Introduction to Romans 4 - Justification is Righteousness
Yesterday, I posted on a new righteousness found in Romans… justification. Justification is being free from a charge, whether it be through evidence or punishment. However, Jesus Himself is our justification, and our belief in Him is credited to us as our “justification”.
The word justification (dikaioo) and justice (dikaiosume) have the same root… “just”, and we have seen over and over throughout the Old Testament that where God is righteous, God is just. God’s just-ness and righteousness are inseparable. We on the other hand are not inherently just; being righteous for us does not make us “just”… but now we see that it makes us “justified”, or free from sin.Â
Justification is not actually new. That is, Paul is not making it up. It was already around, and it is in between the lines in all the “righteousness” scriptures we’ve been studying throughout this year. But here’s the thing. We never had another word with which to define a person’s righteousness… just actions and attitudes that result in it. Funny, huh? Maybe it’s the whole Hebrew vs. Greek thing, and once Paul found himself writing about this familiar concept in Greek, he realized that Greek had a word for human righteousness that is distinguished from God’s… where God is just (righteous) we are justified (righteous). In fact, the New King James translates “justified” as “righteous” in some contexts.
Now, is Paul really saying this? That our righteousness is justification? I mean, justification is a Christian word that I’ve been hearing for the last 20 years of my walk with God. And now am I to believe that Christian justification is nothing but a repackaging of Jewish righteousness?
Yes. That is exactly what we are to believe, because that is exactly the case.
All those verses in the Old Testament telling of God showing mercy on those who turn from wickdedness to good? Justified.
When Abraham believed? Justified
When Enoch(?) killed for God’s name? Justified.
Example after example, we can now see that every example of someone credited with righteousness in the Old Testament was “justified” by God. Apparently, this wasn’t a new concept after all, just a new delivery system… Christ’s sacrifice… but entirely new! Believe, Obey, be zealous for God’s name. At this most fundamental level, the rules of “justification” did NOT change… which Paul discusses more in Romans 4, and we will discuss more next time…