Larger Catechism – Day 33 of Lent
Question 71: How
is justification an act of God’s free grace?
Answer: By his obedience and death Christ made the correct, real, and
full satisfaction to God’s justice on behalf of those who are justified. Yet,
insofar as this satisfaction is accepted by God as a guarantee of performance,
which he might have demanded from the justified, and since God himself provided
a guarantor in the person of his only Son, in justification God imputes righteousness
to the justified and requires nothing from them in return except faith, which
they also have as a gift from him. Consequently, justification comes to the
justified as an act of God’s free grace.
The Oxford Online Dictionary defines gift as “a thing given
willingly to someone without payment; a present.” A gift can be given on a birthday, at
Christmas, on an anniversary or any time that a person or group decides to do
it. Tonight, Evergreen Church is giving
a gift to our community – a free spaghetti dinner. We are giving the “gift” because we feel God
is calling us to do it. We are not
asking anything of the people who attend.
Our community did nothing to “earn” the dinner. The dinner is our free gift to our community
God provided a gift to this world in Jesus to satisfy the debt
owed for our sins. God gave the gift of
justification because he wanted to and because he loves us. There is nothing we can do to earn or deserve
God’s gift in Jesus.
God provided a gift to the world in that he gives us the faith
to receive the gift found only in Jesus.
The justification offered to us in Jesus is a free gift that must be
accepted by faith; yet, due to our sinfulness we do not even have the ability
to have that amount of faith. If we were
able to have the faith to receive Jesus by our own doing then one could say we
have done something to earn or deserve God’s grace. Thankfully, God gives us the faith to receive
Jesus.
God provides the gift of justification found in Jesus. God provides the faith for us to receive that
free gift. Thus, we are justified by God’s
free grace.
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