THEOLOGICAL IMPLICATION OF THE DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH FOR CHRISTIAN LIVING

1.1 Introduction

Faith has been considered to be sources of justification for religious belief. Because both purportedly serve this same epistemic function, it has been a matter of much interest to philosophers and theologians how the two are related and thus how the rational agent should treat claims derived from either source. Justification thus results in holiness and hope. And this proves already that the doctrine is neither immoral, nor incoherent, nor scandalous. It points back to the cross of Christ, forward to the resurrection of the Christian. It is not a fiction, pretence or a process: it is God’s righteous declaration in the present that the person who believes in the risen Lord Jesus Christ is a member of the covenant family, whose sins have been dealt with on the cross and who is therefore assured of eternal life.

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Limitation of the study and Definition of technical terms.

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1.2 Background of Study

The New Testament authors emphasize unremittingly that the key to genuine human flourishing is faith in Jesus Christ as the revealed and revealing Word of God, “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6). In the Gospels Jesus speaks and acts with a hitherto unknown authority that confounds his enemies but induces many others to seek him out and put him at the center of their lives. The latter he praises for their faith; the former he reproaches in the strongest terms, threatening that on the day of reckoning they will fare even worse than the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Similarly, in his Epistles St. Paul insists that it is faith in Jesus Christ, rather than observance of the moral, judicial, and ritual precepts of the Mosaic Law, that effects our liberation from the slavery of sin and the dawn of a new life as the adopted sons and daughters of our Father God. And even though Paul cautions that faith in Christ is worthless without the filial love of God and concomitant fraternal love of neighbor that Christ has made possible for us, it is clear that faith is prior to charity at least insofar as it gives us our initial cognitive and affective access to the object of our supernatural love. Faith in Christ, then, lies at the heart of the Christian way of life.

Justification is wound up by grace, the love of God Incarnate dying on Calvary, and the love of God showered forth in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. The positive result of justification is that we live for God because Christ has died for us. Good works, as the Reformers never tired of saying, are done not to earn salvation but out of gratitude for it: not out of fear lest we should be lost after all but out of joy that we are saved after all. Sanctification is the completion, not of justification, but of regeneration: holiness is the continuation and bringing to perfection (in the resurrection of believers) of the good work which God has begun by the new birth.

Justification is a different kind of event altogether: regeneration and sanctification are acts of grace to change the heart and life, whereas justification is the declaration, anticipating the verdict of the last day that the believer is in the right. Justification results in holiness because it presupposes the new birth. It is therefore also the basis of Christian assurance, the certain hope of eternal life. Assurance is not an extra blessing over and above justification, but simply the outworking of justification itself, the realization that the Spirit who inspired faith and now inspires love will continue until, in the resurrection, he has produced the full harvest of which he himself is presently the first fruits (David, 2001).

The Bible was written for people with no real faith. We all begin with a minus. If we have no faith, reading the Bible produces it, and if we have some faith we get more the same way. We don’t acquire faith first and bring it to scripture. Scripture encourages faith “faith comes by hearing the Word of God” (Romans 10:17). Many who don’t believe don’t read the Bible. They are sick and leave the medicine with the bottle tightly corked. People without faith should be warned that if they open the Bible they are likely to finish up as believers.

The Bible brings us to the cross people do not start moving mountains until they have been to mount Calvary. They could not move even a molehill or a mole. Real faith doesn’t start in university. The starting point is fired at the “green hill for away outside the city wall”. From there, we tread on and on towards the mark of the high calling of God in Christ (Philippians 3:14). Walking in doubt is like going back to a Victorian age. We need a radar and faith provides it in this world of uncertainly. “The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written, ‘the just shall live by faith’ (Romans 1:17). Believe God! It is life’s knowledge and experience across the area of faith as widely as I can, whether people are well along the road or just and share treasures with them I have collected over a life time.

The plus life, one morning Jesus walked along the shingled edge of Lake Galilee and beckoned too few local fishermen. He said, “follow me!” (Matthew 4:19). At the moment everything began for them. Until then “Everything” had only been fish and then it became people, action, and changing world history, with ever-increasing faith, ever-increasing effects. Jesus did not call them, smiles and wear sackcloth. Jesus didn’t want to turn folk into stick in the – mud’ people. He wasn’t so conventional himself! The disciplines caught His bubbling spirit, which challenged the stuffy establishment. He showed them new things, especially faith and love, and them they conquered the world. The primary truth about God is that He is the Deliverer, the emancipator, and the saviour. He is God only to the free. Faith is a venture that turns life into an adventure. Doubts get us nowhere. They are mooring ropes. Believing God means we cast off, like ships designed for riding the high seas and going somewhere. Faith inspires. Doubt paralyzes. Faith says “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” unbelief does nothing, faith is God is exciting.

Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Theological Implication of the Doctrine of Justification by Faith for Christian Living.

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1.3 Statement of the Problems

Investigation revealed that the people have talked about those who “bury themselves in religion”. Well, in religion may be, but Christianity is Christ, and you can’t call Christ a religion! He is the resurrection and the life. Christ said, “If you hold to my teaching. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32). He is no deceiver millions have found themselves gloriously free through the Gospel. His words do not strike us with rules and commandments.

His yoke is easy and His burden is light. The Sermon on the Mount describes what Christians are naturally, what they want to do, not what people should be like. When Paul the Apostle was preaching in an upstairs room in Trocas “there was many lights” there (Acts 20:8). The Bible writers have a way of saying that kind of thing when conveying a spiritual truth. It is in view of this that the researcher intends to examine the theological implication of the doctrine of justification by faith for Christian living.

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1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study

The aim or purpose of the study is to examine the theological implication of the doctrine of justification by faith for Christian living. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To determine the relationship between the roles of doctrine of justification by faith on Christian living;
2. To investigate the effect of faith in living a successful Christian life;
3. To examine the effect of the theological implications of doctrine of justification by faith on Christian practice; and
4. To examine the relationship between the theological misconceptions of doctrine of justification by faith on Christian practice.

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1.5 Research Questions

The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:

• Is the any relationship between the roles of doctrine of justification by faith on Christian living?
• What is the effect of the theological implications of doctrine of justification by faith on Christian practice?
• What is the effect of faith in living a successful Christian life?
• What is the relationship between the theological misconceptions of doctrine of justification by faith on Christian practice?

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1.6 Research Hypothesis

In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.

Hypothesis One

• H0: There is no significant relationship between the roles of doctrine of justification by faith on Christian living
• H1: There is significant relationship between the roles of doctrine of justification by faith on Christian living

Hypothesis Two

• H0: There is no significant effect of the theological implications of doctrine of justification by faith on Christian practice
• H1: There is significant effect of the theological implications of doctrine of justification by faith on Christian practice

Hypothesis Three

• H0: There is no significant relationship between the theological misconceptions of doctrine of justification by faith on Christian practice
• H1: There is significant relationship between the theological misconceptions of doctrine of justification by faith on Christian practice

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1.7 Significance of Study

It is believed that at the completion of the study, the findings will be of significant importance to the Christiandom, as the findings intend to spell out the importance and advantages of the Theological Implication of the Doctrine of Justification by Faith for Christian Living.

The CAN, PFN, pastors, church workers would benefit from this study in view of the fact that they would learn how efficacious biblical and theological interpretation affects Christian growth and propagation of gospel.

The result of this research is hoped to be of immense use to students of management since it contains information on how to improve individual or team performance and therefore, increase productivity.

The findings will also be of great importance to the academic researchers as the findings will add to the pool of knowledge. And finally the study will be of great importance to students, teachers and the general public.

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1.8 Scope of Study

The scope of this research is focused on the Theological Implication of the Doctrine of Justification by Faith for Christian Living.

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1.9 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
3. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
4. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet).

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1.10 Definition of Terms

Christian: A Christian is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.

Faith: Faith is confidence or trust in a particular system of religious belief in which faith may equate to confidence based on some perceived degree of warrant.

Christian Faith: It also includes a belief in the New Covenant. According to most Christian traditions, Christian faith requires a belief in Jesus' resurrection from the dead, which he states is the plan of God the Father. The precise understanding of the term "faith" differs among the various Christian traditions.

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1.11 Organization of the Study

This research work is organized in five chapters, for easy understanding, as follows

Chapter one is concern with the introduction, which consist of the (overview, of the study), statement of problem, objectives of the study, research question, significance or the study, research methodology, definition of terms and historical background of the study. Chapter two highlight the theoretical framework on which the study its based, thus the review of related literature. Chapter three deals on the research design and methodology adopted in the study. Chapter four concentrate on the data collection and analysis and presentation of finding. Chapter five gives summary, conclusion and recommendations made of the study.