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Justification by Faith

Justification by Faith

Scripture tells us that “the just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17 NKJV).

But who are the just? And how does one become just?

The just are those who have been justified—but what does it mean to be justified?

What law lens do you read this word through: human law—imposed rules that require external oversight and inflicted punishment, or design law—the protocols upon which our Creator built reality to operate (such as the laws of health and physics)?

Seeing God as Creator, we understand that His laws are the laws upon which reality is built and that violations of God’s law injure and destroy, ultimately resulting in death unless the Creator intervenes to heal and restore—that is, to set right, which is what justification actually means: setting right that which is not right.

But if one operates under the human definition of law—imposed rules, made-up mandates—then one thinks that justice requires the sovereign to use power to police and enforce the law through inflicted punishment. In this view, justification is not about healing, restoration, or setting hearts and minds right; it is about a legal adjustment.

Bad Assumption, Wrong Conclusion

Many theologians suggest that the word justification in Christianity refers to a legal process because the word itself is part of a set of legal words—it is legal language, they say.

Some problems with this view are:

  • The word justification does not exist in the original Bible text.
  • The Bible was not written in English or Latin.

Instead, justification was a word used by sincere but biased translators who, when they translated, did so from a Roman legal worldview. In other words, the translators, having come from a Roman background, had accepted the lie that God’s law functions no differently than human law.

In short, they artificially introduced legal language and ideas.

But even using the word justify, the idea that it has only a legal connotation is false. Justify also has non-legal meanings:

  • To justify the margins in your document is not a legal act; instead, it is a moving or setting what is not in-line to being in-line.
  • And justify can also mean to show, demonstrate, or prove an action, position, person, or claim to be right.

If one views the Bible through a human-law lens, then one assigns a legal definition to the word justification and, therefore, teaches that spiritual justification is being legally declared to be righteous even though one is not righteous. It creates a legal fiction in which God is portrayed as declaring something true that is, in fact, not true.

But when we reject the false human-law construct and embrace design law and return to worshiping God as Creator, we understand that justification in the Bible is both setting right that which is wrong (making sinners into saints) and demonstrating the righteousness of God in the person of Jesus Christ.

The Bible Demonstrates Justification

In Romans 3:25, 26, the apostle Paul describes both the demonstration aspect of justification and the putting right what is wrong aspect of justification:

God offered him, so that by his blood he should become the means by which people’s sins are forgiven through their faith in him. God did this in order to demonstrate that he is righteous. In the past he was patient and overlooked people’s sins; but in the present time he deals with their sins, in order to demonstrate his righteousness. In this way God shows that he himself is righteous and that he puts right everyone who believes in Jesus (GNT, emphasis mine).

Justification is part of the process of saving sinners from sin. Therefore, in order to accurately understand what justification is, we must accurately understand what the problem is. In other words, we must first diagnose what is actually wrong before trying to describe God’s treatment plan.

If we accept the lie that God’s law is like human law, then we believe that the problem created by Adam and Eve when they sinned was legal trouble—that they now stood under legal condemnation for breaking the law of God. And that God, being both perfectly holy and sovereign, was required by His law and holiness to inflict appropriate punishment for their sin. If God were to remit this punishment, it is claimed, then God is not just and His law is void. Thus, in the legal view, justice requires God to inflict the death penalty for sin. But, it is argued, there is good news: God sent His sinless Son and executed Him in our place (even though He was innocent) and we can now claim the blood of this sinless human sacrifice to be applied to our legal registry in heaven. In so doing, God is required by law to declare us to be legally righteous, even though we are still unrighteous in heart, mind, and character.

Not only does such a view misrepresent God’s law, but it also perverts the divine character as it would make God a liar—declaring humans to be righteous who are not—and would make God out to be the source of death. In such a warped view, God needs something done to Him (appeasement by sacrifice) so that He won’t use His power to kill us.

When we reject the lie that God’s law functions like human law and return to worshiping the Creator whose laws are the design protocols for life, we realize that when Adam and Eve sinned, they did not somehow remain loyal, faithful, trustworthy beings who were suddenly in legal trouble. Instead, we understand reality, that their sin changed them. Love and trust were displaced in their hearts by fear and selfishness, which became their new motives. They were damaged in their inmost beings and were now “dead in trespass and sin” (Ephesians 2:1). In other words, they had a terminal condition. As the Bible says, “sin when full grown brings forth death” (James 1:15). Without God intervening to cure this condition, all humans would die because all humans are “born in sin conceived in iniquity” (Psalm 51:5).

