I’m not sure if you are meant or allowed to have a favourite doctrine but if we are, then mine would be the doctrine of justification by faith alone. I think that this doctrine is crucial to our understanding of how other doctrines work and also to practical Christian living. In terms of other doctrines, I remember Mike Ovey observing that as he’d engaged in the Penal Substitution debate it had become clear to him thar opponents of PSA had also gone badly wrong in their understanding of justification and this was perhaps cause and effect at work. If we do not have a strong sense of faith union meaning that Christ’s life is ours, his perfect obedience imputed to us then we can seen penal substitution, not so much as a sweet exchange where what is mine becomes Christ’s and all that is his becomes mine but rather the capricious Father who takes out his anger on his son so that we are given a second chance. Justification is therefore central to our assurance, we are reconciled to God, we are right with him. It’s not just a second chance which is up to us.
We see the links in Romans, justification is described in close relation to propitiation in chapters 3 and 4, assurance flows out from this in Romans 8 as no condemnation leads to no separation. This also has practical application in Romans too.
In Romans 5, we see the link to suffering. We can rejoice or even boast in our suffering because it is repurposed. Suffering should not be seen as the vengeance of a God who is angry with us. We are now part of his family and see how the loving father disciplines us.
Justification becomes the basis for resolving differences. Jewish believers and gentile believers could be part of the same body because there was no longer need to justify oneself based on ethnic identity. Weak and strong brothers could prefer each others’ needs because they did not have anything to prove.
This should help us think about how we face current issues. Justification by faith alone may well be crucial to the Christian Nationalism debate. We seek no righteous status from our ethnicity or culture. Justification by faith alone will help us to work through difficult issues in church life because often tensions arise when we feel that we have something to prove or we fear the disapproval of other believers. When we are justified by faith alone, we can relax. We don’t need to worry about pleasing others. We can be open when we get things wrong because our status is not diminished by what others think of us or by our limitations and failings. We remain right with God and have peace with him through Jesus.
Faithroots 