"Even a righteousness of God, which is through faith of Jesus Christ" Romans3v22.
God's righteousness is through faith of Jesus Christ:
We have seen what His righteousness is NOT, it is apart from law; we have seen it's long history, unchanged from the very day of the fall; we know it is "manifested," the idea is "STANDS MANIFESTED", like a huge heavenly billboard advertising to everyone the truth of it. God's word to the prophet Habakkuk, in the now famous passage proclaiming justification by faith "write the vision and make it plain upon tablets that he may run that readeth it, for the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it shall speak and not lie; though it tarry wait for it because it will surely come it will not tarry." Paul is saying here that God's way of salvation has now become the knowledge of the entire world. We now see the entire basis of God's way of salvation, that it is by faith. Faith is taking God at His word and He calls it "the faith of Jesus Christ." It is not merely faith in Jesus Christ, it is by the faith of Jesus Christ, that is the body of faith that God has given to the world in Jesus Christ. If it were simply my faith, individually placed in God's word, then that faith would be as changeable as myself. The Bible speaks of various degrees of faith, and this can range from one person to another, and from one time period to another. What he is speaking about here is the bedrock foundation of the faith that God has given to the human race. Ultimately it depends on God not me. In Romans 10v9 it says "if thou shalt believe in thine heart that God hast raised Him from the dead thou shalt be saved, for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness." What the apostle is speaking of here is not a mere mental assent to known facts, but it is a heart belief, a deep rooted inner persuasion that only Jesus Christ can save me.
Faith is seen in various ways in the New Testament; Matthew 6v30 "little faith"; Matthew 8v10 "so great faith"; Luke 17v6 "faith as a grain of mustard seed"; Romans 4v20 "strong in faith"; Romans 14v1 "weak in faith"; 1st Corinthians 15v14&17 "empty faith". All these are referring to the human side of faith which can vary tremendously, but what Paul is speaking of here is a faith given to us by God - the Divine side of faith. Ephesians 4v5 "there is one faith"; Ephesians 4v13 "the unity of the faith" this is indeed what Paul is describing here as the faith of Jesus Christ. the biblical phrase "repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." Acts 20v21, to put it in simple language, I change my attitude towards God, and God changes His attitude towards me. This is important because faith is not merely an act, it is an attitude. Formerly I was at enmity against God and He was at enmity against me, only faith in Jesus Christ changes this and it changes it forever. The way of salvation is to place my entire trust in Jesus Christ, faith in all that He is, in all that He has done, in all that He will be. This means I accept every aspect of what He says about me, that I accept everything of him, His virgin birth, His perfect life, His vicarious death, His resurrection, His ascension, His coronation, His coming again, and His future universal dominion. Obviously, I cannot take all these things in, in a moment's time, but I can put my entire trust upon Him. God accepts me, because I accept Christ. These things are not easy to explain but we must try to put over both the Divine side and the human side, it is vital to our future.
The Old Testament gives us a wonderful illustration of what this means in the book of Leviticus, which is the book showing how sinful man can approach a Holy God. The individual Israelite, or priest, or Levite would approach God with an animal whether it be a bullock, a goat or a lamb etc. In approaching God with this animal, he was acknowledging that it was only on the merit of another he could approach God. He then had to "place his hand on the head of the offering, and kill it before the Lord" Leviticus 1v4; Leviticus 3v2; Leviticus 3v7; Leviticus 3v13; Leviticus 4v4; Leviticus 4v15; Leviticus 4v24; Leviticus 4v29; Leviticus 4v33.
The repetition of this instruction was so that each and every Israelite would understand that in coming to God he was unfit for God's presence because of his sin, that that sin deserved death, that only in the merit of another he could approach God, that only in the death of the other would God accept his offering. Substitute Jesus Christ for all the offerings that were brought (as is made clear in Hebrews chapters 9 & 10), and we understand Paul's message here that only in Jesus Christ can I be saved. Only by placing my hand figuratively on Him, like the Israelite of old did with the animal, thus associating myself with Him alone as the way of salvation. God says I am a sinner, I believe it, God says Jesus is the only Saviour, I believe it, God says only in the death of Christ could anyone ever be saved, I believe it.
The order in Leviticus is APPROACH ASSOCIATION ACCEPTANCE
This is the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF FAITH...........HAVE YOU GOT IT?
