I have been reading Romans recently and I am beginning to see and agree with N.T. Wright that Paul used the terms justification and save for specific meanings which are very different from how we normally understand it.
Usually, I would understand justification as the process where a person comes to know the Lord and be saved. Even after I have started reading Wright and listening to his lectures on Paul and Romans, I still could not agree with the way he interpreted these terms. I struggled a great deal to make sense of what he is talking about but still I could agree with him entirely.
However, I read Romans again and I believe the Spirit has illuminated my understanding. I now see why Wright says that justification is a legal status or standing currently accorded to believers by grace for their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are declared righteous as God's people in advance in anticipation of the final judgement which will be declared by the Lord at the end of days.
Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, (Romans 5:2)
In being justified by God by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are reconciled to God as God's people and from this standing of grace, (because the final judgement according to our works has yet to be announced), we are continuously being saved through the life of Christ in us (some term this as sanctification), that is the indwelling of the Spirit, yielding to Him (Romans 6) until we are finally saved from our body of death (Romans 7:24,25) through the resurrection of our bodies, and finally revealed as children of God at the final judgement (Romans 8).
Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. (Romans 5:9,10)
I believe that we are reckoned righteous by faith when we believe in the Lord, but this does not mean we are saved in Paul's use of the term. I think Paul used being saved to show how after we have been justified by grace through faith, we are continuously being freed or saved from the body of sin through the Spirit as we yield our passions to Him to be slaves of righteousness, so that in the end, we may have eternal life as children of God in resurrected bodies much like the Lord's.
I think this way of understanding it is controversial, but I think it is accurate. It means that we could no longer say that we are saved because we have believed in the Lord some 10 or twenty years, (popularly known as accepted the Lord, which is an irony because we are the ones being judged righteous and accepted by God through His faithfulness and grace, and not the other way round), and we could go on sinning without worrying because we have a deposit of faith in our hands when we believed in the Lord many years back. "Once saved, always saved", using a popular saying for such understanding. I think this interpretation is not reflected in Romans.
I think understanding justification and being saved as two different terms or stages used by Paul is meaningful because I can understand why I continue to struggle with sin and yet desire the Lord as in Romans 7. I could also understand why I constantly ask God for forgiveness and mercy (1 John). It also helps me to understand verses like "he who endures to the end shall be saved, faith working through love, faith without works is dead, work out your salvation in trembling and fear, and fighting the good fight of faith." This of course is not a complete exposition or exegesis, but I think this illumination has helped me change my way of living and thinking as a Christian, of which I praise God for because I believe it is His grace at work in my life. To God be all glory! Amen
Usually, I would understand justification as the process where a person comes to know the Lord and be saved. Even after I have started reading Wright and listening to his lectures on Paul and Romans, I still could not agree with the way he interpreted these terms. I struggled a great deal to make sense of what he is talking about but still I could agree with him entirely.
However, I read Romans again and I believe the Spirit has illuminated my understanding. I now see why Wright says that justification is a legal status or standing currently accorded to believers by grace for their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are declared righteous as God's people in advance in anticipation of the final judgement which will be declared by the Lord at the end of days.
Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, (Romans 5:2)
In being justified by God by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are reconciled to God as God's people and from this standing of grace, (because the final judgement according to our works has yet to be announced), we are continuously being saved through the life of Christ in us (some term this as sanctification), that is the indwelling of the Spirit, yielding to Him (Romans 6) until we are finally saved from our body of death (Romans 7:24,25) through the resurrection of our bodies, and finally revealed as children of God at the final judgement (Romans 8).
Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. (Romans 5:9,10)
I believe that we are reckoned righteous by faith when we believe in the Lord, but this does not mean we are saved in Paul's use of the term. I think Paul used being saved to show how after we have been justified by grace through faith, we are continuously being freed or saved from the body of sin through the Spirit as we yield our passions to Him to be slaves of righteousness, so that in the end, we may have eternal life as children of God in resurrected bodies much like the Lord's.
I think this way of understanding it is controversial, but I think it is accurate. It means that we could no longer say that we are saved because we have believed in the Lord some 10 or twenty years, (popularly known as accepted the Lord, which is an irony because we are the ones being judged righteous and accepted by God through His faithfulness and grace, and not the other way round), and we could go on sinning without worrying because we have a deposit of faith in our hands when we believed in the Lord many years back. "Once saved, always saved", using a popular saying for such understanding. I think this interpretation is not reflected in Romans.
I think understanding justification and being saved as two different terms or stages used by Paul is meaningful because I can understand why I continue to struggle with sin and yet desire the Lord as in Romans 7. I could also understand why I constantly ask God for forgiveness and mercy (1 John). It also helps me to understand verses like "he who endures to the end shall be saved, faith working through love, faith without works is dead, work out your salvation in trembling and fear, and fighting the good fight of faith." This of course is not a complete exposition or exegesis, but I think this illumination has helped me change my way of living and thinking as a Christian, of which I praise God for because I believe it is His grace at work in my life. To God be all glory! Amen
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