What Does It Mean To Be Justified?

     With our study of the word "redeem" or "redemption" we noted that the person who comes to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is bought with a price. The debt of his or her sins is paid in full by the precious blood of the Savior. But this is only the beginning of the riches of salvation. While redemption is absolutely necessary in the plan of salvation, it is not all that there is. In fact, simply being redeemed leaves the believer in somewhat of a precarious position. While redemption removes the negative aspects of sin's condemnation, it does little to provide a positive standing before a holy God. Therefore, more is needed. That is where justification comes in.

     The word justification, as used in the New Testament, comes from the Greek verb dikaioo and the noun dikaiosis. The word literally means to declare righteous and to treat as such. We note that as the word is used in Scripture, justification is always used about a person who has fallen short of the glory of God. The person who is justified is not a person who has achieved a certain level of righteousness and God "finishes the process", but rather, a person who is sinning is declared righteous. We add to our definition then, that justification is the act of God whereby He declares righteous the person who comes to faith in the Son while yet in their sinning state.

     It is very important that we understand the definition of justification clearly because there are many incorrect ideas as to what justification truly is. One of these false definitions of justification is a very popular way of remembering the term. To some, the justified means "just-as-if-I'd" never sinned. It is a nice play on words but it is theologically incorrect. The problem with this definition is that it does not cover all that justification is about, and thereby sells short the value of our justification. Adam and Eve were once people who had never sinned. If you can, picture Adam and Eve standing on a wall. On one side of the wall is obedience to the commands of God. On the other side of the wall is disobedience to the commands of God. In the Garden of Eden, man was in a utopic state, free from sin and perfectly righteous in that sin was absent from him. But God gave man a series of commands. Be fruitful and multiply was the first command. That was a positive command, something for man to do. But there was also a negative command, do not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. These two commands created a test for Adam and Eve. As a free moral character, he could choose whether he would be obedient or disobedient. Unfortunately, they chose the wrong one and man became a sinner. Here is where the problem comes in. To say that if a person is justified is just as if they had not sinned, that would move them from the side of disobedience back onto the wall where they could fall off again. Should he choose to disobey again, he would then need to be justified again, and again, and again... But justification declares a person righteous not sinless. It gives that person a positive standing in righteousness.

     Let's now look at the need for justification. Why can't God just say, "Okay, you're redeemed, your sins are taken care of, that's good enough for Me."? The first reason why this statement can not be made is that God is perfectly and infinitely holy (Hab 1:13). At the other end of the spectrum we find man, totally without holiness (Rom. 3:10). Man in his natural state is incapable of standing in the presence of God due to his lack of holiness. By the way, what makes heaven heavenly is the fact that everything in it is holy. Therefore, in order for man to be able to inhabit heaven, he must be made righteous. And since man is incapable of making himself holy, it is necessary that God take the initiative and do something in order for man to become holy Rom. 3:20).

     What then is the activity that God did in order to justify us? 2 Corinthians 5:21 gives us the answer to that question. Hanging on Calvary's cross, Jesus Christ bore your sins and mine, as well as the sins of the whole world. Jesus, Himself, had never sinned, and was infinitely righteous, having fulfilled all the righteous demands of God. On the cross a transaction took place. Our sins were place upon Jesus, and His righteousness was extended to us who believe on Him.

     On what basis is the sinner justified? Romans 3:24-26 answers this question. God justifies the sinner FREELY by grace on the basis of faith in the person and finished work of Jesus Christ. If anything, whether it be a personal act, or an rite of the church, or any other thing, would need to be done in order that a person could put themselves in a position to be declared righteous, then the word freely would need to be removed from the passage. But justification is freely given, while a person is yet in their sinning state, to the one who trusts in Jesus Christ completely apart from any merit.

