God tells us in His Word that believers are βjustified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesusβ (Rom. 3:24). The word βfreely,β here, does not mean βwithout cost,β but βwithout cause.β The same original word is so translated in John 15:25, where we find the words of Christ: βThey hated Me without a cause.β
Thus sinners hated Christ βwithout a cause,β yet God justifies sinners βwithout a cause.β How can this be? Letβs see:
What had Christ done to earn the enmity of men? Nothing whatsoever. He had been kind and good, had helped those in distress, had healed their sick, had made the mute to speak, the deaf to hear, the blind to see, and the lame to leap for joy. Why, then, did they hate Him: The Bible says they hated Him βwithout a cause, i.e., without any cause in Him. The cause of their hatred lay in their own evil hearts.
But on the other hand, what have sinners done to merit justification before God? Again the answer is: Nothing whatsoever. They have broken His commandments every day, lying, stealing, and committing hundreds of other sins. Yet in love God gave His Son to die for them on Calvary βthat He might be just and [at the same time] the Justifier of him that believeth in Jesusβ (Rom. 3:26). He loves and justifies believers βwithout a causeβ, i.e., without any cause in them. The cause is to be found in His own compassionate heart, for βGOD IS LOVE.β
Thus those who trust in Christ, who died for our sins, are justified without a cause, by Godβs grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
βGod commendeth His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for usβ (Rom. 5:8).
βBy this man is preachedβ¦the forgiveness of sins, and by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which He could not be justified by the law of Mosesβ (Acts 13:38,39). source
