“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).
Paul told the saints in Rome that we are “justified by faith.” Many religious people read this verse – and others like it – and insert the word only after faith. They then use passages like this one to “prove” that we are saved by faith apart from any works of obedience.
However, the only time “faith only” or “faith alone” is used in the Bible is in James 2:24 – “You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.” As we noticed in the previous lesson, obedience is an inherent part of Biblical faith.
Paul even made this point in his letter to the Romans in which he supposedly set forth the idea that we are justified by faith alone (as many in the religious world believe). At the beginning of the epistle he wrote, “We have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name’s sake” (Romans 1:5). He also closed the letter with a mention of the “obedience of faith” (Romans 16:26). When Paul spoke about being “justified by faith” (Romans 5:1), he was referring to an obedient faith.
We are “justified by faith” (Romans 5:1), but what is justification? According to Thayer, justification is to declare one to be just or righteous. This does not mean that God overlooks our sins and calls us righteous in spite of them. Rather, we must practice righteousness to be called righteous. John wrote, “Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous” (1 John 3:7).
However, the fact that being righteous requires us to practice righteousness does not mean that we are righteous on our own. Paul, in quoting from the Psalms, told the Romans, “There is none righteous, not even one” (Romans 3:10; cf. Psalm 14:3; 53:3). The reason why no one could be called righteous was because “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
How do we reconcile these passages? On the one hand, John declared that those who practice righteousness are righteous (1 John 3:7). On the other hand, Paul indicated that no one is righteous because all have sinned (Romans 3:10, 23). Do these passages contradict one another?
The Bible contains no contradictions. Jesus said, “The Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35). What this means is that when we properly understand the context of each passage, one passage will not stand in opposition to the other passage.
How then do we harmonize these passages? We certainly must practice righteousness, but our actions alone do not make us righteous. God, and only God, can declare us righteous; but He will do so when we meet His conditions. Therefore, we are to conclude that justification is possible because of forgiveness. We have sinned, but when we are forgiven of our sins, we can be considered righteous as we practice righteousness.
Therefore, since faith leads to our justification, and justification is only possible because of forgiveness, then we must conclude that forgiveness is inseparably tied to our faith. Without faith, we cannot be forgiven. Paul’s charge that he received from the Lord was to go to the Gentiles and “open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me” (Acts 26:18). Forgiveness is for those who have been “sanctified by faith.”
God has not challenged us to try to earn our salvation through our works. Rather, He has called us to meet His conditions of pardon and practice righteousness so that we can stand justified before Him.
