Justification I. Introduction A. Romans 3:20, 28 1. Paul declares that by works of the law no man shall be justified before God 2. Instead, in Romans 3:28, a man is justified by faith B. Justification by faith a major principle in Paul's preaching and teaching, and thus a doctrine of importance in Christianity C. Unfortunately, made more complicated and controversial thanks to Reformation disputation 1. Martin Luther's "breakthrough" involved his understanding of Paul's teachings of "justification by faith alone" 2. He famously had little use for the letter of James, thought it not inspired, should not be in the canon 3. To this day, discussions of justification tend to proceed on the basis of the sixteenth century disputation between Luther and Roman Catholic Church, Calvinists D. We do well to seek to come to a Biblical understanding of justification 1. What is justification? 2. What is the basis and nature of the justification of the believer? 3. When is one justified? II. What is Justification? A. Justification, according to Webster 1. The act of justifying; a showing to be just or conformable to law, rectitude or propriety; vindication; defense 2. Absolution 3. In law, the showing of a sufficient reason in court why a defendant did what he is called to answer. Pleas in justification must set forth some special matter 4. In theology, remission of sin and absolution from guilt and punishment; or an act of free grace by which God pardons the sinner and accepts him as righteous, on account of the atonement of Christ B. Greek terms 1. "To justify": Greek dikaioo a. Literally, "to make just or righteous" b. Thayer: to render righteous or such he ought to be; to show, exhibit, evince, one to be righteous, such as he is and wishes himself to be considered; to declare, pronounce, one to be just, righteous, or such as he ought to be c. A Greek concept not really found in English: best way of rendering it is to imagine "righteous" as a verb: "to righteous," or, "righteoused by faith" 2. Justification: Greek dikaiosis a. Thayer: the act of God declaring men free from guilt and acceptable to him; abjuring to be righteous, justification b. Romans 4:25, 5:18 C. Justification, therefore, involves the process by which one is considered righteous D. But what is involved in that process? III. The Necessity, Basis, and Nature of Justification A. Justification is important because it proves necessary for our salvation! 1. Psalm 33:5: God loves righteousness 2. Leviticus 19:2, 1 Peter 1:16, Habakkuk 1:13: God is holy and pure, cannot stand evil, perversity, and treachery 3. Those who are of God and with God must therefore be considered as righteous and holy (Matthew 5:20, Hebrews 12:14) 4. How can we be reckoned as righteous and holy? B. Many, however consciously or unconsciously, consider themselves righteous on the basis of their nationality, perceived privileged status, wealth, "goodness," etc. 1. Wealth perceived as blessings from God: if one has received God's blessing, one has received His favor and thus is righteous before Him (cf. Matthew 19:16-26) 2. People inflate the view of their "goodness" and de-emphasize their sinfulness, think that their good deeds will outweigh bad deeds, and thus be considered righteous 3. Many in Israel believed themselves to be righteous before God because God elected Israel and gave them the Law (Numbers 16:1-3, Luke 3:8-9, John 8:31-58, Romans 2:17-24) 4. Gentiles were used to considering themselves righteous as long as they offered requisite sacrifices to the relevant gods at the right time in the right manner 5. Many times "Christians" are convinced they stand as righteous before God because God loves them and they give mental acceptance to the fact that Jesus is Lord, regardless of their conduct C. Yet John the Baptist, Jesus, and Paul devastate these presumptions 1. Luke 3:8-9: John demands fruit of repentance, for God can make children of Abraham out of stone 2. Matthew 7:21-23: Jesus declares that merely professing that He is Lord is not sufficient to be saved, but one must do the will of the Father 3. John 8:31-58: Jesus demonstrates how the Jews with whom He spoke were children of the Devil, even if genetically descendants of Abraham 4. Romans 1:18-3:20: Paul makes a thorough demonstration that all, both Jew and Gentile, have sinned, have fallen short of the glory of God, and cannot by their own deeds be justified D. The Problem: Our Sin 1. As all must admit, we have all sinned, done what is wrong, have not done what is right (Romans 3:23, Ephesians 2:1-18, Titus 3:3-8, James 4:17) 2. According to the law, righteousness not established by "greater weight" of righteousness over evil: law either justifies as righteous if fully performed or condemns as transgressor if even one law is broken (cf. James 2:9-10) 3. Since we have all transgressed in some way, according to the law, we are all transgressors, and thus we cannot be justified by the law (Romans 3:20) 4. Therefore, on our own, we have no basis upon which to stand as righteous before God: we have sinned, we cannot make up for our sin, and we deserve death and condemnation (Romans 6:23) E. Justification by faith (Habakkuk 2:4, Romans 1:17) 1. God is aware of this situation and has a remedy! 2. Throughout time, those who have stood before God have done so by faith 3. Habakkuk 2:4: the righteous live by their faith 4. Paul quotes Habakkuk 2:4 in Romans 1:17, makes it the centerpiece of his argument in the first section of Romans 5. Galatians 3:11: even under the Law, those who were justified were justified by faith 6. This is possible because God loves people and has provided a means by which they can receive atonement for their sin a. Under the Law, this atonement was obtained through the sacrificial system: one would offer an animal for sin (in faith), and God would consider the person as cleansed from sin b. Yes, Hebrews 10:4: bulls and goats could not actually take away sin, but since Christ's sacrifice was sufficient once for all, the faith of the ancient Israelite who offered the animal to atone for their sins would lead to their atonement through the blood of Christ (cf. Hebrews 7:26-28, 9:13-14) c. Jesus died on the cross so that our sins could be forgiven through His blood (Romans 5:6-11, 8:1-2, 1 Peter 2:21-25) 7. Thus, we can be justified, or considered as righteous, when we put our trust in Jesus Christ as Lord! F. Yet what does it mean for the believer to be "justified"? 