Tuesday, January 3, 2017

The Doctrine on Which the Church Stands or Falls

Romans 3:21-26                      The Doctrine on Which the Church Stands or Falls
1/1/17              D. Marion Clark

Introduction

Who knows what a year will bring? Five hundred years ago, an obscure monk had no idea that he would be used by God to bring about the most momentous impact on the church since it became the official religion of the Roman Empire, 1,200 hundred years earlier. On October 31, All Hallows’ Eve, the Augustinian monk and professor at the university in Wittenberg nailed 95 theses on the door of the church.
They were written in Latin for the purpose of debate among church scholars. They were written to address a specific corrupt practice – that of selling indulgences, which were being sold to raise money for the building of St. Peter’s basilica in Rome. The lead marketer had gone beyond the bounds of integrity, promising immediate release of relatives in purgatory to any who put money in the coffers. Other than scholarly debate with colleagues, Luther expected little reaction. Instead, someone took down the document, translated it into the common language, and distributed it throughout the land. It was the original social media viral event, and so began the Reformation.

That was the beginning of the chain of events which culminated in the break within the Roman Catholic Church and birthed the Protestant Church. But the selling of indulgences was not at the heart of what led to the division in the church. What became the central issue and the central doctrine over which the two branches of the Christian faith remain divided is that of justification. What does it mean to be justified before God and how does one become justified – it is the understanding of that doctrine which divides us to this day. It is this doctrine that the Reformers proclaimed that the Church stands or falls.

For the next five weeks we will take a look at five doctrines that are identified as the central tenets of the Protestant faith. They are referred to as the five soli, Sola is Latin for “sole” or “only.” They are, in the order we will treat them: sola fide, faith alone; soli gratia, grace alone; solus Christus, Christ alone; sola scriptura, Scripture alone; and soli Deo gloria, for God’s glory alone.

The doctrine that underlies the first three – faith, grace, and Christ alone – is that of justification. Let’s take time to understand it and what it means for us. Our Scripture text provides an excellent study for the doctrine.

Text

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Here is the context. The apostle Paul up to this time has been presenting the case that everyone is a rebellious sinner. This includes the pagan Gentiles of chapter 1 and the supposed good Jew of chapter 2. He concludes with a collection of Old Testament scriptures that express our fallen state in the strongest terms. Not only are we all sinners, but there is no way that we can climb out of our condition even through the law that God gave. Indeed, all that the law does is expose our sin, holding us accountable before God’s just wrath. We are unrighteous people who must some day stand before the righteous God in judgment. We are truly sinners in the hands of an angry God. We can do nothing of ourselves to attain the righteousness required to stand before him. Our cause is hopeless.

But now” – something new has happened to turn our hopeless state as sinners into a reality of acceptance by God.

What has happened? “The righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it.” God has stepped in to provide what we cannot. God’s law, though it reveals the righteousness of God, cannot do anything to make people righteous, not even the Jews who revere that law. It has only condemned because no one can live up to it. Therefore, God has revealed his righteousness through another means. This is not actually a new plan. The “Law and the Prophets” – the phrase means for the Jews “Scripture” – bears witness to it. One can read through the Scripture and see how it was both prophesied and foreshadowed through the very same law that had condemned.

What is this means of obtaining righteousness? Jesus is the means: “The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.” Jesus Christ both reveals the righteousness of God and he becomes the means by which we attain that righteousness necessary to be accepted by God. Already, Paul plays his hand and gives the secret for how we access that righteousness – through faith.

He reiterates the dilemma of all persons: For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. No matter who we are: whether Jew or Gentile; whether from the covenant nation of God or a barbarian in the most godless region – all have the exact same problem and need the same solution.

What is that solution? Verse 24 presents it: “and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. God acts out of free grace. We do not win a contest or raise our test scores. He redeems us. He ransoms us from our bondage to our sinful state. And does this through something that Christ Jesus will do.

But I skipped the first word, which is the essential concept that we must understand – justified. Paul is borrowing from the courtroom. “To justify” is to declare a person not guilty. It is a legal declaration. Theologically, it means to “declare righteous.”

Remember, that is the problem of us all. We are not righteous. We are guilty sinners. That is our condition. But now God redeems us from that state through Christ. We place our faith in him and God then justifies us – he declares us righteous.

