@civic @Johann @Selah
Even though faith is the product/fruit of the
indwelling Spirit,
it still is a work by man, that can either be as small as a grain of mustard, or powerful/great enough to say unto a mountain~"
be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea"~ which
only Christ our Lord had.
Matthew 23:23
“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted
the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and
faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.”
1 John 3:23
“And this is
his commandment, That we
should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.”
A commandment to
DO is a work on our part. We are commanded to believe
and to love one another, equally a work that we must do, a work coming from us, even though will ever be so imperfect, and small in comparison to Christ, whose faith and perfect obedience is the only mean that God accepts for the forgiveness of our sins.
Brother Johann,
John 3:16 is not a commandment to do in order to received, but a scripture
declaring a biblical truth taught all through the scriptures,
a huge difference btw. Read it again with the understanding that our Lord
is declaring a biblical truth, and then you should see that it will flow perfectly with all of the word of God.
Romans 3:28, is speaking of
faith as the system under which God has chosen to use for his elect to come unto the knowledge of the truth and for them to know how they are justified
legally by Christ's faith/obedience. Chapter four will prove this with Romans 5:1-19 going more into depth establishing this truth. Romans four is a chapter that few truly can grasp the truth of what Paul is teaching, with Romans 5:1 summarizing for the most part chapter 4!
Romans 5:1
“
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:”
Therefore.
Paul drew a conclusion from his defense of justification by faith without any works of Moses’ law. God delivered Jesus to death and raised Him from death for our gift of righteousness (4:23-25).
Legal justification took place at the cross, by God’s eternal counsel, and laid hold of by our faith. Our faith, like Abraham’s faith, is the evidence of a saved man that God declares to be righteous. Our faith, like Abraham’s faith and Phinehas’ zeal, is counted to us as evidence of righteousness. This word,
therefore, draws a conclusion meaning his arguments against the law were sufficient. This word,
therefore, draws a conclusion meaning that believers are at peace by the Lord’s work.
Being justified by faith.
Paul had proven justification – declaration that a person is righteous before God – from 3:19 to 4:25. He had denied law works by many proofs, including circumcision coming too late for Abraham. He had proven Abram was declared righteous by faith in a recorded event in his life (
Gen 15:6). Abraham had faith and works long before the event used by Paul (
Gen 15:6), but it was for Jews. We know we are righteous in God’s sight by our faith as evidence and assurance of justification. God counts our faith
as evidence of righteousness, like for Abraham’s faith and Phinehas’ zeal.
The faith here is our faith, not God’s or Christ’s faith, as Abrahamic evidence of righteousness. The justification in Romans 5:1 takes place in
our own conscience, when we truly have faith
with understanding in our hearts. We see how we were made righteous before God's law by the righteousness of Christ, and seeing this...............
We have peace with God
Here is the first of at least five great spiritual blessings in life coming from justification in Christ. There is no other plan of salvation able to obtain perfect peace between God and sinners. Glory! Peace is the end of hostilities and strife for two once-antagonistic parties to now be friendly. Justification declares us righteous by Jesus Christ’s work, which makes us acceptable to God. Peace resulted when the legal claims of divine justice against us for our crimes were removed. Peace resulted in our own hearts when we heard the glad tidings of this acceptance in the gospel. But peace by itself is a limited term – merely an end of enmity, strife, and war – if in God only. When God is at peace with us, and we are at peace with Him, fellowship and friendship results. God’s wrath is terrible against sinners, but His affection and delight is warm to the righteous.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus' life of obedience for us,
secured our justification legally for us, his resurrection from the dead
sealed the transaction for our eternal redemption. Our faith in the gospel bring the blessed good news to our hearts, which in term bring peace to our conscience before God. The more perfect one's knowledge is, the more perfect his peace will be.