1. Some have speculated that justification involves the imputation of righteousness, that Christ's righteousness is somehow granted to the believer: the idea that Jesus took our sin and gave us His innocence 2. Yet this presumes that righteousness and sin are properties that can be transferred 3. In the Bible, neither sin nor righteousness are described as such: they are not like a gas that you could spray on someone! 4. The key concept is this idea of "imputation" a. The problem comes from the Latin meaning: imputatio, "to throw or impose upon" b. Hebrew chashab: to think, plan, esteem, calculate, invent, make a judgment, imagine, count; to be accounted, be thought, be esteemed; to consider, be considered (BDB, so Genesis 15:6, Psalm 32:2) c. Greek logizomai: to reckon, count, compute, calculate, count over (Thayer's, so Romans 4:8-9, Genesis 15:6 and Psalm 32:2 LXX) d. Even English impute: to charge; to attribute; to set to the account of; To attribute; to ascribe; To reckon to one what does not belong to him (Webster's) e. The terms used in Hebrew and Greek are clearly "accounting" terms, perhaps best reflected by English "to reckon" f. A reckoning does not demand a transfer of an actual property: we can reckon someone as cleansed or forgiven without actually giving or taking away from them a substantive thing 5. Justification, therefore, properly a matter of accounting: even though we are guilty, God reckons us as not guilty because of the blood of Christ 6. This does not mean that we possess Christ's righteousness or anything of the sort; it means that because of Christ's righteousness we are restored to a right relationship with God (Romans 5:6-11)! IV. Justification by Faith A. Justification by Faith vs. Justification by Faith Alone 1. As we have seen, believers are not justified by anything they have done but by their faith in God and what He has done on their behalf 2. So does this mean that we are justified by faith alone, as the Reformers would suggest? 3. An argument could be so advanced a. Faith, in the New Testament, is never simply a matter of profession or mental acceptance of a proposition b. Even demons thus "believe," and shudder (James 2:19)! c. Faith demands conscious trust in the One believed, thus, to do what He says to do (cf. Hebrews 11:1-40) d. Such is how the same Paul who strenuously asserts that believers are justified by faith apart from works of the law also says his mission is for the obedience of faith among the nations, to stress the need for baptism, to speak of life in terms of obeying sin or righteousness, and exhorting toward Christlike conduct (Romans 1:5, 6:1-23, 12:1-15:33) e. When faith is so understood to include following after Jesus, one could argue that one is justified by faith alone 4. Yet James 2:14-26, especially James 2:24 a. Paul himself never speaks of faith alone or only b. In fact, the only time "faith alone" is spoken of in the New Testament is in James 2:24, in which James declares that a man is not justified by faith alone! c. On what basis, therefore, would we attempt to argue for an understanding of justification which is explicitly negated in the New Testament? B. Paul and James on Justification 1. Many seem to think Paul and James are contradicting each other 2. After all, Paul speaks of justification by faith apart from works, and James speaks of justification by faith and works! 3. Yet there is no real contradiction but contrasting emphases which are both accurate 4. Paul never denies the role of obedience in faith and thus justification, but emphasizes that justification is not obtained without faith on the basis of one's works 5. Likewise, James never denies the principle of justification by faith, but emphasizes that faith must be empowered by works of obedience to be effective 6. Paul's emphasis would correct those who would take James' words and conclude that one's works merit or earn righteous standing before God 7. James' emphasis would correct those who would take Paul's words and conclude that obedience is not necessary to obtain righteous standing before God C. Therefore, the believer is justified by true faith in God in Christ 1. He or she has not deserved to be considered as righteous before God because of who they are or anything they have or have not done (Titus 3:3-8) 2. He or she must put their full trust in Jesus as Lord 3. By necessity this demands for them to obey Jesus as Lord and do the things which He has commanded in order to receive the forgiveness of sin and thus justification (Matthew 6:14-15, 7:21-23, Acts 2:38, Romans 10:9-10) 4. Trusting in one's own righteousness cannot justify one as righteous before God 5. Likewise, mere profession of belief without substantive obedience is not true faith and does not justify one as righteous before God D. This is an immediate and continual need 1. Believer receives "initial" justification at conversion (Titus 3:3-8) 2. Yet the believer requires continual cleansing on account of continual sin (1 John 1:8-9; cf. Ephesians 5:25-27) 3. If God must continually reckon one as righteous through one's faith on account of one's continual transgression, the possibility exists that one will cease putting one's faith in God in Christ, and thus no longer would maintain a righteous standing before God (cf. Hebrews 3:12-14, 6:14-16, 10:26-31, 2 Peter 2:20-22)! V. Conclusion A. We have investigated justification B. Justification as being reckoned as righteous C. We can do nothing to be reckoned as righteous by our own unaided efforts D. Yet God provides justification by faith in Christ E. Let us always put our trust in God in Christ and thus continually receive justification! F. Invitation/songbook