Defining Justification

I just realized how important it is for us to define the term, “justification”, if we are going to discuss it. I think this term, especially in Christian usage, is often very misunderstood.

The usual Christian way of defining justification is “just as if I’d never sinned.” There is a problem with this definition, however. If this is all justification does then we still have to prove to God how worthy we are of his love. In other words, while God has forgiven us for our sins and we now are a blank sheet, we still have no guarantee God loves us.

Let’s take the word “justification” out of the Christian world for a moment. Although we don’t use it in everyday speech, “justification” does have a common definition. For instance, if we worked at the same coffee shop and had made a wrong drink for a customer, I could say that I was justified in making that drink because the customer usually asks for it. In another instance, I could also tell you that I was justified in baking the muffins for a little longer today because they weren’t quite done yesterday. I could also say I was justified in being late for work because I had a flat tire. What does “justification” mean in all these examples? It means that I was right in doing something. I was right to make the wrong drink, cook the muffins longer, and for being late. Justification doesn’t just mean that I wasn’t wrong, but that I was right after all.

Bringing this back into the Christian sphere, we can see that justification isn’t just about forgiveness, it’s about being right.

Let me tell you the story about a little monk from the late middle ages. He was living in a monastery under the previous definition of justification- that we are cleansed from our sins. He worked hard under this definition but never felt like he could come to a point where he was sure God loved him. He would confess his sins, to his priest, with such depth and frequency that there was no chance of any sin being forgotten- still he never felt like he was sure God loved him. Eventually, under the advice of a wise man, he attempted to study the Scriptures in order to distract him from his feelings of guilt and dread. It was in doing this that he came to one, life-changing verse. Talking about the Gospel, Paul said to the church in Rome…

For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. (Romans 1.16)

It was there Martin Luther realized what had been missing. Although he had been forgiven by God, he had no righteousness to speak of that would merit God’s love. Upon further reading Luther learned that Christ not only died for our sins, but provided his righteousness for our sakes. Knowing that we have had Christ’s righteousness credited to our account gave Luther the assurance that God not only accepts us but loves us.

But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe:… (Romans 3.21-22)

This is justification: that we have been forgiven for our sins and accepted as righteous because of Jesus. In other words, as the Westminster Shorter Catechism (Question 33) says,

Justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein He pardoneth all our sins, and accepteth us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone.

This is what I’ll be talking about in this blog.

Actually, this blog is a little different. Although I believe that all who believe in Jesus have been justified, I also believe that this is the most difficult message we have ever heard. It is so hard that we resist it with all our hearts. Rather than rely on the righteousness of Christ that assures us of God’s love, we want to build a righteousness of our own without him. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say this blog is about our self-righteousness or silly attempts to justify ourselves apart from Christ even though we don’t have to.