(This is from the 1st rough draft from my systematic theology book, and so likely to have some future changes)
Justification like healing is overengineered in the gospel, not because God did not know what He was doing and went too far, but He did this for our sakes. He did this to assure us of our benefits in Christ; He did this to help our faith. The reason God swore by Himself, when He did not need to, was done for our benefit so that we “would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.” (Heb 10:18)
Isaiah 53:4-5 says that Jesus carried our sickness away from us as a substitute. The word for carried is the Levitical word for the escape goat on the day of atonement in Leviticus 16. The sins of the people were transferred off the people onto the goat and then the goat carried the sins with it outside the camp. This is the word used in Isaiah 53 for Jesus carrying off our sicknesses. Then in the next verse it says that by Jesus’ stripes we are healed. This is again substitution. Thus, here are 2 different ways in which our sicknesses were removed from us in the atonement.
However, there is a 3rd way. In Galatians 3 Paul tells us that Jesus became a curse for us in our place so that in substitutionary exchange we receive the blessing of Abrham. The curses of the law, as stated in Deut. 28, includes all sicknesses. And so we have 3 different ways that Jesus removed sickness off of us, in the atonement, so that we are healed and healthy.
This is like Jesus and the feeding of the 4 and 5 thousand. Why was there so many extra baskets left over? God is an extravagant giver. Paul says in Ephesians that He answers our prayers exceedingly, abundantly and beyond all that we ask and think. This is how God is. God overengineered our healing in the atonement excessively and beyond what was needed, to help our faith to be absolute and unwavering. With 3 ways to ask for healing based on the atonement, even if one way seemed iffy, there are still 2 others for your faith to grab on to, allowing you to receive healing by faith. This is healing on the demand of faith that our sicknesses were already removed from us in Jesus’ atonement. This is by faith in a promise, not a “gift.”
As a side note, this is why Churches and pastors who do not heal the sick and who teach against healing on the demand of faith, are false teachers. With this one heresy they trample the blood of Jesus 3 times. There is no excuse for not teaching and being regular practitioners of healing.
There is also a 4th way that healing is in the atonement that is the “gift of healing,” that comes from gifts of the Spirit, when one is empowered by the baptism of the Spirit. Peter in Acts two says this outpouring of power was a promise of Father given to the Son when He sat at His right hand. Thus, it is tied into the gospel of Jesus. The bible gives this aspect the least amount of time and attention. Most of the attention the bible gives for healing, is faith in a simple promise or understanding in God’s word.
The same is with justification, or God declaring us righteous. God overengineered our justification so that there is no way for any Elect to not know how righteous they are in Christ.
There are 2 main ways we are justified by God. One is separate from the Law of Moses and the other is by the Law. The way the reformation teaches this doctrine is distorted by the context of their fight with the Catholic church. It is understandable why they focus on certain aspects and not others in such a context, but it is not how the bible teaches the topic. It is not as if a basic statement of “we are justified by faith alone in Christ alone,” is wrong. There is no way to disagree with such a statement as it is. However, the bible’s teaching on this doctrine is much bigger than a simple statement; for example, in a similar way that “healing by the gift of healing,” is true as far as it goes, but the bible has much more to say about healing and faith and the atonement than a “gift of healing.”
The bible introduces justification, or God declaring someone righteous in His sight, with Abrham. We read this in Genesis and Paul refers to this in Romans 4. God promises only good things to Abraham. This is an understatement. God promises the world, life, riches, fame, glory, supernatural health, military victories and unending children, with God showing the children the same favors. There is nothing about sin or forgiveness. God promises all good things. Abraham says he believes God will do it. And then at this, God declares Abraham righteous in His sight.
The important part of this is that there is no law. The law came 400 years later, as a temporary teaching aid (a temporary contract), to show how sinful we were. The big idea is that Abraham was declared righteous, separate from the law. And this is exactly what Paul says in Romans 3. “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed… David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works,” (Romans 3:21, 4:6 NKJV). One verse mentions “separate from the law, then the other says “apart by works.” Both are true. Then in chapter 4, mentions again that it is not through the Law. “(13)For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.” Thus, God declares people righteous separate from the Law. It is not merely apart from our works, but apart from the law, we are declared righteous. “Apart from works,” we do not earn forgiveness by works we do. “Apart from the Law,” means God gave His righteousness to our account that is not related to the Law of Moses. This is how Abraham received righteousness and this is how we receive it.
