Justification is a Gift of God's Grace (Doctrinal Bible Church in Huntsville, Alabama)

Doctrinal Bible Church

Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

Wednesday June 28, 2023

Justification Series: Justification is a Gift of God’s Grace

Lesson # 5

Romans 3:24 teaches that justification is a gift of God’s grace and is made possible by the work of redemption that Jesus Christ accomplished with His voluntary, substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths on the cross.

Romans 3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. 21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (NIV84)

“Freely” is the adverb dōrean (δωρεάν), which means, “undeservedly” and refers to something bestowed upon a person freely, without price or compensation and expresses the basic meaning of “for nothing” and emphasizes that the character of the gift is unmerited or undeserved.

In Romans 3:24, the adverb dōrean (δωρεάν) means that God does not declare a sinner righteous on the basis of his own human merit or in other words, there is nothing in mankind that merits the declaration of righteousness by God.

Justification is a gracious gift which God extends to the sinner who exercises faith in His Son Jesus Christ, exclusive of any human merit or work.

God declares the sinner justified based upon the merits of the object of his faith, Jesus Christ.

The gift of righteousness resulting in justification came at an infinite cost to God in that it cost Him the death of His Son Jesus Christ.

Therefore, this word dōrean (δωρεάν) indicates that justification is not earned or deserved on the part of the sinner or something that God owes us since the thing that God owes the sinner is eternal condemnation in the lake of fire forever.

Justification is not reward that any member of the human race can deserve rather it is for the undeserving.

The forgiveness of sins and the righteousness of God are free gifts meaning they cost us nothing because they cost the Father and Jesus Christ everything.

They cannot be earned with works or inherited through parents or being a member of the church or keeping the Ten Commandments or getting baptized in water!

They are free, to be received by faith in Jesus Christ.

It is not a matter of wages or merit but is a free gift that originates in the grace of God.

The sinner does not merit justification, but rather receives it as a gift to be enjoyed.

In Romans 3:24, the adverb dōrean (δωρεάν) means that the sinner who exercises faith in Jesus Christ as his or her Savior is declared justified by God as an unmerited gift or as an undeserved gift.

In New Testament usage charis (χάρις), “grace” denotes the grace of the worthy to the unworthy, of the holy to the sinful and the essence of the word in the Greek New Testament is that it is unearned and unmerited.

The concept of charis (χάρις) in the Greek New Testament is consistently defined in terms of God’s gracious act of redemption that is found in the Person and Finished Work of Christ on the cross, which establishes the believer’s eternal relationship with God.

Incorporated into the meaning of charis (χάρις) in the Greek New Testament is that the believer is beneficiary of the love of each member of the Trinity.

The noun charis (χάρις), “grace” refers to God the Father’s grace policy towards unregenerate sinners, which manifests His attribute of love.

Grace is all that God the Father is free to do in imparting unmerited blessings to those who trust in Jesus Christ as Savior based upon the merits of Christ and His death on the cross.

It is God treating the sinner in a manner that they don’t deserve and excludes any human works in order to acquire eternal salvation or blessing from God.

Grace means that God saved us and blessed us despite ourselves and not according to anything that we do but rather saved us and blessed us because of the merits of Christ and His work on the cross.

It excludes any human merit in salvation and blessing (Eph. 2:8-9; Titus 3:5) and gives the Creator all the credit and the creature none.

By means of faith, we accept the grace of God, which is a non-meritorious system of perception, which is in total accord with the grace of God.

Grace and faith are totally compatible with each other and inseparable (1 Tim. 1:14) and complement one another (Rom. 4:16; Eph. 2:8).

Grace, faith, and salvation are all the gift of God and totally exclude all human works and ability (Eph. 2:8-9).

The unique Person of the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross-is the source of grace (2 Cor. 8:9) and He is a gift from the Father (2 Cor. 9:15).

Jesus Christ was full of “grace and truth” (John 1:17) and the believer receives the grace of God through Him (John 1:16).

It is by the grace of God that Jesus Christ died a substitutionary spiritual and physical death for all mankind (Heb. 2:9).

Therefore, the throne in which Christ sits is a “throne of grace” (Heb. 4:16).

The grace of God has been extended to every member of the human race because of the act of love and justice on the cross.

At the cross, the Father imputed the sins of every person in history-past, present and future to the impeccable humanity of Christ in hypostatic union on the cross and judged Him as a substitute for the entire human race (Titus 2:11).

The message of God’s saving act in Christ is described as the “gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24), and the “word of His grace” (Acts 20:32; cf. 14:3).

Grace is an absolute and is no longer grace if we are saved on the basis of human works (Rom. 11:6).

Therefore, since God has dealt graciously with the believer, the believer is in turn commanded to be gracious with all members of the human race, both believers and unbelievers (Eph. 4:32; Col. 3:13; 4:6; 1 Thess. 3:12).

A Christian is someone who is a “partaker” of the grace of God (Phil. 1:7) and he is to live by the same principle of grace after salvation (Col. 2:6; Rom. 6:4).

Grace is the Christian’s sphere of existence (Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:3; Col. 1:2) and the believer who rejects this principle is said to have “fallen from grace,” (Gal. 5:1-5).

God in His grace and love disciplines the believer in order to get the believer back in fellowship with Himself (Heb. 12:5-12) and He also trains the believer through undeserved suffering in order to achieve spiritual growth (2 Cor. 12:7-11).

The believer is commanded to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:18).

The believer experiences the grace of God while in fellowship with God, which is accomplished by obedience to the Word of God.

God in His grace has given the believer the ability to learn and apply bible doctrine through the ministry of God the Holy Spirit in order to achieve spiritual maturity (Jn. 16:13-15; 1 Cor. 2:9-16).

God in His grace has provided the church with the spiritual gift of pastor-teacher to communicate the mystery doctrine for the church age, which produces spiritual growth (Eph. 3:1-5; 4:8-12, 16).

The Christian life from beginning to end is built upon God's policy of grace (2 Cor. 6:1-9; Rom. 5:2; John 1:16).

Grace is God giving of Himself (His holiness) in order to benefit all mankind.

Grace is the sum total of unmerited benefits, both temporal and spiritual, imparted to the sinner through the harmonious function of the sum total of divine attributes of each member of the Trinity as a result of the sinner making the non-meritorious decision to trust in the Person and Work of Christ on the cross.

This is why John writes the following: John 1:16, For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. (NASB95)

William Newell writes, “The grace of God is infinite love operating by an infinite means—the sacrifice of Christ; and an infinite freedom, unhindered, now, by the temporary restrictions of the law...Everything connected with God’s salvation is glad in bestowment, infinite in extent, and unchangeable in its character.”

I’ll say amen to that…what about you!