The Response to Justification
3: 27-31
The response to justification DIG: How are people justified before YHVH? What is required? How does God’s plan demonstrate His fairness toward all humanity? Why does Paul argue that when it comes to one’s standing before God, no one has the right to boast or be filled with religious pride? How is God both merciful and just at the same time? What spiritual fruit should we see in a genuine believer? How does the cross confirm the Torah?
REFLECT: When did you first realize that salvation is a free gift provided by the Messiah? Who or what helped you reach that realization? In what different ways do people try to earn salvation? How does the cross confirm the Torah? How would your life be different today without Yeshua? What has His gift meant to you? What has been your response?
There’s no room for bragging in our response to our justification, only gratitude, which produces growth and good spiritual fruit.
What is priceless can’t be bought or earned. Eternal life is just such a treasure. We receive it free or not at all. We could never afford it. We could never deserve it. It’s God’s gift to us, or we don’t have it. But it would be a huge mistake to conclude in this case that what is free is cheap. It cost YHVH a great deal, including His Son’s life, to provide this gift for us. There’s no room for bragging in our response, but only gratitude.84
The cross leaves no room for boasting: As we will see so many times in Romans, Paul starts his teaching with a question? So what room is left for boasting? Again, answering his own question, he declares: None at all! What kind of Torah excludes it? One that has to do with legalistic observance of rules? Once again, legalism is not the answer. No, rather, a Torah that has to do with trusting (Greek: pisteos, meaning faith, trust, belief). Not even Abraham, the father of God’s chosen people, was justified by works (Romans 4:2). For you have been delivered by grace through trusting, and even this is not your accomplishment but God’s gift. You were not delivered by your own actions; therefore, no one should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). The greatest lie in the world, and the lie common to all false-religions and cults, is that, by certain works of their own doing, mankind is able to make themselves acceptable to God. Paul completely undercuts their works righteousness by declaring: We hold the view that a person comes to be considered righteous by God on the ground of trusting, which has nothing to do with the corrupted legalistic observance of Torah commands (3:27-28). But what should we see after trusting?
What are some reliable proofs of saving faith? How do we know if someone is saved? We are not to judge other people, but we are to look for spiritual fruit in the life of a professing believer. ADONAI does not leave His children uncertain about their relationship with Him.
The first reliable evidence of saving faith is love for God. The mind controlled by the old nature is hostile to God, because it does not submit itself to God’s Torah – indeed, it cannot (8:7). The unsaved person cannot love god and has no desire to do so. The true child of God, however, despite often failing YHVH, will have a life characterized by a delight in ADONAI and His Word (Psalm 1:1-3, also see Psalms 42:1-2 and 73:25; Matthew 10:37).
Dear Wonderful Heavenly Father, The more I know about You, the more I love and worship you! You do all things in complete love. Even when You must discipline, it is done in love. “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of ADONAI or lose heart when you are corrected by Him, because ADONAI disciplines the one He loves and punishes every son He accepts” (Hebrews 12:5b-6). You, God, our loving Father, are acting as a wise potter to mold Your child into a beautiful vessel of righteousness. “Now all discipline seems painful at the moment – not joyful. But later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:13).
Your love is wonderful for You are completely faithful and can always be trusted. I will say of ADONAI, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust . . . He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge. His faithfulness is body armor and shield (Psalms 91:2 and 4). What a joy that God Himself has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you,” (Hebrews 13:5c).
Your love graciously looks to how long eternity is, and allows trials in our lives to mold us to shine for Your glory and honor. These trials are so that the true metal of your faith (far more valuable than gold, which perishes though refined by fire) may come to light in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Messiah Yeshua ( First Peter 1:7).
How wonderful that as we love Yeshua as our Lord and Savior, He comes to live right in us! Yeshua answered Thaddaeus, one of the twelve apostles, and said to him: If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him (John 14:23), so that Messiah may dwell in your hearts through faith (Ephesians 3:17a). What wonderful love that is always with us. Your love, ADONAI, is in the heavens, Your faithfulness up to the skies (Psalms 36:5). As we turn our focus off what is around us and look at how great Your love is for Your children, we are filled with eternal peace. And I pray that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to grasp with all the kedoshim what is the width and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Messiah which surpasses knowledge, so you may be filled up with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:17b-19). I love You! In the holy name of Yeshua and the power of His resurrection. Amen
A second reliable evidence of saving faith is repentance from sin and the hatred of it that always accompanies true repentance. This second mark of saving faith is the reverse side of the first. The person who loves God has a built-in hatred of sin. It is impossible to love two things that are contradictory to one another. No one can be a slave to two masters; for he will either hate the first and love the second, or scorn the second and be loyal to the first (Matthew 6:24). To love a holy and righteous God is, almost by definition, to hate sin.
