Fruitful Living
Benefits of being justified through faith
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• A woman praying
The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. – 2 Corinthians 10:4
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, – Romans 5:1
INTRODUCTION
Paul begins Romans 5 by focusing on the present benefits of peace, hope and love from God, all benefits that a believer can count on every day. God doesn’t save us by grace only to make us then try to live for Him in our own power. God’s grace is given to help us stand today, tomorrow and on that future day when we will stand before His throne. Paul again described how God redeemed us when we were at our worst, which demonstrates just how great His grace is.
In Romans 6, Paul discussed reasons that Christians can no longer think and live in the old ways of sin. Believers have died to the old life by being baptised into Jesus’s death and raised into new life through His resurrection. We serve a new Master who freed us from bondage to sin and empowers us to grow in faith, thus producing the spiritual fruit that shows we have eternal life. Through our obedience, we display Christ and His character to the world. Only by allowing Christ to live in us can we truly have an impact for the kingdom of God.
PEACE AND HOPE
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And weboast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through Him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. – Romans 5:1-11
DEATH THROUGH ADAM, LIFE THROUGH CHRIST
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—
To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come.
But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgEment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!
Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. – Romans 5:12-21.
DEAD TO SIN, ALIVE IN CHRIST
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptised into His death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
For, if we have been united with him in a death like His, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like His. For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
Now, if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over Him. 1The death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God.
In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to Him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. – Romans 6:1-14.
SLAVES TO RIGHTEOUSNESS
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 6:16-23.
Stay blessed!
By Dr Joyce Aryee, the author
For further inquiries please contact us on Tel Nos. 0243588467 or 0268130615
Email: saltnlightministries@gmail.com
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Matthew 6:33. Notice Jesus said, “His righteousness”, not our own righteousness. We have to seek and understand God’s righteousness. Isaiah 54:14 says, “Their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.” God’s righteousness comes from God, not from within us. Humans cannot make themselves God’s righteousness, as all humans have sinned and are therefore inferior to God. God’s righteousness is a gift from God: “ For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” – 2 Corinthians 5:21
Righteousness, or right standing with God, has been attained for us through the exchange Jesus made on our behalf. Jesus took our sin and gave us His righteousness. God’s righteousness is imparted to us when we are made a new creature in Christ – 2 Corinthians 5:17. This righteousness is a gift from God and undeserved by us: “For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.”- Romans 5:17
Through our faith in Jesus’ blood, shed to remit our sins – Romans 3:25, God imparts righteousness to us by His grace. We actually become a new righteous creation, fully identifying in Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection and ascension. This is the foundational miracle we need to understand and have established in our heart. All the other miraculous promises of God come the same way, by God’s grace through faith. Righteousness must be established in our heart for us to truly have faith to receive our rich inheritance in Christ. Jesus has been made unto us righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30). We are now “For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us”. – 2 Corinthians 1:20
Establishing our minds in righteousness
God expects that, when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour, we will be radically changed. In Romans 12:2 He tells us, And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,
This transformation is to be a metamorphosis, of a magnitude at least comparable to that by which a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. He expects us to become totally different.
Scripture uses many different images to express the change that should occur: We become “a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” – 2 Cor 5:17. It is almost as if we become a new species. Scripture speaks of the “first Adam” who was earthly and fell into sin, and the “second Adam” (Jesus Christ) who was sinless and holy – Rom. 5:12-19; 1 Cor 15:44-49.
We are “made new in the attitude of our minds” – Eph. 4:23.
We “put off our old self” and “put on the new self” – Eph. 4:22,24; Col 3:9-10.
We “live by the Spirit” and not by the flesh – Gal. 5:16; Rom 8:13.
We become “instruments of righteousness” rather than “instruments of wickedness” – Rom. 6:13.
Each of these metaphors, in a different way, emphasizes the magnitude of the change that is expected. Each is dramatic and astonishing in itself; their cumulative effect is even more powerful. We are talking about a tremendous transformation. It should be visible to others, but its internal effect should be far greater than what others can perceive.
The goal of this transformation
What is the goal of this metamorphosis? Scripture states it in a number of different ways, which overlap and can be seen as different ways of expressing the same basic concept. Scripture often does this, because our minds are inadequate to comprehend, and our language inadequate to express, the full scope of God’s revelation to us.
To be continued!
Stay blessed!
