justified by faith

791. Paul’s Proclamation: God Justifies the Ungodly – by Blood

January 24, 2021 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

Paul repeatedly makes the case in his letters for the gospel of grace, opposing a works-based gospel for justification. This week, we’re in Romans, where Paul explained that believers now have peace with God. Why? Because we’ve changed our behavior in order to make ourselves acceptable? No, that road will leave people disoriented and confused, unsure of where they stand with God. We have peace because we’ve been justified by faith through the Lord Jesus Christ—He is the only door by which we enter. Faith. Not works.

Christ died for people at their weakest point and demonstrated His love by dying for the ungodly, bringing justification by His blood and reconciling us to Himself, saved from His wrath and saved by His life. The good news of this grace is what motivated Paul to encourage believers with this hope … and went against nearly all of the other religious messages to which they had been exposed. Now that we’re under grace and not a works-based religious system, we have a new motivation and purpose for producing good works.

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790. Paul’s Proclamation: Justified by Faith, Apart From Works

January 17, 2021 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

Many of the early Jewish church leaders were teaching a different gospel than what the Apostle Paul would deliver after he was taught for several years—not by man—but by revelation from God. It seemed to be a natural assumption by many in the Jewish community of believers to “mix” the old law with faith in Jesus in order to attain a place of righteousness and justification. Paul would declare over and over that the old law of commands was brought to an end and replaced with faith (in Christ) apart from works.

We’ve recently spent many weeks in a series about Paul and James, highlighting the struggles in the early church and how Paul was battling to free people from a perverted gospel being communicated to both Jew and Gentile. Now we’ll be looking at some of Paul’s letters and passages which specifically make the case for salvation and right standing with God, received as a gift, apart from the works of the law inside of a new and better covenant. The “work” was performed by Jesus and His blood sealed the deal.

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781. Paul and James: The Elephant in the Bible Room

November 15, 2020 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

Christian theologians have always been concerned about the elephant in the room – the quandary or controversy regarding what appear to be conflicting statements by Paul and James about justification, salvation and righteousness. This week, we continue looking at the apparent differences or viewpoints between them and how it does not take away from the truth within the Bible as a whole or Jesus as King of kings and Lord of lords. Interestingly, both men use Abraham as the example to make their case (examples in Romans 4 and James 2). They both quote Genesis 15:6 about how Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness.

Paul dives into a much longer explanation, using the context that Abraham was declared righteous by faith before any work was performed, including circumcision … when he believed God would provide a child. Whereas James jumps out of context to when Isaac was taken to the altar. If one is going to tout a mixture of faith plus works when it comes to salvation, those who hold to James’ view will need to be much more specific on exactly what type of works or action is needed to maintain their justification. That ingredient is always missing, leaving people in doubt and fear instead of peace.

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780. Faith, Works and Justification: Did Paul and James Disagree?

November 8, 2020 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

We’ve all seen it. Time and time again, Paul declared the gospel is based upon justification gifted freely by faith, through the blood of Jesus, apart from works. James said something that appears to be quite the opposite. Bible teachers will fear such a contradiction diminishes the validity of the written pages and therefore, may affect the credibility of the entire Bible and bring doubt to the truth of Jesus Christ.

Teachers and ministers begin to feel the need to try and explain that there was no disagreement between the two, and that their views simply complimented each other … as both legalistic and grace teachers put their spin on trying to assure people that Paul and James were in perfect harmony. Both guys use Abraham to make their case for justification but even their context from the Old Testament is different. We attempt to bring a different perspective in considering they were not in agreement at all, and yet it takes nothing away from the truth of Jesus.