Justification = new life and new intimacy

Justified is a big word.

Sometimes we think we understand the meaning of a word, but we, like children, need to sit and unpack what it actually means. Paul starts out this part of his argument with “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith,” but what does the word justified really mean?

Philip Eveson says that justification “concerns the ‘great exchange’ where both the sins of [God’s] people were put to Christ’s account and he paid the price” for their sins. It involves a transaction, our sin deserved a punishment and Jesus settled that debt. However, Evenson does not end his argument there. He says that justification also shows how, “the righteousness of Christ’s obedience to the Father in life and death was put to [our] account.”

What Paul wants to get across at the beginning of this chapter is that the transaction does not end with merely a settled debt. The Westminster Catechism says that not only does he “pardon all our sins” but he also “accepts us as righteous in his sight” through the work of Jesus (question 33). God’s heart for us is not merely neutral because our sins have been paid for. No, God’s heart for us is completely satisfied in the righteous life of Jesus. God is our father, and we don’t have to fear his disappointment in us. In fact, Zephaniah 3:17 says “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”

Let those words wash over you for a moment. God rejoices over you and quiets you with his love. He does not barely tolerate us, he loves us! Believe that today.

Because of this “great exchange” we receive three things: peace with God, grace in which to stand, and the glory of God. After the fall, the biggest thing we lost was intimacy (a sense of belonging, closeness, nearness, or inseparability) with God. And ever since the garden, God has been working to restore that intimacy with us. Each of these three things restore a part of our intimacy with God that was once broken. 

1. Peace with God

Peace with God is more than we could ever imagine because it leads us back to Eden, away from rebellion against our creator and all the consequences that come from being at odds with the one who made you. Peace with him restores intimacy. However, our gifts do not end there. 

2. Grace in which to stand

We no longer have to be afraid to approach our God, but can stand before him in the confidence of grace. We are fully covered and we are made right before him. Grace restores intimacy. However, our gifts do not end there! 

3. The glory of God

One day, we will be with him forever in complete and perfect intimacy in the fullness of his glory. In fact, we are promised this in Revelation 21. “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelations 21:3-4). 

God’s story of salvation was so much more than a story to make people right before him. It was a story to make for himself a people to live with him in perfect and restored community and intimacy. He is Emmanuel, God with us. Beautiful intimacy through peace, grace, and glory with him are ours to be had. 

And yet, time and time again, we choose God’s gifts instead of him. C. S. Lewis puts it this way, “We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

God wants to give us the greatest gift of all: himself. His fullness of all glory, splendor, majesty and the answer to our hearts’ longing. 

Once we start seeing the gifts of God rightly as blessings given to point us back to him instead of the end in and of themselves, we have a newfound eternal perspective that changes our mindset of what happens to us here on earth. We have new life. We see a chain link of results coming from this restored relationship to God.

Suffering produces endurance: we know that our circumstances are only temporary.

Endurance produces character: we trust that God is faithful despite our circumstances.

Character produces hope: we remember God’s faithfulness will bring us out of our circumstances and into glory.

Hope does not put us to shame: God is faithful, he will never put us to shame.

The road is long. The fight is hard. If only our lives could walk as smoothly down the path as the chain of words that leads from suffering to hope. But God meets us in the messy. He did not wait until glory to dwell with us, but gave us the Holy Spirit as our helper here and now. Our God desires to be with us, and he is.

So as we suffer in this messy and broken life, may we never lose sight of the end of the road: his glory and perfect union with him for all eternity. May our ultimate desires be to know God and be with him forever. Come, Lord Jesus, come.

Natalie is a Covenant Member at Redeemer and leader in the college ministry. Originally from the Dallas/Fort Worth area, Natalie is a senior at Texas Tech University, studying English Literature. 

References

Catechism, The Westminster Shorter. “Shorter Catechism of the Assembly of Divines.” Reformed Theology at A Puritan's Mind,  https://www.apuritansmind.com/westminster-standards/shorter-catechism/. 

Eveson, Philip. “The Doctrine of Justification.” The Gospel Coalition, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/the-doctrine-of-justification/. 

Lewis, C. S. The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses. William Collins, 2013.