What is Justification?

Question: "What is Justification? How can I be Justified ? 

Justification means to be “declared righteous,” it is God pronouncing the sinner right with Himself. Through Justification God pronounces you a righteous man, and from that moment treats you as if you never committed any sin.

Justification answers the question of how a perfect God can accept sinners into His presence. It is by Justification that God is able to punish the sin and accept the sinner. Job asked the question “How can a man be right before God” (Job 9:2), Justification answers this question.

Justification is a courtroom term, and when a sinner is justified the hammer comes down in the court of heaven and from that moment the sinner is declared righteous. A justified person can say they are as good as God, because the righteousness imputed to them is the righteousness of God.

In a classroom a teacher asked the students to put their hands up if they were as righteous as the person next to them, a few students raised their hands. Then he asked them to put their hands up if they were as righteous as Billy Graham. Less students put their hands up. Lastly he said, please put your hand up if you are as righteous as Jesus Christ. Just one kid put his hand up. The teacher said if you have trusted the person and work of Christ you can confidently put your hand up and say you are as righteous as Jesus Christ. You are now as good as God. Why? Because Christ became something He was not (He was NOT sin but HE became sin), that you would become something you are not, (you are NOT righteous but that you would become righteous). 2 Corinthians 5:21.

Justification enables God to justly punish sin and at the same time pronounce the sinner righteous. He can be just and the justifier. In Christ sin is justly condemned, and so God can at the same time be just in declaring the sinner righteous. Justification is a positional truth and not a change in character, it is Christ’s work FOR us not His work IN us.

What Justification is NOT

Justification is NOT forgiveness.

Justification includes forgiveness but isn’t only forgiveness. We can’t say forgiveness equals justification because justification is much more. Justification isn’t just forgiveness but the removal of guilt itself. Guilt is removed from the sinner completely. Sin is removed as far as the east is from the west, and the east and the west never meet.

Justification is NOT pardon.

Pardon just deals with past sins but justification deals with past, present, and future sins and therefore is more than pardon. At the cross 2000 years ago, all our sins were future, and at the cross all our sins were placed on Christ. Therefore we are not just pardoned from past sins but completely forgiven of all sins.

Justification is NOT a change in character

Justification happens the moment we put our trust in the finished work of Christ on the cross. We are then placed in Christ and declared as perfect as God. Justification is a change in position not a change in character, it is Christ’s work for us not in us. Justified people are still sinners. When we are justified we still have the same mind and nothing has changed in our character. Christian growth or progressive sanctification is the process of changing our character. A change in character is the process which happens after the moment we are justified.

Justification is NOT innocence

Justification is more than innocence as we are not just a blank slate at the moment of Justification but instead truly in a standing of positive righteousness. Justification does not just mean “just as if I never sinned” as this just implies innocence. At justification we aren’t just brought back to a state of innocence like Adam in the garden, but rather a positive righteousness, and this positive righteousness is the righteousness of God. A justified person can truthfully say they are as good as God.

Justification is NOT a process

Justification happens fully the moment someone is saved. To argue justification is a process is to confuse initial salvation (justification) with Christian growth (sanctification). Someone can’t be more justified as they live the Christian life. Justification is a state of utter perfection imputed the moment someone trusts the person and work of Christ.

How are we Justified

Justification is by God’s grace freely.

“Justified freely by His Grace” (Romans 3:24)

Justification is a complete free gift which requires no meritorious action. Not one person in heaven can say they deserve to be there. For Justification is by grace, and if by grace then there is no work involved. If by my works then I am the cause of justification but if not by works, but by grace then God is the cause.

Romans 3:24 says we are “Justified freely by His Grace”. The word freely is the Greek word Dorean which means ‘without a cause’. There is no cause in us, and no spark of goodness why God would justify us. The cause is in Him alone. The same word ‘dorean’ is used in John 15 when referring to Jesus, they “hated Him without a cause”. Jesus had no sin in Him, and there was no reason why anyone should hate Him. There was no cause in Jesus why He was hated.

In the same way that there is no sin in Jesus which caused them to hate Him, there is no righteousness in us that produces a reason or cause why God should justify us. Instead justification is “freely by His grace”. It is God who "justifies the ungodly" (Romans 4:5)

Justification is by Faith Alone

“Therefore being Justified by faith we have peace with God” (Romans 5:1)

Faith is the human response to the Gospel of grace. Faith is the only way man can access grace. Faith is not a work but in a different category than works, for faith is about trusting the work of another. Faith is the only acceptable response to grace, and because we are saved by grace the only acceptable response is faith, and saving faith is placed in Christ.

Justification is by His blood (Violent Death)

“Much more then, being justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him” (Romans 5:9)

So in summary we are justified once and for all, freely by His grace, through faith, in Christ's violent death.  When you wake up in the morning, regardless of how you feel, if you have trusted Christ then thank God for the Justification which is yours in Christ. Thank God for the imputed righteousness which allows you (regardless of how you feel or what you have done), to come "boldly to the throne of Grace" (Hebrew 4:12)

2 Peter 1 through 3 NLT

Outline

I.                  Greetings (1:1-2)

II.         Exhortation to Growth in Christian Virtues (1:3-11)

A.    The Divine Enablement (1:3-4)

B.    The Call for Growth (1:5-7)

C.    The Value of Such Growth (1:8-11)

                III.         The Purpose and Authentication of Peter's Message (1:12-21)

 .      His Aim in Writing (1:12-15)

