but now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. for there is no distinction: [romans 3:21-22]
around 500 years, ago, a monk named martin luther is credited for starting a revolution within the church that reclaimed truths that would be a part of a tradition known as the five solas of the protestant reformation: the five solas are:
sola scriptura: the bible is the sole source of the authority of God for christians.
sola gratia: salvation is a grace from God, not earned by christians by the actions that they do.
sola fide: salvation is received by christians in their faith in Jesus alone.
sola Christus: Jesus is the only mediator between God and man.
soli Deo gloria: that all is for the glory of God alone.
as you think about how you are imputed a righteous standing before God, the answer cannot be “i was good enough/smart enough/kind enough/loving enough/obedient enough/etc.” that cannot be the answer:
yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. [galatians 2:16]
paul is pretty adamant here and and in other places in scripture: faith in Jesus Christ alone is what justifies us, it is why, though we are guilty, to be seen as righteous.
but what of passages like james 2:23-24?
and the scripture was fulfilled that says, “abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. you see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. [james 2:23-24]
the bible does not contradict itself, the way that james (the half-brother of Jesus) is stating the truth here is simply a distinction in the way he is articulating the idea of saving faith: paul emphasizes the monergistic saving power of God through the Holy Spirit, while james emphasizes that saving faith actually changes people’s heart, it makes them have new desires and new behaviors–saved people have works to show for it, they bear good fruit–it isn’t the work that saves, it is the faith in Jesus.
what is our role in all of this? like abraham, we receive the truth, we believe God’s promise, and we place our trust in Jesus Christ, we live and act and breathe as redeemed ones, we are counted righteousness when we exercise faith, doing good deeds by faith, remembering that the faith itself was something that was given to us freely by God!
for by grace you have been saved through faith. and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. [ephesians 2:8-9]
by faith, our unrighteousness is exchanged for Jesus’ righteousness–
for Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, [i peter 3:18]
we trade our filth, sin and shame for Christ’s perfection: let us stand confident in his presence, fully assured that if we believe and trust in Christ, we do not have to pay the debt that we once owed, we get the righteousness of Jesus Christ!
~ce