Justified
Justified! Means made right with God (God declared yuo righteous - you were guity!
Salvation is the universal theme of Scripture. All other major themes are subdivisions or explications of it. The form of salvation varies, but the underlying structure is the same: God visits His people and delivers them from those problems or powers that imperil their existence.
This is so much the case that the word “Saviour” is not only coordinated with the name “God,” but becomes a definition of it, a name for God. As God is the “God of our salvation” (1 Chron. 16:35; Ps. 79:9; Hab. 3:18), so He is called and sometimes addressed as “Savior” (2 Sam. 22:3; Isa. 43:3; 45:15; Jer. 14:8; Luke 1:47; “1 Tim. 1:1; 2:3; Titus 1:3; 2:10; Jude 25). God may employ various human agents to effect His purposes, but it is He alone who saves (Isa. 43:11; 45:21). “Deliverance belongs to the Lord” (Ps. 3:8), who has, does, and will deliver people “out of all their troubles” (34:17). He wishes none to be lost (2 Peter 3:9), but all to be saved (1 Tim. 2:4), through Jesus’ name (Matt. 1:21; Acts 4:12; 1 Thess. 5:9; Rom. 10:13). In sharing human suffering Jesus has become the pioneer and source of eternal salvation to all who follow Him (Heb. 2:10; 5:9).
the Greek word that is the greatly favored translation of the Hebrew words for salvation is sōzō and its cognates. These words emphasize spiritual, moral, and eschatological deliverance.
a person who experiences God’s salvation was saved (Rom. 8:24; Eph. 2:5, 8), is being saved (1 Cor. 1:18; 15:2), and shall be saved (Matt. 24:13; Rom. 5:9, 10). Contrary
the Greek word that is the greatly favored translation of the Hebrew words for salvation is sōzō and its cognates. These words emphasize spiritual, moral, and eschatological deliverance. By God’s action human beings are delivered from sin and Satan, suffering and death. In harmony with the OT, where salvation is past, present, and future, a person who experiences God’s salvation was saved (Rom. 8:24; Eph. 2:5, 8), is being saved (1 Cor. 1:18; 15:2), and shall be saved (Matt. 24:13; Rom. 5:9, 10). Contrary to those who hold that the sum and substance of salvation is in the past (“realized eschatology”) or in the present (existentialist viewpoints), future salvation must be underlined as well, for in the NT approximately one fifth of the occurrences of sōzō words refer to salvation in the end time
Third, God delivers from mankind’s sinful state and its consequences. Here Scripture speaks of lostness (Luke 19:10), iniquities or transgressions (Ps. 39:8; 51:1–9; 79:9; Matt. 1:21), bloodguiltiness (Ps. 51:14), corrupt society (Acts 2:40), the present evil age (Gal. 1:4), the dominion of darkness (Col. 1:13), subjection to the prince of the air, passions of the flesh (Eph. 2:1–5), and God’s wrath (Rom. 5:9).
According to Scripture the recipients of God’s salvation are those who, prompted by God’s covenant love and grace, realize their need and show humble dependence upon God. They are responsive and receptive toward Him. In the NT they are spoken of as persons of faith. Contrary to charges that basing salvation upon faith cheapens the human response to mere intellectual belief or assent, biblical faith is a receptivity to all God gives and commitment to God of all a person is and has. Because of this the personal actualization of redemption requires repentance (Mark 1:14, 15; Luke 3:3; Acts 2:37, 38; 3:19; Rom. 2:4; 2 Cor. 7:10) and its fruits (Matt. 5:1–12; Luke 3:7–14). In harmony with this, the Hebrew Scriptures see God working savingly for those who fear (reverence) Him and hope in Him (Ps. 33:18–22), those who trust in Him (Ps. 22:4, 5; 86:2) and call upon Him (Ps. 55:16; 107:13), the humble and contrite (Ps. 34:18; Job 22:29), those who wait for God (Isa. 25:9) and take refuge in Him (Ps. 37:40), those who manifest covenant faithfulness or loyalty (Hab. 2:4), the upright in heart (Ps. 7:10), and those who seek God’s precepts (Ps. 119:94). Thus, in the light of a wholistic biblical teaching, the faith that grasps salvation is the movement of the heart, mind, and life toward God. Faith and faithfulness are two sides of the same coin of relationship to God.
