JUSTIFICATION: PART 1

In this chapter and the next two we will look at the idea of justification by faith which is at the heart of what has been accomplished for us by the atonement although, as we shall see, in God's plan it was never intended to be an end in itself. There is much more to the atonement than our justification but nevertheless this is central; it is the foundation for everything else that flows from it. Christ's atoning work first and foremost had to bring about our justification for otherwise none of God's saving purposes for us could have been achieved. 

It is because we have been first justified through the death of Jesus that we can now be reconciled to God, redeemed from our slavery to sin and, through a process of sanctification, become conformed to the image of Christ. Our justification has been brought about not as an end in itself but rather as a necessary first step in achieving these wider purposes of God. We will look at these purposes - reconciliation, redemption and sanctification - in later chapters. But for now we will consider the essential foundation for each of them - our justification by faith.

What Does It Mean To Be Justified?

I'll let Roger Forster and Paul Marston explain:

'As the works of Alister McGrath and those of N. T. Wright have clearly shown, the term ‘justification’ (dikaiósis) or to ‘justify’ (dikaioó) has long been misunderstood. It really means to be declared to be or shown to be righteous - it does not mean to be ‘made righteous’. So we note for example that the term is applied to God in Luke 7: 29 - but the tax collectors did not make God righteous, they declared God to be righteous. This is a key distinction, and for those (like us) brought up with a wrong understanding of the term it takes a real effort to refocus our perception of what it means.

Now when we repent and God graciously forgives our sins, at that point he declares us to be righteous or ‘justifies’ us. But, because being ‘justified’ means that someone is shown to be or declared to be righteous, this can happen later in the Christian life too. James 2: 18 says that we are ‘justified’ by the works which arise from our faith. If to ‘justify’ was restricted to God’s act of putting a person into right relationship with him at conversion, then James would contradict Paul. But actually all James is saying is that these works show us to be in right relationship with God – they ‘justify’ us.'1

When God 'justifies' us it means that He declares us to be in a right relationship with Him. This is a legal verdict from the courts of heaven that we are 'in the right' with Him. When our works 'justify' us it means that they show us to be in a right relationship with God. They provide the evidence that our faith in Him is real.

But it should be noted that justification is not a once-for-all declaration made at conversion since it is always linked with and conditional upon a living and active faith. Justification and faith belong together. Without the one, we do not have the other. Our justification is ongoing provided our faith is ongoing. Should we lose our faith, we also lose our justification - i.e. our right standing with God.

On What Basis Are We Justified?

On what basis, then, is God able to 'justify' the ungodly or the sinner? This is the central question that Paul is addressing in Romans 3: 21-26. His answer? On the basis of the faithfulness of Jesus in providing atonement for us.

There has been some misunderstanding around this too. This is because the Greek word 'pistis' can mean 'faith' or 'faithfulness'. In Romans 3: 3, for example, a phrase in which this word is used with reference to God is translated as 'the faithfulness of God' rather than 'faith in God' because in the context this is clearly what Paul is talking about. However there are four verses in which a similar phrase is used with reference to 'Jesus the Messiah' and this has usually been translated 'faith in Christ' rather than 'the faithfulness of Christ'. But there are a growing number of scholars who now recognise that the latter is the more likely interpretation.

Here are the four verses concerned, with the two alternative translations given in italics in each case.

Romans 3: 22: 'This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ / the faithfulness of Jesus Christ to all who believe.'

Romans 3: 26: 'He did it... so as to be just and the one who justifies us through faith in Jesus / the faithfulness of Jesus.'

Galatians 2: 16: 'We too have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ / the faithfulness of Christ and not by the works of the law.'

Galatians 3: 22: 'But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ / the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.'

NT Wright and Alister McGrath are again among those who argue that 'the faithfulness of Christ' is in each case the better translation. And in fact, it makes better sense of the whole flow of Paul's argument in Romans 3: 21-26 as Roger Forster and Paul Marston explain:

'It is so sad that most translations render this phrase wrongly. It was surely Paul's greatest 'Ah ha!' experience when he saw that it was the faithfulness of Jesus the Messiah in dying sacrificially that had enabled God to forgive the sins of all who had faith in God in any era of human history.'2

This is the basis upon which God had been able throughout history to 'justify' sinners. He had not ignored or overlooked 'the sins committed beforehand' (3: 25) - He had dealt with them through 'the faithfulness of Jesus the Messiah' in making atonement for them. This had been God's secret plan all along - but now the secret has been revealed; the mystery has been made known. Ah ha! This is how God can be just / righteous Himself and yet at the same time accept and forgive sinners.

'How was Noah declared righteous? Presumably through the faithfulness of Jesus the Messiah to all who have faith. Or how about Lot? Or Melchizedek? Or Epimenides (to whom Paul refers in Acts 17: 28 and Titus 1: 12)?'2

The basis upon which we, as well as all the saints of the Old Testament, have been justified is 'the faithfulness of Jesus the Messiah' rather than the 'works of the law'. This is Paul's point.

Who Does God Justify?

The right standing with God that comes through 'the faithfulness of Jesus the Messiah' is for all who believe (Romans 3: 22, Galatians 3: 22 - see above). The word translated 'believe' in these verses could equally well be translated 'have faith.' The same Greek word can be translated either way. So the righteousness that Paul is talking about in Romans 3: 21-26 is for all who have faith. And if our understanding of Paul's argument in these verses is correct then this is hugely significant - for the faith that Paul is referring to here is not explicitly faith in Christ. It was not through faith 'in Christ' that the Old Testament saints were justified but through faith in God. They had never heard of Christ, so they could not have put their faith in Him and yet they still benefited from His saving work on the cross.

