Those who believe in Christ are pardoned all their sins and accepted in God's sight only because of the righteousness of Christ credited to them; this justification is God's act of undeserved mercy, received solely by trust in him and not by their own efforts.
One of the major rediscoveries of the Reformation was the doctrine of justification by grace alone, through faith alone. That is, our acceptance before God has nothing to do with us, and everything to do with Jesus.
As we saw earlier in this series, our sin makes us 'subject to God's wrath and condemnation'. We are not righteous, nor can we make ourselves righteous - not by our good works, not by our contribution to society, not by our academic achievement. As God's enemies, enslaved to sin, we can win no merit points with Him. We are by nature deserving of wrath (Eph 2:3).
But in God's grace, what we deserve is not what we get.
At the cross, a 'Great Exchange' takes place. As Jesus bears our sin and guilt on the cross, so his righteousness is credited to us. We are accepted in God's sight not because of our own merits, but because of Jesus's.
This exchange isn't just a clever workaround, a way to bend the rules and get us off on a technicality. God doesn't just pretend that we're righteous. No - He actually unites us to Christ. Just as in a marriage all possessions become shared, our sin really belongs to Christ and His righteousness really becomes ours.
This union with Christ that produces our justification is a gift of grace alone. It's not part God, part us. It's all His work. We receive it through faith alone - not by trying our hardest to earn it, but just by trusting in Christ.
Grace-shaped science?
The world of science generally runs on the opposite dynamic. The academic world is strictly hierarchical, and competition is fierce. To secure the PhD place, or the research grant, you have to earn it: top grades, papers published in the best journals, long hours in the lab. Recognition is the fruit of years of hard labour, plus some major strokes of good luck along the way.
Knowing we are justified by grace alone, through faith alone, totally reframes the scientific endeavour for followers of Jesus.
Our value and identity as children of God is secure, independent of our performance. We don't need to prove ourselves by our academic prowess. Instead, we are freed to pursue science for the joy of exploring God's creation, and for the good of others.
Grace leaves no room for pride or entitlement. Not just our status before Him, but all good things in creation come to us as a result of God's grace. Everything we have, we have received as a gift. When things go well, be that in an exam or an experiment, we can humbly thank God for His goodness to us as we receive this gift with joy. When things don't go as planned, we can accept this too as something from God's hand that is ultimately for our good.
Perhaps counterintuitively, this kind of humility makes better scientists. We can evaluate our own work more clearly when our worth isn't tied up in it. We collaborate better when we're not trying to compete.
Imagine the impact that even just one Christian, living out this pattern of grace, could have on the culture of a lab? As we delight in Christ's righteousness credited to us, we model a better way of life to our fellow scientists. And as they notice our distinctive lives, we can invite them too to find grace and mercy from Christ by putting their faith in in him.
