21 “But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has
been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; 23 for all have sinned and fall short
of the glory of God, 24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in
Christ Jesus;25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This
was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; 26 for the demonstration, I
say,
of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the
justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
(Romans 3:21-26 [NASB])
Justification is one of the words heard used by church
people. It is not a word commonly used. What does it mean? Can it be used
outside of church in any way? Does it reflect upon me? Am I justified?
Let’s begin
our study with a simple definition of the word. Justification means to be made
right, complete, or as one ought to be. When we consider God’s creation, after
He made each part of the world, He stopped and proclaimed it good. That means
when God created Adam and Eve He proclaimed them good (Genesis 1:31). Besides this,
we are told in Genesis that God created them in His image (Genesis 1:27). Since
that is the case, they were just, right, and as they ought to be.
The question
remains though: just and right based upon what standard? Since they Adam and Eve were made in God’s
image and God created all we see, the standard is God. God is the definition
for righteousness, goodness, love, justice, mercy, grace and other words we use
daily. For our purposes here, Adam and Eve were right and as they ought to be
based upon God’s standard; they did not have sin, but were pure.
Most of us
know what happened next. Satan tempted and convinced Adam and Eve to seek
knowledge and greatness like God – to be their own gods. Sin entered the world
upon their succumbing to temptation. God created humankind with the gift of
free will. He did not mandate Adam and Eve be in a relationship with Him, but
wanted them to come to Him of their own free will. God wanted them to choose
Him. In the garden when they bowed to temptation, they did not choose God. Adam
and Eve exercised their free will and sin (turning away from God) entered the
world.
Over the
millennia, God appeared to humankind through creation, dreams and visions,
voices, burning bushes, pillars of fire and clouds, signs and wonders, prophets
and priests, and His Law, which He gave to the Israelites. The intent of the
Law was to lead people to God. In Galatians 3:24, Paul said, “Therefore the Law
has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by
faith.”
You can see
then, before Jesus Christ’s death, God spent millennia striving to reconnect
with His creation, humankind, to have a relationship with them. He is not a
dictator and does not command humankind be in a relationship with Him. Because
of God’s love – the love that caused Him to create us and want a relationship
with us – He kept trying to draw us near to Him. Free will and sin kept taking
us further away from Him, building blocks higher each day so that a great wall
rose between humankind and Himself.
When God
gave the Law to the Israelites, they covenanted to worship and obey Him. Yet,
their sinful ways kept them from absolute obedience even though they knew God
from their ancestor’s past with Him. They knew of His might, majesty, power,
and love. They understood to remain His children, He required obedience. Still
the Israelites were unfaithful.
God in His
love was not thwarted. From the beginning of the world, He planned for the
redemption of humankind from sin and death. God’s plan required a pure
sacrifice, one not polluted with sin. His plan for this redemption was the
offering of His only Son, Jesus Christ, as the sin sacrifice for the death
penalty that covered each human.
Sin causes
separation from God because God cannot be in the presence of sin due to His
holiness. This separation extended even to the time after life on earth ended
for each person. Separation from God is death – on earth and eternally. God
provided Jesus Christ to pay the sin penalty of death with His death. That is
redemption. Jesus Christ paid His life to redeem us from death forever and the
power of sin now.
When a person believes by faith in Jesus
Christ as the Son of God who died to provide salvation from death and sin, his
or her sins are wiped from their slate. God will no longer avenge wrath upon
the person for his or her sin against Him (Romans 5:9). The sin of the person
is removed from them. His or her slate is clean.
That is
justification. Because Jesus Christ is just – pure and righteous – and gave
Himself as our sin sacrifice, by substitution, we, too, become just, pure, and
righteous through Him. Jesus is just and justifier (Romans 3:26). Justification
is the being made right, pure, and righteous before God by belief in Jesus
Christ as the Son of God who takes away the sin of people. Justification comes
from nothing we do or say. It comes through belief in Jesus Christ. It is Jesus
Christ’s righteousness imparted to us when we believe that declares our sin
penalty – death – fulfilled by Him.
Have you
been justified by Jesus Christ? Have you accepted God’s gift of
salvation/redemption from sin and death? You can do nothing to earn it or acquire
it. It comes by belief in Jesus Christ. If you accepted God’s gift of salvation
and justification, are you living it out in the world? Does your life reflect
the righteousness Jesus paid His life to give you? James wrote in James 2:14
& 17-18,
What
use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can
that faith save him? Even so faith, if it has now works, is dead, being by
itself. But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me
your faith without the works and I will show you my faith by my works.” [NASB]
Later in
this chapter, James added, “Faith without works is dead.”
We each have
to decide if we will believe in Jesus Christ. Then, we each have to decide if
we will live as Jesus Christ lived – will we follow Him daily. Let me encourage
you with these final words form Paul in Romans 5:1. He said,
Therefore,
since we have been justified (made pure, perfect, complete, and righteous)
through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through
whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And
we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. [NASB]
Are you experiencing that joy? Have you
received that hope? Today is not too late to accept God’s free gift and be
justified. Today is not too late to act out your faith. Will you make those
choices?
