How can a man be “in the right” before God? This is the dilemma that has tormented men down through history. It caused Martin Luther to crawl on his knees up the steps of the so-called Scala Sancta in Rome, and induced monks to wear hair shirts embedded with fishhooks in an attempt to pay for their sins. To this day, it causes natives of the South Sea Islands to sacrifice chickens and sprinkle their blood to the gods. In more “civilized” countries, many settle for “going to church” or some other form of “good deeds” to placate their guilty consciences. And everywhere men try to “justify” themselves by rationalizing or excusing their evil actions.
How can a man be right with God? There is only one answer: A man can be right with God only through the life and death of the Lord Jesus Christ on his behalf. “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross.”(1 Peter 2:24) “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”(2 Corinthians 5:21) Christ alone can make us right with God (John 14:6; 1 Tim. 2:5-6; Acts 4:12) – Charles Leiter from his book Justification & Regeneration
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