Theology for Everybody: RomansSample

Paul quotes Habakkuk 2:4, which is the same Scripture quoted in Hebrews 10:37, Galatians 3:11, and here in Romans. Theologically, we call this concept justification by faith. The book of Habakkuk is a series of conversations between the frustrated prophet and God. Like today, Habakkuk lived in a time of corrupt government, economic collapse, plagues, racial division, conflict in the streets, and other difficulties. Habakkuk asks this question: How long? How long was God going to allow chaos and destruction? Then the Lord answers him in Habakkuk 2:4. “The righteous shall live by faith.” They don’t live by sight. The righteous know there’s a God over all these circumstances. Habakkuk can’t see the future himself, but he trusts the God of the future. That’s faith.

Justification by faith is one of the most precious Christian doctrines and, in many ways, the heart of the Protestant Reformation. This short line—“the righteous shall live by faith”—is what Jesus is doing. He does all the work, and I trust Him. Jesus is my righteousness, and He gives me His righteousness as a gift. I receive it as a gift without adding anything to it. The apostle Paul says, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus not only took your place on the cross, but He also took all your sin and the wrath of God. Then He put you in His place and gave you the benefit of His performance; He gave you His righteousness.

Martin Luther was training as a lawyer in Germany when he was nearly struck by lightning. Believing his life being spared was a sign from God, he became a Catholic priest and monk, dedicating his life to ministry. Using his legal mind to earnestly judge his life by the demands of Scripture, Luther became tormented to the point of madness when he considered his sinful, hopeless unrighteousness before God. He began punishing himself for his sin as a way to repay God. Luther spent hours confessing his sins to a priest and begging for God’s forgiveness. His obsession wrecked his physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental health. As a professor of theology at the University of Wittenburg, Luther had a history-altering experience with the Holy Spirit while teaching Romans 1. At that moment, God revealed His righteousness to Luther and delivered him from works righteousness. Luther would later explain: “I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates.” (Continued on Day 35 ...)

Today’s Reflection

How would you explain justification by faith to a person who is unfamiliar with the Bible?