Sola Gratia | Justification and Adoption
Every step towards our salvation comes by the hand of God as an act of grace. Our heart longs to be deserving of the salvation we receive, but this is based in pride and our fleshly desire to be in control of our eternal destiny. Yet, the whole of scripture makes an incredibly clear case. We are saved fully and only by grace through the works of Jesus Christ on the cross. Every turn of salvation comes by the hand of God not our own. Jesus Christ, as our High Priest and Intercessor, provides for our spiritual needs while changing our status for His glory. We cannot forget that from the sins we were strangers and enemies of God, having stood against Him as guilty of crimes against the High King for our sins. Yet, God extends grace to those He predestined. As our salvation comes from grace, we must not think that we earned our salvation, yet, similarly, we must not think that we, as the predestined by God, can do anything to un-earn our salvation from God. Although we are sinners we are justified. Although we are strangers, we are adopted.
Justification: Declared Innocent When Guilty
From the sins of Adam, everyone is dead in our sins and found to be guilty of the law of God. Furthermore, by our actions, we deserve the fullness of the wrath of God poured out on us. Yet, as we step into eternity, what occurs with our legal status s rebellious against the created order and the Great, High King of Heaven? We stand before God, giving an account of our sins and our actions. For those who have come to Jesus Christ in faith, the works of Jesus Christ are applied to us as the propitiation of our sins. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.” (Romans 3:23-25, ESV) Rightfully we could have been declared guilty by our own works, but as we have the works of Christ credited to our account as our own, we are justified. Justification means where we were once dead in our sin and guilty against crimes against God, we now have the works of Christ credited to us by the grace of God.
As we are justified, God never remitted or omitted His righteousness from His personhood. The works of Christ maintain the holiness of God while imputing the righteousness of Christ upon us. We are justified in that we are declared to be innocent and our debts paid even through no merit of our own. This justification allows us to live as free people, no longer under the burdens and constrains of sin but free to live according to the will of God. Our unregenerate flesh rebels against the nature of God, but now, having been forgiven of our sins and justified from our guilt, God grants us the redemption of our flesh. We were dead and now we live by the grace of God through the forgiveness of our sins.
Adoption: Declared Sons when Strangers
If God had only paid the penalty of our sin, it would have been more than enough already. But God, desiring to pour out His love and affection on us through giving us life (also as a means of grace) sought us beyond a legality of innocence or guilt to bring us to Himself as dearly beloved family. As we identify with Jesus Christ in His death, burial and resurrection, we become children of God, adopted into the family. “‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.” (Ephesians 1:3-5, ESV, emphasis added) Adoption means we have been given, by grace, the right to be called children of God instead of strangers and enemies of God, as we once lived.
Being adopted is an act of grace as an unmerited favor from God, which he predestined in advance for us. We are all God’s creation, made in the image of God, but we are not all God’s children. Being adopted into the family of God comes to those whom God chooses according to His good and perfect will. Our salvation comes as an act of grace to be declared sons of God rather than strangers and enemies. Now, we share in the inheritance of eternity with Jesus Christ. We will one day rule in eternity with Jesus Christ, having been predestined to join the family of God together. We cannot underestimate the role of grace. We do not earn our salvation. Our predestination comes from the will and mind of God. Being justified and adopted expresses as an act of grace from God. Every step in the salvific process originates from our Lord and Savior who desires that we should return to Him. When we share the good news and gospel that we are no longer enemies of God, but heirs and co-heirs with Jesus Christ by His works, we stress that no one could earn it yet it is given all the same. “‘For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9, ESV)
