“But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God publicly displayed as a propitiation in His blood through faith, for a demonstration of His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” (Romans 3:21-26) To be justified, means to be declared righteous. Once again, this an act of God alone, whereby He declares a sinner to be righteous not because of anything the sinner has done but based on the faith which He has graciously given the sinner. According to the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith, “Those whom God effectually calls, He also freely justifies, not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous; not for anything wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ’s sake alone; not by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them, as their righteousness; but by imputing Christ’s active obedience unto the whole law, and passive obedience in his death for their whole and sole righteousness by faith, which faith they have not of themselves; it is the gift of God.” (Chapter 11, Paragraph 1) To properly comprehend this, justification has to do with God’s declaration about the sinner, not with any change within the sinner. That justification does not make anyone holy; it merely declares him to not be guilty before God and therefore treated as holy. The actual change or growth toward holiness in the sinner occurs with sanctification, which is certainly related to justification, but for the definition’s sake of justification, it is distinct from it. It’s been said many times by my pastor that those who are not being sanctified have never been justified. Which is a good inference, as, if you’ve been declared righteous (that the grace of God toward you, based on Christ’s finished work), then you will by necessity have a changed life; you will be obedient unto the Lordship of Christ; you will bear fruit of the Spirit; you will be being sanctified.
There are some major points to consider about justificationwhen thinking of this doctrine biblically. First, justification comes apart from the law; that is to say, we do not and cannot earn justification through law-keeping or our good works. Secondly, it is solely made possible through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ; being based on the shed blood (the giving of life) of Christ. Third, it is the grace (or free gift) of God bestowed on those who receive by faith the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lastly, I would say that justification demonstrates the righteousness of God. See, when thinking biblically (according to God’s word) we would say that God’s justification of the sinner also covers the remission of the penalty of sin, which as we know from the word of God is death. “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23)“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1) “Who Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that having died to sin, we might live to righteousness; by HIS WOUNDS YOU WERE HEALED.” (1 Peter 2:24) Not only this, but God’s justification of the sinner also restores the sinner to God’s favor, which was lost due to our sin. “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” (John 3:36) So in a very practical sense, I would say that justification is not a mere acquittal, rather it is a full acceptance. We are now friends of God. “And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, ‘AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS COUNTED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS,’ and he was called the friend of God.” (James 2:23) We are now co-heirs with Christ our Lord. “and if children, also heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.” (Romans 8:17) The imputation of righteousness, which is the reckoning of Christ’s righteousness to our account. “But to the one who does not work, but believes upon Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: ‘BLESSED ARE THOSE WHOSE LAWLESS DEEDS HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN, AND WHOSE SINS HAVE BEEN COVERED. BLESSED IS THE MAN WHOSE SIN THE LORD WILL NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT.’” (Romans 4:5-8) We are declared forensically (or legally)righteous because, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)
Let me help you understand, from the moment of our salvation, we were justified, we were declared righteous. It was Christ alone who finished the work required for your justification on the cross of Calvary. “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.” (Romans 5:9) “He who was delivered over on account of our transgressions, and was raised on account of our justification.” (Romans 4:25) So you may be asking, or hear asked at some point in your life, “Well if God is holy, how can He simply forgive a sinner?” Which that may come to you in different wording; and truth be told, their question is worded wrong. It is not “if God is holy”; rather, it is, “because God is holy”. But that answer is that justification does not ignore our sin, excuse our sin, or even endorse or approve of our sin. Rather, our sin has been imputed to Another and fully punished. Christ bore our sin, taking the penalty for us. This is why when we think of the cross, we must never leave out the fact that our Lord Jesus was our penal substitute, He bore the penalty for our sins. He was our substitute. “For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, so that He may bring you to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;” (1 Peter 3:18) The wrath of God we deserved has been satisfied in the Substitute. “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our peace fell upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us turned to his own way; but Yahweh has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.” (Isaiah 53:4-6)We’ve been freed from condemnation. “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1) Therefore, God is and will remain to be, both fair and just in His justification of the ungodly. “for the demonstration of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” (Romans 3:26)
God has justified all whom He has saved by grace through faith in Christ, we therefore now have peace with God; no longer in a state of enmity against Him. “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” (Romans 5:1) I’m not sure how many of you have read R.C. Sproul’s book geared toward children titled, “The Priest with Dirty Clothes”, but it’s a wonderful rendition or symbolism of the work that God has done for us. Having removed the filthy garments (sin) we were in and in turn placed upon us the clean white robes of our Lord (His righteousness). “And he answered and spoke to those who were standing before him, saying, ‘Remove the filthy garments from him.’ Again he said to him, ‘See, I have made your iniquity pass away from you and will clothe you with festal robes.’ (Zechariah 3:4) “But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet,” (Luke 15:22) Because of Christ’s work, the Father now sees us as unblemished, perfect, blameless, and we ought to be dedicated to good works. “And our people must also learn to lead in good works to meet pressing needs, so that they will not be unfruitful.” (Titus 3:14) So as we come to a close, let us diligently consider where we stand in relation to this closing verse. “So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. For as through one man’s disobedience the many were appointed sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be appointed righteous.” (Romans 5:18-19)