What Is Justification?
Oftentimes, people come to church and hear all kinds of words tossed around, not having any idea of their meaning. Jokingly, we call these words “Christianese.” We hear them a lot but may not fully understand them. At times we may even associate certain thoughts or feelings with these words without truly realizing what they actually mean.
The word “justification” is one such word. Justification is an important doctrine. Maybe “doctrine” is also one of those words… a doctrine is simply a belief that comes from what the Scriptures say about a specific topic.
When people hear the word justification, they may assume that it means salvation, and it definitely does relate to that, but it is only one aspect of our salvation. So, what is justification? In simple terms, justification is the teaching that we are justified, or made right, before God through our faith in Jesus, His death and resurrection.
This is the point in our relationship with God when we are no longer condemned for our sins but are made new and righteous through Christ. Justification is an act of grace from God through which we are forgiven once and for all because of the work of Jesus. This act of grace comes through our faith in Jesus and His resurrection from the dead (Romans 10:9-13).
Regeneration, sanctification, and glorification are additional elements of our salvation. We will dive deeper into them in later Side Notes, but in order to provide a better understanding of justification and how it relates to these other elements, let’s take a quick look at each one. Consider what the Baptist Faith and Message 2000, our church’s statement of faith, says about each:
“Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God’s grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace.”
“Justification is God’s gracious and full acquittal upon principles of His righteousness of all sinners who repent and believe in Christ. Justification brings the believer unto a relationship of peace and favor with God.”
“Sanctification is the experience, beginning in regeneration, by which the believer is set apart to God’s purposes, and is enabled to progress toward moral and spiritual maturity through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him. Growth in grace should continue throughout the regenerate person’s life.”
“Glorification is the culmination of salvation and is the final blessed and abiding state of the redeemed.”
So, justification takes place the moment someone is saved, when they place their faith in Christ and receive forgiveness and freedom from Him. When we place our faith in Jesus and are justified, our standing before God is forever changed. There is now nothing that can take us away from the love of God. (Romans 8:31-39). From this point on in our relationship with God, we are freed from the weight of our sins, saved from the condemnation we deserve, and given confident hope through our Savior!
Those of us who have proclaimed with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and have believed in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead should rejoice in the fact that we have been justified before the Lord and are no longer under condemnation. We have been made right before God and are free from our sins. We get to live in His glorious grace seeking to obey him and grow closer to Him in our sanctification, while we wait to be fully united with Him one day in our glorification.
If you have any further questions about justification and having a relationship with the Lord please contact us. We would be overjoyed to walk with you in your next steps with Jesus.
To learn more about our church’s doctrine, check out our Beliefs & Doctrine page.