WHEN GOD THE JUDGE DECLARES YOU 'ALRIGHT'.......

THE 13 TERMS OF SALVATION - JUSTIFICATION

JUSTIFICATION is a judicial term whereby God, the judge of the universe, declares absolutely righteous a sinner who comes to Him, by faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ, whereby such a sinner is forgiven and washed clean in the shed blood of Jesus and made righteous through the imputed righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

KEY PASSAGES:

ROMANS 3:19… “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. 28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.” 

(And so, the keeping of the law or merely doing good and even religious works, does not and cannot make us acceptable to God. It is rather "by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." The work of Jesus propitiates, or satisfies, the necessary demands of a Holy God - 1 John 2:1,2.)

ROMANS 5:1… “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ…” 

(The sinner appropriates this justification "by faith." It is ours by God's grace and faith placed in the person of Jesus Christ, His shed blood and atoning work at Calvary and in His victorious resurrection.)

ROMANS 5:9… “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him…” 

(Blood redemption and justification are absolutely necessary. Without the shedding of blood there cannot be forgiveness by a perfect God, so the Book of Hebrews declares - Hebrews 9:19-22.)

GALATIANS 2:16… “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” 

(This is a John 3:16 verse because it so simply and clearly rules out any human endeavor to gain acceptance with God, glorifies Jesus' work as the only means, and declares unequivocally that our justification is "by faith of Jesus Christ." Have you trusted in Him as personal Savior and Lord?)

FROM UNGER’S BIBLE DICTIONARY:  Justification is a divine act whereby an infinitely Holy God judicially declares a believing sinner to be righteous and acceptable before Him because Christ has borne the sinner's sin on the cross and has become "to us... righteousness" (1 Cor. 1:30; Rom. 3:24). Justification springs from the fountain of God's grace (Titus 3:4- 5). It is operative as the result of the redemptive and propitiatory sacrifice of Christ, who has settled all the claims of the law (Rom. 3:24- 25; 5:9). Justification is on the basis of faith and not by human merit or works (3:28- 30; 4:5; 5:1; Gal. 2:16). In this marvelous operation of God the infinitely holy Judge judicially declares righteous the one who believes in Jesus (Rom. 8:31- 34). A justified believer emerges from God's great courtroom with a consciousness that another, his Substitute, has borne his guilt and that he stands without accusation before God (8:1, 33- 34). Justification makes no one righteous, neither is it the bestowment of righteousness as such, but rather it declares one to be justified whom God sees as perfected once and forever in His beloved Son.

-RDC