That is why he has also been charged judicially. 23 And not only is he written that he was taken into account, 24 but also to us, for this will be imputed to us, that is, to those of us who believe in the one who resurrected Jesus from the dead, 25 who was delivered by our transgressions and rose for our justification.
My initial intention was to preach a message in these four verses 22-25, but when I thought about it, especially in the Scene of Holy Sunday and, above all, to approach a kind of climax at the end of this chapter, I thought it was necessary to dedicate two Sundays to this great text, here I have questions that I want to ask, one today and three next Sunday.
- 1) Why was faith imputed to Abraham and us for justice?What’s the meaning of.
- For what? At the beginning of verse 22: “So this [faith] [Abraham] was also accused of righteousness.
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2) What kind of faith is attributed to Abraham and us for justice?It was the first act of faith when God first spoke to Abraham and told him to abandon the Chaldea Bear or faith in Genesis 15. 6 when God promised to make Abraham’s descendants as stars or faith in Genesis 17 when God promised Abraham a son next year despite his age and Sara’s infertility or faith in Genesis 22 When Abraham offered his son Isaac, are we justified in the first flash of faith or in a life of faith?
3) How is faith imputed to Abraham and us?Does the attribution of faith to justice mean that faith in itself is the kind of righteousness we practice, and God considers justice good enough for us to deserve justification?As if the justification cost five million reais and I could submit a million dollars. May God say with mercy that he will consider my million and cancel the rest?Or did justification really imput to me God’s own righteousness in Christ, and if so, what does it mean to say that faith is imputed to justice?
We’ll see all that next week
I want us to focus this week: who and what do we have to believe to be justified?Then we get the answer in the middle of verse 24 Verses 23 and 24 declare that the reason was written in Genesis 15:6: The Faith of Abraham. was imputed to justice by us, not just by him. “And it is not only written that this has been taken into account, but also by us. ” Don’t get me wrong about it. Here is the Apostle of Jesus Christ who tells us that God had in sight when he inspired Moses to write the words: “This has been attributed to him in righteousness. “God wants you to understand it very personally. He wants you to read this text, pay attention to it and know that a very personal communication is addressed to you.
God now says to you, “Faith will make you righteous with me. Believe me, will I take your faith into account in exchange for justice?Can you hear it? Croyez-moi. Me support. It’s going to be okay. I have justice for you. You don’t have one for me. I have mine for you. Believe me, will this faith be blamed for your righteousness?
Then, in the middle of verse 24, he begins to tell us that this is what we must trust: “He who raised Jesus from the dead, who for our transgressions was delivered and resurrected for our justification. “that we have faith to be justified. Paul identifies the God we trust in for what he does. So when you say that “faith is imputed [by God] to justice,” you say that it was written to us who have faith and then we say what God is doing; therefore, we must know the basis and content of our faith.
We will summarize this trust in God by what he does in three statements about God: 1) the God we trust manifests his inconceivable power; 2) the God we trust achieves merciful redemption; 3) The God in whom we trust executes triumphant justice. This whole chapter deals with the means of justification, not the basis of justification by faith. But now, in the last sentence of the chapter, Paul returns to the base (where he was previously in Romans 3: 24-26) of justification by faith. The basis of justification is what God has done in Christ’s work in history. The means of justification is how we join this great work by faith. Both are extremely important, but the basis is the most important of all.
Joel Murray, who is now with the Lord but taught at Westminster Seminary, has written a wonderful booklet called Redemption: Achieved and Applied. I read it about 25 years ago. I’d like everyone to read it, put a vital fiber in the tree of your faith. These two words :?Directed and applied ?, refer to the basis and support that I am talking about here. The redemption achieved is the basis of what God did in Christ, consumed outside of us and outside of us. Redemption fulfilled is what God does to unite us in the work. of magnificent and consummate redemption, a work He does for us and in us.
Does Paul end this chapter with a remarkable prayer about consummate redemption?The basis, the foundation of the rest of the chapter, which deals with the application of redemption through faith. Who we trust is the one who achieved redemption for us before we existed. . He is the God we believe in, trust, and put our faith in.
These are the topics that we will examine here in a simple and brief way: the God who manifests an inconceivable power performs a merciful redemption and executes triumphant justice. We will examine each of these topics at once and see them in the text and keep them. in our minds and hearts.
1. We trust those who show inconceivable power
Verse 24b says, “We who believe in him who rose from the dead, Jesus our Lord. “To put Jesus’ Resurrection first is that it is joined by the power he gave birth to Isaac, as described in verse 17: ??Before, the One in whom [Abraham] believed, the God who invigorates the dead and asks for the existence of things that do not exist?Abraham believed in him who invigorates the dead and asks for the existence of things that do not exist. Abraham, the immediate focus, was on God’s promise to generate Isaac when Abraham was 100 and his wife was sterile. I couldn’t do it. But this is what made Abraham’s faith exemplary. Verse 19: “And, without weakening in faith, even if he took into account his own numb body, already 100 years old, and the old age of Sarah. “
Thus, now Paul declares that today we trust in the same God and the faith that he attributes to justice is faith in God who raises the dead, our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom we trust, the one who rose again, our Lord Jesus from the dead. .
