Thy righteousness is like the great mountains, Ps 36:3

Paul throws back to Abraham to get the attention of the Jews, and of anyone seeking forgiveness. Romans 4:1-8

What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? ² For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. ³ For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” ⁴ Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. ⁵ And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, ⁶ just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:

⁷ “ Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,

and whose sins are covered;

⁸ blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”

Prior to these verses Paul stated, “we uphold the law.” And in various other places in Romans he has stated that there is an advantage for the Jews. Interestingly, he is here discussing a greatly admired patriarch in relation to the law, but more importantly in relation to faith. The issue that Paul is trying to drive home is not that we shouldn’t obey the law, but rather that we should have faith. After all, Abraham had faith and that was the reason that he was justified. And this is the point, that the only way for man to be justified is to trust completely in a righteousness not his own because he knows that his own would never reach God’s standard - a standard only hinted at in the law.

I love the connection between justification and blessing that Paul makes here. Citing another admired patriarch - King David - in Psalm 32, Paul shows that this idea of justification by faith is not a new dispensation, in other words, man has always been dependent upon faith in God’s mercy and grace for justification. Indeed, the “hall of faith,” in Hebrews 11 lists a number of saints who were justified by faith. I also love the thematic connection here with the beatitudes in Matthew 5, “blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” I believe that in this idea, justification by faith alone, lies the secret to living a satisfied and mature Christian life. I will list below some of the reasons why.

First, this blessing wards off depression and despair. It has been my experience that the weight of sin and guilt is too much for anyone to bear. It has also been my experience that some churches and Christian leaders do not emphasize this idea of justification by faith and the result is that believers walk around bearing their own sin. For those who do not accept that we are justified completely through faith in Christ, every sin is a cause for depression and despair because it is believed that the sin somehow weakened their chances of salvation or somehow made them less worthy to be justified by Christ. Well, I’ve got news for us, none of us were ever worthy enough to be justified by Christ. Also, if we have been justified from past sin, what makes us think that Christ will not justify us from future sin? Sure, we do not sin that grace may abound, but complete justification is complete. We either believe it or we don’t, there is no partial justification that is dependent upon our works. So let’s just trust completely and enjoy the blessedness, or happiness, that comes from this truth. This brings me to my next point.

It has also been my experience that when believers doubt this complete justification because their sin is just too heinous, they are often driven to further sin. This is a cycle of stupidity. We mess up by sinning, and then we bear the weight of guilt and shame and we doubt the righteousness of Christ which has been given to us, and then instead of being driven to live righteously we sin even more. This is the ironic thing, feeling bad about sin will never get us to stop sinning. The only way to stop sinning is to trust completely in the righteousness of Christ and be happy in the blessing it provides. This is what motivates good works. Christ is not trying to scare us into obedience, but he is blessing us into obedience. Sure, there is a fiery judgment, but that is for those who choose not to believe, not those who believe and sometimes mess up. So let’s take some time to remember that if we have believed in Christ we are justified in God’s eyes COMPLETELY! Nothing we can do will mess it up. When we realize this, I believe this will motivate “the good works that were prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Eph 2:9. I also believe that this is at the heart of James’ argument that “faith without works is dead.” This is because true faith motivates true obedience because there is true and complete justification.