Skip to main content

Righteousness and Justification



This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference,  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.(Romans 3:22-24)


          Were it not for my friend Justin, I'm not sure I would ever have discovered this. Yesterday in Sunday School, he was leading a discussion of these verses. He asked for definitions so I checked my computer Bible program, and discovered that the Greek word for "righteousness" is dikaiosune. The Greek word for "justified" is dikaioumenoi. You don't have to know Greek to be able to notice that the words have dikaio in common. The menoi part of justified is related to the Greek word meaning "to abide, to remain."
         Justin's definition of "righteousness" was "the act of doing what is in agreement with God's standards." If righteousness can be considered to be an act, or a moment, then justification might be described as that act or  moment remaining, or possibly even stretching out in both directions through time. Imagine a dot, with arrows pointing out to the left and the right. The circle is righteousness. The lines to the left and the right represent justification stretching back into the past and moving into the future.
      From the passage, the righteousness comes through faith, and the extension of it to cover the rest of our lives is a gift of grace. It is not too great a stretch to think of the picture a slightly different way, replacing the circle with the Cross. His righteousness is given or imputed to us.
         Some time ago, I shared about the fruit of the spirit called "peace". (Link here) In that post, I explained that the word "peace" comes from a word meaning "agree."  If righteousness is the act of doing what is in agreement with God's standards," then righteousness and peace produce each other, and the only way for peace to remain, or for you to abide in peace is by justification.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
On the Calendar:
Memorial Day
Birthday of:
Walt Whitman

 




























































































































                                               

     

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen!

  While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5)            Do you like roller coasters? I don't. You spend forever climbing a hill. You get to the top and have half a second, then you race down to a low point. Sometimes the racing down involves tying your insides into knots. At the bottom, you either have to be dragged up another hill or you get off the ride. Peter's life was a roller coaster from the time he met Jesus. There would be miracles, and then Jesus would teach things that didn't always make sense, and then they'd go out and perform miracles, and return to be taught. Peter was praised for giving the right answer to "Who do you say that I am?" Jesus said that said answer came from God. Peter was at the top of the hill.            ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Prayer Lists

                 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. (I Peter 2:2-3)   In connection with what I wrote yesterday about the possibility that I’m wrong, I’m feeling the need to go back to basics - craving spiritual milk because somehow, I missed something. It’s a little embarrassing, craving milk like a newborn, but the truth probably is that we are newborns many times in many ways in our lives. From God’s perspective, we may never be anything more than newborns, forever needing that milk. On the other hand, being a newborn can also be exciting because so much is new. My mind is playing pinball - ricocheting from one idea to the next and through six more before it happens to hit the third again. The main topic is prayer. I have at least seven organizing structures all somewhat influenced by the movie War Room , which I’v...
Post a Comment
Read more