OUR BELIEFS: JUSTIFICATION

Many people think that when they stand before God, they will trust that their good deeds will somehow outweigh anything they might have done wrong and God will welcome them with open arms.

Well, this will not be how it plays out at all. The bible makes it clear that all our righteous deeds are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). The ‘filthy rags’ has been translated to make it more acceptable to modern day readers but the original language would render this as ‘menstrual cloths’!

Furthermore, the bible says that we are not saved by works (so that no one can boast), but salvation is by grace alone through faith in what Jesus accomplished for us on the cross (Ephesians 2:8-9).

A short definition of justification is “the act of making someone right with God.” Justification takes place when God declares those who place their faith in Christ to be righteous. The bible states: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) In other words, Jesus became our substitute on the cross so that we could be made “just” or right with God. We were guilty, but God has declared us righteous.

Justification is the instantaneous and irreversible divine declaration of the unrighteous as positionally righteous, based upon the merit of Christ’s obedience, applied by grace and received through faith (Romans 3:24-28; Romans 4:1-5; Romans 5:1-2). God declares the unjust to be just based upon Christ’s work for them.

Justification by faith alone is the declarative act by God the judge that we are forever wrapped in the everlasting righteousness of Christ! His record is now your record. His merit is yours. God treats us as righteous because he treated Christ as unrighteous—for our sake (2 Corinthians 5:21).

This righteousness is apart from any virtue or work of man (Romans 3:20; 4:6) and involves the imputation of our sins to Christ (Colossians 2:14; 1 Peter 2:24) and the imputation of Christ’s righteousness to us (1 Corinthians 1:30; 2 Corinthians 5:21).

Simply put; we are all guilty of sinning and deserved to be punished. However, at the cross, Jesus took all our shame upon Himself, paying the penalty for us. But, not only that, when God now looks at us, he sees the sinless righteousness of Christ in us. A relationship between us and God is now possible as we enter into eternal life with Him.

Justification is just the beginning of a journey that now involves something called Sanctification, which will be the subject of my next blog.