What does it mean to be justified by faith?
It means being made totally righteous by faith alone, plus nothing. It is not earned by doing anything or meriting anything, nor comes through the law or commandment-keeping, which works wrath. Paul points to Abraham as the perfect example of this righteousness of faith.
Les explains that Abraham is the epitome of a man of faith who was justified by doing nothing and meriting nothing. Abraham had lived in abject idolatry and had no knowledge of the One True God, yet God saw in him the potential to believe what He said, reached down, spoke to him, and appeared to him in a physical form more than once. Paul, by inspiration, goes back to Abraham as the perfect example of what it is to be justified—made totally righteous by faith, and faith alone, plus nothing. The promise that Abraham should be heir of the world was not through the law but through the righteousness of faith. If those who are of the law be heirs, faith is made void and the promise of none effect, because the law worketh wrath. The commandments can only bring the wrath of God, not heaven. At the same time, grace is not license; this does not mean we do not keep the commandments or pay attention to the law.