Justification by Faith
Paul is one of the biblical authors of the epistles. Most of Paul's letters are addressed to the church by describing some of the righteous ways that the Christians can live. Paul’s gospel on justification by faith explains that for one to achieve salvation in the Lord, one must have faith first. This is essential for Christians because they strive to be righteous in God’s eyes so as to live eternally. This means that the person who may be tagged as a sinner in a given community can be liberated if he or she decides to trust and believe in God and not himself. This Christian ideology resonates well with the protests in that one can achieve liberation through faith alone. This paper will examine St. Paul’s teaching regarding justification by Faith through looking at some of his scriptural texts.
In the book of Romans 3:27-28, Paul asserts that salvation will come to the people through the justification by faith and not relying on obeying the law. In this case, Paul resents the idea of legislation because it does not emphasize or describe how people are supposed to act in their social system. Thus, this makes the law of faith important to the human race because it points out the significance of one having belief and faith to the higher deity. According to Harrington, Apostle Paul believed that the doctrine of justification by faith, which emphasized on the irrelevance of the law to govern the people. This author also believes that the law separated the people in the community, which was ungodly. Instead, Apostle Paul emphasizes on the idea that people should have faith, which does not seclude people from the community. Apostle Paul uses justification by Faith to free the human race from the world’s social systems and structures that have been imposed into the society. This is because for one to be justified by faith, one has to believe in Godly virtues that are relevant to the Christians in that these doctrines and virtues help in shaping one’s beliefs and way of life.
Intertextuality is key facet in the Bible and Paul uses the gospel stories to support his justification by faith analogy. Paul writes that, “"so far then we have seen that, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by faith we are judged righteous and at peace with God (Rom 5:1 NIB)." In this text Paul refers to the gospel book in the New Testament, where Jesus came to earth to save the human kind from God’s wrath. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, Christians are already purified by the blood of Jesus Christ. Christian men and women need to rely on spirituality to achieve redemption from their worldly sins. This is because God sacrificed Jesus, who was His spiritual son, on the cross so that the human race can be free from all sins. As a result, one can argue that God holds the mace to judging one’s character it is only through him that one can be liberated. This indicates that God is the only person that can judge one for their sins. However, after Jesus death on the cross for our sins, men and women could easily achieve redemption at any point through one’s faith and belief. It is crucial for Christians to become liberated from their sins because one is excluded from God’s judgment and becomes at peace with not only God and also with oneself.
Jesus Christ’s death on the cross symbolized the purification of the human race from sin. God used Jesus as a scapegoat for the worldly sins by using a form of judgment towards Jesus so that the Human race would be redeemed. This is all crucial to all Christians. However, it is crucial to note that according to Apostle Paul, justification by faith does not give one the right to sin. In Rom 6:19-22, Apostle Paul notes that when a Christian or believer dies as a sinner, he or she is buried with Christ and his sins such that during the creation, one is born a new and free from all sins. This demonstrates that sin does not have authority over God in that sin is broken when one resurrects from the dead. This scenario mirrors the death and the resurrection of Jesus, where Jesus resurrected on the day to show God’s power over death. Thus, one is sanctified when one dies with sin in that God is All-Powerful as written by Apostle Paul. This demonstrates justification by faith in God can conquer death and sin by purifying one’s sins.
Baptism plays a significant role among the Christians because baptism serves as a symbol of one’s sins being washed away. This form of activity insinuates that one soul has been cleansed off and that one has been re-born by being free from any form of sin. When one acknowledges the fact that he or she is a sinner, one can pray for redemption in that God is merciful towards his people. When Christians seek for God’s forgiveness and liberation by being baptized, their sins are forgiven by God because they have faith in God and Christ Jesus. Baptism is a crucial thing to Apostle Paul because, initially he was a sinner. When Paul was considered a sinner, he was named Saul. Saul had persecuted the Christian church and his ideals and moral changed after he became baptized. After his baptism, he was born a-new and changed his name to symbolically signify that he had become a new man because his sins were cleansed. Though Paul had persecuted the church of Christ and its believers, he turned a new coat after he was baptized. Spiritually, it shows that his sins had been forgiven by God through the justification by Faith. In addition, if a Christian commits any sins, he can take penance so that his sins can be wiped away. Theologically, baptism plays a key role in ensuring that Christians stay on the right track to worshipping God by reflecting his Godly ways and ideas. Thus, it is evident that is baptism is a form of justification by faith in that the act implies that one has faith that they have been spiritually cleansed and that they are free from any sin from their past life. Harrison writes that when a person is justified and has achieved redemption, the penalty of sin is remitted, and that God’s favor is restored such that one is considered as being righteous.
Unlike Apostle Paul who stressed on the relevance of justification by Faith, James believed that for one to be justified spiritually, one has to work towards the justification. James stresses on the need to have faith and work so as to be righteous. According to James, faith alone could not justify one’s salvation. James writes that “faith without work is dead (James 2:26 NAB).” This can be interpreted as the perseverance and endurance that Christians have to go through in their daily live. This is applicable to Christians because they face a lot of temptations from the worldly activities, which any one can be sucked into the worldly sin. However, if one strives to be true to oneself and seeking God’s help, one can endure these temptations and remain free from sin. Thus, work plays a key role in ensuring that Christians stick to being righteous through reflecting God’s ideals. Rom 2:13 show that listening to the law is not enough but keeping the law makes people Holy before God. Thus, action is a key element in ensuring that faith is instilled in the human race and people work towards staying righteous and free from sin.
Justification by faith is also relevant among the Christians because it is through the Holy Spirit that purifies and control’s the Christians way of life. Through the Holy Spirit, various people in the Bible including Apostle Paul were able to write the scriptural texts, which are still highly valued in today’s culture and society. This indicates that Holy Spirit is key supplement in ensuring that a believer follows the right path to Christ. It is important to note that one to experience the power of the Holy Spirit; one has to disentangle themselves from the worldly pleasures by seeking God’s guidance and overcoming all temptations. This shows that when one becomes a believer, one has to fight tooth and nail to defend their beliefs from the worldly pleasures.
In conclusion, it is evident that justification by faith is significant among the Christians in that one has to believe in God so that one’s sins are cleansed. In addition, faith and work go hand in hand because one has to strive to safeguard their beliefs from the worldly pleasures. The Holy Spirit is gift from heaven that aids Christians to stay true to their beliefs and enables them to walk in the right path to salvation. Baptism is an act by the Christians that spiritually cleanses their sins. However, these sins are not washed physically but spiritually and can only be achieved if the baptized believes in the cleansing of sins.
Bibliography
Harrington, Daniel J.. Meeting St. Paul today. Chicago, Ill.: Loyola Press, 2008.
Hiesberger, Jean Marie. The Catholic Bible personal study edition: the New American Bible : including the revised New Testament and Psalms translated from the original languages with critical use of all the ancient sources. Personal study ed., 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.
Rev. Harrison, Brian W. M.A., S.T.L.. Justification by Faith. Rome, Italy,: Living Tradition, Sedes Sapientiae Study Center, Via Concordia, 1, 00183.
The New American Bible: revised edition.. Rev. ed. Huntington, Ind.: Our Sunday Visitor Inc., 2012.