However, we are also declared righteous by the Law in another way. What is this way? It is by being forgiven of our sins. The Law contained both sins of omission and commission. We are commanded to avoid things like theft, but we are also commanded to love God and love our neighbors. Thus, when we are forgiven for breaking the laws of the Law, we are forgiven for not having loving God above all things. Some speak of being forgiven as only being made neutral before God, or only at point 0. We have 0 bad works, but also 0 good works. But this is misleading. If you are a human and lived, your record, in regard to the law, is never neutral or at 0. If your record is at 0, then it would be the equivalent to saying you never lived. Furthermore, this could only be true if the Law only had sins of commission and not omission. To be forgiven for not having loved God and our neighbor, is at the same time declared that we have loved God and our neighbors, otherwise we are still law breakers. The “blood” on the Day of Atonement, (which is part of the Law), provided Atonement/ forgiveness (covering over sin) and not 611 positive acts of a foreign righteousness added to the Israelites; accounts. When Ephesians says, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace, (1:7 NKJV), it means to be declared righteous by the Law at the same time. If the law declares you innocent then it declares you as doing good things.
However, the Law was a temporary Contract (Gal. 3:19-25) to get us ready for the gospel of Abrahams’ blessing, given to us in Jesus’ atonement. This is why we read in Colossians 2:14 about the law (or record against us) as being nailed to the cross. The Law was nailed to the cross (as being finished), because it was 400 years after Abraham, as a temporary measure; therefore it had a expiration date. In Jesus we are forgiven of all our lawbreaking, and by this not only is the Law just neutral toward us, but it has declared us righteous. Because the Law is an extension of God, by it declaring us righteous, God declares us righteous.
By the “blood” of Jesus we are forgiven. By the blood of Jesus the Law is fulfilled by us, by us being forgiven. Jesus’ blood forgives us and by this the laws of omission are positive, and by this the law declares us righteous. This is what Romans 5:9 means when it says “justified by His blood.” The blood justifies us when we are forgiven by His blood. You cannot be forgiven, in relation to the Law, without being declared righteous at the same time by the Law. This being justified by the blood and forgiveness is different from being justified “separate (3:21;4:6)” from the law. In both cases we are justified without our works. Jesus’ work of atonement forgives us, apart from anything we do. Likewise when we are justified apart from the Law, it is also without any we do. Both types of justification are worked by Jesus and freely given without works that we have done.
There is still the issue of 2 Corinthians 5:21, where Paul speaks of an “exchange” for our sin for “God’s righteousness.” Since all benefits we have are from Jesus in the gospel, then this righteousness must refer to Jesus and in particular to His righteous acts as a man. Jesus became one of us, for many reasons, and this appears to be one of those reasons; to have a human category exchange of sins for righteousness.
Some teach this credited righteousness is the specific acts of Jesus credited to our accounts, in relation to the Law. Indeed, Jesus was born as a man under the law and came to fulfill the law in obedience as a man. Was this only for His sole benefit when the context is about being one of us to save us and bless us? That would be more than strange. Since the Law already declares us righteous, by simply being forgiven, then in this aspect it is not necessary for Jesus’ righteous acts, line by line, to be credited us in relation to the Law. However the more important parts involve two things. One, we are declared righteous “apart from the law.” The second is that 2 Corinthians 5:21 says we are given/credited with “God’s righteousness.” If the Law is only for humans and human righteousness, then how, according to the Law, is “God’s” righteous given to us? If the Law is God’s commands given to humans, not God, then how can the Law that only deals in human sins and human righteousness declare someone with “God’s” righteousness? The point is that it does not. Yes, God can do whatever He wants, but God does not lie or break promises. God is free to arbitrarily hold a tree accountable for not bearing figs, but it is not based on previous commands given to man. God is still rational and truthful.
Jesus was a human, and as a human obeyed the Law perfectly. This was because our sins were done as humans. He became one of us, to be a final and perfect “escape goat” and “atonement in blood” for us. But regarding His obedience under that Law, it was also done as human. But we are told we are credited with “God’s righteousness,” not merely a human obedience to the Law.
The Law, in the Day of Atonement, allowed for “atonement,” or forgiveness. This is why the blood of bulls and goats cannot truly provide forgiveness, because they were animals not human. Jesus as a human, provided a human atonement, in the category of human forgiveness. This forgiveness is at the same time a justification. Since the Law does not have the category to declare person with God’s righteousness, there needs to be another way. There is a different justification, that came first with Abraham. And this justification includes, not merely a human righteousness, but God’s.
What exactly is “God’s righteousness?” Jesus was human but He also was God. He was the God-man. His mind, even though restricted, was still God’s mind. Thus everything He did still had a God-ness attached to it. So there can be a case made that Jesus’ life obedience was also God’s righteousness. It will be mentioned later, but at least some of Jesus actions were directly tied us being declared righteous. However, since this is separate from the Law, God is free to arbitrarily credit any aspect of His righteousness to us.
