Understanding Your Religion
7 Major Doctrines that Define Christianity
Becoming Acceptable to God
The Sub-Doctrine of Justification - Part 1
Teaching Strategy
The focus of this lesson is on growing in our relationship with God by recognizing the concept of justification before God. Of special note in this lesson is the concept of justification as we stand before God guilty of sin and how God removes that guilt through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus.
Student Learning Outcomes
- Know: Understand what brought about our justification before God.
- Feel: Recognize the grace God grants us.
- Do: Life faithfully in recognition of God’s grace.
Body of the Lesson
Discussion Questions
Below are suggested questions to use during the guided discussion portion of the lesson. There are also suggested responses to questions to help students grasp the various concepts. These are provided to assist the discussion and are not considered as “right or wrong” responses.
When we review the first three chapters of Genesis, we see that God created a perfect environment for man, including a direct and personal relationship between God and man. Sin entered the world because Adam and Eve gave in to the temptation offered by Satan. It is a shared guilt between Satan and mankind due to disobedience.
Since God is pure and holy, sin could not be allowed in His presence. Therefore, man had to be removed from the direct presence of God. This was both a physical and spiritual separation.
Even as God pronounced judgment on mankind because of sin, He put into motion the plan to have a sacrifice made that would pay for sin (Genesis 3:15). We did not fully understand the meaning of this until we learned of the sacrifice of Jesus. The Bible is the record of man's creation, fall and return to God through Jesus. It tells us who Jesus is, what He did, continues to do and will do upon His return. All of this is the plan God established to bring us home to Him.
God is the final judge of our response to Him. We either stand before Him forgiven of our sins, or we stand guilty. We cannot remove our sin by ourselves, so God put His plan into motion.
The standard of absolute right and wrong is God's standard therefore He is the only one that can make that judgment. Exhibit 1, and the only necessary exhibit in our trial is the ultimate willingness of God to give Himself through His Son Jesus. As Jesus stated in John 3:16, God loved us so much that He gave Himself to save us. Jesus also stated in John 15:13 that there is no greater love than the willingness to give up one's life for another, which He did.
Perhaps because we still harbor the guilt of our sins. Again, this points to the absolute wisdom and power of God. God forgets (does not hold us accountable) our sins and grants us a relationship with Him. We continue to live in a world where we face temptations that we all too frequently give in to. God recognizes our weaknesses and asks us to continue to repent and come back to him (I John 1:5-10). When we do so, we continue in our saved relationship with Him.
Those who have not accepted God's grace with an active faith do not have that relationship and remain unjustified before God.
God's plan includes a way for us to come to know His plan and to respond to that plan. God has never kept His plan from man. In fact, He has made every effort to let us know what it is. In the Old Testament He spoke through the patriarchs and prophets. In the New Testament it is through the recorded word of God, as well as those who teach and guide us in living faithfully. It is also our responsibility to teach others, so they come to know the truth of God's word.
God does not want anyone to be lost. It is through the poor choice of rejecting truth that keeps one lost (I Timothy 2:1-7; II Peter 3:9).
God wants us to be in a personal relationship with Him. He put into place everything to bring this about. The only missing piece is our response to obey what He asks of us. It is both a response of love on His part and a response of faith on our part.
Paul teaches us in Ephesians 2 that we were dead in our sins but because we obeyed through our active faith, our sins and the eternal consequence of separation from God have been removed. We can do nothing to earn salvation (vs. 8-10), but we must accept it. This is our response of faith to God's grace.