Justification from Sin

Justification from Sin

Justified means acquitted, found not guilty, declared or made righteous in the sight of God. Justification then, declares that one is not guilty of sin. If one is not guilty of sin, then one is in fact righteous.

One of the problems we may have with our understanding of sin and justification is that we may think that it is all about behavior. Sin is not only about behavior. Neither is sin, as I was taught in my youth, merely “the willful transgression of the known will of God.” No, sin is far more insidious than that.

Sin comes to us from our original ancestor. We are all born into sin. The sin of Adam causes us all to be born into sin. (see Romans 5:12 below) Romans 14:23 tells us that whatever is not of faith is sin. Before we believe on Jesus, we all live without, or outside of, faith. We live by what seems right to us and “walk by sight.”

Scripture is clear that while sin is the transgression of the law of God, (see 1 John 3:4) it is not only disobedience of the Law given by Moses. The law of Moses had not been given in Abraham’s time. Yet we read this in Romans 2:12 (NASB95) “For all who have sinned without the Law will also perish without the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law;”. Then in Romans 5:12–13 (NASB95) we find, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—for until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.”

At first glance (or if you are like me, for the first several decades of Bible study) this verse may seem to say that God was not judging sin prior to the Law of Moses given at Sinai. Scripture makes it clear however, that sin was being judged before the Law of Moses. In fact, we might consider the earliest judgements of all. Adam and Eve being covered with animal skins and Cain being banished for killing Abel because he brought an offering he had worked to make rather than one provided by God. Especially in the case of Cain, we read of no explicit instruction from God about offerings, yet God held Cain to account. Or we might recall the great flood and the judgement it brought on those whose every thought was evil all the time.

For this reason, the passage in Romans 5 goes on in verse 14 to say, “Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam”. (NASB95)

So, we see here that sin was not imputed, yet judgement was rendered. This is because our nature was inherited from Adam rather than from God. That is what the scripture means when it says that we were spiritually dead. (see Ephesians 2:1, Colossians 2:13) It is the reason Jesus stressed that one must be born again, born of the spirit. (see John 3:6) We were previously born only of flesh and that meant we were at enmity with God. We were His enemies. We had no relational connection with Him. The only way to fix that was for us to be recreated. We had to get a new human spirit—which is being born of God. (see 2 Corinthians 5:17, Ezekiel 36:26)

When we read of Abraham in Hebrews 11, no mention is made of his sins. The same is true of everyone else listed there, including Rahab. Though she is referred to as a harlot, her former way of life is not at all in view. Instead, we see that she is counted righteous because she believed God. James points out that her faith is demonstrated, or perfected, by her one-time act of opening a door and hiding some men.

The people listed there certainly behaved sinfully. They certainly transgressed the law of God. They acted faithlessly. Nevertheless, because they believed that God was who He said He was and would do what He had promised to do, they were justified from their sinful acts, and indeed justified from the sinful nature they inherited from Adam and brought into relationship with God, participating in His nature instead.

Grace and peace to you.
Larry
LarryEiss.com