if we think of God's grace towards us, it is embodied in the act of redemption of Christ. The cross and resurrection of Christ is the epitome of what God's grace represents. Hallelujah.
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