Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.
Romans 3:28
What does Paul mean when he writes in Romans of being justified? He is referring to God’s declaration that sinners are declared to be righteous. This does not mean that they are righteous, but that God graciously declares them to be righteous. God makes this declaration because Jesus paid for the forgiveness of the sins of those whose faith is in Jesus.
Salvation is not provided by our faith. It is provided by Jesus and His sacrificial death on our part—after which He necessarily arose, of course. Our faith is merely the means by which we receive what Christ has done for us.
That said, we receive Christ, and therefore salvation, by faith alone, or as Paul argues in Romans chapter 4: Faith, not works , ritual, nor law .
Faith not works (v.1-8). Abraham was declared righteous not by what he did, but because he believed God (v.3). No one has ever been saved by anything that he has done. If it were so, it wouldn’t have been grace, but a debt that God owed.
Faith, not ritual (v.9-12). God’s promises to Abraham were made over 13 years before He commanded Abraham to observe the ritual of circumcision (v.10-11). There is no ritual, including the biblical sacraments of baptism or the Lord’s Supper, that can save us. The saved are to observe these sacraments because they are saved, but never to be saved.
Faith, not law (v.13-15). Abraham lived and died by faith hundreds of years before God gave the Law to Moses. The Law of Moses condemns us but it cannot save us. If that holy law given by God cannot save, what other man-made law could ever hope to?
“Therefore (v.16) salvation is by faith that it might be according to grace.”