Justice of God and Justification by faith in Romans
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12775/BPTh.2018.013Keywords
St. Paul, Romans, Justification, Mosaic Law, AbrahamAbstract
Based on the occurrence of hē dikaiosynē and dikaioō in Romans we discovered that the texts constitute an interesting arrangement. He allowed us to organize the material in such a way that a fairly ordered knowledge of God's righteousness and the justification that the Christian has access to through faith in Jesus Christ emerged. Primarily, Paul was well acquainted with one of the basic principles of Judaism, which he quoted in Rom 2:13: “...the doers of the law who will be justified”. But he certainly did not identify with this premise, and merely quoted the text of the Old Testament to show that the thing was quite different – a man is justified by faith, like Abraham’s. This issue is discussed extensively by Apostle in the subsequent chapters. He begins by stating the fact of the revelation of divine justice (1:17), which becomes even more evident in the context of our injustice (Rom 3:3–5). There is also a historical-saving dimension, leading to the justice of every believer. God’s justice thus results in salvation for the sake of man, and Christ has taken up his dying on the cross and resurrected. The Apostle gave a lecture on this subject w 3:21–31, and the shortest conclusion, and at the same time, the thesis is that man is justified by faith in Jesus Christ, and not by the works required by the Law. Not only are the Jews involved, whose faith is the continuum of religious monotheism and participation in the blessing of God, but also the pagans on whom faith is involved in the saving death of Christ. The pattern of faith that results in the justification is Abraham, he believed and it was counted to him as righteousness (Rom 4:2–7). We also noted that the justification for the believer has very concrete consequences: to remain in peace (Rom 5:1–2), be saved from the wrath of God (Rom 5:9), to be set freefrom sin (Rom 6:7), giving glory (8:29–30.33). Despite such great gifts, a man can choose his own righteousness and rejecting God’s righteousness, just as the Israelites chose the way of doing the works required by the law, and rejected faith in Jesus Christ and his Gospel.
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