Tomorrow d.v. we look at the scope of salvation.
God's righteousness is through faith of Jesus Christ:
We have seen what His righteousness is NOT, it is apart from law; we have seen it's long history, unchanged from the very day of the fall; we know it is "manifested," the idea is "STANDS MANIFESTED", like a huge heavenly billboard advertising to everyone the truth of it. God's word to the prophet Habakkuk, in the now famous passage proclaiming justification by faith "write the vision and make it plain upon tablets that he may run that readeth it, for the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it shall speak and not lie; though it tarry wait for it because it will surely come it will not tarry." Paul is saying here that God's way of salvation has now become the knowledge of the entire world. We now see the entire basis of God's way of salvation, that it is by faith. Faith is taking God at His word and He calls it "the faith of Jesus Christ." It is not merely faith in Jesus Christ, it is by the faith of Jesus Christ, that is the body of faith that God has given to the world in Jesus Christ. If it were simply my faith, individually placed in God's word, then that faith would be as changeable as myself. The Bible speaks of various degrees of faith, and this can range from one person to another, and from one time period to another. What he is speaking about here is the bedrock foundation of the faith that God has given to the human race. Ultimately it depends on God not me. In Romans 10v9 it says "if thou shalt believe in thine heart that God hast raised Him from the dead thou shalt be saved, for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness." What the apostle is speaking of here is not a mere mental assent to known facts, but it is a heart belief, a deep rooted inner persuasion that only Jesus Christ can save me.
Faith is seen in various ways in the New Testament; Matthew 6v30 "little faith"; Matthew 8v10 "so great faith"; Luke 17v6 "faith as a grain of mustard seed"; Romans 4v20 "strong in faith"; Romans 14v1 "weak in faith"; 1st Corinthians 15v14&17 "empty faith". All these are referring to the human side of faith which can vary tremendously, but what Paul is speaking of here is a faith given to us by God - the Divine side of faith. Ephesians 4v5 "there is one faith"; Ephesians 4v13 "the unity of the faith" this is indeed what Paul is describing here as the faith of Jesus Christ. the biblical phrase "repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." Acts 20v21, to put it in simple language, I change my attitude towards God, and God changes His attitude towards me. This is important because faith is not merely an act, it is an attitude. Formerly I was at enmity against God and He was at enmity against me, only faith in Jesus Christ changes this and it changes it forever. The way of salvation is to place my entire trust in Jesus Christ, faith in all that He is, in all that He has done, in all that He will be. This means I accept every aspect of what He says about me, that I accept everything of him, His virgin birth, His perfect life, His vicarious death, His resurrection, His ascension, His coronation, His coming again, and His future universal dominion. Obviously, I cannot take all these things in, in a moment's time, but I can put my entire trust upon Him. God accepts me, because I accept Christ. These things are not easy to explain but we must try to put over both the Divine side and the human side, it is vital to our future.
The Old Testament gives us a wonderful illustration of what this means in the book of Leviticus, which is the book showing how sinful man can approach a Holy God. The individual Israelite, or priest, or Levite would approach God with an animal whether it be a bullock, a goat or a lamb etc. In approaching God with this animal, he was acknowledging that it was only on the merit of another he could approach God. He then had to "place his hand on the head of the offering, and kill it before the Lord" Leviticus 1v4; Leviticus 3v2; Leviticus 3v7; Leviticus 3v13; Leviticus 4v4; Leviticus 4v15; Leviticus 4v24; Leviticus 4v29; Leviticus 4v33.
The repetition of this instruction was so that each and every Israelite would understand that in coming to God he was unfit for God's presence because of his sin, that that sin deserved death, that only in the merit of another he could approach God, that only in the death of the other would God accept his offering. Substitute Jesus Christ for all the offerings that were brought (as is made clear in Hebrews chapters 9 & 10), and we understand Paul's message here that only in Jesus Christ can I be saved. Only by placing my hand figuratively on Him, like the Israelite of old did with the animal, thus associating myself with Him alone as the way of salvation. God says I am a sinner, I believe it, God says Jesus is the only Saviour, I believe it, God says only in the death of Christ could anyone ever be saved, I believe it.
The order in Leviticus is APPROACH ASSOCIATION ACCEPTANCE
This is the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF FAITH...........HAVE YOU GOT IT?
Tomorrow d.v. we look at the scope of salvation.
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