Justified (Romans 3:19-28)

When was the last time you were caught doing something wrong?

Some of us might find it difficult to remember a time when that happened. That could be because either we rarely do anything wrong, or we might be good at not getting caught. Others of us, however, might find it a bit easier. Maybe we did something relatively small, like forgetting to take out the rubbish on bin night, or not putting our dirty clothes in the wash, or eating the last biscuit when it should have gone to someone else. We might, however, have been caught doing something more significant, such as breaking the speed limit or another road rule, stealing something that didn’t belong to us, or saying or doing something that has damaged a close relationship.

Whether we like to admit it or not, we all do wrong at one time or another.

When we get caught doing something wrong, we can often try to justify ourselves. We can do that by denying that we’ve done anything wrong, making excuses for the wrongs we have done, or trying to shift the blame to someone or something else. None of us like getting caught doing wrong, and, when we do, we can carry guilt or shame for the wrongs we’ve done. To try to escape from the guilt or avoid the shame we might experience, we can attempt to shift the blame or dodge the responsibility for what’s happened by finding excuses for what we’ve done or pointing the finger at someone else. It is part of our human condition to justify ourselves as much as we can, even when we know we’ve done wrong.

What would it be like if we never had to justify ourselves, even when we’ve done wrong, because someone else has already justified us?

In Romans 3:19-28, the New Testament reading for Reformation Sunday, Paul teaches us that God’s Law shows us our guilt so that we have no excuses for doing wrong (vv19,20), either before God or other people. However we might understand what Paul means by ‘Law’, for example the Ten Commandments or Jesus’ command to love God and love others (Matthew 22:34-40; Mark 12:28-34; Luke 10:25-28), no matter how hard we try to do the right thing, we will always fall short of God’s standard for our lives (v23) because of our human flaws, frailties and weaknesses. Paul doesn’t write this to make us feel bad about ourselves. Instead, Paul points out that we all sin to free us from our attempts to justify ourselves and to direct us towards the one who freely justifies us.

Paul’s main point is that God justifies us and makes us righteous in Jesus. He writes, ‘We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ, (v22 NLT), ‘God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty of our sins’ (v24 NLT), ‘People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood’ (v25 NLT), and ‘So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law’ (v28 NLT). When we recognise that we have done wrong, instead of trying to justify ourselves, God wants us to rely on Jesus who justifies us and make us right with God through his death and resurrection for us.

Paul explains that God justified us when he ‘presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin’ (v25 NLT). In his crucifixion and death, Jesus took all our wrongs and the spiritual penalty for our wrongs to the cross where he put them to death and paid for them in our place. One way we can think about what Jesus did for us is to imagine being caught speeding or breaking another road rule. When the police officers pull us over, they give us a fine to pay and we lose demerit points on our license. Jesus justifies us before God by paying our fine and taking our demerit points for us. When we are accused of doing wrong, whether by other people or our own conscience, we don’t need to justify ourselves but instead can admit that we have done wrong and then cling to Jesus in faith as the one who has already justified us. The next time the police pull you over for breaking a road rule, I don’t recommend that you try to escape the fine or loss of points by telling them that Jesus has paid for your wrongs through his death on the cross for you. However, trusting that Jesus has justified us through his death for us means that our wrongs don’t define us, our identity or our value. Instead, as people who have been justified by Jesus, we can live as people who are defined by and whose identity and value are found in Jesus’ justifying and liberating love.

As we hear in this week’s gospel reading, John 8:31-36, faith in Jesus’ justifying work sets us free. Instead of having to spend our lives trying to justify ourselves, we can live in the freedom that we never have to justify ourselves or our actions to God, to other people, even to ourselves. Jesus has justified us, so we are free to never have to justify ourselves again. Faith in his work which justifies us also gives us freedom from guilt, regret or shame. Because Jesus has already justified us through his sacrifice for us, we are set free from guilt, regret and shame, and we are free to live in joy, hope and love for others. When we do wrong, we can admit it, trust it with Jesus, and leave it behind. We can look forward to the next opportunity God will give us to show his justifying love to others by not accusing them of their wrongs or holding their wrongs against them, but by freely forgiving them.

As we celebrate the Reformation again this year, it is good for us to remember that at the centre of his work in reforming the church in the truth of the Gospel was Martin Luther’s faith in God’s justifying work through Jesus. As someone who spent a lot of time, effort and pain trying to justify himself, when he discovered the good news that Jesus freely justifies sinners through his life, death and resurrection for us, Luther wanted to help others find freedom through this same faith in Jesus.

To be justified in Christ is much more than just a theological formula. Faith in God’s work in justifying us through Jesus makes a massive difference in our lives. We all do wrong at different times, in different ways, to different degrees. Trusting that God has justified us in Jesus means we don’t have to spend our lives trying to justify ourselves. Instead, in the faith that God has freely justified us in Jesus, we can spend our lives in the freedom this faith gives and helping others find freedom from having to justify themselves by extending God’s justifying love to them, just like God has extended it to us for Jesus’ sake.

More to think about or discuss:

• When was the last time you were caught doing something wrong? What was it? What did you do when you were caught?
• How can trusting that Jesus has justified us help us to not try to justify ourselves? How can it help us find freedom from guilt, regret or shame?
• How might Jesus’ justifying work show itself in your relationships with others? How might the faith that Jesus has also justified others shape the way you treat them when people do wrong to you?