One thing to mention is that not all contrasts in the gospel are a one-to-one ratio. Take for example Romans 5. Paul says Adam’s death is credited to us, but in Christ His righteousness is credited to us. If it was one to one, it would be death and life, or sin for righteousness. Thus, the contrast is not a perfect one to one. Second, part of what God does is arbitrary. God does and saves and blesses how He wants, in the specific way He likes the most. And so, our sins were credited to Him in relation to the Law, but we were credited with God’s righteousness separate from the Law.
“…the gracious gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification. For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ…. so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord,” (Romans 5:17, 21 NKJV).
This passage in Romans 5 is not about the Law. It is about us being declared righteous that is separate from the law (3:21). In Adam we were credited with death apart from the Law. Abraham, (and his children) were given righteousness apart from the Law. Then the temporary Law came in to show how sinful we were. Christ’ blood fulfills the Law and forgives us. But His righteousness is credited to us like it was with Abraham, apart from the Law.
On this passage you can at the very least say the righteousness of Jesus given to us includes His righteous behavior in face of His unjust treatment (5:16) of men in His atonement. Some traditions say that Jesus’ righteous acts, every action and thought He did, was credited it our account. This is interesting, but difficult to prove by a strict deduction/application of scripture. As just stated from Romans 5 we can say at the very least Jesus righteous act in facing the atonement is credited to us. However, I have not see a good argument from scripture alone that deduces every act of Jesus was credited to us. With just one act of Jesus credited to us, apart from the law, we can say we have the righteousness of God. Maybe it does include it all, but I will need a valid deduction from scripture to say that it does, not because some person or tradition says it. Some say we need to have all His actions credited to us because we need every part of our record replaced with one of His corresponding righteous acts. The bible does not say this. Also, this is impossible. Not impossible because God lacks power, but a category error impossibility. Jesus was not a father or mother, or a husband or a wife. Therefore, Jesus did not love child, or spouse with righteous acts of a parent or spouse. Thus, anyone who was a parent or spouse cannot have Jesus’ righteous acts of a parent or spouse added to their account. Therefore, no matter what position you take, all must affirm there are some righteous acts of Jesus not credited to our accounts. Thus, I cannot be accused of limiting Jesus imputed righteousness when all must affirm some level of it. The important part is simple, with least one righteous act from Jesus credited to our account, apart from the law, have the righteousness of God.
It is not relevant if it means more, if the point is to say Jesus’ righteousness is credited to us separate from the law, as our sins were credited to Him in relation to the Law. That is, even if Jesus righteousness was done to fulfill the Law as a man, it is credited to us separate from the Law. Since Jesus was still God when He did this, it is not only done by a human, but with a soul of a God, and so in this sense, it is a God type of righteousness. This credited righteousness that is called the “righteousness of God,” qualifies us to reign in life, just as Jesus reigns in life. Romans 4:25 says “who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.” This “for our offenses,” is our forgiveness by the standard of the Law, by His blood that at the same time justifies us. The second part of the verse, “raised for our justification,” is the crediting of God’s righteousness to our account, that is separate from that law.
This second type of justification has the potential to include all sorts of God’s righteousness credited to us, and not merely Jesus’ direct fulfillment of a particular law of Moses. Because this crediting is not directly connected to the law, it means God is able to credit any sort of God’s righteousness to us as He so desires. If this was only by the Law, then you would have to find a specific instance of Jesus that obeyed that law and then credited to Oshea’s record of the Mosaic law. The point made before, is that it does include specific acts of Jesus obeying God, but that it also has no limits to what it can include. By making it only about the law, with “human righteousness,” it has been made too small, to what has been credited to us in Jesus. But the scriptures clearly say it is “separate from the law” we that are made “God’s righteousness,” and so what can potentially be credited to us apart from that Law is without limit. What God can credit to us, in this application, is not limited by the categories of the Law. Potentially (not saying the scripture teach this) if God wanted to credit us with Jesus’ righteousness, done as God, before the incarnation, then it could be possible, because it is not restricted by the Law. Also, in one sense Jesus’ actions in the atonement are about loving God and man (the Law), but some of these actions are directly about Jesus loving the Father to do this before the incarnation and then fulfilled on earth. Both acts of obedience, theoretically, could be credited to us apart from the Law. These actions are God’s righteousness. In a short summary, Jesus Christ was deposited to our account by grace. This is the value we now have.
Because this credited righteousness, separate from the law, makes us reign in life as Jesus does, I believe this is likely connected to the other doctrine of “adoption as sons.” To be forgiven and declared righteous by the Law would absolutely give you many privileges by God, but to rule over life itself like Jesus, is something different. This works well with Abraham being declared righteous apart from the Law, who was a “friend” of God, and God was like a father to Abrham. It is speculating, but I believe this second type of credited righteousness is related to the doctrine of being children of God, while the first aspect is not.
