Justification

The doctrine of justification helps us to understand how God declares our sins forgiven. A right understanding of justification is absolutely critical to the whole Christian faith. Scripture tells us that we are justified by faith:

"knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified." (Galatians 2:16)


(The following is an excerpt of an article by John Stevenson on Justification)

But what exactly does it mean to be "justified". The term "justify" is taken from the Greek root word "righteous." This gives us a clue as to its meaning. It has to do with righteousness. It describes the act of declaring that a person or thing is righteous.

The act of justification does not MAKE a person righteous. It is merely a declaration that he IS righteous. But how can God declare a man to be righteous when that man is really a guilty sinner? The answer can only be found in the imputation of righteousness.

"For He made Him who know no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21)

In this single verse, Paul pictures two different aspects of the work of Christ on our behalf.

1) The Imputation of our sins upon Christ - Our sins were put to His account. He was credited wth our sins. The sinless Son of God was judged as though He had committed all of the sins which have ever taken place throughout the entire history of mankind.

2) The Imputation of Christ's Righteousness Toward Us - Just as our sins were put to His account while He was on the cross, so in the same way, the righteousness of Christ is put to our account when we believe in Him.

What is the significance of this imputation of Christ's righteousness to our account? If I have been declared by God to be righteous, then God is now free to bless me with every spiritual blessing. For God to accept sinful man as he is and to fellowship with him in this condition would be for God to accept and fellowship with SIN. It would make God a sinner. It is for this reason that God formed a plan which would save man and at the same time would satisfy the righteousness of God.

This certainly does not cover all of the teachings on justification, but hopefully it will at least be helpful as an introduction to this wonderful doctrine.