βBeing justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesusβ (Rom. 3:24).
It is wonderful to know that we sinners are not justified by praying, or paying, or saying, or sighing, or crying, or doing anything. We are justified freely, by the grace of God. But this passage from Romans will mean more to us when we learn how the word rendered βfreelyβ here is translated elsewhere in the Bible. The same expression is found in John 15:25, where our Lord, quoting from the Psalms, said: βThey hated me without a cause.β
Why did men hate Him? He went about doing nothing but good: healing the sick, giving the blind their sight, causing the lame to leap for joy, preaching good news to the poor and deliverance to those who were bound. There was no good reason for crying, βAway with Him!β and βCrucify Him!β They hated Him βwithout a cause.β
But in the same way we might ask: βWhy should He die for sinners? Why should He pay for their sins? He had done nothing wrong.β Ah, it was in love that He deliberately gave Himself into the hands of sinful men, that He, the sinless One, might pay for their sins. He did not die His own death, for death is βthe wages of sin.β He died our death, paying for our sins. So, as men hated Him βwithout a causeβ (except their own sinful condition), so Christ has βJustifiedβ believers βwithout a causeβ (except His own divine love).
And so it is that we can now proclaim the glorious news that God has sent us to tell all mankind, that His righteousness is conferred βupon all those who believe,β and that believers are βjustified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.β source
