The Just Shall Live by Faith: Justification and Life Apart from the Law
Orientation
The Christian life can feel like a frustrating cycle of rulekeeping and self-improvement, as if our standing with God depends on our performance.
- The Law exposes our inability but cannot make us right with God.
- Justification is by faith alone, apart from the works of the Law.
- Returning to the Law for sanctification denies the very means by which we stand before God.
Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. (Romans 3:28)
— Romans 3:28
Clarification
Living by faith does not mean we begin with faith and then continue by our own works or rulekeeping.
- The Christian life is 'from faith to faith'—faith from first to last.
- God's blessing includes the indwelling Spirit and God Himself as our righteousness.
- Sanctification, like justification, flows from faith in Christ, not legalistic observance.
For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. (Romans 1:17)
— Romans 1:17
Structure
The biblical logic is that our new identity in Christ is received and lived out by faith alone.
- Justification declares us righteous by faith, apart from the Law.
- Sanctification is Christ Himself living in us, received by the same faith.
- The Law's function was to expose inability and drive us to Christ, not to be our rule of life.
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
— Galatians 2:20
Weight-Bearing Prose
The foundational Pauline assertion is that a person is justified by faith without the deeds of the Law (Romans 3:28). This is not a starting point to be abandoned. The Law cannot justify, and it cannot sanctify. To return to the Law for behavioral rulekeeping is to step out of the realm of blessing and into futility. The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation, revealing God’s righteousness from faith to faith (Romans 1:16-17). The positive outcome is receiving God’s blessing—the indwelling Spirit and God Himself as our righteousness. The negative outcome, returning to the Law, yields only condemnation and powerlessness. Sanctification is not a procedure of incremental improvement but is Christ Himself, our sanctification (1 Corinthians 1:30), lived out through faith. The objection that we need the Law to guide behavior is countered by Paul’s revelation that the just shall live by faith, with Christ as our life and rule.
Integration
Your standing is secure. You are justified by faith, apart from your performance. Christ is your righteousness, your sanctification, your life. There is no pressure to advance or to perfect yourself by rulekeeping. The blessing—God’s Spirit, God’s righteousness—is yours as the fruit of believing, not as a reward for effort. Let your conscience be cleansed by the blood and righteousness of Jesus, not by your own track record. This is your landing place: justified, sanctified, and blessed by faith in the Son of God. Rest here. Christ is your assurance.