HoHum:
Let's say we where caught speeding down the highway. We are doing 100 mph, obviously slightly out of the acceptable speeding window. We go to court and just as the judge is about to throw the book at us, someone steps forward and says, "I will pay the fine. I will take the punishment." And so we get off, without paying the fine, without any punishment at all. We have been justified, Made right in the eyes of the law. It doesn't change the fact that we were speeding, but the court sees us as innocent. That is what Christ did for us.
WBTU:
Words used in different places. In a temple- propitiation; in the marketplace- redemption; in our home with family and friends- reconciliation; now we are in a court of law- justification.
Definition of justification- “Just as if the penalty of eternal hell has been paid” This is the verdict of the judge of the world.
Some do not like this term for at least 2 reasons:
1. This talks only about God as Judge and King, not as Father, and this cannot adequately portray his dealings with us or our personal relationship to Him. True if this is the only word that is used in talking about salvation, but there are 3 others we have discussed. Em Griffin writes about three kinds of London maps: The street map, the map depicting throughways, and the underground map of the subway. "Each map is accurate and correct," he writes, "but each map does not give the complete picture. To see the whole, the three maps must be printed one on top of each other. However, that is often confusing, so I use only one ’layer’ at a time. "It is the same with the words used to describe the death of Jesus Christ. Each word, like redemption, reconciliation, or justification, is accurate and correct, but each word does not give the complete picture. To see the whole we need to place one ’layer’ one top of the other, but that is sometimes confusing--we cannot see the trees for the whole! So we separate out each splendid concept and discover that the whole is more than the sum of its parts."
2. Paul came up with this in his forensic, legalistic mind. Now Paul is an apostle and authoritative. However, he is not the only one who used this term in this way. Jesus did in his story of the Pharisee and the tax collector in the temple. “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God...” Luke 18:14, NIV. Even before Jesus, in the OT, “After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.” Isaiah 53:11, NIV.
Thesis: Let’s talk about justification’s source, grounds, means and effects.
For instances:
Source of justification
“and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Romans 3:24, NIV.
Since no one is righteous, not even one (Romans 3:10), it is equally certain that no one can declare himself to be righteous in God’s sight. I may have done a bad thing, but I JUSTIFY myself by blaming someone or something else. But God says: “that’s not going to fly!” When you and I stand before the judgment seat of God, God won’t take our excuses. The only testimony He’s going to consider is what we did. He won’t listen to our self-justifications because we won’t be able to JUSTIFY ourselves enough to get thru the pearly gates. They only way to get into heaven is if God JUSTIFIES us.
Therefore, “it is God who justifies” (Romans 8:33); only He can.
And he does so “freely” (Romans 3:24) “as a free gift”, not because of any works of ours, but because of his own grace. Grace means unmerited, undeserved favor. More specifically “favor bestowed when wrath is owed”, getting the opposite of what we deserve.
Jesus, our defense lawyer, who we hired for free, uses grace strategy. He pays off the judge. “just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”” Matthew 20:28, NIV. The word redemption.
This payment is also described as an act of propitiation, turning aside wrath by means of an offering. Jesus our lawyer accomplishes this propitiation Himself by paying the full penalty for our sins.
But justification has to do with justice. What kind of justice is this? To say that we are “justified by his grace” tells us the source of our justification but says nothing about the righteousness of it, without which God would contradict his own justice.
Grounds of justification
“Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!” Romans 5:9, NIV.
Not with money, but Christ paid the price with his own blood. “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace” Ephesians 1:7, NIV.
Justification does not mean amnesty, which is pardon without principle, a forgiveness that overlooks- even forgets- wrongdoing and declines to bring it to justice. No, justification is an act of justice, of gracious justice. Its synonym is “the righteousness of God” (Romans 1:17; 3:21), which can be explained as God’s “righteous way of righteousing the unrighteous.”
Just as if I never sinned is not quite right, just as if the penalty has already been paid is more correct. When God justifies sinners, he is not declaring bad people to be good, or saying that they are not sinners at all; he is pronouncing them legally righteous, free from any liability to the broken law, because He himself in His Son has borne the penalty of their law breaking.
In one sentence Paul brings together to concepts of justification, redemption and propitation. “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood...” Romans 3:24, 25, KJV.
The reasons why we are “justified freely by God’s grace” are that Christ Jesus paid the ransom price and that God presented him as a propitiatory sacrifice. There can be no justification without atonement.
Means of justification
“For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.” Romans 3:28.
Faith is the only thing that can receive what grace freely offers.
God’s grace is the source of justification; Christ’s blood is the ground of justification; faith is only the means by which we are justified or united to Christ.
Leon Morris- On a Sunday school picnic in the heat of summer, I was going around the children with a 4 gallon can of cool drink and ladling out portions to the thirsty. I came to a small boy who had a busy morning. He was red in the face, sweating profusely, obviously quite hot. He was clearly thirsty. There I was with 4 gallons of cooling drink and a desire to get rid of it speedily. Nothing would have given me greater pleasure than to give my young friend all he could drink. But he had no cup. He had no way of receiving what I was offering freely. Fortunately someone was able to come and give a cup and the lad did not die of thirst in the midst of plenty. But the cup he eventually held out in no way merited the gift. The cup was indispensable. Without it he could not receive the cooling drink. But the cup was no more than the means by which he received it.
Faith is something like that. It is not a credit. It is the means by which we receive the free gift. It is the abandonment of all reliance on ourselves, all attempts to earn salvation by our own efforts. Faith is the hand stretched out to receive God’s good gift, stretched out in the assurance that God will not fail to keep his promises.
Effects of justification
““If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners...” Galatians 2:17, NIV.
That we are justified “in Christ” points to the personal relationship with him which by faith we now enjoy.
This helps us to understand that this is not just a purely surface transaction; it cannot be isolated from our union with Christ and all the benefits this brings.
When are we in Christ? “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.” Romans 6:3-5, NIV.
What are these benefits?
1. We are part of the church, household of faith, the bride of Christ. “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” Galatians 3:26-29, NIV.
2. This new community- which Christ gave himself on the cross to create- is to be eager to do what is good, and we are to devote ourselves to good works. “who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.” Titus 2:14, NIV. “This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good...” Titus 3:8, NIV.
