Chapter 4: Justified as righteous through faith
We are justified as righteous by God through our faith in Jesus. We can not merit or earn justification through our works. In fact in the old testament, King David and Abraham were justified by their faith in God, not by works or anything they did. God “credits” or gives the gift of righteousness by faith and not by works. In essence, what righteousness means can be summed up in this verse: “How happy those whose lawless acts are forgiven and whose sins are covered! How happy the man whom the Lord will never charge with sin.” Romans 4:8 Jesus “was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification”. Romans 4:25
Chapter 5: Faith results in justification which results in our hope and salvation
Remember it is through our faith in Jesus alone that we may be justified. While we were sinners, Jesus died for us so that we may be saved by believing in home. What a great act of love this is! Rarely will someone die even for a so-called good or deserving man, but to die for undeserving sinners, that is true love! To place our faith in anything else is meaningless because it is Jesus who died on the cross for our sins. Being declared righteous should give up peace, even in life’s tough times. This is because we can now receive God’s grace and hope for the future. The Holy Spirit within us, assures of and reminds us not only of God’s love but our future hope. Just as condemnation and death for all resulted from the sin of one man- Adam; the gift of justification and eternal life are available for all through Jesus. Justification means this- salvation, which is eternal life.
Chapter 6: Real life application of our faith
It is true that we can not merit our salvation by works, because it is a gift that we receive through our faith in Jesus’ sacrifice. But that does not mean we should go right on sinning- behaving as if our actions do not matter! When we place our faith in Jesus, and in Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins- we share not only in glory and salvation but in his death as well. Just as Jesus died for our sins, we too should symbolically put to death our former selves- our former ways of behavior. Baptism is used as an analogy for death and rebirth. Therefore when we place our faith in Jesus we are baptized into his death as well as our rebirth into eternal life. We put to death our sinful natures, and take on a new life. Therefore, even if we are not bound by the Laws of the old testament- otherwise known as the old covenant, we should still seek to please God in the spirit of love and willingness rather than as in an obligation or duty.
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