On This Day: When the "Since" of Justification is Ours

   But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 4:23-5:1)

 

   I was surprised to discover that “since we have been justified” is ONE WORD in the Greek! All the grammar is in the form of the word. That means that the word “since” isn’t stated, but is necessitated by the grammar. The NASB translates it, “having been justified by faith”. The sense is clear, that justification is something that has happened and is now in effect.

   The Bible Sense Lexicon definition of justified is, “to be or become judicially vindicated as having complied with the requirements of the law (of God).” This is the wonder of the gift of salvation, that sinners are no longer viewed as sinners, but as “the righteousness of God”. The verse I shared in the box is from II Corinthians 5:21, and it makes clear what Jesus became for us (sin), and what we become in him (the righteousness of God).

   But what this brought up for me is my aged-view of life in the church where so many people have professed to have faith in Jesus Christ but have no experiential peace with God.

   This has been a mystery to me, how people can say they believe in Jesus but are constantly challenging whether God loves them, or their sins are forgiven, or they are accepted in the beloved, or so many other ways of saying, “We don’t believe we are justified by faith”!

   The sad thing in my mind is that anyone who genuinely has faith in Jesus Christ is in a state of peace with God because of this justification by faith, and yet so many do not let themselves rest in that peace. Some won’t even entertain the thought that this is their right in Jesus Christ our Lord. They are too busy trying to measure up in church activities to feel accepted and loved. Or trying to suppress childhood trauma or other painful life experiences as if having “a broken and contrite heart” somehow nullifies the work of Christ to give them peace with God!

   Or (the one that took me a very long time to admit), that some people in the church actually do not want to live publicly as a justified believer in Jesus Christ and so the “God doesn’t love me” stuff is just a diversion, blaming God for the fact that they actually love the world more than him. 

   I can’t describe all the possible scenarios of why someone would profess faith in Jesus Christ and yet not live in experiential peace with God through the objective reality of peace with God through Jesus’ redemptive work.

   However, each of us can assess whether we have embraced this reality Paul describes in genuine faith, or whether we are arguing against it, resisting it, avoiding it, or struggling with hopelessness about how we could ever feel it as true.    

   My testimony is that God has spent decades showing me that he will resolve whatever we need as we seek him in his word and prayer about everything. “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17), so building up our faith in what God has accomplished through Jesus’ salvation work comes by meditating on what is written in the Scriptures and applying it to everything going on in us and around us.

   And yes, sitting down for half an hour to read from Romans 1:1 up to Romans 5:1 (and keep going) so we can see for ourselves how certain it is that sinners of every kind can be justified by grace through faith is certainly a good thing to do. It’s not that reading Romans 5:1 repeatedly will build up our faith, but that reading the context, and reading other Scriptures that speak of the same things, and telling God we believe him even where we don’t understand, will keep building up our faith as we take these things to heart.

   Do you know peace with God in the way Paul describes? Praise him that he alone could accomplish and apply such a wonder. Do you feel like a stranger to this teaching that you become “the righteousness of God” by faith because Jesus became sin for us? Praise God that it is true anyway, and tell God how much you are hungering and thirsting to know this righteousness. He promises to satisfy that hunger and thirst, and a big part of doing so is simply convincing us of what he has already done. 

 

© 2026 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)

On This Day: The Only Way to be Justifiably Righteous

   But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. (Romans 3:21-25)

   With the proliferation of influencers trying to tell us what the Bible does and does not mean, and the ongoing controversies over every topic of the Bible, one thing is standing out very clearly: some people show what the Bible says and means and use Scripture to interpret Scripture, while others show what they believe the Bible means and then treat their opinions like that’s what the Bible says.

   Sometimes these contrasts are evident simply because a topic is popular and we can tell which sides use “the whole counsel of God”, and which sides add and remove without regard for what God breathed out in his own words.

   And no one seems to spend more time at center stage than Paul. And Romans? Well, let’s just say that the government’s hatred of Romans speaks for itself!

   All that to say that, as I journey through Romans 3 and consider what Paul teaches about justification by grace through faith, I have this very sad marveling feeling that people can “tamper” with God’s word so freely as they do. Yes, Paul’s teachings in Romans can feel like trying to hold a fist full of sand without anything falling out. No sooner do we think we got the last thought straight when the next one sends sand flying everywhere!

   Okay, long introduction, sorry (kinda), but I think that happens when we hang around Paul. Some thoughts are just not ready for a period, if you know what I mean. Anyway…

   What stands out is how clear God’s word is when we let it speak for itself. And when we pay attention to the relational dynamic of what stands out any given time we are in the word, we discover that the Holy Spirit is teaching us the very things God has in mind for us in our walk with him.

   Which brings us to this focus on “the righteousness of God”. It has helped me for a long time to consider that holiness relates to nature and righteousness to character. Holiness is God’s nature, who he is, while righteousness is about his character, how he expresses himself. The two cannot be separated, but keep that in mind as we go through this. God is holy. He expresses his holiness in righteousness. And apart from redemption in Jesus Christ, that would be a terrifying reality!

   However, the main point has to do with our experience of the righteousness of God. It shines out from God whether we see it or not. It “has been manifested apart from the law” in the work of Christ and the preaching of the gospel. The Law and the Prophets bore witness to the righteousness of God, including its distinction in the new covenant in Jesus’ blood. And it is experienced by sinners “through faith in Jesus Christ”.

   The addition of “for all who believe” is a huge theme in Romans. There is no distinction in how sinful we are, both Jews and Gentiles, and there is no distinction in how people are saved. This is why Paul already said,

   For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:16-17)

   Do you see that? Paul says that in the gospel “the righteousness of God is revealed”. In Romans 3 he is getting back to this, that it is about the righteousness of God, how it is revealed, how it is manifested, how it is experienced. And our starting point is that it must deal with the fact that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”.

   We will get to this explanation shortly, and all through Romans, but this is the wonder we should consider, that Paul is talking about a gospel he is not ashamed of because it is all about how the holy God has acted in righteousness to make it real that his righteousness can become ours.

   To the Ephesians he would write, 

   For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). 

   To the Corinthians he would write, 

   For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (II Corinthians 5:21).

   But this isn’t just theology, or doctrine, or correcting all those tamperers who mess with God’s words. It’s about whether you and I know that we have become the righteousness of God through faith in the good news that God has given us a Savior who is Christ the Lord.

   Because, with all God did to provide redemption in Jesus’ blood, and communicate all about the new covenant in his word, it would be awful if we missed the wonders of the gift because the haters and hecklers don’t have it.

   So, how’s your faith-attachment to Jesus doing?

 

© 2026 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)