Justification, Salvation and Faith

[stovebolts]

Justified by faith
The way I understand this, being Justified by faith (Romans 3:21-4:25) basically means that there are no barriers between different ethnic groups let alone an elevation of one group over another. Justification is God’s judgment and declaration that one is in the right before Him. This judgment will be made on the last day (Judgment day), but is currently brought forward into the present through the blood of Christ. Simply put, by faith in Christ through His blood, God declares us in the right.

Salvation through faith.
Often, Justification and Salvation are used interchangeably and it really can cause all sorts of confusion. Salvation through faith is the means in which God restores us from our fallen state. We are declared righteous by faith, but we are saved through faith.
For example, it is by faith that one comes to the baptismal waters, but it is through faith that Christ unites with the believer and transformation occurs. In other words, faith is the instrument that God uses to pour out his grace.
Likewise, it is by faith that one is obedient to lets say… the offense of theft, but it is through faith that one is transformed from a thief, to an honest man as we conform to the image of Christ.

Born Again
This is a fun one, and I would be very interested in hearing other views. The word’s Born Again, can also be translated as “Born from above†which denotes the receiving of the Holy Spirit. To be born again, is to let go of worldly thought that one has been taught about this world and to view the world as God views the world. Jesus set an excellent example for how God views the world, and when we start viewing, and acting like Christ through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, when we have new eyes to see the world, new skin to feel the things around us, new ears to hear the cries of those far away, as well as those near, new arms to reach out to the lost, the sick, the hungry…, in essence, through the Spirit, we have been born again, born from above.

So I come to the conclusion that the terms Justified by faith, Salvation through faith and Born Again, though similar, do hold different meanings and as such, we ought to be careful how we use these terms.
Thoughts?

 

[Drew]

Justified by faith
The way I understand this, being Justified by faith (Romans 3:21-4:25) basically means that there are no barriers between different ethnic groups let alone an elevation of one group over another. Justification is God’s judgment and declaration that one is in the right before Him. This judgment will be made on the last day (Judgment day), but is currently brought forward into the present through the blood of Christ.

I agree and I think it is especially important to try to open people's minds to the more nuanced view of justification wherein a final future judgement is anticipated in the present. Justification has a "tense" (i.e. past-present-future) character that is often ignored.

 

[stovebolts]

Thank you Drew. In all honesty, I took a portion of that statement from NT Wright while doing a study on Romans awhile back. I should have stated my sources

 

[Drew]

Thank you Drew. In all honesty, I took a portion of that statement from NT Wright while doing a study on Romans awhile back. I should have stated my sources

I guessed as much - as you might have guessed, I am a big fan of Wright and would recommend highly to "all and sundry" as Wright might say.

Many of my views are informed by his writings and I do not mention this as often as I should.

 

[stovebolts]

I know that his writings have formed my view on Justification. I was never able to fully wrap my head around Justification until I read his series, "Paul for Everyone, Romans". In addition, his theology on Romans was outstanding.

Believe you me, I had read a lot on Justification before I read his take, and all the others seemed to have fell empty somewhere along the way

Oh well, have a great weekend.

Grace and Peace,
Jeff

 

[Joe67]

SB,

Romans 4:25-5:5 is a concise presentation of all three process through which God and Christ fulfill their covenant given through Abraham and David and fulfilled in our Lord Jesus.

The process of tribulation and its part in the grace of salvation must needs be experienced.

The character development that is presented in 2 Peter is essentially presented in Romans 5 as the product of God given tribulation.

James accepted that Christians would have fiery trials, but had difficulty seeing the trials as God given, even as many children of God do at this time. God is not all in all in our thoughts, when that veil is over the mind. But we are still the children of God.

Joe