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Pilgrim Bible Church Online Tacoma, WA (253)473-5657 [email protected] |
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Justification by Pastor Bryan Pollock
Justification is a legal term which means "to declare righteous." The emphasis on the word "declare" is significant because justification is not an act of God where He makes people righteous. That is what sanctification does. According to John Murray, "When we justify a person we do not make that person good or upright (emphasis added). When a judge justifies an accused person he does not make that person an upright person. He simply declares that in his judgment the person is not guilty of the accusation but is upright in terms of the law relevant to the case. In a word, justification is simply a declaration or pronouncement respecting the relation of the person to the law which he, the judge, is required to administer" (Redemption Accomplished and Applied, pg. 119). Biblical usage of the word "to justify"(dikaioo in the Greek and tsadeq in the Hebrew) also shows that this pivotal word cannot mean "to make righteous". In Deuteronomy 25:1 we read, "If there is a dispute between men and they go to court, and the judges decide their case, and they justify the righteous and condemn the wicked...." Obviously it is not the function of judges either in Old Testament times or today to make people righteous. Their function was simply to declare the righteous to be righteous and the wicked to be wicked based upon what the law already declared them to be. Proverbs 17:15 declares, "He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the righteous, both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord." Now clearly, if justification meant "to make righteous", then to make the wicked righteous by justifying them would not be the abomination this verse says that it is. It is an abomination precisely because it declares something that is contrary to fact, namely, that the wicked are righteous when in point of fact they are not. Another verse helpful to us in arriving at a correct definition of justification is Luke 7:29, "And when all the people and the tax-gatherers heard this, they acknowledged God's justice, having been baptized with the baptism of John." The NASB margin note renders the phrase "acknowledged God's justice" as "justified God." Obviously, in their zeal to approve the gracious words of Jesus respecting John the Baptist (vss. 24-28), the people here didn't "make God righteous," an utterly blasphemous thought, but they declared Him to be so. It is interesting to note that in two of the above verses (Deut. 25:1; Prov. 17:15) justification is contrasted with condemnation. Since condemn never means "to make wicked", so justify cannot mean "to make good" or "upright" cf. (Rom. 8:33-34). Having established the provisional meaning of justification as a declaration of righteousness, we shall now proceed to demonstrate the awesome significance of this word. Two important questions will aid us in this pursuit: What kind of righteousness does it take to save? And, How is that saving righteousness conveyed to the sinner? Let's take a closer look at these two vital questions. In answer to the first question, "What kind of righteousness does it take to save?" two possibilities arise: 1. Perfectible righteousness - This is the righteousness of sanctification not justification. Through sanctification I am made righteous progressively throughout my life by means of the Holy Spirit, the Word of God and prayer. Thus, the righteousness of sanctification is renewable, augmentable and subject to growth throughout the life of the believer, and, one's personal growth in this righteousness can be stifled by his own sinful disobedience cf. (I Cor. 3:1-4; Eph. 4:29-32; I Thess. 4:3-7; Heb. 5:11-14; 12:14). 2. Perfect righteousness - Justification has to do with my standing before a holy and just God. Since God is perfectly holy and just, and since the righteousness of my justification originates with Him (Isa. 46:12-13; 61:10; Phil. 3:9), then that righteousness must be perfect. In answer to the second question, "How is God's saving righteousness conveyed or communicated to the sinner?" there are three possibilities: 1. Via works righteousness - Theoretically, if a man could keep God's law perfectly, then he could be saved. But no man is capable of such obedience (Isa. 64:6-7; Jer. 2:22; Rom. 3:9-20; Gal. 2:16; Phil. 3:8-9). And, only the "last Adam" born without the spot or blemish of original sin's defiling taint could qualify to undo through His own perfect obedience what the "first Adam" had wrought through the fall in Eden (Rom. 5:17-19; Heb. 7:26-28). Thus, works righteousness for men is not even a true theoretical option given the fact of original sin! 2. Via infused righteousness - This is the understanding of Roman Catholicism, that a man is saved when righteousness is placed inside of him. In other words, God declares just those whom He makes just. Thus, for Rome, justification rests upon sanctification. 3. Via imputed righteousness - This means righteousness which is outside of me is now judicially reckoned to my account and regarded as my own. John Calvin said, "... a man will be justified by faith when, excluded from the righteousness of works, he by faith lays hold of the righteousness of Christ, and clothed in it appears in the sight of God not as a sinner, but as righteous. Thus we simply interpret justification as the acceptance with which God receives us into His favor as if we were righteous; and we say that this justification consists in the forgiveness of sins and the imputation of the righteousness of Christ" (Institutes, Book III, chapter XI, page 38). R. C. Sproul observes that "The biblical gospel stands or falls with the concept of imputation. Without the imputation of our sins to Christ, there is no atonement. Without the imputation of Christ's righteousness to us, all the infused grace we have will not save us. Christians who receive the grace of regeneration and the indwelling presence and power of the Holy Spirit still sin and fall short of the glory of God" (Faith Alone, pg. 106). The objective nature of this saving righteousness, the fact that, in