Justification by Faith

Having shown Jew and Gentile alike shut up under sin, unable to make themselves righteous, Paul reaches the turning point of the letter. To the man who could do nothing, God freely gives what he required: his own righteousness, offered in Christ and received by faith. This is the heart of Paul’s Gospel, and the foundation of all that follows.

The righteousness of God given

Until then, man sought to become righteous by keeping the Law, and failed. Paul announces a righteousness of another source: not earned by man, but given by God, the same for all who believe. All, without exception, need to be saved: “all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God” Romans 3:23, and all are made righteous by the same gift: “They are justified freely by his grace, through the redemption accomplished in Christ Jesus.” Romans 3:24 To justify, in Paul’s language, is to make righteous: God does not merely declare man innocent, he renews him within and truly sets him right toward himself. And this comes by faith, not by the works of the Law: “a person is justified by faith, apart from the works of the Law.” Romans 3:28 The works of the Law are the observance of the prescriptions given to Israel by Moses, circumcision, the sabbath, the ritual and moral rules. Paul does not say that conduct is worthless, but that no one can merit being made righteous by fulfilling the Law: righteousness is first a gift received, not a wage earned.

Abraham, father of believers

To show that this righteousness by faith fulfils the Old Testament rather than denying it, Paul goes back to Abraham. Before the Law, before even circumcision, Abraham was declared righteous for having believed the promise of God: “Abraham had faith in God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Romans 4:3 Justification by faith is therefore the way God has always acted. Abraham thus becomes the father of all believers, Jews and Gentiles, of whoever trusts the word of God as he did. This righteousness received by faith Paul ties wholly to Christ dead and risen: “who was handed over for our faults and raised for our justification.” Romans 4:25 His death wipes out the fault, his resurrection establishes us in the new life of the justified: justification rests not on the Cross alone, but also on Easter.

Peace and hope

This received righteousness changes man’s relation to God. From the enmity of sin one passes to peace: “Justified by faith, we are at peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:1 And the proof that God gives this peace out of pure love, Paul finds at the Cross, where God loves man before man amends himself: “God proves his love for us: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 From this is born a firm hope, resting not on our strength but on that love.

Adam and Christ

Paul at last embraces all human history in two men, each of whom draws a whole race behind him. One man, Adam, had brought sin and death into the world, and his disobedience weighs on all his descendants, not as a fault each would have committed, but as an inherited wound: Adam lived first in the friendship of God, and his sin made all his descendants lose that first holiness. One man, Christ, the new Adam, overturns this by his obedience and brings the multitude over to righteousness: “through the disobedience of one man the many were made sinners, so through the obedience of one the many will be made righteous.” Romans 5:19 Where sin had abounded, grace superabounds: the gift of Christ far surpasses the evil of Adam.