Title: Faith /Romans 3:21-22
Contents Last week, I was thinking about God who lives and works in the hearts of believers. I thought that God does not convince a believer to believe once and then leave him alone, but continues to live in it so that they can imitate the life that the Lord has lived.
Today, let's think about faith. I can tell you a lot about faith, but today I want to talk about one of the most important aspects of faith.
One of the things that not only our Korean church but also the whole world church is misunderstood is the part I want to talk about today. It can also be said that most of the churches around the world do not have a good understanding of faith.
But that doesn't mean I'm always right. I am always a learner. We learn by listening to people's opinions, but we also learn from the Holy Spirit by studying the Bible.
Therefore, I learn what others have realized, but I also learn what others do not. That is why it is always necessary to have an attitude of learning, and by learning this way, the learner often realizes and speaks things that others have not realized. This is the case when I first realized and spoke. Of course, someone in the West realized this before me, but no one wanted to acknowledge his realization.
You may be wondering what the content is. Also, what is the content of this? You will be asked why you are so verbose. But don't expect it. It's not a big deal. There may be many people who realize this because it is something we have already talked about directly or indirectly in our church. But the lengthy steam is meant to get you thinking about it again. Because I feel that I need to revisit and revisit, and I need to clarify.
I'm going to tell you the details because I think you'll be like, 'Stop nagging now and let's talk about the content.' This is the verse 22, “The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to everyone who believes.”
Until now, I have understood the phrase 'the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe' in this way. In other words, it has been understood as 'the righteousness of God to all who believe through the faith of those who believe in Jesus Christ'. They have understood that 'the righteousness of God has been given to us because we have believed in Jesus Christ'.
When I understood this, I thought, 'Aha, I believed that well, I became righteous because I believed in God.' Because we believe that the righteousness of God has been given to us through our faith in Jesus, we have come to think of the act of believing as a great thing. Of course, we say that we believe by the grace of God, but there is no denying that our actions of faith have played a very important role in bringing God's righteousness to us. Therefore, we have come to think of the act of believing in Jesus implicitly. We have even thought that God cannot save us if we do not believe. This is a global phenomenon.
However, when I looked closely at this verse again, it says that the righteousness of God was not given to us who believed because of our faith in Jesus Christ, but that the righteousness of God was revealed to us because of our faith in Jesus. I'll tell you why.
First, grammatically yes. In verses 21-22, the subject is 'the righteousness of God'. So, it can be translated, "Now apart from the law, the one righteousness of God has been revealed, as evidenced by the law and the prophets, 'that is, the righteousness of God that has reached all believers through the faith of Jesus Christ, without distinction.'" Pay particular attention to verse 22. It means 'the righteousness of God has reached all believers through faith in Jesus Christ'.
Second, it can be said that the interpretation of 'the faith of Christ' is supported by a close context. Verse 24 says, “Being justified freely by the grace of God through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.” When we say redemption in Christ Jesus, we mean that redemption is in Jesus Christ. That redemption is in Jesus speaks of the work of Jesus. Because redemption was accomplished through the work of Jesus. If so, this is consistent with the previous interpretation of 'the faith of Jesus Christ'. Therefore, it is not because of our faith that we are justified, but because we are made righteous by putting our faith in the righteousness of Christ. To believe means to acknowledge that Christ has accomplished our righteousness, not our actions to believe create it. Therefore, righteousness does not come from us, but comes entirely from Christ. That is why it is so true to say that the righteousness of God has reached all believers through the faith of Christ.
Third, this is an interpretation that fits the overall flow of the Bible. What the Bible calls righteousness refers to the appearance of the Messiah and the fulfillment of God's will. For example, Malachi, the last prophet of the Old Testament, speaks of the coming of the Messiah to bring forgiveness of sins and the rising of the righteous sun (Malachi 4:2). It is said that the righteous sun will rise because our human faith is not called righteousness, but the work of the Messiah will bring about the forgiveness of sins.
Jeremiah 23:5-6 says, “Behold, the days are coming, when I will raise up a righteous branch in David, and he will become king and act wisely, and he will do justice and justice in the world, and in his day Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell in peace. And his name shall be called the LORD our righteousness." The characteristic of the age of the Messiah's reign is that 'The Lord is our righteousness'. Because the righteousness of Jehovah God will be revealed to us through the righteous reign of the Messiah. The Messiah's reign is the way God's righteousness is revealed. Righteousness is an objective situation achieved by the reigning work of the Messiah. In other words, righteousness means what the Messiah accomplishes.
For this reason, Matthew 3:15 in the New Testament says that Jesus' standing in the place of sinners and being baptized is the fulfillment of righteousness. Jesus said to John the Baptist, who refused to baptize him, "Give it now, for it is fitting for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." When the Son of God is baptized with sinners who need to repent, He is saying these words because His atonement work accomplishes righteousness. Jesus called this atonement work baptism. Therefore, baptism foreshadows that Jesus will bear our sins. Because of this, righteousness was accomplished. What we believe is only the acknowledgment of this fact.
From the above, we can say that the faith of Jesus accomplished the righteousness of God so that the righteousness of God came to us who acknowledge it. It can be said that 'the faith of Jesus is our righteousness'. So let us not believe what we believe. Our beliefs are of no merit and therefore bring no intention to us. We are simply saying that we believe in acknowledging the righteousness of the Lord because he believed in the Father to the point of death. So, what we believe in is not a big deal. Let's not take this too seriously.
Then, what is the state of our hearts when we acknowledge the righteousness that the Lord has accomplished? At least, you cannot deny the fact that 'Yes, the Lord has accomplished righteousness'. Our hearts are not burning, and we seem to believe and do not believe, but in the midst of this, we cannot deny that 'The Lord has accomplished God's righteousness and has become our righteousness'. And you will have to admit that righteousness cannot come from yourself. Because of this, we can only say that the Lord is the one who brought our righteousness and life.
This can be said to be the faith of those who believe in the Lord. Do you at least have this kind of heart toward the Lord? Then you are people of faith. Don't rely on your act of believing, but on the Lord's faith. Even when you are shaken and weak, the Lord will sustain you, unshaken and unshaken. Therefore, put your hope in the faith of the Lord, who trusted his father to the point of death. This faith is the source of our salvation. Hebrews 5:8 says, “Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered, and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, and was called by God high priest in the order of Melchizedek.” I did. Believers are those who believe that the Lord's faith is the source of salvation. Put your hope in this belief. Make a clear distinction between the faith of Jesus and ours.