"Understanding Justification"

Understanding Justification

Romans 8:31 (NLT)
What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?

Let’s say we were caught speeding down the highway. We are doing 100 mph, obviously slightly out of the acceptable speeding window. We go to court and just as the judge is about to throw the book at us, someone steps forward and says, “will pay the fine. I will take the punishment” And so we get off, without paying the fine, without any punishment at all. We have been justified, made right in the eyes of the law. It doesn’t change the fact that we were speeding, but the court sees us as innocent. That is what Christ did for us.

The consummation of the act of repentance is when the sinner acknowledges his sin and asks forgiveness and God gives him a free pardon and restores them to a relationship with Himself. This is justification in the believer’s life. The believer is acquitted of his sinful acts and nature. Many individuals say that justification means just as if you had never sinned; your record has been
wiped clean by Christ redemptive work on Calvary. 

Romans 3:24 (NIV)

And all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

The biblical term to justify (diakaioo) means God acquits and accepts the sinner who trusts in Jesus. Justification is not the forgiveness of a man without righteousness, but a declaration that his righteousness is imputed unto him by Christ. As we get started, I want to read to you four verses from Paul’s letter to the Romans.

First we’ll read Romans 3:24 (NIV), 

“and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

Romans 4:5 (NIV) says,

“However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.”

Romans 5:1 (NIV) says,

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,”

Last of all Romans 8:30 (NIV) says, 

“And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.”

I want to speak to you today on this subject of justification. What is it? Why is it important and what does it mean to us? Perhaps of all the great doctrines of our faith, what the Bible teaches about justification must be among the most important. In fact, it has been said that “a right understanding of justification is absolutely crucial to the whole Christian faith…If we are to safeguard the truth of the gospel for future generations, we must understand the truth of justification. Even today, a true view of justification is the dividing line between the biblical gospel of salvation by faith alone and all false gospels of salvation based on good works.”

There are four facts about justification I want to remind you of today.

1. Justification Is A Legal Declaration By God 

What exactly does it mean to be justified? I think in some ways we have so dumbed down the Bible and biblical terminology that we are frightened by words like this one. Webster’s Dictionary defines justification as being pronounced free from blame or guilt. Vine’s Expository Dictionary says that being justified is the legal and formal acquittal from guilt by God as Judge.

The justification Christ offers frees one from the penalty of sin, and will keep one free from that penalty. Someone once said that justification means, “Just as if I’d never sinned.”

You cannot understand justification apart from these facts about man’s sin and guilt before God. Because we are guilty sentence has been passed upon us. All of humanity stands condemned to die. The wages of sin is death. However, in justification, God who sits on the throne as Judge, legally declares that we are not guilty. In fact, He declares us to be righteous. But let us make a distinction here. In justification God does not make us good or righteous. Nor does He change what we are internally. To say that He justifies us is simply to say that He has declared us to be free from the penalty of our sin. God has simply issued a legal declaration about us.

A good example of this is found in Luke 7:29.

Luke 7:29 (NKJV)

And when all the people heard Him, even the tax collectors justified God, having been baptized with the baptism of John.

You can see here that no one can make God righteous. They were simply declaring that God was righteous.

Now, if in justification God can legally declare us to be not guilty and also to be righteous, then two things take place in justification. The first thing is this: even though we have sinned terribly and stand before Him condemned, God declares that we are not guilty: that we have no penalty to pay for sin, including past, present and even future sins. That is why Paul could later say that there is “no condemnation for them who are in Christ Jesus.” Every sin you have ever committed or ever will commit has been fully forgiven.

That is one part of justification, but it is not enough, because now we stand before God forgiven, but somehow short of what we need. That is why we can say that not only have we been declared to be not guilty, but also to be righteous. You see, in the mind of God we are considered to be perfectly righteous before Him. In justification God sees me as having the merits of perfect righteousness. I am not just forgiven; I am actually righteous.

2. We Can Be Justified Because Of Christ’s Imputed Righteousness

Romans 3:24-26 (NIV)

and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.  25  God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—  26  he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

Now go to Romans 4:1-5, 8…

Romans 4:1-5, 8 (NIV)

What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter?  2  If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God.  3  What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” 4  Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation.  5  However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness. 

8 Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them.”

