Hello brothers and sisters. It is a great day, it is a wonderful time to be alive, and it is proper for us to be grateful to the Lord our God, and to give thanks to him who brought us out of sin, and into righteousness. Let us thank God for showing his mercy toward us sinners.

One of the most important things to know when it comes to the Holy Scriptures and our Faith in Christ is Justification by faith. Some people nowadays have misunderstood what Saint Paul is saying here, and it is important to know what Saint Paul is teaching here, so that we can have a deeper and more intimate communion with God.

We must first know why justification by faith is important. Basically, it is the way we are saved, the way we receive the salvation of God given to us who need his Grace. Saint Paul in the beginning of the letter says that all have fallen short of the glory of God, for all have sinned against The Lord. So, then us sinners need salvation, so that we can get back into communion with God, and so escape the abyss of not being in communion with God. For as the Church fathers testify in some of their writings, God is life. If we are in communion with God, we have life, but if we do not have communion with God, we do not have life. So it is important to accept the way that God has given to us, and that way is Jesus Christ.

Saint Paul also talks about the works of the Law, and that even though if some kept the works of the Law, they would still not be justified. Why? The Law simply was given to reveal sinfulness, to distinguish right from wrong, life and death, sin and righteousness, and also to teach us and lead us to Jesus Christ, who fulfilled the Law. The goal of the Law was to bring people to God, to know the Glory of God, and so attain the Glory of God, through Theosis, becoming united with God. However, the Law could not do this, because even if one could keep all of the Law, they would still fall short of the glory of God, because death, the ultimate enemy, still remained. Therefore, the Law is very useful, but cannot save us, neither its works by itself can.

This is why God became incarnate and became man, for our salvation and justification by faith. Jesus Christ came to destroy death, by dying on the cross, and so entering death itself as the Son of God, and destroying the power of death. Remember when Jesus Christ talked with Nicodemus in the night. Christ said to Nicodemus at that time, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." And so then recall how all the Israelites were sick and dying, but when Moses lifted up the bronze serpent, anyone who looked upon it with faith was healed. So it is the same with Jesus Christ when he was lifted up on the cross, revealing the Glory of God.

This also shows us something that is also important: God has shown his mercy to us through his Son Jesus Christ. We are saved because of God's Grace, Mercy, and Forgiveness. We are not saved on our own, but saved because of the mercy of God, revealed through his Son, Jesus Christ. But of course we do have a choice whether to cooperate with God's Grace, or not. Remember the Pharisees and Sadducees who opposed Jesus Christ all the time, and rejected God's Grace, meaning they did not take the path of salvation. But to other people, the Holy Saints who have accepted God's Grace, people like Saint Paul, they are in heaven with God, and are in intimate communion with God. So, it is because of God's Grace that we are saved.

So then this brings us to Justification by faith. When we put our faith in Jesus Christ, the God-Man that fulfilled every aspect of the Law, established the New Covenant as promised by God, and grants righteousness to those who put their faith in him, we are Justified by our Living Faith. Why is this so? Jesus fulfilled the Law and destroyed the law of death, thereby granting us the way to the Father. And as Saint Paul wrote in Romans 4, our model of Faith in Christ our Lord would imitate Abraham's Faith. Abraham believed in God and it was credited to him as righteousness. His Faith was living and dynamic, because he first had faith and believed in the promises of God. Of course there were tests of his faith, and Abraham did what God commanded him to do, but these works of faith, not of the law, but works of faith showed his true living faith in God, and that is what justified him before God.

And so this is justification by faith in Christ, as it has been written by Saint Paul in Romans. For us Christians today, this could be seen like this: We believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died on the cross once and for all so we can have our sins forgiven, death itself destroyed, and the Holy Spirit given to us who believe in Jesus Christ. We know that Christ instituted the Church, so we go to Church to worship Christ our Lord, partake in the Eucharist, live our Baptismal promises, and be in intimacy and communion with God. And by the Grace he gives us, we live righteously, just as Jesus Christ did, and so we find ourselves on the path of salvation by our justification by our living and dynamic faith in Jesus Christ.

Have a blessed day brothers and sisters in Christ.