Justification: Our Place in Christ

Foundational Scripture: Romans 3:21-30

Romans 3:21–30 ESV

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.

Theological Argument: Believers are counted as righteous by God not on the basis of their good works, but because of what Christ has achieved for them.

Application: The purpose of this lesson is to (1) define justification, (2) discuss differing views on justification, and (3) apply the theology of justification to our lives through faith.

The Root of Every Schism

“I believe,” writes John Ruskin, “that the root of every schism and heresy from which the Christian Church has suffered, has been the effort to earn salvation rather than to receive it; and that one reason why preaching is so ineffective is that it calls on men oftener to work for God than to behold God working for them.”

Salvation provides us access to the Father through Jesus Christ, while justification shows us where we stand with God in Christ Jesus. The central theme of justification is one of the most theologically important segments of the entire New Testament, and often the most debated theological issues in Christendom.

What is Justification?

Justification is an act of God’s free grace to sinners in which he not only pardons all their sin but considers them covenant-keepers and declare them righteous in his sight.

δικαιόωa; δικαίωσιςa, εως f; δικαιοσύνηb, ης f: to cause someone to be in a proper or right relation with someone else—‘to put right with, to cause to be in a right relationship with.’ Some scholars, however, interpret δικαιόω, δικαίωσις, and δικαιοσύνη in the following contexts as meaning ‘forensic righteousness,’ that it to say, the act of being declared righteous on the basis of Christ’s atoning ministry, but it would seem more probable that Paul uses these expressions in the context of the covenant relation rather than in the context of legal procedures.

Brief Synopsis on the theology of Justification

Justification is the Christian doctrine concerning the manner in which God communicates Christ’s righteousness to believers so that they may stand as righteous before him and gain eternal salvation. Justification answers the question of how human beings come to stand as righteous before God and therefore to be saved from sin. By justification we mean that judicial act of God by which, on account of Christ, to whom the sinner is united by faith, he declares that sinner to be no longer exposed to the penalty of the law, but to be restored to his favor. Or, to give an alternative definition from which all metaphor is excluded: Justification is the reversal of God’s attitude toward the sinner, because of the sinner’s new relation to Christ. God did condemn; he now acquits. He did repel; he now admits to favor.

Augustus Hopkins Strong, Systematic Theology (Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1907), 849.

Views on Justification

Covenantal nomism is a pattern of religion where righteousness was seen as a way of maintaining the covenant relationship and never as a means of obtaining or earning a relationship with God.

Palestinian Judaism Soteriological pattern: Jews believe that:

They were elected by grace (Deut. 7:6-7); God gave the commandments as a gift; Obedience to the commandments brings blessing while disobedience brings cursing ( Deut. 11:26-32); Repentance and atonement for sin through animal sacrifice; Will yield God’s forgiveness

Paul’s Theology of Justification: The Answer to our Basic Dilemma

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From a human standpoint—and by nature people are legalists—the plan was radical. It excluded anything and everything that people by themselves might do to attain righteousness. Paul’s theology of justification developed in the context of the questions whether or not the Gentiles needed to obey the law of Moses in order to be right with God and full members of the elect and redeemed community.

‌Romans 1:17 — “The gospel is not just the power of God for salvation; it is also revelas God’s righteousness.”

Salvation is not only initiated by God, but is carried through by his power. Salvation settles the question of sin; justification settles the question of our standing with God in Christ. The salvation Paul spoke of is more than forgiveness of sin. It includes the full scope of deliverance from the results of Adam’s sin. It involves justification (being set right with God), sanctification (growth in holiness), and glorification (the ultimate transformation into the likeness of Christ; cf. 1 John 3:2). By nature we view righteousness as something we can achieve by our own meritorious action, the result of what we do. The righteousness of God is totally different. It is a right standing before God that has nothing to do with human merit.

James argues that justification is a blend of faith and works (James 2:14-26

James 2:14–26 ESV

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 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. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

Justification is a free gift

Romans 3:21-30 — Paul introduces God’s answer to man’s basic dilemma. God’s remedy for our lack of righteousness was enacted at a specific time (on the cross). Paul makes clear that God’s plan of sending Jesus to die on our behalf was not intended only to achieve our justification. It allowed God to satisfy the penalty of sin while remaining just regarding His righteous requirements.

Justification is a free gift that cannot be purchased or earned, for it would no longer be a gift. One of fallen humanity’s most difficult tasks is to accept righteousness as a gift. One of fallen humanity’s most difficult tasks is to accept righteousness as a gift. With every fiber of their moral being, people want to earn God’s favor. From a human perspective this sounds both reasonable and noble. The hidden agenda, however, is that it would provide a basis for boasting. God neither needs nor desires our help in doing what we could never accomplish.

Titus 3:4–7 ESV

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Justification comes by faith

Galatians 2:15–17 ESV

We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 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. But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not!

Galatians 2:15-17— The central thesis he wanted to impress upon the Galatians: acceptance with God is affected through a simple act of trust in Jesus Christ and not through anything else.

The Galatian believers were turning to the way of law because they thought by keeping the requirements of the law they could gain entrance into the Jewish nation and thus be assured of acceptance as God’s people. But clearly acceptance by God justification before God, cannot possibly be found through the law; according to the Scripture, righteousness comes by faith. What Paul came to realize in coming to faith in Christ was not so much God’s judgment against his wickedness, for that was a standard assumption of rabbinic Judaism, but rather God’s indictment of Paul’s goodness. For this reason he considered as garbage that which he formerly counted as the most precious cargo of life. That which was dearest and most precious to him, he came to realize, could not produce a right standing before God. In light of God’s justifying grace, all that had been “gain” was now “loss.” As Karl Barth summarized Paul’s autobiographical confession in Phil 3:7: “The heights on which I stood are abysmal. The assurance in which I lived is lostness; the light I had darkness. It is not that nil takes the place of the plus, but the plus itself changes to a minus.”

Galatians 3:11 ESV

Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”

Justification Came by One Man

Romans 5:18-19 — Here Paul compares the results of the trespass and the gift: Adam’s one act led to condemnation for the world, and Jesus’ one act made life-giving justification available to the world.

Just as the one sin of Adam brought condemnation, so also did the one righteous act of Christ bring justification. Just as condemnation spread to all, so also is the divine acquittal offered to all. Paul did not intend to imply that the result of Christ’s atoning work automatically provided justification for all regardless of their willingness to accept it. Universal salvation is not taught in this text. Context indicates that Paul was comparing the fate of those who are in Adam (the position of all by virtue of their birth into the human race) and the blessings of those who are in Christ (the position of all who have responded in faith). Paul’s final contrast was between the disobedience of Adam and the obedience of Christ (v. 19). By the disobedience of the first man the entire race was constituted sinners. But by the obedience of the second man “the many will be made righteous.” As in v. 15 we are to understand “the many” in terms of all who are in Adam (everyone who is born into the human family) and all who are in Christ (everyone who has been born into the family of God by faith in Christ). The righteousness of which Paul spoke is a right standing before God (cf. 2 Cor 5:21). It is imputed by God as a result of faith. Righteousness as conduct (sanctification) is dealt with in chaps. 6–8. Growth in holiness is the proof that righteousness by faith has in fact been imputed. By definition, life is growth. Where there is no growth, there is no life. Paul explains how one man’s sin could lead to such devastation. That original act of disobedience led to many becoming sinners through their own disobedience. This disobedience stands in sharp contrast to the obedience of the one, Jesus. His obedience made righteousness available to many—to all who were sinners and stood condemned.

Romans 5:1–10 ESV

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ro 5:1–10.