Rev. Slopsema is pastor of Hope Protestant Reformed Church in Walker, Michigan.

Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

Romans 3:28

Man is justified by faith alone, without works!

Martin Luther’s rediscovery of this precious truth sparked the great Protestant Reformation of the 16th century.

This truth is stated most concisely by the apostle Paul in his epistle to the church of Rome. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.”

The great apostle is drawing a conclusion. In the preceding verses Paul demonstrates that no one shall be justified in God’s sight by the works of the law. Rather, by the law is the knowledge of sin. Paul adds that the law bore witness to a righteousness that God would provide for His own without the law but by faith alone. This righteousness God has provided through the blood of Jesus Christ.

Now Paul sums this all up in one grand conclusion: “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.”

Justification places us in God’s courtroom.

God is our Judge, Who judges our lives every day according to His holy law. As Judge, God gives either of two verdicts. He either declares us righteous, or He declares us guilty. Should we appear before God as sinners, God declares that we are guilty. Should we appear before God with so much as even one sin, God will find us guilty. And remember that God knows and sees all, even the secrets of our heart. On the other hand, should we appear before God without sin, in perfect obedience to His law, God will declare us to be righteous. For righteousness has the idea of obedience to the law.

Justification means that God declares us righteous before Him. And how important this justification is! For God is a righteous God, Whose eyes are too pure to behold sin. Should, therefore, God find us guilty, even if it is only of one sin, He will damn us to eternal ruin under His wrath. God’s blessing and favor are reserved for those only who are righteous in His judgment.

A most important question pushes itself to the fore.

We are sinners all! How, then, can we be justified by God?

The answer is very beautiful. God has provided for His own a righteousness in Jesus Christ.

According to the apostle Paul this righteousness was spoken of both by the law and by the prophets of the Old Testament. This righteousness consists, first of all, of payment for sin. We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. For us to appear righteous before God, payment must be made for all our sins. Jesus Christ has made this payment by taking our sins upon Himself and bearing the punishment of sin in the form of God’s eternal wrath. This Jesus did all His life on the earth, but especially on the cross. This payment of sin is our righteousness before God.

But there is more.

God’s law lays many obligations and duties upon us. In our sin we have failed to meet these divine obligations. Nor can we be righteous before God until every obligation of the law is met and we appear as those who have kept all obedience to the law. It is not enough, therefore, that Jesus merely pay for our sins. If we will be righteous before God, Jesus must also keep the law for us. This too He has done. Through all of His inexpressible sufferings on our behalf He also walked in perfect love and obedience to the Father, fulfilling every obligation of the divine law.

This is the righteousness of God of which Scripture so often speaks. It is a righteousness prepared by God for His own in Jesus Christ. If we will be justified by God, we must stand in God’s courtroom with this righteousness.

The righteousness of God in Jesus Christ becomes ours by faith.

Faith is our spiritual connection to Jesus Christ. As a branch is one with the tree from which it grows, so we become one with Jesus Christ by faith.

This is due to the character of faith. Faith is clinging to Jesus Christ, a relying upon Him for all things. Faith also relies upon Jesus Christ to be righteous before God. For when the believer falls into sin, his faith leads him, first, to confess his sins before God in true sorrow and repentance. But his faith also leads him to cling to the righteousness of the cross. His prayer is that God will forgive him and receive him back on the basis of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.

Through this faith we are justified.

In the next chapter of this epistle to the Romans the apostle Paul points out that God counted the faith of Abraham as righteousness. Abraham also clung by faith to the works of Christ as they were promised in the Old Testament. When God saw the faith of Abraham, He accounted the righteousness of Christ to be Abraham’s righteousness, so that Abraham, even though a sinner, appeared righteous before Him.

In like manner does God count the faith of every believer as righteousness. The righteousness of Christ becomes ours through faith so that we are justified.

Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith.

But let us hasten to add that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law!

There were certain Jews (Judaizing teachers) in the church of Paul’s day, who claimed that the righteousness of Jesus Christ is not sufficient for justification. If a man will be justified, he must, in addition to having Jesus’ righteousness, present God with a righteousness of his own. This righteousness consists of the deeds or works of the law. We must observe the Mosaic laws, said these Judaizing teachers, especially the rite of circumcision. This is part of our righteousness before God. A man is justified by faith in Christ and the deeds of the law.

Not so, says the apostle Paul. The purpose of the law is not to work righteousness before God. The purpose of the law is to show to us our sin and our need for Christ’s righteousness. By the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. We are justified by faith alone, without the works of the law. The righteousness of Christ is perfect, lacking nothing. To it nothing need be or can be added.

Over the course of history the error of the Judaizing teachers crept into the church again. In fact, it took hold of the Roman Catholic church. The church of Rome has taught for centuries that the work of Christ alone is not sufficient for one to be righteous before God. To the work of Jesus one must add his own works. These works are prescribed by the church. They consist primarily in the reciting of the rosary, fasting, pilgrimages, and various services performed for the church.

In this system Martin Luther grew up and labored, seeking justification with God. But he found neither justification nor peace with God. The more he sought to establish his own righteousness according to the prescription of the church, the more he became convinced that he stood as a guilty, damnable sinner before God.

It was not until he rediscovered the great truth that we are justified by faith alone, without the works of the law, that Martin Luther found justification with his God and the peace for which he so desperately sought.

Let us, as children of the Reformation, embrace with all our hearts this glorious truth of the Reformation.

Man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.