Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 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. 28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?”5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
When we consider the great teachings of Scripture, they are not there just to give us information and they are not to teach us what we can do in our own strength. In Musings 34 (http://www.godloveshimself.org/?p=2018) we looked at how believing that the doctrine of justification is true is not the same thing as being justified. The new birth was also mentioned at the end. In the passage above (John 3:3-5) Jesus speaks pointedly and with power in a way that reflects on the issue being mused on here. Jesus did not tell Nicodemus that he must know the truth about the new birth in order to enter the kingdom. Jesus also did not tell Nicodemus that he must believe the truth about the new birth in order to enter the kingdom. Instead of that, Jesus told Nicodemus that he must actually be born again in order to enter the kingdom. There is a huge difference between believing what is true and what is true actually happening to you.
If we take this as a picture or even as an example of the teachings of Scripture, we can view what it means to believe something with different eyes or with a different perspective. Neither Jesus or Paul declared that a person must believe the facts about justification in order to be justified, but simply that a person must be justified. This is not to say that knowing the facts and believing the facts are not important and even vital, but simply to say that they are not enough in and of themselves. In order to preach justification one must preach this in a way where people need to see that they must actually be declared just by God rather than just believe something about it. This would seem self-evident, but evidently it is not.
In the glorious teaching of Scripture we see that the righteousness of Christ is given to those who believe. But what does that mean? Does it mean that those who hear the facts and believe that the facts are true are then accounted as righteous in the sight of God? Does believing the facts move God to actually impute the righteousness of Christ to people? No, that is obvious as well. What we must wrestle with, then, is how the righteousness of Christ is actually imputed to His people rather than just the fact that there is a truth about it. We cannot cause God to impute righteousness to us, so either we believe that God does these things and so He does it, or He imputes righteousness to His people based on His grace and they believe that as fact.
We can also see that the imputation of the righteousness of Christ would drive men to see that they have no righteousness of their own. If the righteousness of Christ is all that is needed, then when men see that their own supposed righteousness (the best they can do) is nothing better than filthy rags, their mouths can be closed regarding excuses and self-righteousness while at the same time they can have great hope in Christ. Believing the fact of this righteousness of it, however, would not give them this righteousness or that righteousness would come from God on the basis of what man does.
The Gospel of the glory of God, on the other hand, is focused on what God has done in Christ and what God will do by the Spirit in the hearts of sinful men. It will do men no good to hear and believe the facts of what God has done in Christ if they are not given new hearts to enter the kingdom. It will do men no good to hear of justification by faith apart from works if they are not actually justified. It will do men no good to study the imputation of the righteousness of Christ if they are never united to Christ and so have His righteousness given to them. This is simply to say that the Gospel does not just require men to believe and depend on men to believe, but instead it requires the work of God in the soul. When God works in the souls of men, they are regenerated, justified, and granted the imputation of the righteousness of Christ. This is more than just believing the facts about those things, but these things are the works of God in the souls of man in the present day. The Gospel is about the living God who works in hearts today and will do so as He pleases. The Gospel is all about Him and what He has done, but also what He has done guarantees what He will do in our day and the days to come. If we believe in what He has done rather than what He has done and will do in us, we are not looking at a Gospel of grace alone.
God Loves... Himself 
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