When sin is regarded as the evil inclination of the heart or will, the sinner needs a new heart and right spirit (Ps. 51:10). God promises to supply these very gifts (Eze. 11:19; 36:26). This speaks to the issues of regeneration, conversion, and sanctification.
When sin is viewed as an enslaving, death-dealing power—a radicalizing of the concept of sin as an evil heart—what is necessary is more than repentance, forgiveness, or a change of heart. An exchange of lordships from that of sin and death to that of Christ and life is required (Rom. 6). Only under Christ’s lordship is there true freedom.
In summary, the sinner’s needs vis-à-vis the three aspects of sin are forgiveness, renewal, and freedom under a new Lord.
According to biblical teaching, especially as articulated by the apostle Paul, all the elements of salvation are found only “in Christ” (e.g., Eph. 1:1–14). This phrase, or its equivalent, which occurs in Paul’s writings 164 times, refers to a personal relationship with Christ rather than to a merely legal status. An examination of its usages reveals that it is an experiential reality involving the most intimate union possible between the risen Christ and the believer. Because the believer is united with the risen Lord through the indwelling of His Spirit, he or she is made a part of the saving events of Christ’s death and resurrection and included in the body of Christ, the church. As a result, the believer personally receives all the blessings of salvation which flow from Christ and exist in the fellowship of believers
Terminology. The verb “justify” is based upon the Hebrew ṣadaq, which means to be just or righteous and, in the causative (hiphil) form, to give a verdict in favor of, to treat or declare as righteous, to acquit, to vindicate, to restore to the right. The Hebrew nouns ṣedeq and ṣdāqāh mean justice, rightness, or righteousness in terms of conformity to the relationship with God stipulated in His covenant law. The adjective ṣaddîq means just, lawful, or righteous. Corresponding to these Hebrew terms, and with essentially the same meanings, are the Greek verb dikaioō, the adjective dikaiōs, and the noun dikaiosynē. The nouns dikaiōsis and dikaiōma denote justification, though the latter term may also mean just requirement.
in a legal case. If the judge finds for the accused, a verdict of acquittal or justification is rendered; if he finds against the accused, the verdict is one of condemnation.
Court judgments and relationships are translated into the higher key of forgiving grace and a personal relationship between humans and God. The concept of God as judge is exceeded, though not superseded, by the concept of God as Father. The forensic language of justification flows into the theology of the inexhaustible and superabounding riches of God’s gift of grace in Christ.
In the story of the Pharisee and the publican (Luke 18:9–14) it is not pride in one’s goodness or legal accomplishments that qualifies for God’s verdict of justification but a repentant spirit and an earnest appeal for God’s mercy. Even if every duty were to be performed, humans would still be unworthy servants (Luke 17:10). Thus, God’s justifying grace is always needed.
Justification as a right relationship with God. In justification a person in a wrong (broken) relationship to God comes into a right relationship with Him.