This brings us back to Abraham. God promise had nothing to do with the law or sin. It had everything to do with God promising extraordinary abundance, fame, health and blessings. God declared Abraham righteous in His sight because Abraham believed God would do all the good things He promised. Abraham was made God’s righteousness separate from the law. This is why in Jesus we also are made God’s righteousness separate from the law. We are Abraham’s children and so we are made righteous in the same way. By believing all the good things given to us in Jesus, including the blessing of Abraham, God declares us righteous apart from the Law.
However, because the Law, albeit temporary, was given, then it must be dealt with. The law exposed sin. And thus, this must be dealt with. Romans 3 deals with this.
“But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus,” (Romans 3:21-26)
Justification started with Abraham and it did not have to do with forgiveness but a positive statement of righteousness. By righteousness I mean thoughts and actions that value God above all things (John 5:30). And in Abraham’s context it is believing God will do what He said. In the law, this is technically done by obeying all laws of commission and omission. We often think of forgiveness first, but the scripture starts off with a positive declaration of righteous acts freely credited to an account. In this way justification (being declared righteous in God’s sight) is a positive, with forgiveness assumed or presupposed.
With the Law, to be forgiven is to be declared righteous. However, (this does have a small amount of complexity here) for Abraham to be declared righteous, is to be forgiven at the same time, because you cannot be both righteous and unrighteous at the same time. Even one act of lawbreaking or devaluing of God is at the same time negating a “righteous record.” James says if you break one law from the Law, then you break them all. The same with innate knowledge apart from the Law. If you have one mistake it is no longer a righteous record. Because God’s standard is perfection, then you cannot have a righteous record without it being perfect, and this is true for the Law and without the Law. And so, to be credited with God’s righteousness is to also be blameless.
Looking at justification from the Law, it is looking at this is from a standpoint of being born into time, within a history of these things already at play. Looking justification from Abraham’s view is seeing it from the larger picture of God’s decrees (logical order, not historical) and original intentions. Because God’s original decrees and intentions were for us to be sons of God in Jesus, being highly loved, then of course it would include being blameless.
With Abraham God imputes righteousness to a person’s account while they still have unrighteous acts, so that both are present (this was part of the dilemma of Romans 3:21-26, from man’s perspective. From God’s part, He looked like He was not following His own rules about sin and punishment.) Abraham’s record appeared to have both righteousness and unrighteousness. However, because a “perfect or blameless record” is part of being righteous, then when God declared Abraham righteous, it includes God dealing with the imperfections of Abraham’s record. Because we are children of Abraham, we had the same issue. However, because justification included forgiveness, forgiveness was finally dealt with at the cross. When speaking of being declared righteous by God, blamelessness is assumed. The two are woven together as a packaged deal.
The application of knowing how righteous you are is for the ethics section; however, as Hebrews chapter 10:1-2 says, if you are forgiven by God, then you should have no more consciousness of your sin. You are to forget and dismiss them the same way God has. You are not replay your sins in your mind. Rather, what should be on a permanent replay in your mind is how righteous you are. Jesus has made “you” righteous, and this should constantly be in your thoughts day and night. A person who does not see themselves righteous now, by constantly thinking how righteous they are, is a person who does not believe they are saved. If you are sin conscience it means you believe you are sinful and disregard Jesus’ substitution as ineffective. Faith is a mental assent in the mind. The proof you have faith in Jesus’ atonement is your mind is constantly conscience how righteous and awesome you are in Christ.
The proofs for how righteous you are, are obvious, such as a sound mind, and effective prayers (James 5).
Also, Vincent Cheung shows us a great summary for this saying,
“When you feel so “right,” nothing can stand in your way. When you are so “right,” you cannot conceive of any reason why God would not answer your prayers for success and miracles. You cannot conceive of any reason why a sickness or demon would not depart when you command it to go. You have the “right-ness” of God. This is how God feels about himself, and he wants to share this feeling with you, through Jesus Christ. This is the power of the righteousness of God. It has been untapped for almost two thousand years. As much as the Reformation harped about justification by faith, it had no idea what it is. It did not get anywhere close to what the righteousness of God could mean to Christians, and to the world. God’s righteousness is a thing of horror to Satan, but he is not nervous when it remains only a formal principle in Christian theology, rather than a vital power and a superhuman righteous feeling and confidence in every single believer. The prayer of a righteous man is effective indeed, but it is futile if no one actually feels righteous, or if this righteousness is only a theological principle and not a supernatural reality in man. What do we have in Christ? What Satan says about me is irrelevant, because I am God-centered, and I think about how righteous God is in me. This is the only basis on which I live. When Satan pokes at me with his little wrinkly finger, I slam his head off with the fist of God. Then I clobber his face into the ground over and over again like a madman until he is only a puddle of goo. This is the righteousness that we have in Christ Jesus.”[1]
[1] Vincent Cheung. The Christian and the Self. From the ebook “Contract.” 2020. Pg. 34.
Oshea Davis 