Chapter 05: Justified!
Chapter 05: Justified! The biblical doctrine of Justification is the very heart of the Gospel. It is so central to the Christian faith that the Holy Scripture curses anyone who perverts it.64 This doctrine deals with the question of how God, the righteous Judge of the world, actually pronounces a favourable sentence on men who are guilty of breaking His law. How can He who detests sin acquit us of the punishment due to our transgressions, and receive us into His fellowship?
All of us are born sinners by virtue of Adam’s sin put to our account. Adam, the first man and father of the human race, was our representative. Therefore when he sinned, we fell with him. “Through one man’s offence judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation.”65 Moreover, we daily increase our debt with every sin of commission and omission, in word, thought and deed. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”66
How then can a person be righteous before God? According to Scripture, there is only one way, and that is to be justified by faith in Christ. “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”67 God Justifies the Ungodly
Roman Catholics are taught that justification is initiated in baptism and that justification merely “conforms us to the righteousness of God, who makes us inwardly just by the power of his mercy.”68 According to this position, the sinner is made righteous or “inwardly just” and if he manages to maintain this righteousness to the end, through the sacraments, good works and penances, God will finally reward him with eternal life. Can anyone hope to be justified because he receives divine help to reform, clean and make himself righteous? Does God look at such a man at the end of this process and declare, "He is justified because he is now a good and righteous fellow"? No! The Gospel does not say that God justifies the "godly." On the contrary, the Scriptures triumphantly announce the amazing truth that God justifies the "ungodly"! The apostle Paul writes: “Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.”69
God graciously justifies the believing sinner even though he is ungodly. This proves that justification is not based on personal righteousness. Nor does God justify the sinner because he does his utmost to convert himself and become a good man. God justifies those who have no good deeds to their credit – only “him who does not work but believes” is counted as righteous by God. This is the true gospel, comforting balm for the poor sinner’s soul! “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.”70
Well then, how can God justify the believer, seeing that he is still a sinner? Negatively, God does not charge his sins against him any longer. “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute (does not charge) sin.”71 Positively, God credits to the believing sinner a perfect righteousness for which he has neither striven for nor earned by his endeavours. “David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes (credits to one’s account) righteousness apart from works.”72 In other words, God does not account the believer’s sins against him but credits to him a righteousness for which he did not work. This raises serious and important questions. Is God just when he justifies the believer, since he is still a sinner and sin ought to be punished? Does God simply disregard the Law in order to show mercy? The Bible answers these questions clearly. God justifies the sinner because of what Christ, His Son, did for the sake of His people. The apostle Paul explains that believers are justified “through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”73 God frees them from condemnation because Jesus bought their liberty with His own blood. Jesus took away their guilt when He suffered and died on the cross in their place. The cross of Calvary is the eternal proof of the justice of God in the salvation of sinners: “to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”74 God is both just and the justifier: just because sin has been punished in Christ; justifier because through Christ, God frees the believer from guilt and punishment.
Moreover His people are credited with Christ’s righteousness even though they did not perform it. “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.”75 It is no wonder that believers call the Lord “our righteousness.”76 Christ took away their black and dirty clothes; in exchange, they are dressed in the white robe of His righteousness. God “made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”77 The Righteousness of God As a Roman Catholic I was taught that I was justified by my baptism as an infant. Throughout my life I had to work hard to remain right with God. As soon as I committed a “mortal sin,” I lost my justification. So I had to go to confession and do penance to regain it. However, after a while I proved myself a loser of all blessings because of another “mortal sin.” I was caught up in this vicious circle, going in and out of a revolving door. Ultimately, though, it is my final state that counts. At the moment of death, would I happen to be in or out? As a Catholic I could never be certain of salvation – indeed, I could never be saved at all because my religious works were keeping me from trusting fully in the Lord Jesus. By God’s grace, today I no longer rely on the merits of personal righteousness for my eternal salvation. Now I depend solely upon the Lord Jesus Christ, my glorious Redeemer, who actually and effectively delivered me from sin’s condemnation. With a clean conscience I can adopt the Apostle Paul’s confession as my own:
“Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.”78
I have been justified by the Judge of the world on the basis of “the righteousness which is from God” – that is, the perfect righteousness of Christ -- and not on account of “my own righteousness.” I do not have to wait until the Day of Judgement to know His verdict. I am already “justified by faith” and I fear no judgement because I am hid in Christ my righteousness. “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus”79 Be Merciful to Me, A Sinner
God wants us to trust in Him, to yield ourselves to His mercies. We should depend completely upon Him, not on our self-righteousness. The Lord Jesus once narrated a parable in the hearing of some who “trusted in themselves that they were righteous.”
“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, "God, I thank You that I am not like other men -- extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess." And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, "God, be merciful to me a sinner!" I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other.”80
Ponder a little while upon these two men. The first one presented his own righteousness and good works to God. The second approached God empty- handed. The Pharisee considered himself righteous and came confidently forward. The publican was ashamed of himself, knowing he was spiritually bankrupt. Both went up to the temple to pray: the Pharisee presented his merits while the publican pleaded for mercy. Both returned home. One was trusting in himself to be spiritually acceptable, but in God’s sight he was not. The other one depended solely upon God’s mercy - nothing but His mercy, and it was this believing sinner that went home justified. He trusted only in the mercy of God. The mercy of God is His promise to justify the ungodly through faith alone in Christ alone. Christ is our righteousness. Which one of them is your model? In what do you trust for your acquittal? In your own attainments, or in the mercy of God as revealed upon Calvary’s cross? Are you seeking to be accepted by God because of your deeds, or are you leaning upon the all-merciful God in Christ, by faith?
Everyone makes a choice between these two alternatives. Either you are trusting in God’s mercy alone, or else you are depending on your co-operation and best efforts. The Roman Catholic Church pronounces a curse on those who say that “justifying faith is nothing else than confidence in the divine mercy that remits sins on account of Christ.” 81 Jesus says the very opposite. He blesses the man who, having no merits of his own, has nothing but full confidence in God’s mercy. This man will be certainly justified on account of Christ’s blood and righteousness.
Sola Fide
Together with the apostle Paul, evangelical Christians “conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.”82 Historically this biblical position has been known as sola fide – “by faith alone.” A person is justified by faith alone in Christ alone. While good works always accompany the living faith of every genuine Christian, his standing before God is not based on the merits of such works. Whereas the Catholic Church only admits that “faith is the beginning of human salvation, the fountain and root of all justification.” 83
According to Rome, faith is necessary but it’s not enough. To obtain justification, Rome prescribes faith plus works. “He who says that the received righteousness is not preserved and even increased before God by good works... let him be accursed.”84 The Catholic message is: faith and the merits of personal works lead to final justification. The gospel embedded in Scripture is of a radically different sort. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."”85
“From faith to faith,” for Christians do not seek their salvation in Christ together with their personal achievements; “from faith to faith,” because the Christian forever depends completely on Christ. Could my tears forever flow? Could my zeal no respite know, These for sin could not atone – Thou must save, and Thou alone: In my hand no price I bring, Simply to Thy cross I cling.