Our Doctrine of Courage

Justification by faith alone is our doctrine of courage. We are living in days that are increasingly hostile to the Christian faith, and we must be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. No other foundation will do except God’s sovereign verdict that we are not guilty and completely righteous by faith alone in Christ alone.  

Why do bad things happen in this world? The simple answer is sin. Our father Adam sinned, and all have sinned in him. Sin brought the curses of that first covenant upon this world, bringing enmity between man and creation, man and other men, and man and God. But God sent His Son into the world as a true man to bear the curse of sin. He died on the cursed cross, so that all who look to Him might have their sin reckoned to Jesus. He died so that you might die, and His resurrection is His vindication, His justification, proving that He was innocent. So He died that you might die, and He rose so that you might rise. All those who trust in Him are truly united to Christ, and therefore, all of your sins have been fully paid for, and you are risen in Christ, vindicated in Christ, declared innocent and perfect in Jesus. 

And so the question comes: what must happen to those who have died and risen in Christ? What must happen to us in this life? And the answer is: this life must be a vindication of that reality. Whatever happens to us must prove that we have been bound to Christ forever. 

It is true that there are times when God’s justified people go through horrific trials and persecution, but the Bible says, that in all of those things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Justification by faith alone is the doctrine of Christian courage because by it, God promises and declares that whatever comes next, He will use it to prove that you belong to Him. Whatever comes next, God promises to stand with You. What can separate us from His love? No hardship, no persecution, no slander, no sickness, not even death itself. In all these things, despite our sin, God has determined to display the resurrection of Jesus in us.