God’s righteous judgment

God’s character

“John’s gospel is the only one that begins with a discussion of the eternal existence of Jesus Christ rather than the time he appeared on earth” (note on John 1:1-17). John stated, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:1-3). Speaking of Jesus, John went on to say, “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known” (John 1:18). We are told in Hebrews 1:3 that Jesus “is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.” The Greek word that is translated the exact imprint, charakter (khar-ak-tarˊ) is where the English word character comes from in the sense of a letter of the alphabet being engraved on a stone tablet. The idea behind this is that even though we can’t see God, we can see the mark that he made on the world through the life of his Son Jesus Christ. The writer of Hebrews indicated that the mark that Jesus made was “purification for sins,” after which, “he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs” (Hebrews 1:3-4).

Jesus making purification for sins helps us to understand the nature of God with respect to his attitude toward sinners. Jesus said that he “came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). A ransom is “’loosing-money,’ i.e. price paid for redeeming captives.” It is used metaphorically in Matthew 20:28 and Mark 10:45, “for the ransom paid by Christ for the delivering of men from the bondage of sin and death” (G3083). Jesus said that he came to give his life as the ransom for many and told his disciples that his motivation for doing so was his love for them. Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). Jesus also told a man named Nicodemus that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Eternal life is equivalent to entrance into the Kingdom of God. Jesus explained, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17).

The mark Jesus made on the world is still having an effect 2000 years later. People are still getting saved as they place their trust in Christ’s redeeming work on the cross. The supremacy of God’s Son is expressed in Hebrews 1:8-9 where it says:

“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
    the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.
You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
therefore God, your God, has anointed you
    with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”

This passage indicates that Jesus loved righteousness and hated wickedness during his life on earth. The Greek word that is translated righteousness here is dikaiosune (dik-ah-yos-ooˊ-nay), which means, “doing alike to all, justice, equity, impartiality.” With regard to character, dikaiosune means “being just as one should be” (G1343).

Dikaiosune is used in the expression, “to count or impute as righteousness” (Romans 4:3, 5, 6, 9, 22; Galatians 3:6; James 2:23, all quoted from Genesis 15:6) and is “spoken of the righteousness which is of (ek [1537], out of) or through (dia [1223]) faith in Christ, i.e. where faith is counted or imputed as righteousness” (G1343). Imputing righteousness has to do with reasoning, the mental faculty or motive behind God declaring sinners innocent, free from the penalty of their sin. God is able to impute righteousness because Jesus paid the penalty for sin on behalf of everyone. Each individual who accepts Christ’s payment, the free gift of salvation that is offered to all people (Romans 5:15-18), will be saved from the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed and God will render to each one according to his works (Romans 2:5-6).

God’s righteous character demands that sin be atoned for. “Paul concluded that since all men are guilty, they cannot be ‘justified’ by their own personal character or conduct (Romans 3:20). Justification is a legal term signifying that the demands of justice have been satisfied, and there is no longer a basis for condemnation (Romans 8:1). The justified transgressor no longer stands guilty or deserving of punishment” (note on Romans 3:19, 20). The writer of Hebrews warned his readers against neglecting the salvation that God offers to everyone. He said, “Therefore we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?” (Hebrews 2:1-3). To neglect salvation means that you have no interest in eternal life and are not concerned about the spiritual consequences of your sin. If that is the case, then God’s just retribution is deserved and will be carried out at the appropriate time (Matthew 25:31-46).

Justified by faith

Paul wanted the Roman citizens who read his gospel message to know exactly where they stood with regard to their soul’s eternal destination. Paul addressed his letter “to all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints” (Romans 1:7), and said that he longed to go to Rome so that “we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine,” but then, Paul proceeded to talk about God’s wrath on unrighteousness (Romans 1:18-32) and God’s righteous judgment (Romans 2:1-11). Paul’s first mention of justification, which is God’s free gift of absolution from the consequences of sin, was in Romans 2:13 where he said, “For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.” Paul went on to explain that no one is righteous, “All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one” (Romans 3:12). Paul then stated, “Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God” (Romans 3:19). “The ‘law’ (v. 19), referring to the Old Testament, essentially silenced men, leaving them unable to defend themselves against the charge of sin. It was given to convince all men of their guilt before God (v. 20, cf. Galatians 3:22). Paul concluded that since all men are guilty, they cannot be ‘justified’ by their own personal character or conduct (v.20). Justification is a legal term signifying that the demands of justice have been satisfied, and there is no longer a basis for condemnation (Romans 8:1). The justified transgressor no longer stands guilty or deserving of punishment” (note on Romans 3:19, 20).

Paul’s argument that everyone needs salvation was followed by a detailed description of how God’s justification works. Paul said:

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. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:22-26)

Paul indicated that justification is a gift that must be received by faith. It says in Hebrews 11:1 that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” The Greek word pistis (pisˊ-tis), which is translated faith in Romans 3:25 and Hebrews 11:1, refers to “reliance upon Christ for salvation…As a technical term indicative of the means of appropriating what God in Christ has for man, resulting in the transformation of man’s character and way of life. Such can be termed gospel faith or Christian faith (Romans 3:22 ff.)”  (G4102).

Paul indicated that the basis for humans to be justified by faith was God’s divine forbearance. Paul said God putting forward Jesus as a propitiation, or an atoning victim (G2435), was to show his righteousness, “because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins” (Romans 3:25). In the past, God had merely overlooked sin through the sacrifice of animals, but through Jesus’ atoning sacrifice, God was able to remit the penalty of sin, cancelling the debt of sin that each person owes him. A necessary component of this transaction is faith. The payment is only applied to those who believe that Jesus was crucified to pay the penalty for their sin and have received his atoning sacrifice on their behalf as a gift (Romans 4:4-5).

Paul concluded “that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law” (Romans 3:28). The works Paul was referring to were “the works of men in reference to right and wrong as judged by the moral law, the precepts of the gospel” (G2041). Paul separated a person’s actions from their beliefs so that his readers could see that justification was not at all related to what they did or didn’t do morally. Justification is about God’s righteousness being upheld and every human’s need for forgiveness. Jesus’ parable of the unforgiving servant pointed to God’s mercy and the impossibility of paying one’s own moral debt. Jesus said, “the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents” (Matthew 18:23-24). “A talent was a monetary unit worth about twenty years wages for a laborer” (Matthew 18:24, footnote). Jesus said, “And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt” (Matthew 18:27). The problem was that the servant went out and found one of his fellow servants “who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe’” (Matthew 18:28). Because he refused to forgive his fellow servant’s debt, the master put the servant in jail until he paid all his debt (Matthew 18:34). The lack of transformation in the servant’s character and way of life was an indicator that although he had been justified, the unforgiving servant had not been justified by faith. Therefore, his master reinstated his debt, and he was delivered to the jailors or torturers, also known as, spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12).

Jesus’ final statement in the parable of the unforgiving servant emphasized the importance of the heart in a believer’s acts of faith. Jesus told those who were listening, “And in anger the master delivered him to the jailors, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart” (Matthew 18:34-35). What Jesus meant by from your heart was that you must do it willingly. You must want to forgive your brother. God’s willingness to forgive our sins should motivate us to want to do the same for others, but because of our sin nature, we are only able to forgive as an act of faith, by believing it’s the right thing for us to do because it’s what God did for us.