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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.
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On the Calendar:
Memorial Day
Birthday of:
Walt Whitman

 




























































































































                                               

     

 

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