the famous phrase of the Reformers, it is extra nos, i.e., "outside of us," is a truth abundantly testified to throughout the Bible (Psalm 24:5; 31:1; 40:10; 71:2; 143:1-2; Isa. 45:8; 46:12-13; 51:4-8; 56:1; 61:10; Hosea 10:12; Rom. 1:17; 3:21-22; I Cor. 1:30; II Cor. 5:21; Phil. 3:9). Since God Himself is "our righteousness" (Jer. 23:6; I Cor. 1:30), then the saving (justifying) righteousness of which the Bible speaks originates with God and is wholly outside of man. The objective nature of justification can also be seen in its definition, "to declare righteous." This definition immediately places justification outside of man. That is why justification is a work of God for man, i.e., on his behalf, and not a work of God in man. It is totally objective, and relates to man's standing before a holy Lawgiver and Judge Whose judicial declaration of righteousness respecting the sinner is the heart and soul of this gracious doctrine! In Romans 8:33 this truth is evident, "Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies." Notice that there is nothing at all in this verse relating to man's inner state. This verse speaks only of man's status before a holy God. The question this verse raises is "What if someone should question the believer's status before God? What if certain accusations are brought before God's tribunal which call into question the sinner's fitness to stand in His holy presence?" The resounding answer is that God's acquittal is absolutely final and no accusations will ever see the light of day once He has made His declaration of righteousness concerning the sinner in His eternal court! The believer's status is secured forever via justification. As we have already seen, a justification based upon a work of God in man, i.e., through an infused or inwrought righteousness, could never save anybody since it would rely upon faith (the instrumental means of justification) plus works (the believers efforts to live a holy life in conjunction with the rites and rituals of the church). Thus, you add to what God has already done, suggesting that God is only capable of a half-finished redemption that man must somehow complete. The Bible, however, says something quite different (Phil. 1:6; I Thess. 5:24; Psalm 138:7-8). Each of these verses speaks the language of finality and completion. To say that God only starts the justification ball rolling and that we must finish what He started is to call God an insufficient Savior. Paul addressed this in the Galatian Epistle and called faith plus works a "different gospel" cf., (Gal. 1:6-9; 3:1-3). Because justification is a legal declaration affecting our status before God and not our actual state cf. (Rom. 3:19-20, 28), some criticize the orthodox teaching on this doctrine as being "anti-nomian" (anti-law). After all, Scripture clearly says that God "justifies the ungodly" (Rom. 4:5). To say that God declares righteous those who are actually ungodly seems to fly in the face of divine holiness and divine justice and seems to make God violate His own standards of perfect righteousness and absolute holiness (Hab. 1:13). How can this serious charge be answered? The answer is that, respecting the believer's status before God, he is perfect because it is on the basis of Christ's perfect righteousness that he is declared righteous cf. (Phil. 3:9; II Pet. 1:1). Respecting the believer's actual state, he is imperfectly righteous, therefore, still sinful within his heart. For this very reason, Martin Luther coined the phrase "simul iustus et peccator" ("simultaneously just yet sinner"). Yet, because justification occurs with other saving works of God such as regeneration, the sinner who is still a sinner after justification is not an unchanged person. Notes R. C. Sproul: "The sinner who has saving faith is a regenerate person. Regeneration effects real change in the person, but the change wrought by regeneration does not effect immediate perfection. The regenerate person is now indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless, he remains imperfectly just in himself. The regenerate person is in real process of sanctification by which he is becoming just. But he by no means reaches that point of perfect justness before God declares him perfectly just in Christ" (Faith Alone, pg. 106). Thus, we may therefore say that God in justification declares a man perfectly just in Christ at the very outset of salvation and concurrently bestows upon him the grace of regeneration making available to him the free gift of faith by which he lays hold of the saving righteousness of Jesus Christ. Then through sanctification, God makes him in experience what He has already declared him to be in his position, actually (though not perfectly) righteous, and by a faithful application of the means of grace (the Word of God, prayer, mortification of his sinful members by an active and continuing life of repentance) he may progressively increase in that righteousness throughout his life. Someone has accurately defined sanctification as God "making real in my experience what is already true about me in my position." And what is that position? I am perfectly righteous in Christ which then becomes sanctification's great end and goal to be realized perfectly in glory only while imperfectly experienced here and now due to the remaining taint of sin in the redeemed soul. These truths when carefully considered show conclusively that any other scheme of salvation which does not provide at the outset a full, complete and final acceptance with God, will inevitably lead to some form of works salvation. We come now to a discussion of the all-important means of justification. That we are justified by the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ reckoned to us has already been demonstrated (Rom. 4:5). Actually, the entire fourth chapter of Romans addresses this subject and shows that God reckons or imputes the saving righteousness of His Son to believing sinners. But on what basis is this divine reckoning carried out? The Bible mentions several means of our justification. First of all, we are justified by faith in Jesus Christ cf. (Rom. 3:21-22, 26, 28; 5:1; Gal. 2:16; II Pet. 1:1). Faith is called the "instrumental means" of our justification and is