How NOT to be burdened
A bite-sized lesson in doctrine: 1 Concept, 2 Quotes, 3 Passages...
Welcome to a special edition of Theology Thursday!
Today is Reformation Day! Over 500 years ago, one simple act sparked the recovery of the gospel handed down to us by Jesus and the Apostles. Even today, we continue to reform our beliefs and hearts according to Scripture by the power of the Spirit.
Here is your bite-sized lesson in orthodox, Biblical doctrine in 3 simple steps:
ONE concept explained
TWO quotes from others
THREE Scripture passages to meditate on
Concept: Justification & You
The doctrine of Justification by Faith ought to produce two responses in us. First, it produces rest. We’re living in a world awash with guilt, resulting in constant hand-wringing, laboring, and striving that is driven by a longing for approval. It’s often because we’re weighed down by what’s going on in the world. As Kevin DeYoung quipped,
“It used to be that we were largely ignorant of the troubles that beset billions of people on the planet. But now when there is a hurricane or an earthquake or a homicide or a traffic accident or a shooting spree or an act of terrorism, we can hear about it instantly. Consequently, we feel like there is always more we can do. We could give another dollar or send another teddy bear or purchase another goat. The circle of obligation feels limitless. Life feels like ten thousand victims on the side of the road, and we are told we must be the good Samaritan in every instance.”1
Even some Christian’s lives are characterized by dread and lack of joyful rest. But we can find rest in the innermost part of our souls, knowing that our status is received, not achieved.
Second, this doctrine does not produce laziness or license to sin but profound gratitude, resulting in a profound delight in obeying God’s law. We receive the verdict, “Not guilty!” and because this is part and parcel of union with Christ, suddenly, the Ten Commandments or the Sermon on the Mount or the imperatives in the epistles are viewed differently. We want to obey. The Spirit within us appropriates the beauty of our renewed status to our hearts, and we labor from life already received, not so that we’ll receive it—accepted to obey, not obeying to be accepted.
Quotes from others:
“Wherefore as condemnation is not the infusing of a habit of wickedness into him that is condemned, nor the making of him to be inherently wicked, who was before righteous, but the passing a sentence upon a man with respect to his wickedness; no more is justification the change of a person from inherent unrighteousness to righteousness, by the infusion of a principle of grace, but a sentential declaration of him to be righteous.”
John Owen
“The benefit of justification through faith alone has in it a rich comfort for the Christian. The forgiveness of his sins, the hope for the future, [and] the certainty concerning eternal salvation do not depend upon the degree of holiness which he has achieved in life, but are firmly rooted in the grace of God and in the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.”
Herman Bavinck
Passages:
“…Christ Jesus, 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. 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.”
Romans 3:24–26
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”
Romans 1:16–17
“For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.”
Romans 14:7–9
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DeYoung, Kevin, Impossible Christianity, P. 36