The Doctrine of Justification (cd)

The gates of Paradise suddenly opened to Martin Luther one day while he was preparing his lectures for his class on the book of Romans. Luther understood that we are justified, or declared righteous, by faith alone. This doctrine became the principle of the Reformation for which brave Christians died rather than abandon or compromise. It marked the primary line of demarcation between Roman Catholic and Protestant theology. Luther said that the church will either stand or fall depending on whether or not it correctly teaches the doctrine of justification by faith alone. When people who have been brought up under works-righteousness concepts encounter and, by God's grace, accept the doctrine of forensic justification, they weep, they rejoice, they express how they have been liberated, they feel a great weight taken from their shoulders, they know God is near and loves them, and they experience the wonder of assurance for the first time. If any doctrine displays good fruit, it is surly this one; and Jesus said that we know the tree by its fruit.

Lesson Titles

• Man's Need - God's Provision
• Man's Nature - God's Nature
• A Legal Act
• An Act of God's Grace
• A Once and For All Act
• Pardons and Accepts
• Not an Act of Man
• Not an Internal Act
• Christ's Perfect Atonement
• Imputed by God
• Through Faith
• The Book of James