itself a gift of God cf. (Acts 18:27; Eph. 2:8-9). Because faith as justification's instrumental means is also a gift springing from God's free grace, there are passages in Scripture which also speak of justification by grace cf. (Rom. 3:24; 5:17; Titus 3:7). Ultimately, God's gracious heart of love is the supreme fountain from which all of God's saving initiatives pour forth cf. (Deut. 7:7-8; Jer. 31:3). The Scriptures also speak of the death of Christ as the basis for man's justification. The crucial passage is Romans 5:9: "Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him." Obviously, the phrase "by His blood" speaks of His death on Calvary for sinners. Since by His death Christ bore the penal sanctions of the Law as well as divine wrath on behalf of those for whom He died, He paved the way through His death for righteousness to reign since the Law's condemnation as well as His Father's wrath were now set aside and silenced (Rom. 3:24-25; 5:21; 8:1; II Cor. 5:21; Col. 2:13-15). Yet Christ's death could have no justifying power at all if it weren't connected to His sinless life of perfect obedience to the very law which condemned us all. For this reason, the Bible also speaks of Christ's obedience as the basis of our acceptance with the Father. Paul writes in Romans 5:18 and 19: "So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous." But as fundamental as all of these means of justification are to the believer's salvation, perhaps the most important of all is the sphere in which justification occurs. A simple prepositional phrase that peppers the New Testament writings of the Apostle Paul some 140 times shows us where justification occurs: "in Christ" cf. (Isa. 61:10; Rom. 6:1-12; Col. 2:9-14; 3:1-3). This prepositional phrase is the Apostle's "short-hand" for salvation and picks up on the Old Testament metaphor of being clothed in His righteousness (Isa. 61:10 also Gal. 3:27). Thus, in justification I am regarded by God as being completely united to His Son in all of His saving power, and I now stand complete and positionally perfect in Jesus Christ! Thus, He is my righteousness (Isa. 45:24; Jer. 23:6; I Cor. 1:30). The deficiencies of the Catholic understanding of justification may now be highlighted. In insisting upon the notion of justification via infused righteousness (righteousness placed within the human heart or soul), Catholicism automatically places justification within the realm of a perfectible righteousness which further requires a works-oriented scheme of salvation. This stems from the self-evident fact that if God starts something but doesn't finish it, then the necessity for the completion of justification is left with man. If I am saved on the basis of a righteousness which at the outset is a quantum leap from perfection, then my salvation is placed on shaky ground at its very commencement. Add to this the fact that if it is a perfectible righteousness placed inside of me, and that I must therefore play a pivotal role in its growth toward the nebulous goal of perfection, then salvation for me is founded on the quicksand of human effort, merit and achievement. Instead of placing all eyes on Christ, this system places all eyes on man for its ultimate completion. Righteousness in this understanding cannot be perfect at the very outset of salvation because no justified person is ever perfect in his walk with Christ. If infused righteousness were perfect at the very beginning of my justification, then I would be sinlessly perfect throughout my walk with Christ! But such is manifestly not the case, as universal human experience so tellingly testifies! Such an understanding, however, lies at the very core of Catholic insistence upon rites and rituals, indulgences and the bizarre notion of a treasury of merit and supererogatory works. Supererogatory works are good works which "go beyond" God's requirement for salvation, the excess righteousness of which may be stored away in the treasury of merit where it may be accessed through the purchase of indulgences and applied to the "account" of another whose own righteousness falls short of salvation. Thus, as Luther rightly saw it, the Roman system is a kind of spiritual slavery to works, rites and rituals and totally ignores the wonderful liberty proclaimed in Romans 3:24 and elsewhere that we are justified "as a gift by His grace." In Roman theology, justification is an initial "inoculation" of righteousness that gives the recipient an initial boost toward heaven but which falls far short of actually sending him there. Thus, periodic "booster shots" of augmenting righteousness mediated through the sacraments and rites of the church combined with the believer's own good works are required if one is to ever have any hope of heaven. And, since justifying righteousness is infused within the believer, the continuing presence of the sin nature, the presence of which even Catholic theology acknowledges as inherent within the Christian, has the power to actually "kill" justifying righteousness within a believing soul. From this understanding springs that well-known classification of sins called mortal, so-called because they can actually kill justifying righteousness within a believer. Thus, with all certainty of heaven now dashed in this life, Roman theology dangles the tantalizing carrot of full and final salvation before its adherents as it leads them through the gamut of works and rites it views as necessary to complete one's justification. Interestingly enough, the Roman Catholic critique of the Protestant understanding of justification (that it is a work of God for man and not in man) is that it leaves man without any contribution to make at all regarding his own justification! Thus man has no motive for a life of good works unless you take away the certainty of his acceptance with God and the certainty of his hope of heaven in this life, something Catholic theology does extremely well. In the final analysis, the motive for obedience in this works-oriented system is guilt and fear instead of the love and gratitude which spring by grace out of a proper understanding of God's gracious work in justifying the sinner! Return to Pilgrim Bible Church's Homepage
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