by Garrett Glende

Over the past several years, many Christian leaders have recognized a growing trend among young evangelicals towards the virtues and doctrines that were rejuvenated during the Reformation era. Books like Collin Hansen’s Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist’s Journey with the New Calvinists and the popularity of churches that pair orthodox doctrine with a modern style, such as Mars Hill in Seattle, show that the fights of the reformers live on today. The central rallying cry for many of these figures was that man could not be made right with God on the basis of his own merit, but only through his faith in Christ. This issue of justification lies at the heart of the gospel message and is one of the main dividing lines between true Christianity and all other world religions. Therefore, it is crucial for us to understand it correctly so that our hearts would be changed and our wills would be affected.

Before we get much further, the precise definition of justification must be explained. Simply put, justification is right legal standing before God. But first, the assumption must be made that all men and women are in need of righteousness. The Bible says clearly that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and are unable to save themselves through any good deeds performed (Galatians 2:16). In fact, even the things that we think are good are seen as filthy rags to God because they are marred by our sinfulness and cannot even begin to match His perfections (Isaiah 64:6). Thus, instead of standing right (or righteous) before God, we stand condemned. The only way a person can see God and experience eternal life with Him is if they are righteous. Herein lies man’s greatest problem: how can he, a guilty and condemned sinner, be right with God?

Before answering this question, let’s look a little deeper into what justification is and is not. It was mentioned earlier that it is right legal standing. This is a key idea in understanding the fullness of this doctrine. It is a legal pronouncement in which a sinner is treated as if he was righteous. We can see this slightly better through the lens of a courtroom where the judge makes a declaration of the guilt or innocence of the person on trial. Theologically, God is the judge in the courtroom and we all stand guilty before Him. He declares us innocent even though our hands are stained. The legal aspect of justification is important to make clear because many confuse it with sanctification, saying that it is something that happens internally rather than externally. However, the Bible is clear that justification does not make us righteous; we are simply treated by God as being such. There is no need to rid yourself of certain sins before God justifies you. If this were the case, how could we know that we’ve attained the necessary amount of righteousness? Scripture presents an opposite picture, as the sinner praying in the temple goes home justified rather than the self righteous Pharisee (Luke 18:9-14).

But exactly how was it that this tax collector walked back to his house righteous in God’s sight? God has not simply let him off the hook or pretended that he is righteous. Instead, He has transferred the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ to his account so that when God looks upon the tax collector He sees Christ’s perfections and not our sinfulness. Paul describes this exchange in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” This transaction is appropriated by the man’s faith in God as the only one who can justify. The letter of Romans is centered around this theme of justification by faith alone and points to the person of Abraham as the prime example. We read in Romans 4:3 that “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Later on Paul writes that “since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (5:1). Even though we must have faith in order to be justified, we cannot muster this up by our own efforts, as justification is completely an act of God’s grace. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph 2:8-9). Again, Paul writes in Romans 3:24 that we “are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

To those who have been justified: it’s been done! One of the greatest problems that we face as Christians is thinking that justification is an ongoing process. When these ideas take hold in our heads, we begin to try to work for our salvation. Say we miss a few days (maybe a few weeks) in our quiet times, or our prayer life isn’t as it should be, or we keep struggling with a particular sin, should we feel condemned? If we believe wrongly about justification, we probably will feel this way because we’re now starting to base our standing before God on our own performance. Instead, we need to rely on the righteousness of Christ and His perfect atonement on our behalf. At a church like Lighthouse, it’s tempting to look around and compare yourself to everyone else. “I don’t serve as much as him” or “She seems to have so much more joy than me.” This mentality should have no place in the life of the Christian. We don’t need to be like the “holy people” at church in order to be in God’s favor. God has set the standard for us to meet and He treats us as if we have attained it! Therefore, we are freed from the guilt of sin and can glorify God by living in light of His grace, exercising good works because He has called us to do so.