Justification uring the past several years, there has been a great Commenting on the Greek word for justify, McGrath Ddeal of theological discussion, even intense debate, observes, concerning the crucial biblical doctrine of justification by faith. The literature is vast and increasing, and the opin- The verb denotes God’s powerful, cosmic and universal ions are varied and proliferating. Without entering into the action in effecting a change in the situation between sin- debate, I would like nevertheless to reflect upon certain ful humanity and God, by which God is able to acquit crucial matters related to the basic biblical truth of justifi- and vindicate believers, setting them in a right and faith- cation by faith. ful relation to himself. (518) The Definition of Justification wo defective definitions are offered, respectively, by TMiethe and Erickson. “In theology, [justification Understandably, numerous definitions have been offered, denotes] God’s pardoning sinners and restoring them to a with varying degrees of merit and helpfulness. A succinct state of righteousness” (Miethe 122). Erickson claims definition is found in Zondervan’s Dictionary of Bible and that justification refers to “the declaration that the Theology Words: “Justification: God’s pronouncement of a human has been restored to a state of righteousness in believer as righteous (Rom. 4:25; 5:16, 18)” (127). Cairns God’s sight,” and justification by faith is the declaration regards justification as the “establishment of a sinner in a that “the person has been restored to a state of right- righteous standing before God” (201). A fuller definition is eousness on the basis of belief and trust in the work of offered by Earle, quoting Cremer, justification “denotes Christ rather than on the basis of one’s own accomplish- nothing else than the judicial act of God, whereby man is ment” (108). Problematic and troublesome in these pronounced free from guilt and punishment” (Earle 152). definitions is the use of restoring and restored, words According to The Theological Wordbook, “Justification is which clearly refer to some prior condition of righteous- the act of God by which a sinner who believes in Christ is ness to which one is supposedly recovered through God’s declared righteous on the basis of what Christ has done for justification. When a sinner believes into Christ and is him or her on the cross” (201). For Sproul, justification justified by faith, he or she is not restored to a primeval “refers to a legal action” by which God “declares a person state of original righteousness; rather, the believer just in his sight. The Protestant view is often described as receives Christ as righteousness, thereby gaining Christ ‘forensic justification,’ meaning that justification is a ‘legal Himself as righteousness, a righteousness and a standing declaration’ made by God” (12). Packer defines justifica- in righteousness never possessed before. tion as “a judicial act of God pardoning sinners (wicked and ungodly persons, Rom. 4:5; 3:9-24), accepting them as just, In the Scriptures, justification means that God, according and so putting permanently right their previously estranged to His righteousness, declares a person righteous in His relationship with himself ” (Concise 164). Noting that jus- sight. When God justifies a believer in Christ, He tification is “a legal word, borrowed from the law courts, approves him or her as righteous before Him according to and the opposite of condemnation,” Stott says, “When the standard of His righteousness. Therefore, justification God justifies sinners, he declares a verdict, in anticipation is God’s action in declaring us righteous and approving us of the last day, that he has not only forgiven all their sins according to His righteousness, which is actually God but has also granted them a righteous standing of accept- Himself as righteousness. ance in his sight” (77). In Pocket Dictionary of Theological Te r m s we are told that as a Central to this understanding of justification is God’s action. God, and God alone, is the One who justifies. God forensic (legal) term related to the idea of acquittal, jus- is “righteous and the One who justifies him who is of the tification refers to the divine act whereby God makes faith of Jesus” (Rom. 3:26). The one who is justified by humans, who are sinful and therefore worthy of condem- God is the one who “believes on Him who justifies the nation, acceptable before a God who is holy and ungodly” (4:5). “Who shall bring a charge against God’s righteous. (69) chosen ones? It is God who justifies” (8:33). Justification, Volume X No. 1 April 2005 67 therefore, is an action performed by the righteous God requirement, the