Justification By Faith Brings Us To Newness Of Life

If the only true justification available to a human being is a faith justification (that is what I wrote about yesterday) then the only true walk is a resurrection walk...

"...And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness," - Romans 4:5 ESV

"We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his." - Romans 6:4-5 ESV

Romans is building a case for us. It is a very legal and mechanical book. A religious person is convinced that what they do makes them acceptable to God but this book reproves them.

We must die with Christ in order to be raise with Him and any hope of self-righteousness must die with us. Once dead we can be raised and walk with God in newness of life.

All of humanity has died with Christ. He became a man to represent all men.The moment we believed the gift was placed on our account.

"For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus." - Romans 6:7-11 ESV

This translation says 'you also must consider' but the KJV says 'reckon yourselves' and I like that better. Reckon makes it sound like a math problem and that is just what it is. We remove our self and add Christ.

We have a God who will only justify those that say, 'I won't justify myself. Instead of doing that I will reckon myself dead with Christ and let God justify me by His power.'

Can we shift from a, 'You are Good therefore I like you.' mentality to a, 'God has justified the ungodly.' one? It will take dying to self but it will mean that we can be raised in newness of life.

God. Please help us to think like you do. We want to live in a justification that comes by faith and not by performance. Quicken us by your Spirit. Raise us from the grave of our old way of thinking and into the newness of grace thinking. Thank You God. Thank You.

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