Torah Times Messianic Ministry

Favorable Justice

In my previous presentation, I went through several valid interpretations of Romans 3:21, "But apart from what is customary, the Justice of the Almighty has been getting revealed." First, if we regard what is customary to be the Torah, then the Justice of the Almighty refers to Messiah, since he is YHWH our Justice. Apart from the written Torah, Messiah is the revealed expression of divine righteousness. Second, if we regard what is customary as condemnation of the sinner, then the justice of the Almighty is apart from it, because we receive what isn't customary: forgiveness. Third, if what is customary refers to the evil system of the world, then Messiah's justice stands apart from it. Fourth, if what is customary refers to paying for sin by works, then the Justice of the Almighty stands apart from this also. And finally, fifth, if what is customary refers to any usual degree of human goodness, then the righteousness of the Almighty is apart from this norm also, being beyond it, and this righteousness will be given to us. These interpretations are explained in the previous presentation. All the points in this summary are expanded upon at length in it.

All but one of the points I just described above depend on understanding that NOMOS means "what is customary." The proof of this is given in the previous video. In this video, the subject is Romans 3:22. Given the first interpretation above on Romans 3:21, we could slide by with the usual institutional Church translations. But, as I will show, on Romans 3:22, there is no way any interpretation of the usual versions can stand, given the ordinary sense of the words used.

Romans 3:22 is a continuation of Romans 3:21, in which Paul is going to focus on a form of justice that isn't customary: forgiveness. The verse reads as follows in the Good News of Messiah, with slight modification, "This is the justice of the Almighty, through the faithfulness of Yeshua the Anointed, unto all those holding faithful." I have modified the verse, which is part of one long sentence of several verses, into an independent sentence.

What is the justice of the Almighty through the faithfulness of Messiah? The explanation is given in 1 John 1:9: "When we may be confessing our sins, he is faithful and righteous, so that he shall have forgiven us our sins and he shall have cleansed us from all unrighteousness." Many 1 John 1:9 versions read "faithful and just." This involves the same dual definition that I mentioned for righteousness and justice. The same words in Hebrew and Greek, namely the adjective means both righteous and just. So forgiveness is as much an expression of divine justice as it is of divine righteousness.

This kind of justice can also be called "favorable justice," and it is so qualified in Romans 3:24 as "benevolent justice." It has two aspects. The first is forgiveness of sin, which is the complete cancellation of the penalty in view of the repentance of the sinner. The second aspect is reformatory. This is cleansing from unrighteousness. The faithfulness of Yeshua is his commitment, his steadfastness, and his covenant promise to carry out these things for us.

The text teaches the cooperative faithfulness of Messiah and the faithful "holding faithful." This is where the institutional translations fail the most, when they translate "faith in Jesus Christ" and "unto all those believing." There are some recent translations that correctly have the "faithfulness of Yeshua." These are the Complete Jewish Bible (CJB), the Common English Bible (CEB), Expanded Bible (EXB), the International Standard Version (ISV), the New English Translation (NET), the New Testament for Everyone (NTE), and the Voice (VOICE), as well as the Good News of Messiah (GNM).

Very few known translations render the verb at the end of the verse "to all being faithful" or "holding faithful" (GNM). But I know of at least one other than my own. The theological reason for the suppression of the correct rendition is the belief that salvation is in no way contingent on good works or repentance consisting of good works. It does not matter if most Christians do not actually believe this is the case. It was the influence of those who did believe this that gave us our incorrect versions, and established the deception in all the versions. And the rest have not been able to overcome it. The reason for this is that even Christians who do not really believe salvation requires doing nothing still hold anti-Torah positions on important commandments. And this fault is turned into a lever to perpetuate the traditional mistakes.

The actual biblical teaching is that salvation is not paid for by works. That is, our deliverance from sin cannot be paid for with good deeds. I have talked about this often enough. Forgiveness cannot be bought. It is granted. But a person must turn away from sin and become faithful to Messiah to receive it. We just don't treat our righteousness as compensating for sin. That would be legalism. Scripture is only against those works that are part of the legalistic agenda to try to gain a propitious favor with respect to one's sin, that is, to obtain justification. And on this score, the institutional Church is guilty because it uses the Merits of Christ to this end. They are just as guilty as Judaism when it teaches the doctrine of zechut avot. Love of God and faithfulness to God have always been required, however, and so for this reason, the correct translation of our duty is to "hold faithful."

And there are good linguistic arguments once we discard the false theology that perpetuates the error. Mark my words well. The no-work camp comes from the Gnostic legacy in the institutional Church, and they will argue to their dying breath that the verb means only "to believe" or trust," no matter how much evidence they are presented with. This is because they ignore or explain away all those texts that make it clear that obeying the Messiah is necessary. There is also a contingent that does not believe this false doctrine, yet they too will insist on going along with the no-works camp because they are afraid of them or because the Spirit has not disabused them of their ignorance. They have been linguistically chained to the false doctrine by emotional fear, thinking that doing what is right is actually required, or fear of being disapproved of by those who are in actual bondage.

