We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16 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.
Romans 1:17 is the verse that usually gets the credit for Martin Luther’s revelation that there was a problem with the way the church was operating in terms of salvation. These verses are just as important to the history of salvation. The gospel is simple but we love to complicate things. The Pharisees added rules to the Sabbath laws so they changed from a gift of rest to a burden of observing dozens of rules. After John the Baptist and Jesus rebuked them publicly, the church felt left out and began to do the same thing, stressing the sacraments of baptism and communion for justification and requiring penance. The question Luther found the answer to in Romans and Galatians was, “How am I justified? The presence of the word “justified” three times in these two verses tells us the answer is found here. Luther saw that we are justified by faith and the world was never the same again.
Many reading this can remember the day they grasped grace, that God loves us no matter what and we are saved by God’s mercy, not our goodness. Until then, feeling justified was a tricky situation. Without justification by faith, we never know if we have done enough works or been good enough. Did I sin one too many times? Maybe if I do one more good deed…
Not good enough.
Pastor Brad Boyer
Cape Community Church