Question 61: Why do you say that I can be justified before God only by faith?

Question 61: Why do you say that I can be justified before God only by faith?


Answer: God does not accept me because of any value in my faith. It is only because of the atonement, righteousness, and holiness of Christ that I am made righteous before God. The only way to make Christ's righteousness mine is through faith.


Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.


Philippians 3:7-9 “But whatever things were to my gain, those I counted loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have suffered the loss of all things. I count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness from God that depends on faith.”


Faith is different from self-confidence. However, the faith of many churchgoers today is based on self-confidence. Faith is not self-confidence, but comes from Jesus.


Galatians 3:23 says, "Before faith came, we were kept under the law, kept in custody until faith would be revealed." Faith comes from God to those who repent. Therefore, it is believing that we will enter into Jesus Christ on the cross. This alone is salvation.


Therefore, to attain salvation and God's righteousness through faith, we must first understand what faith is. Faith must be demonstrated through obedience to God's promises.


When Jesus asked Peter, "Who do you say I am?", he answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of God," omitting the word "Lord." He then said, "This is not something you know, but something my Father has revealed to you." Peter never doubted that Jesus was the Son of God, but Jesus was not Lord to him. This was revealed three and a half years later, when Jesus was on the cross. Before that, Jesus had said, "All of you, abandon me," but the disciples refused. When Peter insisted, Jesus replied, "You will deny me three times until the rooster crows three times."


Abraham, too, was 75 years old when he heard God's voice, telling him to leave his homeland, his relatives, and his father's house and go to the land He would show him. This tells us that leaving home did not mean complete obedience to God's command. God was not Abram's Lord. It took 25 years for him to completely obey and become as good as dead.


Today, even those who claim to believe in Jesus and possess extensive knowledge of the Bible often fail to grasp what is actually being said to them. When believers live lives where Jesus is not Lord, they are like the disciples who abandoned Jesus.


The disciples experienced more miracles and astonishing experiences than those in today's churches, yet they all abandoned Jesus on the cross. If they fail to understand what the Word says to believers, they have never repented and are not in Christ.


The Jesus I believe in and believe in is different from the Jesus I repented after realizing what the Bible tells me, denying myself, and believing in. While believers can believe in Jesus and share that Jesus with others, a life of union with Him is a different matter. A life of union with Jesus is a life where He dwells within the believer's heart, becoming their master, walking with Him, conversing with Him, and living together—that is faith.


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