Justification Is Not A License

When I finally got my Driver's License, I remember the feeling that I can get in my car without my parents and drive myself wherever I wanted to go. I can leave when I wanted to (of course, I did let my parents know where I was going) and get home on my own time (unless I was going to miss curfew). My Driver's License meant freedom, however, it did not mean I was free to do whatever I wanted to do without reaping the consequences.

Somehow, people in the church think that justification is the license to do whatever we want to. The Bible teaches us we are free from the condemnation of sin, but it does not grant us the freedom to act as if we are still sinful people. 1 Peter 2:16 says, "Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God." We are to live as people who have set free by Jesus, but we are to use that freedom to serve God. Galatians 5:13 says, "For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another." Our freedom is also to be used to serve one another in the church.

Mark Dever wrote, "The fact that justification is by faith alone, in Christ's work alone, does not mean a justified person can now be licentious (taking moral license) and antinomian (against the law)...We are justified by faith in Christ alone. But justifying faith is never alone. It yields a life that hates sin and fights against it." Our justification not only declares us not guilty before God, but also, as a response to our justification, a desire to fight sin not abuse.