A.    The Basis of His Authority (1:16-21)

               IV.         Warning against False Teachers (ch. 2)

 .      Their Coming Predicted (2:1-3a)

A.    Their Judgment Assured (2:3b-9)

B.    Their Characteristics Set Forth (2:10-22)

V.         The Fact of Christ's Return (3:1-16)

 .      Peter's Purpose in Writing Restated (3:1-2)

A.    The Coming of Scoffers (3:3-7)

B.    The Certainty of Christ's Return (3:8-10)

C.    Exhortations Based on the Fact of Christ's Return (3:11-16)

VI.         Conclusion and Doxology (3:17-18)

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From the NIV Study Bible, Introductions to the Books of the Bible, 2 Peter
Copyright 2002 © Zondervan. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

2 Peter 1 NLT

1 This letter is from Simon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ. I am writing to you who share the same precious faith we have. This faith was given to you because of the justice and fairness of Jesus Christ, our God and Savior. 

2 May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord. 

3 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. 

4 And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires. 

5 In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, 

6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, 

7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. 

8 The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

9 But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins. 

10 So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away. 

11 Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

12 Therefore, I will always remind you about these things—even though you already know them and are standing firm in the truth you have been taught. 

13 And it is only right that I should keep on reminding you as long as I live. 

14 For our Lord Jesus Christ has shown me that I must soon leave this earthly life, 

15 so I will work hard to make sure you always remember these things after I am gone. 

16 For we were not making up clever stories when we told you about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We saw his majestic splendor with our own eyes 

17 when he received honor and glory from God the Father. The voice from the majestic glory of God said to him, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.” 

18 We ourselves heard that voice from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain. 

19 Because of that experience, we have even greater confidence in the message proclaimed by the prophets. You must pay close attention to what they wrote, for their words are like a lamp shining in a dark place—until the Day dawns, and Christ the Morning Star shines in your hearts. 

20 Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding,

21 or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God.

2 Peter 2 NLT

1 But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them. In this way, they will bring sudden destruction on themselves. 

2 Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality. And because of these teachers, the way of truth will be slandered. 

3 In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. But God condemned them long ago, and their destruction will not be delayed. 

4 For God did not spare even the angels who sinned. He threw them into hell, in gloomy pits of darkness, where they are being held until the day of judgment. 

5 And God did not spare the ancient world—except for Noah and the seven others in his family. Noah warned the world of God’s righteous judgment. So God protected Noah when he destroyed the world of ungodly people with a vast flood. 

6Later, God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and turned them into heaps of ashes. He made them an example of what will happen to ungodly people. 

7 But God also rescued Lot out of Sodom because he was a righteous man who was sick of the shameful immorality of the wicked people around him. 

8 Yes, Lot was a righteous man who was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day. 

9 So you see, the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials, even while keeping the wicked under punishment until the day of final judgment. 

10He is especially hard on those who follow their own twisted sexual desire, and who despise authority. These people are proud and arrogant, daring even to scoff at supernatural beings without so much as trembling. 

11 But the angels, who are far greater in power and strength, do not dare to bring from the Lord a charge of blasphemy against those supernatural beings. 

12 These false teachers are like unthinking animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed. They scoff at things they do not understand, and like animals, they will be destroyed. 

13 Their destruction is their reward for the harm they have done. They love to indulge in evil pleasures in broad daylight. They are a disgrace and a stain among you. They delight in deception even as they eat with you in your fellowship meals. 

14 They commit adultery with their eyes, and their desire for sin is never satisfied. They lure unstable people into sin, and they are well trained in greed. They live under God’s curse. 

15They have wandered off the right road and followed the footsteps of Balaam son of Beor, who loved to earn money by doing wrong. 

16 But Balaam was stopped from his mad course when his donkey rebuked him with a human voice.

17 These people are as useless as dried-up springs or as mist blown away by the wind. They are doomed to blackest darkness. 

18 They brag about themselves with empty, foolish boasting. With an appeal to twisted sexual desires, they lure back into sin those who have barely escaped from a lifestyle of deception. 

19 They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you. 

20 And when people escape from the wickedness of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than before. 

21 It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life. 

22 They prove the truth of this proverb: “A dog returns to its vomit.” And another says, “A washed pig returns to the mud.”

2 Peter 3 NLT

1 This is my second letter to you, dear friends, and in both of them I have tried to stimulate your wholesome thinking and refresh your memory. 

2 I want you to remember what the holy prophets said long ago and what our Lord and Savior commanded through your apostles. 

3 Most importantly, I want to remind you that in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth and following their own desires.

4 They will say, “What happened to the promise that Jesus is coming again? From before the times of our ancestors, everything has remained the same since the world was first created.” 

5 They deliberately forget that God made the heavens long ago by the word of his command, and he brought the earth out from the water and surrounded it with water. 

6 Then he used the water to destroy the ancient world with a mighty flood. 

7 And by the same word, the present heavens and earth have been stored up for fire. They are being kept for the day of judgment, when ungodly people will be destroyed. 

8 But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day. 

9 The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. 

10But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.

11 Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, 

12 looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along. On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames. 

13 But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness. 

14 And so, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found living peaceful lives that are pure and blameless in his sight. 

15 And remember, our Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved. This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him— 

16speaking of these things in all of his letters. Some of his comments are hard to understand, and those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to mean something quite different, just as they do with other parts of Scripture. And this will result in their destruction. 

17 You already know these things, dear friends. So be on guard; then you will not be carried away by the errors of these wicked people and lose your own secure footing. 

18 Rather, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All glory to him, both now and forever! Amen.