Self-Deception of Self-Justification
A man may fancy that he is prospering in business, and yet he may be going back in the world. If he does not face his books or take stock, he may be living in a fool’s paradise, spending largely when on the verge of bankruptcy. Many think well of themselves because they never think seriously. They do not look below the surface, and hence they are deceived by appearances. The most troublesome business to many men is thought. The last thing they will do is to weigh their actions, or test their motives, or ponder their ways, to see whether things are right with them.
Justification is a judicial act of God in which he declares the sinner free from condemnation, and restores him to divine favor
We Cannot Be Justified in Sin—
We Cannot Be Justified in the Law—
We Can Be Justified Through the Faith of Jesus Christ—
Paul is contrasting the works of the Old Testament Law with the Faith (system) of Christianity.
He even changes the phrase διὰ πίστεως to ἐκ πίστεως and thus makes it the exact opposite of the repeated phrase ἐξ ἔργων νόμου.
There follows in the Creed: “He was dead and buried.” bHere again is to be seen how he in every respect took our place to pay the price of our redemption. Death held us captive under its yoke; Christ, in our stead, gave himself over to its power to deliver us from it. So the apostle understands it when he writes: “He tasted death for everyone” [Heb. 2:9 p.]. By dying, he ensured that we would not die, or—which is the same thing—redeemed us to life by his own death.
We Can Be Justified through Faith—
This is the primary truth to be proclaimed by the Christian ministry. It is the foundation stone of all gospel preaching. And yet, somehow or other, such is the hardness of the human heart that it is the most difficult thing to induce our hearers to build on this foundation. Many of them are always trying to lean upon their own works, and so struggling to get back under the old legal dispensation, instead of rejoicing in the liberty of the dispensation of grace
A δίκαιος is “righteous” because God so declares in his judicial verdict. Δικαιοσύνη is the quality of “righteousness” possessed by him whom the heavenly Judge pronounces righteous.
This saving faith is an active faith.
If thou keep these things, and from henceforward speak nothing but truth, thou shalt be able to secure life for thyself. And whosoever shall hear this command, and abstain from falsehood, that most pernicious habit, shall live unto God.’