What is it that Christ did, or rather, what mission did God send him on? Verse 25: “whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” The NIV has “presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.” Both Bible versions (ESV and NIV) have in mind the same concept. It is that Jesus made the offering of himself before God that was necessary to pay the penalty of our sin and remove the sentence of condemnation that was upon us. Christ did the work; we place our faith in this work; and so God then justifies us.

Why would God go through such a tortuous course to forgive us? Why not simply forgive? The remainder of the text explains: “This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

For God simply to forgive sin would necessitate God to give up being righteous. If a judge were to free a man judged to be guilty, he might be considered a merciful judge, but he would not be regarded as a righteous judge. Indeed, the victims of the guilty man’s crime would disdain the judge as unrighteous.

Through the atoning work of Christ on the cross, God remains just – he maintains his righteousness – and is able even to justify us guilty, the ungodly (Romans 4:5). Christ accomplishes our justification on the cross, and God then justifies us ungodly sinners when we exercise faith in Christ’s work. As Romans 8:1 declares gloriously, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Understanding the Doctrine

This is the doctrine of justification. By faith we are justified before God, declared righteous and accepted by him. Praise God! “Whoa…slow down,” says the Catholic Church. Faith is important for justification; indeed, it is necessary and is the foundation of justification. But it is only the beginning of what is needed. Faith is necessary for justification, but it is not sufficient. It is not sufficient because of how Catholic theology understands what justification entails. For the Catholic Church justification is coming into the state of being a righteous person. A person is justified because he is a just person.

Martin Luther, in contrast, spoke of the saved individual as “at the same time just and sinner.” He is justified before he is fully sanctified; and so he is declared righteous in Christ while he is still a sinner. To be sure, he does not fit the bumper sticker disclaimer – “Christians are not perfect, just forgiven.” At salvation the Holy Spirit has entered his heart and has begun the work of sanctification. But justification is a one-act, one-moment event. We are justified completely before we are sanctified fully.

The key to understanding the difference between the Catholic and the Protestant viewpoints is in the terms of infused and inherent righteousness versus imputed righteousness.



For infused righteousness, consider a bottle filled with water. Baptism fills that bottle with water. The individual is made righteous. The individual sins; the bottle loses water. To refill the bottle of righteousness, the individual must perform acts of penance. In most cases, the individual’s bottle drains more than it is refilled. When death comes, the person enters purgatory where the remaining sins are “purged” and the bottle is filled with righteousness. When that bottle is full, the person is filled with righteousness that has been infused in him and which is his own; thus, it is inherent righteousness. As such, the person is fully justified and may now enter before the presence of God as an accepted righteous person.

Imputation is a legal transfer. For imputed righteousness, consider a bank account in which one person’s name has been added to the account owned by another. The owner of the account accumulated the wealth, but as soon as he added the other person’s name, the value of the account was imputed to the second name. The second person may now draw on the merits, so to speak, of the owner, even though he has not contributed any of his own money, and, indeed, uses the owner’s account to pay all of the debts he owes his creditors.

The infused righteousness is righteousness actually produced within the believer. It happens through the grace of God, but it is nevertheless truly that of the believer. Imputed righteousness is solely the righteousness of Christ that has been accounted to the believer. None of it belongs to him; all of it to Christ. It is outside of himself. Infused righteousness takes work – hard work – to attain; imputed righteousness is a free gift granted upon belief, i.e. by faith alone. Whenever he should be called to appear before God, he will be ready, because his righteousness by which God will measure him is that of Christ Jesus.

Application

That is justification. That is what the Reformation ultimately was about and continues to be about five hundred years later. Catholics have never been confused about their viewpoint: faith plus works. It is the Protestants who continue to trip over it.

When I was growing up as a good little Presbyterian, I lived according to the Catholic position. No, I did not revere Mary or eat fish on Fridays, but this is how I would have answered anyone asking if I were going to heaven. “I think so. I believe in Jesus and… and I try to be good, I go to church.” I did not have the bottle image in my head. Instead, I had the image of someone counting up his debts versus his assets. On one side was the stack of debts; on the other the stack of assets. I knew that both were accumulating but they were behind curtains, so I never knew where I stood. It seemed hard work to build up the assets and easy to build up the debts. How good did I need to be to earn an asset? How many good deeds covered a bad deed. Not being a Catholic, I had no priest to advise me.

