Justification is one of the Great Words in the vocabulary of Salvation. In the History the Church it was greatly perverted and discarded until the time of the Protestant Reformation when it was restored to its rightful place.
Regeneration and sanctification did not receive their proper emphasis during the reformation until the Time of the Wesleyan Revival. We need to rejoice that the reformation did give back to the Church the fundamental Doctrine of Justification. Thiessen p. 362
Job asked , “ How then can a man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of woman? Job 25:4
Paul says, “Therefore , being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:1
1. The Need for Justification.
In Romans we have seen that the Apostle Paul presents sinful man in a Courtroom before God on trial for his very life.
The Charge: High treason against the King of the Universe. Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
The Presiding Judge is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.Joh 5:22 The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son,
The Jury is made up of the Law of God and the deeds of man
Rom 2:6 He will render to each one according to his works:
Rom 2:12 For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.
After proper deliberation a fair verdict is found. “Guilty” is proclaimed by the Judge.
Rom 3:19 Now we know that as many things as the law says, it speaks to those under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
A terrifying Sentence is then imposed - spiritual death or Eternal separation from God to suffer throughout all eternity in the Lake of Fire.
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| GUILTY |
This Shows our Desperate need for God’s Intervention in Justification.
2. The Definition of Justification.
By nature man is not only a child of the evil one, but he is also a Transgressor and a criminal.
Rom 5:6 For while we were still weak, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
Rom 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Rom 5:10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
Col 1:21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled.
Tit 3:3 For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, being deceived, being enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.
In Regeneration man receives a new life and nature; in justification He receives and new standing.
Justification can be defined as that act of God whereby He declares righteous him who believes on our Lord Jesus Christ.
F. W. Farr says, “ Justification is the reversal of God's declarative Attitude towards the sinner. God did condemn him, now He acquits him, because of the sinner’s new relation to Christ. Thiessen p.362
Justification is a declarative act. It is not something wrought in man, but something declared of man.
Note the Following things involved in Justification:
(1) The Remission of the Penalty.
The Penalty for sin is Death: spiritual, physical, and eternal.
Gen 2:16 And Jehovah God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
Gen 2:17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Rom 5:12 Therefore, as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin; and so death passed unto all men, for that all sinned: -
Rom 5:13 for until the law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
Rom 5:14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the likeness of Adam's transgression, who is a figure of him that was to come.
Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
If man is to be Saved, then this penalty must be firstly removed. It was removed by the death of Christ, who bore our sins in His own body on the Tree thus taking our punishment. Is 53:5,6 1 Peter 2 :24who his own self bare our sins in his body upon the tree, that we, having died unto sins, might live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed.
Our sins are remitted if we believe in Jesus.
Act 13:38 Be it known unto you therefore, brethren, that through this man is proclaimed unto you remission of sins:
Act 13:39 and by him every one that believeth is justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.
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FREED!!!!!
The Shorter Catechism: “Justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein He pardons all our sins, and accepts us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith. Q.33”
(2) The Restoration to favour.
The sinner not only incurred a penalty but has lost God’s favour.
Joh 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. ESV
Rom 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
v.18 For. Now follows a declaration of the world's unrighteousness, of the wrath of God against unrighteousness, and hence the need of the righteousness of God through the gospel received by faith in order to salvation. The "for" introduces an argument which shows that Christ's gospel is the world's only hope.
The wrath of God. His displeasure.
Is revealed. Not only by the declarations of the Holy Scriptures, and his judgments, but by nature's teachings, and by the human conscience.
Ungodliness. Irreligiousness. This is the fountain of unrighteousness.
Hold (down or suppress) the truth in unrighteousness. There is a measure of truth revealed to every man. See next verse. Many refuse to profit by the light they have, and love the darkness rather than the light. All who do not live up to the knowledge they possess, who do worse than they know, hold the truth in unrighteousness. They obstruct the truth, rather than let it have free scope. PNT
Gal 2:16 yet 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.
Gal 2:17 But if, in our endeavour to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not!
The remission of the penalty for sin is one thing but the Restoration to favour is another.
Justification restores us to favour and fellowship with God. We become sons of God by Faith in Jesus Christ. Thiessen p.363
Gal 3:24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.
Gal 3:25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian,
Gal 3:26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.
Gal 3:27 For as many of you as were baptised into Christ have put on Christ.
