GOSPEL WEEKEND: "JUSTIFICATION"

I am slowly making my way through Derek Thomas' book, How the Gospel Brings Us All the Way Home.  It is not a long book, only about 140 pages.  One could easily complete it in a day.  It is not difficult reading.  The subject matter does not extend beyond the essential doctrines of the Christian Faith.  But I find myself needing to pause frequently to meditate on what I have just read, even after a paragtaph or two. As the author of Hebrews says, "...we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip."[1]   Today, the Gospel is being diluted in many nominal Christian churches and "ministries."  Besides that, there is the temptation in all of us to lose the appreciation of how great the Gospel is, and need to be reminded of how our Father loves us, and how through the Holy Spirit, is transforming us into the image of Christ.

The following quote is from the chapter I read this morning.  It covers Romans 8:28-30, the beloved passage known to many as "The Golden Chain of Salvation."

"...[J]ustified.  We are called into union with Jesus Christ, and thereby we find ourselves in a right relationship with God.  God judicially credits our sins to Jesus Christ, and credits Christ's righteousness to us.  By faith, we receive all that Christ has done for us, propitiating God's wrath against sin by His sufferings on the cross on our behalf.  Through an act of substitution, Jesus is reckoned sin and judged accordingly, and we are reckoned "the righteousness of God" in union with Christ and accepted into fellowship with God (cf. 2 Cor. 5:20-21).

Being "justified by faith we have peace with God"  (Rom. 5:1)"


[1] Heb. 2:1

"Romans 8 is a description of the Christian life...from justification to glorification, from trial and suffering to the peace and tranquility of the new heavens and new earth."   __ DEREK W. H. THOMAS