Knowing nothing about justification or imputation or infusion, I nevertheless lived by a theology I did not know I had. It went like this. Justification is what Jesus made possible for me on the cross. I now need to do my part to be justified by God. First, I need to believe. Next, I need to live a good enough life to show my appreciation and be considered a good enough follower of Jesus. That will go on throughout my whole life, and I can never be certain if it is enough. Not being a Catholic, I did not have purgatory to fall back on. I knew I did not have to be perfect, but there was an uncertain standard that I had to reach or an uncertain number of assets versus debts to attain in this lifetime. And so, I should go to church where I learn about all of the commandments I am supposed to follow, and I should do as many good deeds as possible, hoping that it will all be enough to be accepted into heaven.

In brief, I learned what most of us have been taught over the generations in Protestant churches. Somehow, we lost the doctrine on which the church stands or falls. Perhaps that is why many churches have fallen and mainline denominations continue to decline. We have turned the gospel – good news – back into another form of law-keeping. Do this; don’t do that. Perhaps that is why even we evangelicals have become Pharisees who turn up our noses at those unbelievers and sinners “out there.” We have confused the righteousness of Christ that was imputed to us with the righteousness that we think has been infused in us and which we now think makes us better than others.

What happens when a church and her people have a solid grasp on the doctrine of justification – understanding that we have been justified by the grace of God based on the righteous work of Christ which we hold onto by faith? It means that we would wake up each day with the knowledge that whatever happens that day or did happen the day before, that there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus; we are accepted before God in the righteousness of Christ. We belong to him; we will not be cast out.

Will it make us lazy and even degenerate, as critics claim? It could for anyone who only has head knowledge. We will talk about that next week on the subject of faith. But for anyone who knows such a doctrine in the center of their heart; who understands what it is to be a condemned  offender, waiting for the verdict of guilty to be pronounced, and yet hears “not guilty” proclaimed – such knowledge leads to the truly abundant life that Jesus promised. It leads to wanting to do what is right, wanting to do what pleases our holy God, wanting to be righteous. It is to live life not shackled with chains of do’s and don’ts, but to live life as one whose chains have fallen off and to freely go forth joyfully following our Savior and Lord.

It is to see ourselves in other sinners, knowing that we are no better than anyone without Christ. We are not more righteous than our neighbor; we are not more deserving of the grace of God. There is no distinction: all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Why any of us should receive the gift of justification is a mystery. But it is such a wondrous gift, that it is worth sharing with others. It is worth living such a life that others will be attracted to it. It is such a humbling gift, that we should love everyone especially our enemies. We should never be filled with envy, never with animosity, never with pride.

Understanding justification keeps us centered on what matters. The gospel is not the good news that Jesus will solve all of our earthly problems. Can he make you happier than you are now? Yes. But following him can create a whole set of troubles you would not have had. Can he fill the emptiness of your heart? Definitely, but being a believer in the midst of trials and persecution can feel lonely. Can following him lead to a more successful life? It can if you have been lazy and have cheated throughout your life. But following him can also lead to losing your job, and it certainly does not shield you from the illnesses and troubles that everyone else goes through. Can believing in him help with overcoming sin? Sure, but you also become more aware of sin that before you ignored. Here is the one thing that justification will do for you: it will make you realize that the one thing that matters most is the one thing that is most secure – your eternal full acceptance before the holy, righteous Judge of all the world.

Is that not a good bargain? You Christian, you need to remind yourself of this the next time you are tempted to ask God what he has done for you lately; the next time you are tempted to ask God what it was that caused you to deserve the latest trouble in your life. Remember what you truly deserve and that instead you have been justified in Christ Jesus.

You who have yet to turn to Christ in faith. Perhaps you have always considered yourself a Christian because you believe there is a God and you try to be a pretty good person. Perhaps you know that you have never believed. Whatever your story, is this not a worthwhile bargain to consider? And what better time than the first day of the year? Will you go another year not giving your eternal status before God much thought? Will you go another year hoping you are doing enough to get by whenever that unknown time is that you must appear before your Maker? Why not have God take off your rags of self-righteousness, your rags of sin, and be clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. He is willing to make that exchange with you whoever you are, whatever you have done. No condemnation; full justification. Yes, it can be.


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