In Romans 4, the words “reckon,” “count,” and “impute” all come from the same Greek word. When we say that God imputes Christ’s righteousness, to us it means that God thinks of Christ’s righteousness as belonging to us, or regards it as belonging to us. He “reckons” it to our account.

We have no righteousness of our own. Paul made that point in Romans 3:10.

Romans 3:10 (NIV)

  As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one;

 There is none righteous. 

Romans 4:5 says that I am ungodly.

Romans 4:5 (NIV)

However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.

The only way God could look upon us as being righteous is by considering Christ’s righteousness as belonging to me: He justifies the ungodly by forgiving my sins and by declaring me to be righteous. If we reconsider our court trial, imagine that the charge has been laid against you. You are a sinner and deserve death. The various indictments are carefully laid out. You are given the opportunity to defend yourself, but there is nothing to say. You are guilty. Your adversary Satan grows excited knowing that you are guilty, but before the Judge passes sentence, an Advocate comes forward and tells the Judge that He has enough righteousness to take care of your crime. That is what Jesus has done for you.

Think about this: When Adam sinned, his guilt was imputed to us. In other words, God the Father viewed Adam’s sin as belonging to us. When Christ suffered and died for our sins, our sin was imputed to Christ; God thought of it as belonging to him. He paid the penalty for it. When He died on the cross He paid your sin debt. Now in the doctrine of justification, we see Christ’s
righteousness as being imputed to us, and therefore God thinks of it as belonging to us. It is not our own righteousness but Christ’s righteousness that is freely given to us.

3. Justification Comes Entirely By God’s Grace Through

Faith In Christ

The question now comes up, “How do we receive Christ’s righteousness and the forgiveness of sins?” Christ’ righteousness is not simply given to everyone, though it was offered for everyone. 

Romans 3:20 (NIV) tells us that

Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin. In other words, we cannot be justified by any good doing or by our own efforts. We are absolutely corrupt. Verse 24 gives us the answer. How can we be justified? It is by His grace!

Romans 3:24 (NIV)

“and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV)

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—  9  not by works, so that no one can boast. We are saved by God’s grace. God did not have any obligation to impute our sin to Christ or to impute Christ’s righteousness to us; it was only because of his unmerited favor that he did it. That is grace! But how does God determine who will receive this grace? Again, verse 26 gives us the answer:

Romans 3:26 (NIV)

he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

Romans 5:1 says we are justified by faith,

Romans 5:1 (NIV)

“Therefore, since we have been justified through
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ,”

But you must understand that there is nothing inherently good about your faith as though your faith had merit with God. What we learn though is that in exercising faith in Christ we are essentially saying to God the Judge that we cannot do for ourselves what is necessary to escape the punishment that comes because of our sin. God demands payment. He demands satisfaction. Only the perfect sacrifice of His Son can satisfy. Only the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ can free a man from the guilt of sin, and the only way to receive that perfect, imputed righteousness is by believing. 4. Justification Results In Some Wonderful Blessings Now, when God justifies a man, He says, “I pronounce you a righteous man. From now on I am going to treat you as though you had never sinned. All sin is passed and gone: wiped out. Your sin is not just forgiven, not just pardoned, but the slate has been cleared. We have already read some of the blessings of being justified. Romans 5:1 says that we have peace with God. We are not at enmity with Him. I am no longer offensive to Him because He does not see my sin; He sees the perfect righteousness of Christ.  

Titus 3:7 (NIV)

so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

This is not a “hope so” salvation. Because many people think they must earn God’s favor for salvation, they “hope” they can go to heaven. But because my salvation is not dependent on me and I have bet all my salvation on the righteousness of Christ, I have genuine hope in God. As a result of God’s justification, humankind even though we are ungodly, can live in a new relationship through faith with God through Christ Jesus.

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There are plenty of days when I don’t feel saved. My sin and feelings of unworthiness can begin to act like the wind and waves during a hurricane. If my security were based on those feelings or on my deserving salvation I would drift away, but I have an anchor – my hope – not in myself but in Christ’s righteousness which has been considered to be mine.

Not only do we have a genuine hope, but understanding the doctrine of justification gives us confidence that God will never make us pay the penalty for sins that have been forgiven on Calvary. That is not to say we will not reap what we sow. The drunk driver may still go to jail for running over someone, but he can be forgiven and justified. God will discipline us for our sins, but the fact is we will never, and that means never have to pay the penalty that is due our sins. “There is no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus.”