“And by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.” (Acts 13:39)
The “Him” Luke, the author of Acts, refers to in this Scripture is Jesus. The word “all” is paramount. “All that believe” are justified, declared legally righteous, guiltless and in right standing before God. Not only are all who believe justified, they are justified from “all things,” that the Law of Moses couldn’t justify.
The Law of Moses merely pointed to sin. It said this and this is wrong and offends God. You should do so and so, which was impossible. “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.” (Romans 3:19) It pronounced all men guilty. It is impossible to be spiritually righteous by any means that we can muster. Whatever we do that appears righteous to us is “filthy rags” to God. “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” (Isaiah 64:6) Why is that? ...because it originates from man, who is sinful. That is the reason we needed a Savior. There was no way man could be righteous before God. No man was free from sin. We were sinful because that was our nature inherited from Adam. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so, death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:” (Romans 5:12) That word “passed” means that sin and death passed over, traveled to and pierced through to all. That’s very descriptive.
But “all that believe” are justified. It’s talking about believing in Jesus. It’s believing that Jesus is Who He said He is. It’s believing that He lived a sinless life. It’s believing that He went to the Cross for us. It’s believing that He took our sins to the Cross. “For He hath made Him to be sin for us, Who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” (2Corinthians 5:21) It’s believing that He took our punishment for sin on the Cross. It’s believing that He took our death. It’s believing that because of His crucifixion, we are forgiven. It’s believing that the Precious shed Blood of the Lamb of God cleansed us and purified us. It’s believing that our old sinful man died with Jesus. It’s believing that we are a new creation in Jesus. It’s believing that Jesus rose from among the dead and sits at the right hand of the Father. It’s believing that we also will resurrect just like Jesus and be eternally with Him. It’s believing we are righteous before God, because Jesus placed His righteousness on us. We’re not standing before God in our own righteousness which couldn’t stand before the Father, but we stand before God with the righteousness of Jesus. “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:” (Romans 8:3)
It's not our “goodness” that saves us. We could never be good enough. The Law of Moses taught us that. We can’t even keep all the Ten Commandments. We lie and cheat. We curse others with our words condemning them. That’s murder. We don’t put God first before our favorite TV shows or our favorite social media. We skip church because it’s too cold, too rainy or because we don’t feel well after a late night. So, No! We cannot be good enough to be righteous on our own. “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” (Galatians 2:16)
God Himself rescued us. God provided the sacrificial Lamb for the removal of our sins. But it was not like the Old Testament sacrifice that had to be done yearly, but once only. And because the sacrifice is so holy it’s able to take our sin away forever. It’s able to cleanse us eternally. And it does this not for a small group, but for the whole world, all people, past, present and future. “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” (Galatians 4:4-5) And the sacrifice of the Lamb is able to birth us a new creation, sons of God.
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