Theological Term of the Week: Justification
Tuesday, December 6, 2022 at 2:30AM 
A judicial act of God “in which he declares [a believer] righteous, forgiving [their] sins or imputing or reckoning to [them] the righteousness of Jesus Christ.”1
- From scripture:
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. (Romans 3: 21-28 ESV)
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith…. (Philippians 3:8-9 ESV)
- From The London Baptist Confession, 1689, Chapter 11:
Of Justification
1. Those whom God effectually calleth, he also freely justifieth, 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.
2. Faith thus receiving and resting on Christ and his righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification; yet it is not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces, and is no dead faith, but worketh by love.
3. Christ, by his obedience and death, did fully discharge the debt of all those that are justified; and did, by the sacrifice of himself in the blood of his cross, undergoing in their stead the penalty due unto them, make a proper, real, and full satisfaction to God’s justice in their behalf; yet, inasmuch as he was given by the Father for them, and his obedience and satisfaction accepted in their stead, and both freely, not for anything in them, their justification is only of free grace, that both the exact justice and rich grace of God might be glorified in the justification of sinners.
- From Systematic Theology by Robert Letham, page 677:
Justification refers to our legal standing with God. It is the obverse of the condemnation we were under due to sin. Justification is a forensic act; to justify means to declare righteous. The ground of justification is the righteousness of Christ imputed, or reckoned to us, not the righteousness of Christ imparted or infused … .
Justification is only by faith. When a person believes … he or she is therby justified on the grounds of Christ and his righteousness, whatever his or her past state may have been. However, while justification is only by faith, sinse it depends on the work of Christ, is is a constitutive act. Those declared righteous are truly righteous (Romans 5:19). This is not legal fiction, since by union with Christ, his righteousness is ours too.
- From Systematic Theology by Louis Berkhof, page 513-514
The following points of difference between justification and sanctification should be carefully noted:
1. Justification removes the guilt of sin and restores the sinner to all the filial rights involved in his state as a child of God, including an eternal inheritance. Sanctification removes the pollution of sin and renews the sinner ever-increasingly in conformity with the image of God.
2. Justification takes place outside of the sinner in the tribunal of God, and does not change his inner life, though the sentence is brought home to him subjectively. Sanctification, on the other hand, takes place in the inner life of man and gradually affects his whole being.
3. Justification takes place once for all. It is not repeated, neither is it a process; it is complete at once and for all time. There is no more or less in justification; man is either fully justified, or he is not justified at all. In distinction from it sanctification is a continuous process, which is never completed in this life.
4. While the meritorious cause of both lies in the merits of Christ, there is a difference in the efficient cause. Speaking economically, God the Father declares the sinner righteous, and God the Holy Spirit sanctifies him.
Learn more:
- Simply Put: Justification
- Ligonier Ministries: Justification
- Leon Morris: Justification
- Tom Schreiner: The Righteousness of God in Justification
- John Murray: Justification
- Philip Eveson: The Doctrine of Justification
- Here at this blog: Quiz on Justification
Related terms:
1 Systematic Theology by Robert Letham, page 669.
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