Believers were Justified/Made Righteous while Ungodly !
Believers were Justified/Made Righteous while Ungodly ! This Truth the unbelieving religious world cannot receive, That all for whom Christ died, that fact alone, apart from any obedience of their own, and even while they were operating by a spirit of disobedience as Per Eph 2:2
2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Yes even while they were in the midst of walking according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, even then, solely by the death of Christ, were they made Righteous, and Justified before God, in their ungodly manner of lifestyle !
Thats why Paul says that God was Justifying the Ungodly Rom 4:5 !
5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
Paul in Rom 5:19 teaches the same thing, that by Christ's one obedience unto death, for the many whom He died for are made Righteous, or Justified !
Now to prove that this being made Righteous and or Justified before God is prior to any acts of Gospel Obedience from the sinner, and while they are yet ungodly, we will look at Rom 4:25 where the proof lies in the witness of Christ's resurrection from the dead, Rom 4:25
25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification !
Now exactly how does this prove this vital gracious Truth ? Its simple, by the three letter word for, a preposition the greek word dia which means:
i.by reason of
ii.on account of
iii.because of for this reason
v.on this account
for sake of
Now, Paul says #1 that Christ was delivered for [on account of] our offenses, which applies to everyone that He was delivered to death for, on account of their sins/offences !
Now the same ones it is said that He was raised again for [on account of] their Justification !
There it is, His being raised again is a testification that His death for them was their Justification before God.
That word Justification is the greek word dikaiōsis:
I.the act of God declaring men free from guilt and acceptable to him
II.abjuring to be righteous, justification
Hence this is God's solemn affirmation that the death of Christ has made them He died for Righteous, and freed them from all guilt before Him !
Now, if this Resurrection of Christ took place in 33 ad, affirming the Justification of those He died for, then when a future believer[say in 1900] is born a sinner by nature, ungodly, and under the control of that spirit which worketh in the disobedient Eph 2:2, they have already been declared Righteous/Not guilty before God by the Resurrection of Christ, centuries before in 33 ad, so they were born in sin already Justified and Righteous before God, they just dont know it yet !
And to say otherwise is a rejection of the Testimony of Christ's Resurrection, which is a Gospel Truth 1 Cor 15:1-4
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
So here are the alternatives, we either believe that those Christ died for were Justified before God, made Righteous before Him by it, or we reject the Gospel Testimony and remain in unbelief ! 14