Justification as the reckoning of righteousness. The most important passage for understanding justification is Romans 4. Here Abraham, whom Jews considered a paragon of virtue, is brought forth to illustrate what the forefather of God’s people found, and what his descendants may find as well (verses 1–5, 22–24). If the best need God’s righteousness, so do all. That Abraham was justified by his good works is denied in verse 2 by Paul’s declaration that Abraham could not boast before God. The implication is that if one cannot boast in the Creator’s presence, justification cannot be by works. Thus, verse 2 shows us what Abraham did not find. Verse 3, quoting Genesis 15:6, describes what he did find, namely a divine reckoning of righteousness to him when he believed God. The line of argument in verses 1–6 reveals three major stages: the divine promise of blessing, the human response of faith, and the divine pronouncement of righteousness. In other words, faith is declared to be a right response to God’s grace and indicative of a right relationship with Him. Righteousness, or a right standing with God, does not result from the promise or faith by itself but from the cause-effect interaction between the two. The promise elicits faith, and faith receives the promise. The argument in Romans 4:3 is that if divine righteousness is reckoned, it can never be considered as man’s achievement, but only as God’s grace. Verse 4 indicates how things operate on the human level: people work and get pay for it, not grace. Verse 5, on the other hand, indicates how things operate on the divine level: by abandoning working for righteousness in favor of trusting (having faith in) the God who justifies the ungodly, this trust or faith is reckoned as righteousness.
First, it must be remembered that Paul, in harmony with verse 2, taught that everyone was under the power of sin and short of God’s glory (Rom. 3:9, 23). Thus, if anyone were to be justified, it would have to be from among the ungodly. Second, Paul did not teach merely that God justified the ungodly, but that He justified the ungodly who placed their faith and trust in Him. These are people who have repentantly responded “Yes!” to God’s verdict upon sin and have cast themselves upon His mercy. This is already a new alignment with God, a saying “Amen!” to God. The Hebrew verb ’āman, from which the English “Amen” is derived, is the word in Genesis 15:6, quoted in Romans 4:3, for Abraham’s believing God. To have faith is, indeed, the right response to God. Third, justifying faith is in the atoning sacrifice that God has provided (verse 25). This accords with the sacrificial system of Israel, whereby acceptance with God was achieved through sacrifice, and with those numerous OT passages where forgiveness is granted to the penitent (e.g., Ps. 51).
Justification comes to mean forgiveness of sin, covering of sin, or not reckoning sin to the believer (Rom. 4:7, 8). Put otherwise, guilt is gone, sin no longer appears for judgment, and all charges are dropped. That God does not reckon sin finds a meaningful echo in 2 Corinthians 5:19: “God was in Christ [at the cross] reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them.” Thus, forgiveness lies at the heart of justification.
Forgiveness of sins, as the removal of barriers to reconciliation and fellowship with God, is of fundamental importance for Hebrew-Christian faith.
As to the extent of forgiveness, Scripture represents God as saying that He has removed our sins from us as far as the east is from the west (Ps. 103:12); that He has cast them into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19) or behind His back (Isa. 38:17); that He has blotted them out or swept them away (Ps. 51:1, 9; Isa. 43:25; 44:22) and will remember them no more (Jer. 31:34). When His work has been done, all of one’s sins are forgiven (Luke 7:47; Col. 2:13). Indeed, it was for the sins of the whole world that Christ died as an atoning sacrifice, efficacious through faith (Rom. 3:25).
In harmony with this, Romans 4:17 utilizes two great realities to explain the fullness of justification: Creation (God “calls into existence the things that do not exist”) and Resurrection (God “gives life to the dead”). In other words, justification is a new creation in which God brings life to those who are spiritually dead (cf. Eph. 2:1–5). “If any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come” (2 Cor. 5:17). In Galatians, where justification is the main theme, Paul argues that what really counts with God is a new creation (Gal. 6:15
However, when righteousness or justification is looked upon in its primary relational sense of being set into a right relationship with God, with all its salvific benefits, there can be no “as if.” When God says believers are right with Him, accepted by Him, forgiven by Him, reconciled to Him, adopted by Him, and granted life by Him as our Lord, they “really are (cf. 1 John 3:2). Thus, in a relational sense, one can appropriately speak of “being made righteous,” as in the RSV translation of Romans 5:9.
God in self-sacrifice bears the pain and guilt of sin within Himself and gives us the pardon. Accordingly, God does not love us because of the atonement but, because He loves us, He provided the atonement.