Understanding that sin changes the sinner—corrupts the mind, incites fear and selfishness, warps character, takes us out of harmony with God and the holiness of heaven—then what do sinners actually need in order to be right with God?

  • A new legal record?
  • A judicial ruling?
  • A blood payment to a punishing deity?
  • A legal declaration?
  • Or do they need a new heart and a right spirit?

Scripture is clear on what is needed:

  • “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10 NIV84).
  • “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 11:19 NIV84).
  • “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts” (Hebrews 8:10 NIV84).
  • “A man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code” (Romans 2:29 NIV84).

All the descriptions of Scripture are the same: The plan of salvation is God’s work in sinners to transform their hearts and minds to set them right by restoring God’s law of love into them and eradicating fear and selfishness from their characters. As we find in Romans 2:29, it is a heart work not a legal (written code) work.

The Bible describes our sinful heart and mind as being hostile to God:

“The sinful mind is hostile to God” (Romans 8:7 NIV84).

Another version puts it this way: “The carnal mind is enmity against God” (NKJV).

We, in our unconverted, sinful state, distrust God and are hostile to Him. Our hearts are not in harmony with His. We don’t love what God loves. We don’t think how He designed us to think. We don’t function as God intends us to function. We are fearful and selfish. We need to be put right, set right, justified in heart, mind, attitude to trust God. This is what justification is—changing the heart of a being who distrusts into one who trusts, setting right the heart with God.

Justification Illustrated

Abraham, as the rest of us, was “born in sin and conceived in iniquity.” He was a sinner tempted by fear and selfishness and acted, on multiple occasions, to deceive others in such a manner as to put his wife in harm’s way, all in order to save himself. But Abraham experienced a change—not a legal change, but an actual change. He went from a person who didn’t trust God and did things his own way to a person who did trust God and followed God’s directions. In other words, Abraham experienced an actual change of heart motive; his heart was set right with God. This is justification.

And once Abraham trusted Him, God—who is the Creator God of reality and not fantasy—recognized the new state of being in Abraham, that he was justified, actually right in heart with God (Romans 4:1–3).

God did not declare Abraham righteous when Abraham still distrusted God, but He did recognize the reality that Abraham’s heart had changed from distrust to trust. And once a sinner genuinely trusts God, opening their hearts to Him, God heals and restores them, writing His law upon their heart and mind.

This is the justification of the individual sinner with God. But this justification—the setting of an individual heart and mind right with God—is possible only because Jesus first became our substitute, the second Adam, and overcame sin in our stead, setting the human species right with God.

When Adam sinned, not only was he as an individual out of harmony with God (at enmity with God), but the entire species was also out of harmony—because every human is descended from Adam and born infected with fear and selfishness. After Adam and before Jesus, there were no sinless human beings—none. Jesus became human to remedy that situation, to become the connecting link to heaven, the one human being in which God’s design law of life was perfectly lived out, thereby restoring harmony with God’s design law into the human family.

In so doing, Jesus became the new head of a renewed and cleansed humanity—our second Adam.

In the person of Jesus Christ, the species human was justified—set right, put right—with God. He became human and was tempted in all points just like we are, yet He was without sin (Hebrews 4:15). In the human life experience of Jesus, He accomplished something real, something no other human could, something objective: He developed with the use of only His human abilities a perfect, sinless human character, thereby restoring God’s design law of love back into the species human. In the person of Jesus, the human race was put right with God—we were justified.

Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him (Hebrews 5:8, 9 NIV84).

Wait … wasn’t Jesus always perfect?

He was always sinless, yes, but Bible perfection means maturity of character and character cannot be created, it must be developed by the choices of the sentient being. Jesus developed, as a human, a perfect, mature sinless character, restoring God’s law of love into the species human. In so doing, He as our substitute set the species human right with God; i.e., He justified the species and became our remedy to sin, the source of salvation for all who follow Him.

When we are won to trust, we open the heart and receive the indwelling Spirit, who takes the character of Christ and reproduces it in us, such that “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20 NIV84). This is true biblical justification.

As Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV84).

Genuine justification is not a matter of legal forgiveness; it is the actual work of God through Christ to set us right in heart, mind, attitude, and character—to be united, at-one with God.

