“God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
For many, John 3:16 was the very first Bible verse you memorized in Sunday school. From the start, you were taught that Jesus died on the cross to take away your sins and those who believe in him as their savior will go to heaven. As you grew older, you learned the concept had an intellectual title—”justification by faith”—and it was further backed by verses like these:
For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.
Romans 3:28
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9
Know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.
Galatians 2:16
Sounds nice, right? But what exactly does it mean to be justified by faith? For students, the point is driven home best when we take it to the classroom.
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In This Article
Justification by Works: Beat the Competition, Make the Cut
Imagine if you had to earn your way to heaven.
In grade school, I was a pretty good student. My peer figured this out early (think sixth grade) and quickly made a game of “beating Lauren’s test score.” If I earned a 95% on my science exam and a classmate earned a 96%, that was cause for bragging, much to my chagrin. But in the end, I beat them all and crossed the stage on graduation night as class valedictorian. There was no need to score 100% on all my tests to do it, either. All I had to do was beat the second-best person in our class.
I worked hard to reach the top, but I still wasn’t perfect.
Justification by Faith: The Ultimate Test
What if God gave each of us an overall score based on the sum total of all our good deeds and thoughts minus all the bad ones? How would you score?
Good table manners + consistently getting my homework done on time – 12 incidents of lusting after my cute classmate = 72%
Working at the soup kitchen on Thanksgiving + stellar church attendance – fighting with my brother – 1 case of road rage = 80%
Picking up roadside trash + buying lunch for a homeless man – 1 incident of shoplifting cosmetics from Walmart = 53%
Did you pass? I’m sure you scored higher than a murderer (who surely couldn’t score higher than 21%), a rapist (definitely no more than 13%), and the neighbor’s son who stole a car and left it burned out on the side of the road (probably about 48%). Right?
God doesn’t use a complicated algorithm to figure out each person’s “grade.” Anything less than 100% is failing.
Here’s the clincher. God doesn’t use a complicated algorithm to determine each person’s “grade” and determine whether or not you are allowed into heaven. It wouldn’t matter if you could achieve 99.99999%.
Anything less than 100% is failing.
That’s right. If you can’t ace this test, if you can’t get every answer correct—if your thoughts and actions in life are not 100% pure 100% of the time—you fail.
You’re looking at an eternity in hell. It doesn’t matter if you’re “better” than everyone else.
The Good Teacher: God
In our human experience, this seems unfair. No one wants a teacher who expects perfection and won’t even let you make it up with an “extra credit” good deed. We want Santa’s system of naughty vs. nice instead of God’s all-or-nothing stance. (See The Difference Between God And Santa.)
But what if that teacher gave you the option of letting someone capable of perfection take the test for you?
That changes everything.
The Star Student: Jesus
God is the Good Teacher who allows the star student to take our place in the test of life. Jesus doesn’t need our help. His perfection cannot be enhanced by our comparatively pitiful attempts at goodness. But the choice is yours. Will you tell God to write your score or Jesus’s score into the grade book?
You can’t have both, so which will you choose?
Sadly, too many will cling to their useless grade and thus fail:
There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.
Romans 3:10-11
Don’t bother pulling an all-nighter studying for this test. You’re going to fail no matter what you do.
But…
There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Romans 3:22-24
Will you tell God to write your score or Jesus’s score into the gradebook?
God, whom we were just about to declare a cruel teacher for giving us a test with such impossible standards, has done something no other teacher could ever do.
He gave the test to someone else, and anyone who believes in that Star Student gets to use his passing grade!
This is what justification by faith alone means. You can do nothing more to earn your way into heaven. Jesus has done it all, taking your paltry efforts and switching them for his perfect score. You are justified by faith alone, through grace alone.
Spread the word!
More About Justification by Faith for Teens
Still troubled by the all-or-nothing approach to salvation? You’re not alone. Check out these other resources.
You don’t have to have all the answers.
But, hey, why not?
Bring me your questions about faith, life, God, the Bible… and I’ll help you find the answers.
More Articles on Salvation Through Jesus
- What is the Most Difficult Christian Belief to Accept?
- Jesus Saved You From Sin, Death, Hell—And God
- The Battle’s Already Been Won . . . What Battle?
Wondering How to Live As Someone Justified by Faith?
- The Holy Teenage Life: Real Faith, Real Happiness
- What is the Christian Life Supposed to Look Like? (article from 412Teens)
What about good works? If you’re justified by faith alone, why be good at all? See The Most Important Reason to Obey God for answers.