For further inquiries please contact us on Tel Nos. 0243588467 or 0268130615
Email: saltnlightministries@gmail.com
Website: saltandlightministriesgh.org
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Fruitful Living
Environmental Stewardship Is an Act of Worship: The Islamic response to climate change and environmental degradation (Final part)
The Role of Faith Leaders and the Way Forward
Addressing climate change and environmental degradation requires more than legislation, technological innovation, and financial investment. It also demands a transformation of attitudes, values, and behaviours. While governments formulate policies and enforce environmental regulations, faith leaders possess a unique moral authority to shape public conscience and inspire responsible stewardship. In Ghana, where religion plays a significant role in public life, religious institutions can become powerful partners in advancing environmental sustainability.
Islam assigns Imams and religious scholars the responsibility of guiding society toward righteousness and preventing harmful practices. Allah instructs, “Invite to the way of your Lord with wisdom and good instruction, and argue with them in a way that is best” (Qur’an 16:125, Sahih International). This responsibility extends beyond matters of ritual worship to encompass every aspect of life that affects human wellbeing, including the protection of the environment.
Environmental stewardship should therefore become an integral part of Islamic teaching, preaching, and community engagement.
Mosques, as centres of learning and social transformation, have enormous potential to cultivate environmental consciousness. Imams can regularly incorporate environmental themes into Friday sermons, Islamic lectures, marriage counselling, youth programmes, and educational activities. Teaching congregants that protecting rivers, forests, wildlife, and public spaces is an act of worship that helps bridge the perceived divide between religious devotion and environmental responsibility. Such education can inspire lasting behavioural change rooted not merely in fear of legal sanctions but in consciousness of accountability before Allah.
Religious institutions can also lead by example. Mosques can organise community clean-up campaigns, tree-planting exercises, and public awareness programmes on sanitation and responsible waste disposal. They can adopt environmentally friendly practices by reducing unnecessary waste during religious gatherings, encouraging water conservation during ablution, and promoting the proper maintenance of mosque facilities and surrounding communities. These initiatives demonstrate that Islamic values are best communicated through practical action as well
as words.
Meaningful environmental protection also requires collaboration among multiple stakeholders. Government agencies should continue strengthening the enforcement of environmental laws while addressing corruption and enhancing institutional accountability. Environmental governance must be guided by transparency, fairness, and the consistent application of the law. At the same time, sustainable economic alternatives should be developed for communities that depend on environmentally destructive activities, particularly illegal mining. Investments in vocational education, climate-smart agriculture, responsible small-scale mining, and entrepreneurship can provide dignified livelihoods while reducing pressure on fragile ecosystems (UNDP, 2023).
Traditional authorities equally have an indispensable role to play. As custodians of customary lands, chiefs and community leaders possess considerable influence over land use and natural resource management. Their collaboration with government institutions, faith leaders, and local communities is essential in protecting forests, water bodies, and communal lands from unsustainable exploitation. Community ownership of environmental conservation initiatives often produces more enduring outcomes than enforcement measures alone.
Educational institutions should integrate environmental ethics into their curricula from the basic to the tertiary levels. Beyond teaching scientific concepts, schools should cultivate a sense of environmental citizenship, encouraging young people to appreciate the interconnectedness of ecological health, economic development, and human wellbeing. Parents likewise bear the responsibility of nurturing environmentally responsible habits within the family by teaching children the values of cleanliness, moderation, conservation, and respect for public property.
Individual citizens cannot be absolved of responsibility. The Qur’anic concept of Khalifah reminds every believer that stewardship begins with personal conduct. Conserving water, disposing of waste responsibly, planting and protecting trees, reducing unnecessary consumption, respecting public spaces, and reporting environmental offences are practical ways through which every Muslim can fulfil this sacred trust. Environmental stewardship is not reserved for governments or
environmental experts; it is the collective duty of every member of society.
The environmental challenges confronting Ghana should also be viewed as opportunities to strengthen national unity. Climate change, pollution, and environmental degradation affect people irrespective of religion, ethnicity, political affiliation, or social status. They therefore call for collective action grounded in shared values of justice, responsibility, and compassion. Islam’s
ethical framework complements national development efforts by reminding believers that service to humanity and protection of creation are integral dimensions of worship.
As Ghana strives to achieve sustainable development, environmental protection must cease to be regarded as a peripheral concern and instead become a national moral priority. The combined efforts of government, traditional authorities, religious institutions, civil society, academia, the private sector, and citizens can restore degraded ecosystems and build resilient communities. Through wise leadership, sound governance, and unwavering commitment to the divine trust of
stewardship, the nation can preserve its rich natural heritage for generations yet unborn.
In conclusion, protecting the environment is not merely an environmental obligation—it is an act of worship, a fulfilment of humanity’s divine trust, and a legacy of justice for future generations.
Thank you.
The author is Chief Imam of Katamanso Municipal and Certified Counsellor and Governnace Expert
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