And I was once in that position of bondage, until the Spirit made it plain to me that if I truly believed my sins were forgiven, then I should have no fear that obeying from the heart was necessary to remain in that position. This point is made perfectly clear in Ezekiel 18:

So you see here that forgiveness depends on turning from sin and doing what is just and right, not on maintaining a position of only "believing." The Scripture says that man shall live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Most High, and that includes obeying his word. It also says that he who keeps the commandments will live by them. It says the word is near us, in our hearts, that we may obey it and live. This is the same word that Paul calls "the word of faithfulness" in Romans 10:8. Paul defines faithfulness using Deuteronomy 30:14.

Satan has attacked the good news through the "believe only" doctrine, also known as "faith alone." The only place Scripture ever says "faith alone" is to deny the validity of "faith alone" in James 2:24. Not even in concept does Paul teach faithfulness is without good works, but where he appears to say such, he is speaking of customary works used as merits to compensate God for sin and the Jewish doctrine of the merit of Abraham to offset the demerits of his descendants.

Further, the institutional Church teaches a model of atonement based on legalism, the same legalism that Paul opposed. It goes like this: The sinner's sin is laid on Christ so that Christ can suffer judicial punishment for it. Christ's merit is legally transferred to the sinner so that the sinner can be regarded as judicially in the right, justified. It is this kind of legalism that Paul opposes. The works of Christ are the exact analogue of the teaching of the merit of Abraham. It is the exact same legal philosophy.

But the Most High is not appeased. Neither does he justify the sinner. But sin is symbolically confessed onto the offering to bear it away and cleanse it. The offering indicates the cost of sin, and the offering stands for the ransom that sin charges to cleanse it. So sin, summed up in the prosecution of Messiah by the Jewish leadership, takes the ransom. The Most High only gives the ransom. He does not take a ransom.

So then the same institution that teaches "believe only" because they have misunderstood the difference between works of appeasement and works of obedience also teaches that the work of Christ was necessary to appease the Father's wrath. So they deny the obligation to good works on the one hand, and on the other, they establish legalism by their gospel. It was rightly said that animal sacrifices are symbolic. So also, Messiah's offering is symbolic. But it is only not symbolic in this respect. His life, his blood, because he rose from the dead, actually does purge and cleanse our sin. In death, he carries our judgment to the grave with him and leaves it there, and he lives again to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So he bears our sin in the flesh and in Spirit, not justly suffering from it but suffering from it to cleanse us.

So how will you ever be cleansed from sin if you do not hold faithful to the only kindred Son? Will believing only cleanse you from sin? But it is written:

I am not speaking to mainstream Christianity here. They are from the world and of the world. They have set up the stumbling block of their iniquity. But I am speaking to the faithful who fear their teachings and their doctrines. Please turn away from it. Bad teaching may not cause you to stumble into iniquity, but it certainly will keep you from clear-headed thinking and from discovering what more Yeshua has for you. And it will deceive your children and lead them to destruction.

Please know that when King Saul wanted to appease God for his iniquity, he set aside the best of the cattle for sacrifice. But the Most High compared it to witchcraft and sorcery. So Messiah suffered to remove your sin from you. He suffered from our sins. He still suffers from them, and for us in Spirit. Therefore, by all means, we must hold faithful to receive from his faithfulness.

But "faithfulness" is the first definition of the noun πιστις in BDAG, and if we let Hebrew inform us, it would be the only definition. The definition of the adjective πιστος is "faithful" and so it follows that the verb of the same word, πιστεύω, should mean (I) "be faithful" or (I) "hold faithful."  Scholars claim that the verb is derived from a verb meaning (Ι) "persuade" (πειθω), but this is a false etymology seized upon to divert from the proper derivation. The verb is clearly derived from the adjective πιστος. And if we let Hebrew inform us, the Hebrew verb means to "give support," (in the Hiphil), and does not just mean supporting another in the mental sense, but also in every other way, and indeed, with respect to the Most High, supporting him with all manner of obedience, loyalty, and fidelity.

It does not matter that one can prove that sometimes something to be believed is made to be the object of one's support. That is, sometimes to hold faithful means to believe what we are commanded to believe. Proving such does not disprove that to hold faithful also includes outward obedience. In most usages, "holding faithful" includes both, because holding faithful to an intellectual claim is not usually placed as an object to hold faithful. Rather, it is the person of Messiah that is placed as the object, "to hold faithful to Yeshua." When the object of the verb is a person, then the idea is to give support to them, and it is not limited to the mental domain. Nor does it matter that Greek that is unrelated to a Hebrew source may have meanings other than "holding faithful." It is clear that in our Scriptural writings, the Greek used is  explained by the Hebrew theological term that it translates.

With all this said, it is clear that anything contrary to it results in a theological contradiction of the highest sort. Ezekiel 18 makes it clear that one who repents by turning away from sin and turning toward righteousness will be forgiven. They will receive favorable justice from the Most High. The faithfulness of the Most High is taught in 1 John 1:9, to forgive and not remember our sins against us. And the obligation to turn from sin and do righteousness taught in Ezekiel 18 is equivalent to holding faithful to Messiah. The person who does not turn away from sin to do righteousness will not be forgiven.

That concludes this message on Romans 3:22. I will post it and summarize here:

The justice, or righteousness, of the Almighty comes to us through the faithfulness of Messiah Yeshua, to all of us who hold faithful to Him.