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Testimony 28

I have been following your Bible study class for about a year now. I must say I am impressed with how your ministry has grown. I took it upon myself to listen to all your lesson podcasts from the past and they have both enriched me physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. I have learnt a lot from this class. I have also noticed how the class has grown in spiritual strength. One of the things that benefited me is that now I am not afraid of God. I use to be, but now it has melted away. The second thing is that you helped me to have a real life relationship with God. Now He is my friend that was always there and I love having him with me all the time. Thirdly, because of this class, it inspired me to take over and lead a class. I have called it “Let Us Reason Together,” adapting your inquisitive style and creating a class of free thinkers.

T. Banda, Malawi, Africa

 

Testimony 34

I was introduced to Come and Reason Ministries by accident, via a passing comment made in a bible study class we were visiting. I checked this website out and my life was changed. The understanding of the truth of God’s character, and how we apply it, is so right. The tricky part is consistently applying which “lens” to look through. As I began to understand, I started sharing the basics of this understanding with a discussion group I was leading and, suddenly, a lot of things started to make sense that never used to. At the same time, I enjoyed an amazing opportunity. I was able to conduct a full bible study at WORK! What an amazing experience! It is such a joy to share the truth about God and to share how it all fits in the war between God and Satan. So many people benefit when we have a correct understanding about how God works and who He really is! Thank you for this transformational understanding. Keep up the good work! God Bless you!

Tony P., CA, USA

 

Testimony 27

Your teachings about our heavenly Father have changed my life. Thank you sooooooo very very much! I know He’s doing some serious healing in my heart and life and I look forward to each new day to learn something new about Him and to just hear you speak about Him. Thank you, forever.

Nancy S.

 

Testimony 26

Your teachings about our heavenly Father have changed my life. Thank you sooooooo very very much! I know He’s doing some serious healing in my heart and life and I look forward to each new day to learn something new about Him and to just hear you speak about Him. Thank you, forever.

Nancy S.

 

Testimony 66

I am incredibly grateful for the transformative impact you’ve had on my life, and words cannot fully express my appreciation. Over the years, I have been an avid listener and follower of C&R and extend my heartfelt thanks for creating the C&R mobile app. It has allowed me to immerse myself in your lessons repeatedly, enabling me to grasp the profound significance about the Character of God, Design Law, the protocols for life, the reasons behind the current chaos, and Christ’s mission to restore everything. They have deeply touched me. Having studied with various churches, I came away with the perception that God is no different from the deities of ancient Greek or Roman mythology—demanding sacrifices and taking pleasure in bloodshed. Thanks to your transformative teachings, I have experienced a profound awakening to the true nature of God and the immense power of His love. It is truly a remarkable and liberating sensation to finally grasp the truth and embrace the empowering nature of God’s laws. My self-perception has become brighter and more infused with love. My journey of growth continues on a daily basis.

Chris P., Lake Mary, FL, USA

 

Testimony 14

We really appreciate your views on the judgment and they make good sense considering our free choice.

Anonymous

 

Testimony 59

I’m a native Ghanan, but am currently in France for my master’s degree. Prior to this, during my final years at undergraduate studies in Ghana, I was introduced to your ministry and I’ve been immensely blessed by what you share, especially about the Design and Imposed Laws. God richly bless you for that.

One of the first things I did when I arrived in France was to buy all four of your books. They not only helped me, but those I shared them with. I shared the message with an atheist student and I marveled at how God worked mightily in his life. Today this person shares the Love of God with others and debunks theories of who God is not. I want to share what you present in your “Heavenly Sanctuary and Investigative Judgment” pamphlet, because the message brought rest to my soul and I live today as a healthy person.

God bless you so much and your ministry.

Michael A., Ghana

 

Testimony 35

I am so pleased with the response your message is receiving at my church from the middle-aged to the young adults. I have given out 100 copies of the first two seminars and there are more request every week. One of my [class members] came to me after viewing the series, grateful and impressed with how easy the message was retained. He had been a Seventh-day Adventist in fear all his life, and felt like the scales were removed from his eyes after viewing the seminars. I am so impressed by the change I see in members who have received this message, we are in one accord. However, I am sadden by the negative response of the older people. I am verbally attacked anytime I talk about imposed laws, but I believe my mission is to enlightened everyone I can. I watch your Bible Study Class on YouTube every Friday night and I feel like I am apart of the class. All of you are in one accord and I am so blessed to have found you. I pray that all of you continue to spread this message and I am committed to doing my part.

