The next thing to note in justification after just how vital this doctrine really is is to note what it is all about. The doctrine of justification is the heart of the Gospel. Okay, some one might say, but what does that mean? When one is trying to start at the starting place, it could be debated what the starting place is. Without arguing too much, I believe the starting place for the Gospel is with God. After all, the Gospel is the Gospel of God. But isn’t it the Gospel of Christ? Yes, but that is still the Gospel of God. “Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel'” (Mark 1:14-15). The Gospel that a person is to repent of is indeed the Gospel that is all about God, of God, and declares the glory of God. “But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). The Gospel that Paul preached was all about the grace of God and so is called “gospel of the grace of God” and, in the short version, is simply the “gospel of God” (Rom 1:1).But why, it might be asked, is the starting place here? Admittedly the starting place is usually with man and his need. However, man would have no need and no remedy without God. Man’s need is defined by the nature of God and the remedy for man’s sin and hell is also God. What man needs is not a salvation that delivers him from the guilt of sin to some objective pleasantries, but he needs to be delivered from the wrath of God in this life and in the one to come and be reconciled to the living God. The Gospel is not just a message that man may be delivered from a place called hell, but it is also a message of how man may have what is best in this life and in the life to come. It is, most truly, the Gospel of God. The Gospel is all about how man may taste and enjoy the glory of God in his soul and life. In fact, the Gospel is how the life of God comes into the soul of man and that life is what lives in man and man is enabled to enjoy a participation in the divine life. No, man does not become divine, but the love and joy of God lives in man and man is enabled to share in the activity of that life on earth.
“Being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; 25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; 26 for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. 27 Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith” (Rom 3:24-27). This text points out one point that is often missed. Why does God demonstrate His righteousness? Is it just so that man can be saved? Is the only purpose for salvation so that man could escape hell and God could feel good about saving man? Clearly, from the text, God is righteous in giving the gift of righteous and so He is just and the justifier. The justice of God is vital to the Gospel and God will not save apart from a perfect justice because He is perfectly just. God saves to His own glory and there is no boasting on man’s part? Why? Because man has nothing to do with saving himself. It is all of God.
As we look back at the text in the previous paragraph, man is hardly even mentioned. Romans 1:18-3:20 talks a lot about sin, but interestingly enough sin is seen as the judgment of God even now. God turns people over to sin as punishment for sin. God turns people over to hard hearts which leads to even more sin as punishment for sin. Who can deliver from God’s hand and the hearts that He hardens? God is the only One who can deliver from His own hand. Where can a Savior come from who will be able to deliver man in a way that is according to perfect justice from the hand of an almighty and wrathful God? Where will the righteousness come from that is needed so that man can be declared perfectly righteous? All of this is only something that God can do. This is why once Paul gets to the Gospel he talks about God. Man is helpless and cannot do anything for himself at this point. Man needs to see the glory of God in the Gospel and turn from all self-effort.
If it is once agreed upon that man has been created to glorify God, and that sin is man doing something that falls short of the glory of God, then it is easily seen that salvation is the way that God glorifies Himself in saving man. So God’s purpose in saving man is to manifest His own glory in the salvation of man and in restoring man in a way that man will now live to the glory of God. So the Fall sent man into sin which is man not living to the glory of God. Salvation is God bringing man back to where man lives to the glory of God. Clearly, then, the Gospel is all about the glory of God. To focus the Gospel on man is to miss the real point of the Gospel. Man must be returned to God so that he can fulfill his created purpose of living to the glory of God.
In going back to Romans 3, we can see in v. 24 that justification has several aspects. One, justification is a gift by grace. In reality, the word “gift” simply means uncaused. For another use of this term in Scripture, we can see from this example what it really means: “But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, ‘THEY HATED ME WITHOUT A CAUSE'” (John 15:25). “Without cause” comes from the same Greek word as in used in Romans 3:24 for “gift.” In other words, justification is not caused by man in any way. The causal part of justification is with God and with God only. So man is justified without cause in himself by His grace. To put it still another way, the only causal part in justification is the grace of God. God causes salvation by grace and there is nothing in man that causes salvation in any way. It is all of grace. If something is all of grace, then it is all of God. We know that God saves to “the praise of the glory of His grace” because that is what He says in Ephesians 1:6. Romans 3:24 is simply another way to stress the same glorious truth.
Second, the way that God saves by grace alone is through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. We must be careful at this point. When the Gospel is spoken of today, Christ is spoken of a lot. But He is usually spoken of in the context of man and his need. Without arguing that man has a need, we must remember that man’s need is not just to be delivered from hell. Man must be delivered from the wrath of God in this life and the next. Man must be reconciled to God in this life and the next. Jesus Christ did not center on man in the Gospel, He centered on the glory of God. For man to repent of sin, which is falling short of the glory of God, man must turn from living to the glory of self to living for the glory of God. So whatever redemption may be, it is the paying of a price and a ransom made to One for another. But we must always keep in mind that God saves by grace alone which is a focus on His glory. Redemption through Christ alone is to put His grace on display in a way that magnifies His glory.
Verse 25 tells us that God displayed Christ publicly as propitiation in His blood. Why did He do that? The text tells us that He did this to demonstrate His own righteousness. The text does not tell us that He did this in order to declare His love for man or because man is so worthy. It says that He did this to demonstrate His own righteousness. What we see, then, is a Gospel that is all about God. The Gospel is about the actions of God and it is about the glory of God that shines through His actions. One text that brings this thought to light is found in II Corinthians 4:4 and 6: “in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” This verse tells us what the god of this world does in order to keep people from being saved. He blinds their minds so that they do “not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (v. 4). Satan does not need to convince people to be evil; they do that from their own hearts. He does not need to keep people from hearing the bare words of the Gospel message. People are not saved from simply believing the intellectual facts of the Gospel. He blinds their minds so that they will not see the glory of it.
II Corinthians 4 goes on to say what has to happen for people to be saved: “For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (v. 6). What must happen is for people to see and understand (and therefore believe) the glory of God in the face and facts of Christ. God must shine Himself in their hearts in order for them to have the light of the knowledge of this glory. Notice that the text says that He “is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light.” Preachers must preach Christ in such a way that the glory of God is seen in His face and the Gospel.
In light of what the Gospel is and its purposes, I believe it to be clear that evangelism must be done differently than it is being done. In light of what the Gospel is and its purposes, I believe that preaching must be done differently than it is being done. We must be those who declare the glory of God in evangelism and in the Gospel in order to set the Gospel out in its beauty and power. While we never get beyond the facts of the Gospel, we must also declare the glory of God in those facts. Many saw Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead, but only those who believed saw the glory of it (John 11:40). Many see the facts of the Gospel, but how many really see the glory of God in the face of Christ? Many love the Gospel only for what it does for them and so they have never been delivered from self-love. We must teach and preach the Gospel in a way where the glory of God shines in the face of Christ. After all, Christ came and tabernacled among men and His glory of grace and truth was seen. The Gospel is only truly preached when God’s glory of grace and truth is seen in Christ. The Gospel of glory must be seen as glorious.
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