July 11, 2025 - Acts 13:39 - "Justified by HIM"

Acts 13:39

"And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses."

In this single verse, the Holy Spirit declares the heart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Here, the apostle Paul proclaims the utter sufficiency and exclusivity of Christ's redemptive work. This is not a conditional offer but a triumphant declaration of what Christ has accomplished for His elect. The law could never justify sinners—it could only condemn. But by the perfect obedience and blood of the LORD Jesus, all who are given faith to believe are freely and fully justified, eternally cleared of every charge. This verse sets forth the finished work of Christ as the sinner’s only Righteousness before God, magnifying grace and exalting the Redeemer.

Some would interpret this verse to say that it is by our believing that we are justified from all things before God. Doing so however is to miss the very heart of what the verse declares and what the Gospel teaches. It says, “...BY HIM all that believe are justified...” The tense of the word ‘justified’ is the present passive and means that by the LORD Jesus Christ, all that believe by His grace are being shown, exhibited or made manifest as ones whom God has already declared righteous by the LORD Jesus Christ and His Righteousness imputed to them at Calvary, "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (2 Corinthians 5:21).

One commentator explains it, ‘Christ, as God, is not only the Justifier of His people, Who pronounces them righteous in the sight of God; but His righteousness imputed to them is the matter of their justification, or that by which they are justified and not the works of the law, or obedience to the Gospel, or internal holiness, either in whole or in part, or the Grace of Faith, but the Object of it, Christ, and His righteousness and justification by this is complete and perfect; it is from all sin, original and actual, secret and open, greater or lesser sins; sins of presumption and ignorance, of omission or commission; from all things the law can charge with, as breaches of it; from all things which the justice of God can demand satisfaction for.’

If we, by God’s Grace, are trusting Christ, our faith is not the cause of our justification before God but the evidence of God having justified us by Christ in His obedience unto death, having then and there forgiven us all our sin because He put them all away, "Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins:" (Acts 13:38).