(3) The Imputation of Righteousness (Attribution or Ascription of Righteousness)
Justification is setting one right before the law, we need to note, as Strong says, that “the law requires not merely freedom from offense negatively, but all manner of obedience and likeness to God Positively Thiessen p.363
The sinner must not only be pardoned from the past sins, but also be supplied with a positive righteousness before we can have fellowship with God.This need is supplied in the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ to every believer.
Impute means to reckon or count to one. Thus Paul in Philem 18 asks that Philemon reckon Onesimus’ debt to him.
David declared that the man is blessed ,”unto whom the LORD imputes not iniquity. Ps 32:2 (wickedness).
2Co 5:21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Hath made him . . . who knew no sin. As a sinless substitute he suffered for our sins, that our sins might thus be atoned for, the law satisfied, and we be forgiven and accounted righteous. Since we die with Christ, in him we pay the penalty, and are justified.PNT
Robinson's Word Pictures comments, “Him who knew no sin (ton mē gnonta hamartian). Definite claim by Paul that Jesus did not commit sin, had no personal acquaintance (mē gnonta, second aorist active participle of ginōskō) with it. Jesus made this claim for himself (Joh_8:46). This statement occurs also in 1Pe_2:22; Heb_4:15; Heb_7:26; 1Jo_3:5. Christ was and is “a moral miracle” (Bernard) and so more than mere man.
He made to be sin (hamartian epoiēsen). The words “to be” are not in the Greek. “Sin” here is the substantive, not the verb. God “treated as sin” the one “who knew no sin.” But he knew the contradiction of sinners (Heb_12:3). We may not dare to probe too far into the mystery of Christ’s suffering on the Cross, but this fact throws some light on the tragic cry of Jesus just before he died: “My God, My God, why didst thou forsake me?” (Mat_27:46).
That we might become (hina hēmeis genōmetha). Note “become.” This is God’s purpose (hina) in what he did and in what Christ did. Thus alone can we obtain God’s righteousness (Rom_1:17).
Thiessen : The Justified person, therefore, has had his sins pardoned,the penalty for his sin remitted; he also is restored to God’s Favour by the Imputation of the Righteousness of Christ. This Righteousness is revealed in the Gospel.p.364
Rom 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Rom 1:17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith."
The New Believer is now righteous in a forensic sense.i.e from a legal standpoint. The Roman Catholics define Justification as “the remission of sin and the infusion of new habits of grace.” This justification is treated as a subjective experience and not an objective relationship.
The Reformers objected to this erroneous view. The contended that Justification is something different from sanctification; that justification is a declarative act, setting forth the sinner’s relation to the Law and the Justice of God, and that sanctification was an efficient act of changing the inward character of the sinner.
3. The Method of Justification.
Job asked, “How then can a man be just before God? Or how can he be clean who is born of a woman?” Job 25:4
David the Psalmist Prays, Psa 143:2 Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you.
The Example of Abraham.
Abraham was justified apart from circumcision.
Gen 15:4 And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: "This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir."
Gen 15:5 And he brought him outside and said, "Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be."
Gen 15:6 And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
Gen 15:7 And he said to him, "I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess."
Gen 15:8 But he said, "O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?"
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| Abraham looking at the stars |
In Genesis 16:16 we are informed that he was 86 years old at the time of his conversion.
Gen 16:16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.
In Genesis 17:24 we are told that he was 99 years old when Circumcision took place.
Gen 17:24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
Some have imagined that there is a contradiction between Paul in Romans 4:45 and James in James 2:24
Rom 4:1 What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh?
Rom 4:2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.
Rom 4:3 For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness."
Rom 4:4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.
Rom 4:5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,
Jas 2:22 You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works;
Jas 2:23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"—and he was called a friend of God.
Jas 2:24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.
There exists no such contradiction. Note the Following:
Paul says that through faith a man is justified before God.
James says that through works a man is justified before men.
Paul says that Faith is the Root of Justification. James says the Works are the fruit of Justification.
The Teaching of the Reformation was:”Good works makes not a good man, but a good man doeth good works.”
The Example of David.
He was justified apart from the Levitical Offerings.
Psa 32:1 A Maskil of David. Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
Psa 32:2 Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
Psa 51:16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
Psa 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
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| The Prophet Nathan accuses David of SIN with Bathsheba |
Rom 4:6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:
Rom 4:7 "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered;
Rom 4:8 Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin." Willmington p.738
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| What do you do when God exposes your sin? You Repent and turn to Christ for Forgiveness. |
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