Q. 33. What is justification?

A. Justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein he pardoneth all our sins, and accepteth us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone. Rom. 3:24-25; Rom. 4:6-8; 2 Cor. 5:19, 21; Rom. 5:17-19; Gal. 2:16; Phil. 3:9.

Paul writes in Ephesians 1:3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing…”.  When a person hears the Gospel and embraces Jesus Christ by faith they are united to Him and receive multiple benefits in this life and in the next.  In other words, our salvation is full and comprehensive, and by it we partake of many blessings both now and in the future.  And some of the particular blessings of salvation that we enjoy now (before we get to heaven) are justification, adoption, and sanctification, and various other benefits which, in this life, do either accompany or flow from them.  Two of these blessings—justification and adoption—are singular acts of God’s free grace, and the final blessing—sanctification—is an ongoing work of God’s free grace.  In other words, you can’t be any more justified or adopted than you are once you have been united to Jesus Christ, and yet, you are perpetually and progressively being more sanctified once you have believed upon Jesus Christ.

Justification is a legal term and thus it means that issues of law and the question of a person’s guilt are in view.   For the same reason, it also means that there is a judge and a courtroom in the picture.   Sometimes, because of these things, we will talk about justification being a “forensic” issue [lit. “pertaining to a courtroom”].  When one is justified, they are not only cleared from wrong doing in the eyes law, they are also affirmed as being law abiding.  A good way to think about having been justified in the eyes of the law, is to basically break the word down and read it slowly as if it said, “just-as-if-I’d…not sinned, but had kept the whole law.”

When it comes to our salvation, the Bible teaches very clearly that “all have sinned and fallen short” of keeping God’s moral law (Rom. 3:23).   Therefore, everyone is guilty before His law, and thus will have to stand in the Day of Judgment and give an account of their deeds (Rom. 2:6, 13).  But when a person turns to Jesus Christ by faith for salvation from the penalty of their law-breaking, they receive justification in Him.  That is, they no longer stand before the law based upon their own performance, but they now have a representative and substitute in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.  His shed blood—which satisfies the sentence that they should have received—and His obedience to God—which fulfills the positive righteousness and demand of God’s moral law—are legally accounted or accredited (i.e. ‘imputed’) to them.  That is, they are judged on the basis of Christ’s performance.

This act of justification—which is a legal action that takes place at the moment a person takes Christ as He is offered to them in the Gospel—is an act of God’s free grace.  This underscores the fact that our righteousness and works are not the basis upon which God declares us to be righteous.  That is, we do not deserve to be justified, and indeed we actually deserve to be condemned.  Therefore, justification must be an act of God’s free grace [lit. “a favor in light of demerit”].  Indeed Paul brings the truth of this home in Romans 4:5, with the most striking phrase possible, wherein he refers to God as, “Him who justifies the ungodly”.

So, justification is an act…not a process.  It is by grace…not based upon merit.  It is received and obtained by faith…not by works. And, it is in Christ…not in ourselves (Gal. 2:16):

“…we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.”