Justification
The verb to justify in the New Testament Greek is dikaioō. Dikaioō has a
range of meanings, but a very common use of the word is “to declare righteous.”
This is the general meaning of justification in the New Testament. Furthermore,
the use of the word indicates that justification is a legal declaration, in
this sense, by God.
justification – the act, process, or state of
being justified (declared righteous) by God.
Applied by God in salvation
In Romans 8:30, the apostle Paul provides an overview of the process by
which God applies salvation to us, and he includes the verb form of
justification:
“Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these
He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.”
Here Paul explicitly mentions that this is something that God Himself does.
It is not a product of man. “Those whom he called he also justified.”
Double imputation
When God declares us to be just in His sight, there are two aspects
involved:
1. We have no penalty to pay for our
sins because of Christ.
2. We are declared righteous because of Christ.
This is often called double imputation, or “Our sins are imputed onto
Christ, and His righteousness is imputed onto us.”
The believer’s sins are imputed onto Christ. Paul tells us, in Romans 8:1,
that “there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Thus, those who are justified in Christ are no longer obligated to pay the
penalty for sin. And why are we no longer obligated? Because our sins have been
imputed onto Christ on the cross and there, as He hanged, He paid the penalty
for God’s children.
Christ’s righteousness was imputed onto believers. If God’s act of
salvation toward sinners only included the payment of sins on the cross, we
would still remain morally neutral before God. Remember how I mentioned that
justification is the act of being declared righteous before God? Well, if we
are to ever be declared righteous before God, we cannot stand on our own
righteousness since there is none righteous (Romans 3:10). Therefore, God has
imputed Christ’s righteousness onto us.
How God Can Declare Us to Be Righteous
When we say that God imputes Christ’s righteousness to us, this means that
God considers the righteousness of Christ as belonging to us (Romans 4:6).
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God
set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His
righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that
were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His
righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith
in Jesus.” (Romans 3:23-26)
How are we justified-- by the faith of Jesus Christ--(Gal 2:16) Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
Praise God for justifying us by the faith of Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior!
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