Daily Bible Verses for 8/24/2016
Bible Verse
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with [access to] God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Reading Notes
With this simple statement Paul underscores one of the greatest theological truths man has ever known. We are saved through grace alone by faith alone, in Jesus alone! The word used here for justified is a legal term that refers to a one time act through which Jesus has made us innocent. It paints the image of each of us standing in a courtroom, in front of a judge being found guilty by a jury, ready and waiting for sentencing. And as we’re standing there ready to receive the punishment we deserve in runs the King of kings, who then takes our place and receives upon Himself our punishment. Jesus takes upon Himself the punishment we deserve and declares us innocent before God. Through the blood of Christ, we have been made righteous before God. How? Because by faith, God imputes or credits the righteousness of Jesus to us. God does this not because of any merit of our own.
God does this because we accept Jesus by faith, as our Lord and Savior. Because of His love for us, Jesus took His righteousness and imputed it to us. In other words, God takes the righteousness of Jesus and credits it to us because Jesus took on our punishment on the Cross of Calvary. It was there on the Cross where Jesus paid in full for all of our sins, once and for all times, past present and future. This is why the Bible tells us salvation is not something we can ever earn, because nothing we do can add or take away from what Jesus did for us at the Cross. And because of God’s love and grace we have salvation. Paul also underscores the result of our salvation which is peace and access to God the Father through Jesus. Prior to Jesus our relationship with God was broken by sin. Because of our sin, we were forever separated from God with no hope of reconciliation. However, because of Jesus sacrifice for us, we have been reconciled back to God through faith. Therefore, salvation is a gift of God, given by God’s grace through our faith in Christ Jesus our Lord.