one who sins must die. We praise the Himself. Lord that, in God’s gracious provision, the Righteous died on behalf of the unrighteous (1 Pet. 3:18), bearing up For us to be justified by God means that we are approved “our sins in His body on the tree” (2:24). God’s forgive- by Him, that is, we correspond to Him and are declared ness is based upon His righteousness, and apart from the righteous by Him in His sight. God can approve us because righteousness of God manifested in the gospel (Rom. we stand before Him not in our own righteousness but 1:16-17) and apart from God’s action in approving us clothed with Christ as our righteousness, and thus we can according to the standard of His righteousness, there declare, “He has wrapped me with the robe of righteous- would be no forgiveness of sins and no reconciliation to ness” (Isa. 61:10). This glorious fact was appreciated by God. But since Christ died for our sins and since God has both Zinzendorf and Charles Wesley and expressed by demonstrated His acceptance of Christ’s vicarious death them wonderfully in hymns. “God’s Christ, who is my by raising Him from the dead (4:24-25), God is bound by righteousness, / My beauty is, my glorious dress… / Our His righteousness to justify and forgive everyone who beauty this, our glorious dress, / Jesus the Lord, our believes in the resurrected Christ (10:9-10). Righteousness” (Zinzendorf, Hymns, #295). “No condem- nation now I dread; / Jesus, and all in Him, is mine! / Alive n a very real sense, the need for justification is twofold. in Him, my living Head, / And clothed in righteousness IFor our salvation, we need to be justified by God, and Divine” (Wesley, Hymns, #296). for the fulfillment of His eternal purpose, God needs to justify us so that He may then impart Himself into us as od approves us according to the standard of His own eternal life (5:18; 8:10; John 3:15). If God had not justi- Grighteousness. Whereas holiness is related to God’s fied His chosen and redeemed people, He would have had nature inwardly, righteousness is related to God’s ways to sentence us, under His righteous judgment, to the lake and actions outwardly. “Great and wonderful are Your of fire, thereby nullifying the purpose for which He creat- works, Lord God the Almighty! Righteous and true are ed humankind in His image. Hence, justification is Your ways, O King of the nations!” (Rev. 15:3). The right- necessary not only for our salvation but for God’s purpose. eousness of God refers to what God is in His action with God in Christ has justified us for His own sake and for the respect to justice and righteousness. God is required nei- sake of the desire of His heart, His good pleasure. ther to love us nor to show us mercy and grace; however, God is required by His own character to be righteous and The Importance of Justification to act righteously in all things. Righteousness is the foun- dation of His throne (Psa. 89:14). Furthermore, all that For Luther, and for many theologians today, especially God is with respect to righteousness is not something among Lutherans and Calvinists, justification is the doc- apart from Himself; the righteousness of God is God trine upon which the church stands or falls. Some regard Himself. If we realize this, we will see that when God jus- justification not only as the heart of the gospel but even tifies those who believe in Christ, approving them as the gospel itself. Stott points out that Luther called according to the standard of His righteousness, He actual- justification by faith “the principal article of all Christian ly approves them according to Himself, according to who doctrine, which maketh true Christians indeed” (77). To and what He is. be sure, the doctrine of justification is one of the most crucial doctrines in the New Testament. The Need for Justification Justification and the Gospel of God Our need for justification can be stated simply and directly: We are all sinners under the righteous judgment Although it would be hyperbolic to say, as Packer does, of God. We need to be justified by God because He is that the gospel of God is “the gospel of justification by righteous, and we are unrighteous and have no way of faith” (Essay 7), it is nonetheless true that if there were no making ourselves righteous in His sight according His justification by faith, there would be no gospel. This is standard. Apart from God’s justifying us, our situation revealed in the book of Romans. The subject of this Epistle would be hopeless, and, like all sinners, we would remain is the gospel of God—the gospel “concerning His Son, under the righteous judgment of God, destined for eter- who came out of the seed of David according to the flesh, nal perdition.