According to the second half of Romans 3:25, the function of the cross is to exhibit God’s saving righteousness by dealing with the problem of “former sins.” These are the sins of the entire world before the cross and, by implication, throughout all time after the cross. The resolution of former sins comes through the saving righteousness of God according to which Christ, as the divine sin offering, bears God’s full judgment against sin and offers God’s full mercy to sinners.
This evidence makes clear that Jesus’ death not only represents sinners (2 Cor. 5:14, 15) but substitutes for them, for by it Jesus bears the guilt and penalty, judgment and wrath, which, sinners personally would have borne.
The reception of justification. Scripture is unequivocal about the way one receives justification. It can be only by faith, since it comes from God through the sacrifice of Jesus. Being God’s work, it cannot be man’s, for then Christ would have died for no reason (Gal. 2:21). The
Reconciliation as objective. While reconciliation involves the experience of restored relations with God, it is first an objective event before it is subjective. According to 2 Corinthians 5:18, 19, 21, reconciliation is achieved by the event of the cross. This objective event in the past history of salvation is the presupposition for the proclamation of reconciliation, whereby the possibility for humans to be reconciled with God on the existential level is made available through the apostolic appeal to “be reconciled to God” (verse 20). In the apostolic preaching the already-won reconciliation projects itself toward every person, “and seeks lodgment in the experience of those who believe.
In Romans 5 Jesus dies for people while they are still sinful. The saving event is apart from them and before the emergence of faith. In fact, through the preaching of the gospel, Jesus’ death is the originating cause of faith. It is likewise in the letter to the Ephesians. Through the death of Jesus, which in principle breaks down the wall of hostility between Jews and Gentiles, these diverse peoples are reconciled to God. What the gospel announces, therefore, is that people are to enter the new situation of reconciliation already existing “in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:13), who “is our peace” (verse 14).
Judgment passages: Their purpose and significance. Scripture teaches that while justification is completely apart from works (Gal. 2:16; Rom. 3:20; Titus 3:5), there remains a judgment according to works for believers (see Matt. 7:21–23; 18:23–35; 25:31–46; Rom. 14:10, 12; 1 Cor. 3:13; 4:5; 6:9; 2 Cor. 5:10; Gal. 6:7, 8; Eph. 5:5, 6; 1 Thess. 4:6; Heb. 10:26–31). These texts contain warnings not only against following a course of life that would bring one into judgment, but against being deceived by the idea that there will be no judgment.
As the biblical texts on God’s love and grace do not allow for the false view, “Never quite saved at all, no matter what Christ has done,” so the judgment texts disallow the erroneous view, “Once saved, always saved, no matter what I do.” Salvation is always a gift, but the gift does not remain when the Giver is rejected as the Lord of one’s life.
The more radically one perceives and receives the love of God in the Saviour, the more a life of love, discipleship, and service for the Lord is created.
The self-giving love of Christ for others, revealed in His life and death, is the very essence of His reign and the basis of moral insight. What is to be done for Him is deducible from what He has done for us. We are called to love one another as Christ loved us (John 13:34; Eph. 5:25); to forgive as God has forgiven us (Matt. 18:32, 33; Eph. 4:32); and to live our new life in accordance with the Spirit who gave us life (Gal. 5:25). Thus, in Christ’s act of self-giving, redemption was accomplished and the call to discipleship was disclosed.
those who have been forgiven are to do God’s will
The product of turning away from sin to God is what the Bible calls the “fruits that befit repentance” (Luke 3:8). These include compassion, generosity and sharing, honesty and integrity, and nonviolence or peaceableness (verses 10–14; cf. the list in Eze. 33:14, 15).
Thus repentance involves a complete and radical transformation of the life. It is not merely a presupposition of conversion, but is conversion at the deepest level. As such it leads to salvation (2 Cor. 7:10) and life (Acts 11:18).