God promises to impute or count it to us for His righteousness if we believe in God through His working in His Son Jesus Christ (Messiah). In particular we can have God's righteousness counted to us by faith in God if we believe in Him as the one who raised our Lord Jesus Christ(Messiah) from the dead (and who prior to this delivered the Lord Jesus for our offences (sins) to His death on the cross. Although we are partly justified by faith in Jesus' death for our sins, this scripture emphasizes even more God justifying us by faith in Jesus' resurrection. Although I had previously, until I realized in preparing this section on my web site took Romans 5:1 in isolation and thought that verse referred mostly to being justified my faith in Jesus' death for our sins, as I think most of the even evangelical Church believes and teaches, this is not what I find when considering that verse 1 or chapter 5 is a continuation of the end of chapter 4 or Romans. The justification through Jesus and in God through Jesus in chapter 4 is on emphasis with his resurrection more than his death for our sins and I think the justification by faith in verse 1 of chapter 5 should follow that train of thought. Also it then follows that having peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ is at least as much that he has finished God's work appointed for him of rising from the dead after dying for our sins with his resurrection also showing God the Father was satisfied with Jesus' payment for our sins in Jesus' death on the cross and shedding his blood for us there. The scripture reference in Roman 4 and 5 of justification by faith in God through His Son Jesus Christ (Messiah) with emphasis on Jesus' ressurrection is as follows:
And therefore it was imputed (counted) to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Messiah): Romans 4:22-5:1
Although Romans 10 is talking about believing unto God's salvation or righteousness, the same faith in God through His Son Jesus Christ is needed for a person to be justified in God's sight and this faith needs to be from our heart including our will and not just our head or intellectual. God looks on our hearts and faith from there in the finished work of Jesus' death on the cross for our sins and resurrection from the dead is what God looks at but other people don't do this because they can't see our hearts so they look at our good works to determine if we are justified in their sight as in James 2. The scripture reference from Romans 10 that it is from the heart that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ saves us in God's sight and with Romans 4 and 5 and 3 justifies us in His sight is as follows:
But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in they mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Romans 10:8-10
The apostle Paul writing under divine inspiration as in the rest of the Bible refers to the time before faith came as the period of Israel under the law which was before the Church age or the age of grace when the outward method of God's salvation is trusting in the Lord Jesus the Messiah (Christ) that he died for our sins and rose again to give us new life. The faith that would afterwards be revealed is the faith in the Lord Jesus that he died for our sins and rose again from the dead to give us new life. In the period under the law people were obligated to live by the precepts of the Law of Moses and face the penalties and carry out the sacrifices or other measures if they transgressed some of the commandments. When the apostle Paul says the law was our schoolmaster he means things like the law was meant to show the holiness of God and the sinful nature of human beings in the period of Israel under the Law of Moses to compel the people to have a fear of God and obey Him but under the New Covenant to help us to realize that we are sinners and can't save ourselves and to lead us to trust in the Lord Jesus the Messiah (Christ) as our personal Lord and Saviour to trust in for the forgiveness of our sins and gaining eternal life and a relationship with and eternity with God through trusting in the finished work of Jesus crucifiction on the cross for our sins and resurrection from the dead for our new life. It is in this sense of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that we are justfied in the New Testament or New Covenant. However this is not the complete fulfillment of the New Covenant or New Testament. This will only happen in the Messianic or Millennial Kingdom when God will put His Holy Spirit in and write his law on the hearts of His nationally converted chosen earthly people of the Jews or physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Israel) as mentioned in Romans 9-11, Matthew 19:28, Luke 1, Hebrews 8 and many Old Testament scriptures. The scripture passage in Galatians 3 of the law being used until the revelaton of the way of faith in the Jesus of Nazareth the Messiah (Christ) of Israel as God's means of justification for the believer in the present Church age or age of grace is as follows:
But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ (Messiah), that we might be justified by faith. Galatians 3:23-24
This scripture passage states that God's justification is by his grace or is a free gift through the redemption (or buying us back (from bondage to sin)) in Christ Jesus. The Apostle Paul then goes on to say that God has set up Jesus as the source of propitiation of payment of the penalty (a spotless substitutionary sacrifice) for our sins and this avails or is made effective for us through faith in his blood (shed for our sins). A main purpose for this propitiation or sin penalty payment for our sins is for God to declare or make evident his righteousness through the remission or forgiveness of our past sins. It is in this way that God can be just and can be the justifier of everyone who believes (with all our heart) in Jesus or in other words that can be enable us and accept us to be justified by faith in Jesus. In verse 28 God continues to say through the apostle Paul that there is no part for works in our justification (this includes being a good person, keeping the golden rule or the ten commandments or the sacraments) but only through faith in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ in His death on the cross for our sins and His resurrection from the dead to give us new life. In verse 30 Paul writes under divine inspiration that it is God's way both for the Jews and for the Gentiles or non Jews that we be justified by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ with no part for good works. The scripture reference in Romans 3 of justification by faith for the person who believes in Jesus especially in this case his death and shedding his blood on the cross is concerned is as follows:
Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay (no): but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also: Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law. Romans 3:24-31
Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation sent. For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him. And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain. And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre. But God raised him from the dead: And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people. And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption: But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption. Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. Acts of the Apostles 13:26-39
In this passage in Galatians 2 the Apostle Paul is considering the case of Jews putting their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to be justified before God. The Apostle Paul discounts that Jews can be justified by keeping the Law of Moses. He then says that Jews since Pentecost are justified through faith in Jesus Christ as he and other Jews who had by that time done and been justified. Paul then repeats that a person, even a Jewish person, is not justified by keeping the Law or by the works of the Law such as circumcision, keeping the sabbath or Jewish festivals, keeping the Jewish dietary laws or keeping the Ten commandments etc. However even in the New Testament it is permissible for especially Jews that believe in Jesus Christ to do these things but they have to realize if they are to be considered followers of Jesus Christ and justified by Him in God's sight that their justification if through faith in Jesus Christ and his death on the cross for their sins and his resurrection from the dead to give them new life. The Apostle Paul then brings up the case of a Jewish person who is seeking to be justified by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and in that time commits some sin. The Apostle Paul says under divine inspiration that this does not mean that Jesus Christ is the minister or cause of sin but according to other New Testament scriptures it means that we still have a sinful nature and our justification by faith in Jesus Christ also covers all our sins we commit for the rest of our lives on earth. Our as believers in Jesus Christ being justified from ongoing sins doesn't mean that Jesus is giving us a license to sin but that God's justification of us through Jesus Christ is wide enough in scope to include all the sins we commit in our entire lives on earth before and after we place our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ for justification before God. The Apostle Paul then goes on to say that if he builds again, that is after he believes in Jesus Christ for salvation, the things which he before destroyed, that is trusting in the works of the Law of Moses for justification, he makes himself a transgressor. This is because the Law of Moses didn't allow for any exceptions to its strict demands for righteousness and did not provide any justification on an ongoing bases for new sins such as faith in Jesus Christ does. Under the Law offerings of animals and shedding of blood that way could be made on an ongoing basis for sins of errors or unintentional sin but their wasn't really any provision for intentional sin. The scripture reference from Galatians 2 of God's provision also for Jewish people since the time of Jesus of justification through faith in Jesus and His death and resurrection rather that through the works of the Law of Moses is as follows:
We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ (Y'Shua the Messiah), that we might be justified by the faith of Christ (Messiah) and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ (Messiah), we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. Galatians 2:15-18
Jesus on this occasion was talking to the Jews, probably especially the Jewish leaders, by the treasury in the temple. Jesus said they didn't know Him or the Father (God) and that if they had known him they would have known the Father also. Jesus is here preparing them for the reality that they had to trust in Him as the Messiah and Son of God to by faith know and see the Father and heaven (that which is above). Even though some of these words Jesus was saying to some of the Jews, especially their religious leaders, while he was teaching in the temple they didn't lay hands on him because it wasn't the time God had appointed for Jesus to die for the sins of the world and to become God's redeemer for Israel. Jesus then said he would go his way that is to heaven after he died for our sins and rose again and ascended to heaven and that they would die in their sins if they didn't believe in him as their Messiah and the Son of God and Redeemer who was sent by God from Heaven. Jesus said where he was going, to heaven, they couldn't come because they hadn't trusted in him and hadn't be forgiven or cleansed from their sins and they weren't prepared or couldn't rightly see heaven or the Father. Jesus then made things even clearer about his identity as one sent from heaven saying that he was from above and that he was not of this world while the Jewish religious leaders as at least at first all other people are from beneath (earth) and this world. Jesus then made clear that faith in him is the means by which we can have our sins forgiven and can go to heaven with being freed or forgiven from our sins. However this wasn't the case for these Jewish religious leaders because they were to that point unwilling to see by faith that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah sent by God from Heaven to die for their sins and those of the world and restore the Jewish people spiritually to God in preparation for their still future political restoration to God and exaltation among the nations that will take place in the Messianic Kingdom or Millennial Kingdom following the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in power and great glory at the end of the 7 year tribulation or time of Jacob's trouble or 70th week of Daniel. The scripture reference of faith needed to be forgiven of our sins and see heaven and that Jesus is the Messiah or the Saviour of the world sent by God from Heaven in Gospel of John 8 is as follows:
Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also. These words spake Jesus in the treasury, as he taught in the temple: and no man laid hands on him; for his hour was not yet come. Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come. And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath, I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye (you) believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. Gospel of John 8:19-24
Although I have had some concerns about this subject for some time, talking with a committed Christian who is a personal friend of mine on this time has compelled me to share this concern with more people including on my web site. As I was brought up in a mainline Protestant church (Presbyterian) I also experienced infant baptism when I was much younger and I was later confirmed in the same church. I also went to church on a practically weekly basis with my parents and family. This was even though I had no relationship with God or transformation by God's Holy Spirit and as I later would say reflecting on this time "I was just going through the motions" and this so-called Christian life wasn't very meaningful to me (compared to my life as a true or born again Christian after I received Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Saviour when I was 20 years old. However what I want to talk about in this paragrapah is about infant baptism and it being used to give a false hope to many well-meaning but misinformed professing Christians. They think and if somebody had asked me before I would probably have said the same that infant baptism and perhaps confirmation was their basis for saying they were a Christian and also that they were justified in God's sight (and saved and regenerated or born again etc.) However the New Testament clearly teaches as all the sections on the preceding verses on justification by faith should make clear that justification with God is by personal conscious faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Saviour as by human beings who have realized we are sinners before a holy (and loving and gracious) God and that we can't possibly save or justify before God ourselves. This practice of infant baptism was practiced by some of the Roman and other pagans in the days of the early church and was adopted into Christendom through what became the Roman Catholic Church and unfortunately wasn't dismissed for a more scriptural believer's baptism in the churches that separated from the Roman Catholic Church in the first part of the Protestant Reformation. The worst thing about this practice of infant baptism is that is freely permits people both on an individual level and whole churches or even denominations to become overwhelmed with people whose claim to be Christians is based on a work of man (baptism and church confirmation) and not a Bible based faith in God's Son Jesus Christ for justification before God and one's claim to be Christian and a child of God. Much of my family are still in mainline Protestant or in some cases now Roman Catholic churches and are probably affected by this false hope of infant baptism to some degree or another. I challenge the reader to look in the scriptures for support for the practice of infant baptism but I think this will be in vain. I think the incident where Jesus said except you become as little children you shall not enter into the kingdom of God when people brought infants to him is used to support the practice of infant baptism but Jesus didn't baptize these infants then or any other time and he said become like little children he didn't see that you be little children to enter the kingdom of God. I think Jesus was referrring to the simple or unquestioning faith of little children in God that it would be good for people of any age to have in God and Himself to become followers of Him and His people not that we need to have some human ritual in our first years of life to dedicate us to God and Jesus. The pattern of the Bible is clear with regards to baptism especially the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8 where Philip said to him if you believe with all your heart (that Jesus is Lord and Saviour) you mayest (be baptized). This was an act to demonstrate that he the Ethiopian eunuch had already trusted in Jesus and a public testimony to that effect but not as a means of salvation much less a means of salvation where one is not conscious what one is doing as an infant would be. In Acts 2 Peter was also talking about believer's baptism as was the Apostle Paul in his analogy of putting away the Old life and putting on the new life in Christ by faith in Jesus and the new life in the Holy Spirit in Romans 6. Although the Apostle Peter mentioned children in connection with baptism in Acts 2 he clearly meant children old enough to understand God's way of salvation through Jesus Christ and turning to Him from one's sins as he also mentioned repentance which an infant wouldn't understand enough to do. This is also the pattern in all or almost all other references in the New Testament. I believe a more ominous role of infant baptism will occur soon and I can see it with my family or relatives as well as other people I have shared the gospel with personally. This is that infant baptism will be used as a bridge to unite the mainline Protestant denominations and the Roman Catholic Church and probably the Eastern Orthodox church that I think also practices infant baptism with their common dependence of infant baptism as a basis for justifcation (and salvation and redemption or regeneration (the new birth) instead of personal conscious faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as one's personal Lord and Saviour. This false unity will form the basis for the harlot church of Revelation 17 that will have a prominent role in the first half of the tribulaton as well as the ongoing ecumenical movement and Councils of Churches that are leading to that. Dear reader if you have had a misplaced faith in infant baptism I encourage you to look in the Bible especially the New Testament and see what God says in His inspired word about baptism and justification, salvation or regeneration etc and trust in God's Son Jesus Christ for your means of eternal life and a right standing with God instead of infant baptism and confirmation or other works or traditions of man as soon as possible especially before the rapture of the church and following tribulation of the worldly people occurs on earth. Please see also my web pages about the work of the Holy Spirit for unbelievers and God's forgiveness and my web page about the gospel for some further relevant on my web site as well.
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