“…man is justified by faith…” Hebrews 3:28
/Paul transitioned his letter with the words, “But now…” (v.21). Having uncovered the law’s purpose as that which God uses to make one conscience of sin, the idea of a righteousness apart from the law was then introduced. Paul was about to present the greatest truth humanity has ever heard. This righteousness is God’s provision to all who have transgressed the law – and that, Paul stated, is everyone (v.23). God provided a new covenant through Jesus Christ, whereby one is granted good-standing before God by faith in Christ (vv.22&24).
Paul explained God’s provision this way:
“God presented Him (Jesus Christ) as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in His blood. He did this to demonstrate His justice, because in His forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished – 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.” (vv. 25 – 26)
To lean on one’s pedigree, then, bears no merit before a holy and just God. Paul, a Jew’s Jew – schooled under Gamaliel, and a learned Pharisee who exercised enough zeal to hunt down those Jews who confessed their faith in Christ before he himself did so – maintained that one is justified fully before God by one’s faith, not by one’s heredity. He clarified this position with the words, “Is God the God of Jews only? Is HE not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, Who will justify the circumcised (Jews) by faith, and the uncircumcised (Gentiles, non-Jews) through that same faith. Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.”
Paul was not disposing of The Law’s value or function, and maintained, instead, that God’s Word should be held up before the world to work-out its purpose by God’s divine power. By inspiring Paul to present this argument, God reflects his perfect justice – where He is both judge and justifier: God upholds His own law by punishing sin, and demonstrates love to the sinner through the blood shed by Jesus, Who fulfilled the requirements of the law’s demand through His own sacrificial death.
We find, then, that both the absolute and relative attributes of God are manifested through His love. God is love, an absolute attribute of God’s character (1 John 4:8); God relates to us by His divine expressions of love through mercy and grace. In His mercy, God does not give us what we deserve (death and hell); and in His grace, God bestows that which we do not deserve (salvation, the hope of Heaven, and all the blessings of living we have each day).
Thank God for this indescribable gift found in Jesus Christ!
Have a blessed day…