Clara S., Westfield, MA, USA

 

Testimony 43

Two years ago I stumbled upon your book, “Could It Be This Simple,” and then found “The God-Shaped Brain” videos on YouTube, your bible study class, and the ‘Come And Reason’ mobile app. I shared your book with a friend and after nine months of showing love, patience, and kindness this person has been changed by the love of God, too. The same love that healed me, I now express to other women in tangible ways, such as to a Baptist woman with high anxiety and childhood trauma. She was extremely happy and relieved when I shared about the so-called “judgment of God” and burning in hell. She had no desire to serve a God that was so harsh. I have repeated the phrase dozens of times to her. “What we believe has power over us, but we have power over what we believe…”

This message that you are sharing has changed my life. I will continue to serve other women and bring this message of God’s healing love to their lives by sharing your books, YouTube videos, and The Remedy Bible app. Keep up the good work. Don’t be discouraged. God is doing a mighty work in and through this ministry!

Jill L., Midwest, USA

 

Testimony 37

Hearing Dr. Jennings’ presentations in person came at a pivotal moment in my spiritual journey that began about nine months ago, when the fault lines inherent in my belief system began to crack under questions that most reasonable people end up asking about God and His nature. These were questions I couldn’t find answers to, and they shook my faith. I was unable let it go any longer and be satisfied. My Christian experience became distant. I was afraid; the fear in me rose like thorns, pushing me away from Jesus. And then someone heard my questions and introduced me to this ministry, and my life has totally changed.

I can tell you that this new, “present truth” message is far grander and life-changing than when I shifted from being an agnostic and then a nominal Christian. It has radically altered my worldview, because it reveals a God that makes sense. It is a revolution. I believe that Dr. Jennings’ message is the final message that must go to the world. If any message could be called “righteousness by faith,” as abused as that term is by the right and the left, this is that message, because Jennings’ biblical message identifies a God who is different, whose character isn’t an impossible contradiction.

I walk this path now without fear. I see people differently, and the Holy Spirit burns in my heart. Many call Dr. Jennings’ message false and compromising, but it isn’t false, because I’ve seen the fruits within my mind and body. It is not compromising, because in this message is the only road to holiness that makes any sense. No longer do I behold a pagan god who is always angry and suspicious. Instead, I behold a God who is freeing and loving, always working for our good, and giving me every reason to love my enemy even to my own death, just as Jesus pleads with us. God is good.

Anthony L., CA, USA

 

Testimony 2

I continue to enjoy your lessons every week. The more that I research your conclusions, the more I am convinced that the Holy Spirit has lead you to distill out the essence of human redemption. Thank you for your courageous stand for the truth.

S. G., TX, USA

 

Testimony 61

I grew up in a prominent protestant church and had what I like to call religious anxiety. I’ve always had questions about God and Salvation that no one could seem to answer.  I didn’t know how to find resolution. During 2020, at the height of my anxiety, I fell to my knees and begged God to show me truth and light and to give me the hope that I’ve been longing for. Days later, I stumbled upon your online videos and it was like a veil was lifted and EVERYTHING made sense! For the first time in my almost 39 years of life, my religious/spiritual anxiety has lessened. I feel a sense of freedom and peace I’ve NEVER had before… and it’s all because my view of God has changed. Thank you!

Ashleighn C.

 

Testimony 23

I would just like to add my voice to the many people who, I believe, must have contacted you to express their appreciation for the “Healing the Mind” DVDs. I’ve been listening to your Bible study class discussions for many years and I’ve been personally blessed by your research and teaching about the character of God.

L. G., Oakland, MI, USA

 

Testimony 53

I was so blessed by a friend who gave me your book, “The God Shaped Brain,” while I was sitting in church asking God to please help me learn more about Him and help me not to be so confused and scared. That was about 2 years ago. Your books have helped me to love God even more. I’m not confused or scared anymore! I have listened to all of your bible study classes and feel like I know the wonderful people that attend every week. Thank you for all that you’re doing in spreading the true message about God and His law of love. God bless you and your whole class.

Elssy P., Modesto, CA, USA

 

Testimony 58

I have been watching your videos in The Power of Love seminar and I must say these have liberated me and have improved my relationship with the Lord. I am no longer terrified of him as I was before following your teachings.

Thando N., South Africa