I call this power? Inconceivable? Not because we can’t conceive of it, but because we’re approaching the end of a century marked by naturalism?A vision or faith that there is no reality that is not part of nature ?, belief that there is no supernatural reality. They say, is natural evolution the most widespread form of this faith?Efforts to explain the origin of all things without faith in the supernatural Creator and outside of nature.
But the naturalistic way of studying history has also spread throughout this century. In biblical theology, this faith is devastating. One of the most famous statements of this faith was made by Rudolf Bultmann: “It is a historical fact involving the resurrection of the dead. Totally inconceivable? (Quoted in Carl FHHenry, God, Revelation, And Authority, v. IV [Wheaton: Crossway Books, 199, original 1979], p. 333). It was from this quote that I deleted the word “inconceivable. “
The faith that God imputes to us for justice is faith in which an inconceivable power operates. He fulfills exactly what Bultmann said: “Inconceivable? resurrects the dead, does what people say he cannot do, gave birth to Isaac from the barren womb of a 90-year-old woman, and resurrected Jesus from a grave after three days, and made him the Lord of the universe In this way, God can keep every promise. So we trust him.
2. We trust the one who achieves merciful redemption
Notice the first half of verse 25: “Who was delivered by our transgressions. “The main fact that can be seen here is that the death of the one whom God has risen is death by purpose. God did not simply want to demonstrate his inconceivable power and thus find someone killed to resurrect him from the dead. God Himself conceived this death and did so for a purpose.
Can you see it in two key phrases in verse 25a (1):?Who was delivered (2) for our transgressions? Jesus was “delivered. “For whom, for the soldiers, why Pilate, why Herod?For the crowd of Jews? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, for any of them, because the text states that it was issued “by our transgressions”.
Acts 2:23 provides a clear and frank answer: “To be delivered for the purpose and foreknowledge of God. ” God gave him up to death. Romans 8,3 says: “God sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin. ” Romans 8:32 says: “He who did not spare his own Son, but abandoned him for us all. ” In this way, the death of Jesus Christ occurred for God’s purpose. God planned his death. He’s not just dead. God gave him up to death.
And the goal had a purpose (verse 25a): “For our transgressions. “God’s plan was to face our transgressions. He wanted to provide a replacement death so that we would not have to die for our transgressions. And the only death that could therefore, Romans 8. 3 declares: Did God send his own Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin and with regard to sin, and indeed condemned God in the flesh, sin?transgressions are not swept under the carpet, they are not ignored. They’re doomed. They’re carrying out an execution. But not ours, Christ.
Therefore, we are redeemed by the death of Christ; In other words, we are saved from our sins; we are free from the condemnation of hell; we are saved from Dieu’s judgment; all this redemption is not worth it. die and go to hell and endure God’s judgment, but it is a merciful redemption. Is it the God we think is justified? God who performs merciful redemption. He wanted to save us from our transgressions by the death of his Son.
3. Finally, we trust those who do justice triumphant
We trust him who manifests inconceivable power, achieves merciful redemption, and now executes triumphant justice What do I intend to express with this and where can I get these ideas?I extract them from the last part of verse 25 Who is God?Trust? He is the God who resurrected Jesus “for our justification. “I understand this statement as follows: when Jesus died for our transgressions, a full and sufficient payment was made for our forgiveness and justification. Therefore, it would be unfair to leave Jesus in the grave, because he has paid completely for our sins. Thus, God raised him from the dead to justify Christ’s atonement and obedience. Jesus’ Resurrection was a statement of what he achieved in his death and was perfectly successful, buying our justification.
Perhaps we could say this way, “When Christ died and shed his blood for our transgressions, he atoned for the sins that killed him. “Since these sins are now covered and paid for, there is no reason for Christ to remain dead. His death was only to pay for our sins; when they have been paid in full, there is no obligation to kill them; it would be unfair to keep him in the grave. Couldn’t he stay there anymore, because death couldn’t stop him?(Acts 2. 24).
Thus, the God in whom we trust is the one who carries out triumphant righteousness; Jesus’ resurrection is triumphant because he overcomes death; it is triumphant justice because justice demanded that Jesus be resurrected from the dead; paid perfectly for sins, sins. If the sins that led you to death, our sins were completely and perfectly paid on the cross, then the only reason for Christ’s death was in the past. Our justification was fully guaranteed (however, not fulfilled by faith). , but guaranteed and paid), so it would be unfair for Christ to remain dead, would be an unfair punishment. Therefore, it was right and right for God to resurrect Christ from the dead; it was a triumphant justice (see Hebrews 13:20).
So I conclude the question I asked at the beginning: “Whom do we have to believe to be justified,” that is, to be righteous before God?The answer is: we must believe in God. 1) He has shown inconceivable power in resurrecting His Son from the dead; 2) He performed a merciful redemption by designating the death of his Son to save us from our transgressions, and 3) he achieved triumphant righteousness by resurrecting Jesus from the dead and showing that the basis of our justification was perfectly established in the death of his Son.
Open your heart and receive the glory of this salvation: inconceivable power, merciful redemption, and triumphant justice. Believe in these truths and God will attribute your faith to justice. Will you be safe with that, will he have justice? Unwavering, an eternal rock on which to lean.