Righteousness Revealed
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How can an unjust person such as myself ever hope to stand before the just judgment of God? In a word, how are we saved? And this is a matter of eternal consideration.
The good news is that it is possible for unjust people, like you and me, to stand before a holy and just God, thanks to the redemption that can be found in Christ alone. And it's that good news, and specifically the righteousness that Christians receive so they can stand before a just God, that R.C. Sproul will explore today on Renewing Your Mind. For all the resources that Christians have in the West, books, Bibles, study Bibles, surveys show that biblical literacy is on the decline. It's why we revisit these key truths of the Christian faith again and again, like justification and imputation. So keep listening as Dr. Sproul will preach with his trademark passion from Romans chapter 3. But perhaps this is a message you could share with a friend or a loved one. Find it on our new YouTube channel by searching for Renewing Your Mind and share the video to help more people hear the good news of the gospel. If you have your Bible with you, open it to Romans 3, beginning at verse 21. Here's Dr. Sproul.
What we're going to be looking at, dear friends, is this doctrine of justification by faith alone, which doctrine provoked the most serious controversy in the history of the Christian church That controversy that culminated in the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century that focused on the material cause of the doctrine of justification was asking the simple question, how can an unjust person such as myself ever hope to stand before the just judgment of God? In a word, how are we saved? How are we justified? And this is a matter of eternal consideration. The Reformation was not a tempest in a teapot. It was not a question of theological shadow boxing because what was at stake in that controversy where many paid with their lives was this doctrine central to the New Testament gospel of justification by faith alone. And yet in this day and age, there are few professing Christians who even can define the meaning of the term justification.
Luther warned at the end of his life that unless the gospel were proclaimed clearly and persistently through the ages, that it would surely and soon fall once again into eclipse and people would begin once again to entertain the idea that they could be right with God on the basis of their good works. Luther, in insisting on the biblical doctrine, declared that the doctrine of justification by faith alone is the article upon which the church stands or falls. Calvin added the sentiment to Luther's that the doctrine of justification was the hinge by which everything else turns. And so, if you're not clear of what the word justification means and what the doctrine is all about, let me say this. It's time that you became clear on what this is.
Now, again, let me begin by saying further what justification does not mean. First of all, When we are justified in the sight of God, that act of justification is not an act of divine pardon. In justification, God does not pardon the sinner. When a governor or president executes executive clemency, and pardons a convicted criminal, that person is deemed to be guilty. But in spite of that guilt, the person in authority grants the mercy of giving a pardon and more or less forgiving him of his crime. and setting him free. Now, certainly justification involves forgiveness, as I hope we will see at some point, but let's not confuse the act of divine justification with an act of pardon. In justification, what happens is that God makes a legal declaration, what we call a forensic declaration. If you watch trials on television or pay attention to shows like Numbers or CSI, you're aware that there are those involved who gather what is called forensic evidence, evidence that is used in trials, in criminal cases. Forensics has to do with judicial decision judgments or declaration.
And so when we find it in the New Testament, what happens in the act of justification is God makes a judicial declaration about a person's status before his judgment. And what happens in justification, again, is not a pardon, but it is an act whereby God declares a person to be just. Now,
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