The Three Levels of God’s Plan of Redemption

The book of Romans is one of the most valued parts of the Bible for a significant number of reasons. For instance, in Romans we find the foundations for the most important aspects of our Christian faith (sin, judgment, grace, salvation, redemption, etc.). It’s a book that not only covers a broad doctrinal body but that also presents practical steps. In it, we learn how to live out our faith.  Today, I want to take this moment to share with you something that I think is extremely important that we understand clearly. I believe it is transcendental that we really grasp the main theme of the entire book of Romans, which is, the Gospel and the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, a gift that we receive by faith alone (something that Martin Luther called Sola Fide).

Throughout Romans, the apostle Paul brought forth the revelation of one of the pivotal verses of the entire Old Testament, nothing more or nothing less than Habakkuk 2:4 that says: “The just shall live by faith.” The revelation that Paul received about this text impacted his theology and the development of three key books for the correct understanding of Christian faith such as Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews. In these books, and especially in Romans, we can clearly see the three levels of God’s plan of redemption in Christ Jesus. These levels are:

• “The just” (Ro. 1:17) – Positional level
• “Shall live” (Gal. 3:11) – Practical level
• “By faith” (Heb. 10:38) – Personal level

In this way we can clearly understand that our justification does not depend on what we can do but on where we can stand.

As Paul writes to the Ephesians, our redemption is in Christ. Today we can be sure that we are in Christ, and that He is our position before God. Now a couple of questions for you to meditate on:

Where am I standing? What is my position in life right now?

I pray that today you make the decision of placing your faith in the work of Christ and find in Him peace and salvation.