When confronted by Nathan concerning his sins of adultery with Bathsheba, and the murder of her husband Uriah, David’s repentance was genuine, as reflected in Psalm 51:1-4a. God, in your grace, have mercy on me; in your great compassion, blot out my crimes, he prayed. Wash me completely from my guilt, and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my crimes, my sin confronts me all the time. Against You, only You, have I sinned and done what is evil from Your perspective. The believer will have no peace of conscience until he repents of it.
True repentance is more than simply being sorry for getting caught. Judas became bitterly sorry for his sin in betraying Yeshua, to the extreme of committing suicide (see the commentary on The Life of Christ, to see link click Lm – Judas Hangs Himself). But he did not repent and ask Yeshua for forgiveness. Paul commended the Corinthian believers, “I rejoice not because you were pained, but because the pain led you to turn back to God. For you handled the pain in God’s way” – repentance (Second Corinthians 7:9).
No believer becomes completely sinless until he goes to meet the Lord. If we claim not to have sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we acknowledge our sins, then, since He is trustworthy and just, he will forgive them and purify us from all wrongdoing (First John 1:8-9). If a person’s sin does not bother him and increasingly put him under conviction about it, that person’s salvation is questionable. The test of true repentance is not merely sorrow for bearing the consequences of one’s sin, but sorrow for the sin’s offense against a holy God, which above all else leads a believer to implore ADONAI’s forgiveness.
A third reliable mark of saving faith is genuine humility. A person cannot be saved as long as he trusts in and exalts himself. Salvation begins by confessing one’s poverty of spirit (Matthew 5:3), and the willingness to deny oneself and take up the cross (Matthew 16:24). Like the prodigal son (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Hu – The Parable of the Lost Son and His Jealous Brother), the true believer who sins will eventually come to his senses, his spiritual senses that convict of sin. He will then, again like the prodigal, go to his heavenly Father and humbly confess his sin and his unworthiness for forgiveness, while pleading for it on the basis of his Father’s grace.
A fourth reliable evidence of true faith is prayer. Now because you are God’s children, He has sent forth into our hearts the Spirit of His Son, the Spirit who cries out, “Abba!” (that is, “Dear Father!”). The heart of a genuine believer cannot help calling out to God, who is his heavenly Father and whose Spirit is within him to generate that desire. Every genuine believer will freely admit that he does not pray as often or as earnestly as he should. But in his innermost being, communion with his heavenly Father is the desire of his heart.
A fifth mark of saving faith is selfless love, not only for God, but for others, especially fellow believers. Anyone who claims to be in the light while hating his brother is still in the dark. The person who keeps loving his brother remains in the light, and there is nothing in him that could make him trip (1 John 2:9-10). Later in his letter, John said: We, for our part, know that we have passed from death to life because we keep on loving the brothers. The person who fails to keep on loving is still under the power of death (1 Jn 3:14). The person who does not sincerely care for the welfare of true believers is himself not a true believer, but is still under the power of death. Again, in his letter, John declares: Beloved friends, let us love one another; because love is from God; and everyone who loves has God as his Father and knows God. Those who do not love, do not know God; because God is love (1 John 4:7-8).
A sixth mark of saving faith is separation from the world. Believers are called to be in the world but not of it. They are in the world to testify to Messiah, a central testimony of which is not to reflect the world’s standards and ways (John 17:15-17). So, on the one hand, John says: Do not love the world or the things of the world. If someone loves the world, then the love of the Father is not in him; because all the things of the world – the desires of the old nature, the desires of the eyes, and the boastings of what he has and does – are not from the Father, but from the world (First John 2:15-16). But on the other hand, he declares: Everyone that has God as their Father overcomes the world. And this is what victoriously overcomes the world: our trust/faith/belief. Who does overcome the world if not the person who believes that Yeshua is the Son of God (First John 5:4-5)? The person who has saving faith has not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit of God (First Corinthians 2:12).
A seventh reliable evidence of true faith is spiritual growth. The central truth of the parable of the soils (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Et – The Parable of the Soils), is that true believers will always grow spiritually to varying degrees, because by trusting, they have genuinely received the seed of the Good News. This is what the Kingdom of God is like. A farmer scatters seed on the ground, Yeshua said on another occasion; Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain – first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head (Mark 4:26-28 NIV). Like the farmer and his crops, the believer does not understand how he grows spiritually, but he knows that because he has spiritual life within him, he will grow (Ephesians 4:13; Philippians 1:6).
The eighth and final mark of saving faith is obedient living. The way we can be sure we know him is if we are obeying His commands. Anyone who says, “I know Him,” but isn’t obeying His commands is a liar and the truth is not in him. Here is how one can distinguish clearly between God’s children and those of the Adversary; everyone who does not continue doing what is right is not from God (1 Jn 2:3-5 and 3:10). Although no one is saved by good works, those who are truly saved produce good works (Ja 2:18). Those who are truly saved will produce good works because we are God’s making, created in union with the Messiah Yeshua for a life of good actions already prepared by God for us to do (Ephesians 2:10).
