02.09. Justification
Justification How can a man be righteous before God? The next step to prepare us for glory is justification. Sinful man had to be cleared of all charges, and to be declared righteous. He must be made righteous in order to be fit for the glory for which God has destined His chosen ones. For no unrighteous person can be allowed to enter into God’s glory, into the pure light of His presence. So with regard to the subject of justification, the same principle applies as noted in connection with the calling: it is a necessary link between God’s eternal purpose and the future glory in which this purpose will be fulfilled. Our Lord had not come to call the righteous (i.e. people who considered themselves to be righteous), but sinners, to repentance (Luke 5:32). But these repentant sinners cannot remain sinners once they hear God’s call. They have to be made righteous.
Justification is dealt with particularly in the Epistle to the Romans, from three different points of view:
In the first place, justification means that guilty sinners are acquitted of their sins because of the atoning blood of Christ. It is a matter of God’s grace, and we receive it as His gift. Justification is not by our own works, the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. We are justified freely by God’s grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:20-31; Romans 4:1-8).
In the second place, justification has a more positive aspect, because Christ was raised from the dead. He was delivered up because of our offences, and was raised because of our justification. His resurrection proves that God has accepted His work and found full satisfaction in it. So we put our trust not only in the value of the death of Christ, but also in the power of His resurrection. On the one hand the object of our faith is the One who died to sin once for all, on the other it is God who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him at His right hand in heaven. As a result of this we have peace with God, we have access into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God (Romans 4:24-25; Romans 5:1-2).
In the third place, justification is "justification of life", based on our union with the risen Christ. He is the Head of a new generation of men, and we have been made righteous by His obedience - just as by one man’s disobedience we were made sinners (Romans 5:18-19).
Justification of life This last point is very important. God does not only declare us righteous because our sins have been blotted out, but also because we are new creatures in Christ. God does not see us as children of Adam, as natural men and fallen sinners any longer. He regards us as those who are united with Another, the risen Lord, the Head of a new race. We died with Christ, and this finished our link with the first Adam. And now we are in Christ: in the risen One we have an entirely new position, and an entirely new life. So justification not only has to do with our evil actions, our sins (in that they are not held against us), but also with our life, the very nature from which our actions originate. Therefore Romans 6:7 tells us that we have been freed from sin: "For he who has died has been freed from sin". The word is singular, indicating the sinful nature, the evil power that produced the sinful actions, or sins. We died with Christ, and so we are dead to sin. God regards us as alive to Him in Christ Jesus our Lord. In the risen Lord we have a new position before God and also a new life, and both are marked with a perfect righteousness. For that reason, because we are in Christ, because we are united with Him who is the Head of a new generation, there is no judgment, no charge against us. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Who is he who condemns? If God Himself is the One who justifies us, who shall bring a charge against us (Romans 8:1; Romans 8:33-34)?
Justification is based on Christ’s death and resurrection. We are not justified by Christ’s perfect life on the earth, or by His perfect obedience to the law. We are made righteous because of our union with the One who died and rose again. For by His death Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (Galatians 3:13). The death of Christ has put an end to our life in the flesh, and His resurrection has granted us a new place and a new life! So with our resurrection life, we also possess what one might call a "resurrection righteousness", a positional righteousness based on Christ’s own resurrection and subsequent glorification.
God acted in righteousness on behalf of His Son in that He raised Him from the dead, and exalted Him to His right hand in heaven. God could not leave Him among the dead after He had finished the work of redemption and had glorified His God and Father on the earth. God raised Him, and crowned Him with glory and honour. This was an act of God’s righteousness. Christ’s glorification in heaven was God’s righteous answer to the work that Christ had done here below (cf. John 13:31-32; John 16:10; John 17:4-5). And we share in the place and the position which Christ received as a result of God’s righteous intervention on His behalf. That is the essence of our justification. We are united with Him in His resurrection and glorification. God has granted us the same place that Christ has won rightfully. God views us as one with Him, God views us in Him. Christ is our Head and our Representative. His place is our place, and His life is our life. As Paul puts it: "But of Him (i.e. God) you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us ... righteousness..." (1 Corinthians 1:30). "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21).