Whose Faith Justifies Us?

Romans 3: 21-27; Matthew 17:14-20

 

Computers are great!

          On computers we can produce documents

that look almost professional. 

Part of what makes the documents look professional

is that we can right justify them.

          We can make the right side of the page line up

                   Just like the left side, with a straight edge.

It is very difficult to do that by hand.

          The left side lines up easily because that’s

                   Where we start a sentence

but the left side is difficult because that’s

          where we end the sentence and things

                   do always turn out perfect in life

                             and in writing.

 

          It used to be that the only way one could do that would be

                   To send the rough draft off to a publisher

                             Who would edit it, take out all the mistakes,

                                      And right justify it so that it was perfect.

          But now we can just hit a button and the computer does it.

                   The problem is that we no longer have to go through

                             The editing process that comes with the

                                      Right justification process and things

                                                Look finished when they aren’t.

 

Today we are studying the Book of Romans

          Which is Paul’s theological treatise on justification.

                   Of course Paul is not talking about right justification

                             As an exercise in writing a book but rather

                                      He is talking about justification and

                                                Righteousness in our whole lives.

 

The word for justification and righteousness

is the same word in Greek, dikaionsunai.

          The pneumonic I used to remember that Greek word

                   Was Dick (Uncle Dick)-I-Owe-Son-A.

          I imagined that the only way I could get right with

                   Uncle Dick was to give him my first son.

That was a weird pneumonic but not bad as long as

I remember that the whole question of righteousness

before God is a question not of what I can give God

          but what God has already given us,

his first born son, Jesus Christ.

 

And so the central meaning of Paul’s Letter to the Romans

          Is captured in the phrase:

                   “the righteousness of God through faith in or of

                             Jesus Christ for all who believe.

For there is no distinction, since all have sinned

And fall short of the glory of God;

They are now justified by grace as a gift,

Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

 

Commentators argue about whether it is the faith in Christ,

          Or the faith of Christ that is operative for salvation.

                   We have already seen how small our faith is

                             In comparison to the acts of God we witness

                                      And yet Jesus does call us to have faith,

                                                Even if it’s only as big as a mustard seed.

          And yet it is not our faith that saves us,

                   But Jesus Christ who saves us.

                             I must admit I stand in the camp who translate

                                      This Romans passage as saying that we

                                                Participate in the righteousness of God

                                                          Through the faith of Christ and we

                                                                   Participate by trusting the gift.

                                                          That’s the “for all who believe” part.

It is not our faith that effects our salvation.

          It is the faith of Christ.

                   And it is a two fold faith of Christ:

                             The faith of Christ in God the Father, a perfect faith,

Unlike our imperfect faith and

                             The faith of Christ in us, children of God

                                      And brothers and sisters in Christ.

                   In other words, Christ is God’s word to us that

                             God does not give up on us.

                                      God believes in us, God calls us, even before

                                                We believe in and respond to God.

                   That’s what Paul means when he says:

                             Dia pisteos Jesou Xristou   

                                      Through the faith of Jesus Christ.

 

Paul is recognizing that we all fall well short of glory of God.

          We can’t be righteous or justified on our own.

                   We are simply not good enough.

                             “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

          Do you believe that?

Or do you believe that God grades on a scale

          And we simply have to be better than our neighbor

                   In order to insure our salvation.

If you believe that God grades on a scale and all we have

 to do is to beat out our neighbor then you would

be tempted to judge your neighbor.

                             But Jesus says “judge not lest you be judged”(Matt 7:1)

                                      Jesus says “Why do you see the speck in your

                                                Neighbor’s eye but not the log in your own eye.”

                   Jesus says “You’ve heard it said, you shall not murder…

 but I say to you that if you are angry with your brother or

          sister, you will be liable to judgment.

Jesus reminds us that God does not grade on a scale

          And God alone is righteous as well as gracious and merciful.

                   And God desire us to be righteous even as God is righteous.

And so it is the sacrifice, the faithfulness, the grace of Christ

          That effects our righteousness before God.

                   We don’t earn that righteousness by doing good works

                             But rather we do good works to thank God

                                      For the redemptive work God does in our life.

                   We don’t believe in order to earn our righteousness

                             But rather we believe by trusting that the work of Christ

                                      On the cross is sufficient for our salvation

                                                And by living and trusting the God who has

                                                          Saved us in Christ Jesus.

                   It is not our faith but the faith of Christ

                             That saves us.

Even John Calvin, the founder of the Presbyterian faith,

          Translated that passage in Romans:

                   “Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all that believe; for there is no difference.  For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

 

“In righteousness of faith, no merit of works is allowed…It is necessary that Christ should come to our aid; who being alone just, can render us just by transferring to us his own righteousness.  You now see how the righteousness of faith is the righteousness of Christ.” 

(Calvin’s Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, pg. 138)

                                      

Calvin is just punctuating what Jesus and Paul have already said.

          We can’t do it on our own.

                   We get caught up in sin.

                             We judge each other.

                                      We all fall short of what God desires for us.

                   And so we are dependant, totally and completely

on the redeeming work of Jesus Christ.

          And that’s good news because it sets us free:

Not to sin so that we can enjoy God grace, but to enjoy

God’s grace so that we don’t have to live in sin.

So what difference does that make in our lives.

          We can stop trying to rank order different sins

and trying figure out who is the bigger sinner.

          Also we can put away any masks that we have that

                   Pretend at righteousness.  God sees through all the masks

                             And after all, any righteousness we have comes from God.

          That doesn’t free us up from living righteous lives.