The cross reveals God’s universal grace: More questions. Or is God the God of the Jews only? Isn’t He also the God of the Gentiles? Paul takes one of the most basic of Jewish beliefs, monotheism, and turns it against the works righteousness of Pharisaic Judaism. If justification is by the Torah, then God does belong to the Jews. But if justification is by trusting, then He is the God of both the Jews and the Gentiles. Follow this logic. If the Jew persisted in this position, then there must be two Gods – one for the Jews and one for the Gentiles. But the Jew would not allow for that. Yes, he is indeed the God of the Gentiles (3:29), because, as you will admit, God is one (see the commentary on Deuteronomy Bw – Sh’ma Isra’el). Paul makes clear that the Torah is no longer the middle wall of separation between Jews and Gentiles (Ephesians 2:14).
Trusting is the condition of receiving salvation on the part of Jew and Gentile alike. Neither has any advantage over the other. Therefore, He will consider righteous the circumcised on the ground of trusting and the uncircumcised through that same trusting (3:30). The content of what one can trust in will vary from Dispensation to Dispensation (see the commentary on Hebrews Bp – The Dispensation of Grace), but means of becoming righteous has always been the same . . . by trusting (see the commentary on Galatians Bc – We are Not Justified by Deeds of the Torah). God is one, so He justifies everyone the same way. Only one God, only one way of salvation.85 Trusting is not in any way inconsistent with the Torah, but rather, is thoroughly in agreement with it, and is therefore confirmed by it.
The cross fulfills God’s Torah: Paul follows the rabbinic method, found throughout the Talmud, of anticipating a hypothetical question – and not so hypothetical, if one reads the literature of Jewish attitudes towards Christianity: Does it follow that we abolish Torah by this trusting in Yeshua Messiah? And Paul answers his own question by saying: Heaven forbid (Hebrew: chalilah, meaning that’s a contradiction, it makes no sense)! On the contrary, we appreciate the Torah even more because the cross confirms it (3:31). How so? Because trusting YHVH is the very basis, foundation and essence of Torah. In saying so, Paul does not exhaust the subject. It is his literary style, however, to introduce a topic briefly, allowing the reader to be filled with questions, and then return to it later. That is what he does here; he returns to the matter of how faith and Torah fit together in Chapters 7 and 9-11.86
Secondly, the Torah refers to the entire TaNaKh, and the feasts point to Messiah’s First and Second Coming. Of the seven major feasts on the Jewish calendar, the first four feasts were fulfilled by the program of the First Coming of Messiah and occur within fifty days of each other. Passover was fulfilled by the death of Messiah on the cross; Unleavened Bread was fulfilled by the sinlessness of His sacrifice; First Fruits was fulfilled by Yeshua’s resurrection to life, and Shavu’ot was fulfilled by the birth of the Church.
Between the first four feasts and the last three feasts, there is a four-month interval mentioned in passing. When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you. I am ADONAI Your God (Leviticus 23:22). During the pause between the two sets of festivals, life is to continue as normal. This interval is pictured as a summertime of labor in the fields in preparation for the final harvest of the summer and before the fall harvest. This verse is not related to any feast. Unless one understands what is really happening, it almost seems like an unnecessary interruption. However, it is the pause between the festivals that fulfilled the program of the First Coming as opposed to the festivals to be fulfilled by the program of the Second Coming. This internal of four months does have a messianic implication.
The messianic implication is the insertion of the Dispensation of Grace, interrupting the program of the feasts of Isra’el. Indeed, the gleanings for the poor and the foreigner residing among you is a very good picture of the mission of the Church itself in gospel evangelism. For example, Jesus states: Look to the fields! They are ripe for harvest (John 4:35)! Thus, it becomes a fitting symbol of the obligation of the Church to do the work of gospel evangelism. Leviticus 23:22, being a parenthetical verse interrupting the discussion of the feasts of Isra’el, is significant in that it symbolizes the present age in which we now live and in which the program of the feasts of Israel has been temporarily interrupted.
The last three festivals in the second cycle of festivals also come close together, even closer than those of the first cycle of feasts. In fact, they all come within two weeks of each other. The last three feasts of the second cycle are to be fulfilled by the program of the Second Coming. Rosh ha-Shanah will be fulfilled by the Rapture of the Church; Yom Kippur will be fulfilled by the future affliction of the Jews in the Great Tribulation, and Sukkot will be fulfilled by the thousand-year Messianic Kingdom.87
Today, my friend, when you and I will take the position that we are sinners and come to God and trust Messiah as our Savior – regardless of who we are, where we are, and how we are or when we are – God will save us. For YHVH today has put salvation on one basis and one basis alone. His question is this, “What will you do with My Son who died for you on the cross?88
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