The Accomplishment of the Gospel: Justification

1. Justification: Connecting The Dots

So far, the story of the gospel as it connects to our own looks something like this:

We have a problem, sin. We can’t beat it. It has captured our entire selves and all of humanity. Everything is drenched in sin and depravity and is an affront to our holy Creator God.Into this sin-drenched world steps the God-man, Jesus. He was everything that we aren’t. He lived perfectly, was unjustly killed, and rose from the dead. And in his resurrection he was marked out as the Son of God (Rom. 1:4).Jesus’ death extended a gift to undeserving rebels, grace. Mercy and pardon are available to the worst of sinners and the best of Pharisees.

In this section, we’ll examine the linkage between grace and sinners. How exactly does the good news of free grace in Jesus do something about that problem of sin? The answer: justification.

2. Justification: Looking Back 500 Years

This doctrine of justification is a teaching that was dusted off and took the world by storm again in the Reformation. Take a few minutes to look back at how this doctrine impacted two of the great reformers.

3. Justification: A Present Challenge

Now fast-forward five-hundred years to the present. Are challenges to justification over now? John Piper addresses one challenge to justification in the video below.

A. What opposing definitions of justification does Piper set against each other?

B. What happens when we try to make the fruit of justification the root of justification?

4. Justification: A Connected Doctrine