It has been said that the notion of “justification by faith alone” determines whether the church rises or falls. This is due to the fact that humans are so sinful and God is so holy that it is impossible for us to ever perform enough “good works” to earn a spot in heaven. Our salvation is contingent solely upon our faith in Christ.
God is perfectly holy and just
Given that God is completely holy (Isaiah 6:3; 1 John 1:5), evil is something that He cannot tolerate (Isaiah 6:5; 1 John 1:6). Furthermore, He is entirely just; according to Matthew 12:36, He will evaluate our life “on balance,” that is, in every aspect.
God is holy; we are not. According to Romans 3:23, “we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” According to Matthew 22:37–40, we are commanded to love God with all of our heart, soul, and mind, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. However, we don’t. We are criminals and worthy of punishment for even one transgression (James 2:11). However, even after becoming Christians, we still sin every day (Luke 11:3–4) (1 John 1:8)! Our hearts are really [filled with wicked ideas], as Jesus states (Mark 7:20–23). Even if we do nothing about these ideas, they are nevertheless terrible enough to send us to damnation (Matthew 5:21–28)!
According to God, each of us is “unclean” (Mark 7:15) and “dead” in our sins (Ephesians 2:1–3). According to Ephesians 2:9, we are helpless to bring God any good deeds that will bring about our salvation. This is thus because, according to Isaiah 64:6, “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags,” and only perfection is acceptable to God (Revelation 21:27). According to Revelation 14:9–11, we are worthy of eternal punishment rather than eternal life.
God is perfectly gracious
The good news is that God is not only perfectly holy and perfectly just: He is also perfectly gracious (1 Peter 5:10)! Because God loved the world, even when we were His enemies (Romans 5:10), God sent His only Son into the world so that whoever believes in Him will not perish but will have eternal life (John 3:16). How can that be? Because Jesus is the one person who, unlike us, always perfectly obeyed God (Hebrews 4:15), and He did so on our behalf (1 Corinthians 1:30). Jesus is the friend of sinners (Matthew 11:19) and He showed us the meaning of true love when He laid down His life for His friends (John 15:13). He was willingly suffering on the cross the death that we deserve (1 Peter 3:18) – the innocent one dying to save the guilty (Isaiah 53:4-6).
Jesus makes it all possible
Jesus makes it possible for us to be saved, not by our works, but through faith in Jesus alone (Romans 4:5). When we put our trust in Jesus as our Lord and our Savior (Romans 10:9), we are united to Him by faith so that we share with Him in everything He has won for us: His death for sin becomes ours (Colossians 2:12). His righteous life becomes ours (1 Corinthians 1:30). This means that the moment we put our faith in Jesus, we are ALREADY justified and acceptable to God. Notice the tenses in these verses: “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). “Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).
We shall continue to battle sin until the day of Jesus’ return (Galatians 5:16–17). But we are “in Christ” via faith (2 Corinthians 5:21). According to Philippians 3:9, when God the Judge looks at us, He sees the righteousness of Christ rather than our wickedness. A righteousness so flawless that we are unable to enhance or refine it. According to Philippians 3:8, “the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus” makes all of our own righteousness “rubbish.”
Nothing to boast about
We have nothing to be proud of because justification is based solely on grace, via faith alone, in Christ alone, and is not influenced by our own deeds. Since God alone accomplished all that was required to redeem us, He alone deserves all the praise (Ephesians 2:8–10). From the beginning to the end, God is the one who saves. Therefore, you may be absolutely certain that God will work in you to maintain your faith until the day that Jesus comes back to take you home if you are putting your trust in Him (Philippians 1:6).
Praise be to God (2 Corinthians 9:15) for His immeasurable gift!