     How do we know that justification is truly as stated above? What evidence is there that we can be declared righteous in the sight of God simply by faith in Jesus Christ? Romans 4:25 states that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is that which declares our justification to be valid. This was typified in the Old Testament for us by Elijah and his challenge to the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. There he had a c0ntest with these false prophets to see which one could make a sacrifice acceptable to God. The means of proving the acceptability of the sacrifice was having fire come out of heaven and consuming the sacrifice. Of course, only Elijah's sacrifice was consumed. In the same manner there never has been anyone who has offered themselves for sin who God was please to resurrect apart from Jesus Christ. The resurrection of Christ is God's seal of approval upon the sacrifice of Christ for our sins.

     What are the consequences of our justification? There are four to be exact. First, by being declare righteous we have a prefect standing before God. The key is the word perfect. In that Jesus' righteousness was perfect, and His righteousness becomes ours, our righteousness is then perfect (Eph. 1:6). The believer need not wonder whether he or she is pleasing to God in standing. In that Jesus was well pleasing to the Father, so is the believer in Jesus. We stand in the righteousness of Christ. Secondly there is a perfect peace with God. Romans 5:1 states that because we are justified we have peace with God. The person who is yet in their sins is at enmity with God because they are children of wrath (Eph. 2:1-3). Never in the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus did we hear the Savior say to His disciples, "Men, the Father is angry with me today." Jesus was always at peace with the Father. In that the believer is identified with Him, the believer is at peace with the Father also. Third, because of that perfect peace, we have a perfect access to God. In the earthly ministry of the Lord, there never was a time when He could not come to the Father, that the Father was too busy or unconcerned about His Son was doing. Likewise, there never is a time in the life of the believer that God will not listen to us or that we do not have access to the riches of our salvation. Never did Jesus go through an intermediary to capture the attention of the Father, His righteousness brought Him into direct access with Him. It brings the believer today too. We need no saint, no angel, not even Mary, for the righteousness of Christ provides us direct access to the Father. In fact, to seek to go through another in order to get to God in prayer is an insult to the righteousness of Jesus. Finally, there is a perfect security to the justified one. Romans 8:30-31 asks this important question, "In light of the justifying work of Jesus Christ, if God be for us, who can be against us?" I need not worry that someone or something will come along and knock me off the wall that teeters divides obedience and disobedience. The justified person is not on the wall! A believer may disobey, in fact, will disobey, but their righteousness is not their own, but that of Christ's and He will never disobey. There is therefore, a perfect security to the one who is justified by faith in Jesus Christ.

     On last thing before we leave the subject of justification. Back in the early 1500's, martin Luther was reading his Bible when he came to the verse in Habakkuk 2:4 where it reads the just shall live by his faith. In Luther's day, it was commonly believed that if a man was to be in a right standing before God, he had to do a certain number of "righteous" things. If he did these things, then all was right. If he sinned, he could pay for his sins with various penances and even prepay his sins by buying indulgences. As Luther read the words of Scripture, he realized that what the Bible taught about justification and what the church practiced were opposites. On account of his understanding of Habakkuk 2:4 the Reformation came about. Those who held to the church's belief that justification was by a person own works cited passages like James 2:21 where it says that Abraham was justified by works. Because of his misunderstanding of the teaching of James, Luther, early on, called the epistle an epistle of straw. What Luther didn't understand at the time (later in his life he did) is that James was speaking of justification before men, not God. The key words in the passage are, "Seest thou". God is able to look upon the heart and knows with absolute certainty the genuineness of a person's faith. Man can only look on the outward appearances and never has an absolute certainty of another's profession of faith. If a person is justified before God by faith in the Lord Jesus alone, then there should be some outward evidence of this reality of faith. James is simply saying that the believer should prove their faith before man by their works which are to be consistent with the righteous works of Jesus Christ. The believer is not declared righteous because they have done something good, they are to do something good because they have been declared righteous.

     The entirety of your acceptance with God is based upon what Jesus Christ accomplished at Calvary's cross. There He died for your sins redeeming you from sin's penalty- eternal death which is the judgment of God. There He also provided for your justification that you might be declared righteous in the sight of God with His infinite righteousness. Redemption and justification become yours by faith in Jesus Christ and nothing else. Do you possess them?