Romans 5:1-11 | Justification by Faith

I want to begin by offering my heartfelt condolences to Kris — to Steve, Duane, Linda, and Jenny — and to the entire family.

As we gather today, we give thanks to God for grandpa Orville’s life

I was told that the passage that Andrea read, Romans 5:1-11, was very meaningful to grandpa. Often times, he would refer to Jesus as his Lord and Savior.

The outline for this message is simple using three keywords found in Romans 5:1: therefore, faith, and peace.

Therefore

5:1, “Therefore…” What is therefore there for?

The answer is found in the previous chapters where Paul writes about the grim news and the good news.

Grim News: No One Can Merit Justification Before God

Merit: wage or reward.

No human being can ever earn justification before God.

Justification is the declaring of a person to be just or righteous before God.

Just/righteous (a major theme)

No one is or will be justified or made justice on the merit of their own good works:

Romans 3:10 “None is righteous, no, not one;”

Good News: God Justifies Sinners Through the Merit of Christ ALONE

Justification by faith lone

Church Reformation in the 16th Century: A call to return to the Scripture’s authority .

Martin Luther, called the doctrine of justification by faith alone “the article on which the church stands or falls.”

(2)Faith

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith,

9x in Romans 3: 20-31

Romans 3:21–24 “21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,”

Saving Faith: information, affirmation and personal trust.

Saving Faith is composed of information (correct understanding of the gospel), affirmation (intellectual assent), and personal trust (surrender your life to Jesus, give your life to Jesus, Jesus is a relationship, not a religion).

Demon Faith is composed of information and affirmation.

Galatians 2:16 “yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.”

Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,”

Philippians 3:9 “and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—”

So then—how is a sinner made right with God?

Not by merit. Not by works. Not by performance. But by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

Faith is not just knowing the facts or agreeing they’re true. Even the demons do that. Saving faith personally trusts Christ.

The Result: Peace with God

In his commentary on Romans 5, Martin Luther writes:

“In the whole Bible there is hardly another chapter which can equal this triumphant text. The apostle here most clearly describes God’s grace and mercy and shows…how abundantly it has been poured out upon us” (88).