Justified by His Grace as a Gift

Justified by His Grace as a Gift | Romans 3:23-24 | Ian Goodman
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus
These verses are so precious and should occupy a privileged place in a Christian’s life and theology. Like the sun in our theological solar system, these verses give us light and life and warmth.
We shall consider four major phrases in these verses.

All have sinned . . .
This is the great equaliser of all mankind. All have sinned, and that means we have sinned. This needs to be a truth we hold onto. It needs to be part of the Sun that we rotate around. It’s good to think much about our sin, for it will lead us to think much about our Saviour.
. . . and have fallen short of the glory of God…
This phrase helps us to think big thoughts about our sin. Our sin is not ultimately against other human beings or against ourselves, but against the glory of God. Paul says in Rom 1:22-23 “Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.” We do this, in a sense, every time we sin. We exchange the glory of God in our minds for the glory of whatever sin we are tempted by. We exchange the glory of the immortal God for an idol. I believe this is what Paul means when he says “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”
. . . and are justified. . .
What an incredible truth this is. Though we are sinful, yet we are justified! Justification means that God has declared us to be righteous despite the fact that we are not. Justification changes nothing about our moral nature, only our legal status, and that legal status is “not guilty”. Of course after this God also begins to change our moral nature through the process of sanctification, but this process does nothing to change our legal standing before God as justified!
. . . by His grace as a gift
God is not reluctant to justify, but eager! His love is what compelled him to send Christ, and it is by that same love that Christ came. God is abounding in love, and is quick to justify any sinner who repents.
Let this be the sun in the middle of your theological solar system - the light and life and warmth that you revolve around.