It was of course possible for the people of Israel to have faith in the promises of God concerning a Messiah to come. So it could be argued perhaps that it was on account of their faith in the promised Messiah that they were justified. But to what extent would Noah have been aware of and been able to put his faith in a Messiah to come? I suppose to some extent that might have been part of it since God had first given the promise of a rescuer to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden - and Noah may very well have been aware of this.

Nevertheless this does not seem to me to be what is emphasised in the Biblical narrative. The Old Testament saints had faith in God in a much more general sense; they believed what God said and acted upon it. It is this that they are commended for and I suggest that it was on account of this that they were justified rather than more specifically on account of faith in the promised Messiah.

If this is true, then it suggests the very strong possibility that there are people in our world today who without ever having heard of Christ, nevertheless are justified before God on account of His atoning work for them. Their faith is in response to whatever God has revealed to them in nature, in conscience and perhaps also in dreams and visions. They are living faithfully in the light of whatever revelation they have been given. They are those who 'by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality' and to whom Paul says 'God will give eternal life' (Romans 2: 7). They are justified before God and heirs of eternal life because of what Christ has done for them even if they don't know it yet!

Implications For Evangelism

This of course begs the question - if people who have never heard of Jesus may still be 'right with God' what is the point of evangelism? I believe our task is to declare the Good News of the gospel to everyone - so that those who are far from God may be brought to repentance and saving faith and also so that those who are already 'right with Him' may know this and be led to a conscious experience of salvation. The good news for them is that what they have been seeking is to be found in Jesus Christ. Salvation - including the assurance of forgiveness, life in the Spirit and the hope of heaven - is available to all through faith in Him and His atoning work.

The story of Cornelius in Acts 10 is a good example of this. Described by the messengers he sent to Peter as already 'a righteous and God-fearing man' (verse 22) nevertheless it was God's purpose for him through Peter to be led to a full, conscious experience of salvation through faith in Jesus.

Perhaps it was folk like this that Jesus had in mind when he spoke about the fields being 'ripe for harvest' (John 4: 35) or when He spoke about the harvest being plentiful and urged His disciples to 'ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field' (Matthew 9: 37-38). Perhaps it was folk like this that He had in mind when He spoke about 'sheep who are not of this fold' who must be brought in to the 'one flock' under the one shepherd' (John 10: 16).

It is important to understand that whereas justification happens in the courts of heaven and relates primarily to the life to come, salvation happens on earth and relates primarily to the experience of deliverance from sin and all of its consequences in this life. And whereas justification is the result of faith in God, salvation is the result of faith explicitly in Christ. God's purpose for those whom He has justified on account of their faith in Him - those who have been looking to Him for salvation - is that they may be brought to a saving knowledge of Jesus and 'gathered into the Kingdom' or 'brought into the flock' here on earth so that His saving power may be seen in them and so that others, perhaps, may be brought to repentance and faith and added to their number as a result of their witness.

There are those in our world who are hostile to God, who are knowingly and willfully rebelling against Him and who therefore remain under God's just condemnation. But what Paul seems to be saying is that there may also be those who are seeking God and looking to Him for salvation, and who have already been justified through the atoning work of Jesus on account of this, but who have not yet either heard of Him or experienced the salvation that is to be found in Him. Our evangelism should be aimed at both groups, bearing in mind that we don't know which group any particular individual belongs to. We should not assume that we are addressing people who are willfully rebelling against God but neither should we assume that we are addressing 'righteous people who need no repentance'. Only God knows the hearts of those we are trying to reach. It is our business to share the good news with everyone; it is God's business to work in each person's heart to bring about the response that is appropriate for that person at that time.

If salvation were only about a 'ticket to heaven', then it is true that bringing the good news of salvation to people who are already right with God would be virtually pointless - because it would add nothing to their justification. It is because salvation is so much more than that, because it relates to this life as much as to the next, that it is such a joy and a privilege to share the good news with people like this. We have good news to share with them that has the power to transform their lives in the present and not just in the future. And we want to share this good news with them because we are convinced, like Paul, that it 'is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes' (Romans 1: 16).

God wants His salvation - the saving power of the gospel - to be seen on earth. Psalm 67: 1-2 says: 'May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine on us - so that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.' And Acts 13: 47 says: 'For this is what the Lord has commanded us: 'I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth'. 

This is the task to which Jesus calls us. It is a huge task but perhaps the fact that salvation depends on faith in Christ whereas justification does not makes the burden a little lighter because it means that no one's eternal destiny depends entirely on us. No one will end up in hell because (or at least not solely because) I failed to tell them the good news, or did not do it well enough. An individual's eternal destiny is and always will remain a matter between them and God. 

So it is good to know that we can help to transform the lives of others as we share the gospel with them. But it is also good to know that we are not ultimately responsible for anyone's eternal destiny. We can safely leave that in God's hands.

Notes

1. We Believe In The Christian Doctrines Of The New Testament by Roger Forster and Paul Marston

2. God's Strategy In Human History: Volume 1 by Roger Forster and Paul Marston