The Verdict is in: Not Guilty

Rom 4:23-24 "The words "it was credited to him" were written not for him alone,  but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness — for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead."  These days there are very few of us who don't have mounting credit debt and loans to pay.  Who among us wouldn't like it if someone came along and paid off our debt. That is what Jesus did for us.
When we say that we give someone credit for something it usually means that we are ascribing to that person an action that they either didn't do or didn't complete.  It is as if you take a test and you didn't know the answer to a question, but you put something down and the teacher is in a good mood and they give you credit for your answer.  Righteousness was "credited" to Abraham not because he was perfect and kept all the rules; it was because, in faith, he believed that God's promise to him was true even when everything in the natural pointed to the opposite.
God said, in effect, that even though he didn't have the benefit of the message of the Gospel, Abraham trusted God and believed His word to be true.
Rom 4:25 "He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. "
The word justification comes from a Greek word that means acquittal.  To put it in legal terms, the enemy is the prosecutor and he presents a case to the judge which on the face of the facts in evidence should render a guilty verdict.  Instead, Jesus our defense attorney, takes the stand and takes on our guilt complete with a sentence of death.  He then turns to the judge and presents the case that since He was already found guilty of our offences and already satisfied the sentence, that means there is no evidence of guilt left against us.  At that point the judge uses his gavel and pronounces us "not guilty".  A justification was presented as to why our sins should not count against us and that we should instead be declared "righteous".
Jesus died so that with the shedding of His blood unto death the penalty for our sins would be satisfied.  He was resurrected so that He could become our advocate.
Our "retainer" or attorney's fee is to believe in Him who raised Jesus from the dead.
Such a deal.

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