23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement,[i] through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
Q71: How is justification an act of God’s free grace?
A71: Although Christ, by His obedience and death, did make a proper, real, and full satisfaction
of God’s justice in the behalf of them that are justified; yet inasmuch as God accepts the
satisfaction from a guarantor, which God might have demanded of them, and did provide this guarantor, His own only Son, imputing Christ’s righteousness to them, and requiring nothing of them
for their justification but faith, which also is his gift, their justification is to them of free grace.
Thoughts: The Larger Catechism gives us a theory on how God's grace pays for our sins.
There are four steps to the free gift of God for our sins:
First Christ's death satisfies God's justice;
Second God needs and accepts someone as a guarantee for His satisfaction;
Third Christ's righteousness has been given to us;
Fourth this righteousness does not need anything added to it- we don't need to be any more righteous than Christ. This giving of Christ's righteousness is a free gift for us.
Prayer: Help me, O Lord, to have a grateful heart for your free gift of salvation.
No comments:
Post a Comment