An Incomprehensible Truth

The apostle Paul has written: “But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness” (Romans 4:5)

The truth that “imputed righteousness” is accredited to the believers’ account for righteousness is the very heart of the Christian gospel.

The confusion in today’s world is the fact that much of mankind sees himself as earning his salvation by who he is, and by what he does. However, the gospel of the scripture says otherwise. Salvation was earned for us in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Titus 3:4-7. We can only be saved by trusting in the finished work of Jesus Christ - a salvation that is a gift from God to us through faith in His Son (John 3:16).

It is true that holy living and charity is what Christian living is all about (Although perfection is beyond mankind’s ability); nevertheless, no one will go to heaven because of personal good works, otherwise Christ suffered and died in vain, and we would not need a Savior.

Jesus gave us a parable that illustrates this truth, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. And he sent out his servants to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come...” “Then he said, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened livestock are all butchered and everything is ready... Go therefore to the main highways, and whomsoever you shall find, invite to the wedding feast. Those servants went out into the streets and gathered together all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests. But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, and he *said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, ‘bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ‘For many are called, but few are chosen,’” (“Matthew 22:2-3; 9-14).

The message for us today in this parable by Jesus is this: All things are already prepared for the believer, including the wedding clothes (robe of righteousness) that is not our own, but provided for us by Jesus in his perfect life, death and resurrection, and is credited to our account in heaven if we will but come to the wedding - trusting in the provision already prepared by our Savior, Jesus Christ. (That is why the man without a wedding garment was cast out in the parable, he was wearing his own righteous robe (good works), but that was not good enough!

“For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God – not of works lest any one should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we [as Christians] should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:8-10).

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