Whose Performance?

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.   Romans 3:23-24, NIV

If justification is about God observing my life and declaring whether I’m in the strike zone of righteousness or not, what hope is there of my ever being justified? The apostle Paul gives us the marvelous answer to that question: we “are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24, NIV).

In other words, the way God declares a person to be in the right is not on the basis of that person’s performance, but on the basis of the redemption and propitiation that were offered by Christ on the cross. We’re not justified by pitching a perfect game, but because God makes his declaration about us while he is looking at Jesus.

Jesus’ perfect righteousness becomes ours when a living connection is formed between us and him. This bond is formed by faith. That’s why Paul says God justifies sinners “when they believe in Jesus” (Romans 3:26).

When you come to faith in Jesus Christ, God credits you with Jesus’ righteousness. He counts Jesus’ righteousness as if it were yours. If God measured my life against his law, he could only make one call, and that would be “condemned.” That remains true of my life, even though I came to faith in Christ decades ago. Our righteousness is “nothing but filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6), and Paul makes it clear that nobody will be declared righteous in God’s sight by observing the law (see Romans 3:20).

God justifies us freely by charging our sins to Jesus. This free gift is ours because two thousand years ago Jesus paid the cost in his death on the cross. God justifies us because the charges we have incurred have been paid by Jesus. He picked up the tab. Someone has to pay if God is to say, “No charge!” to sinners like you and me, and that is precisely what Jesus has done for us.

For further reading, see Isaiah 64