I was glad to tell Magara that God's justification is to a sin-sick soul (and that includes all of us!) what a refreshing, cleansing bath is to the body. It is the answer to the deep-felt longing of the human heart to be straightened out, to be put right with God and with His universe. To be out of kilter with all that is pure, right, and just is a terrible feeling. We call it guilt. Guilt destroys peace and hope. We need relief.
Justification may sound like a big, mysterious word, something that lawyers and theologians talk about in dry, dusty books. But Magara soon discovered that the Bible idea of justification is as clear as sunlight. The Today's English Version aptly translates the original word for justify as simply being "put right with God." Romans 5:1.
Imagine yourself guilty of a crime. No question about it— you are guilty! You are miserable in your prison cell, dreading the day of sentencing. For you, no sun shines, no Mowers bloom, no birds sing. You cannot even smile. No • me can comfort you. You feel a million miles in "outer darkness"—away from God and from everyone else whom you have disappointed. All you can feel is "a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation." Hebrews 10:27. Any one of us can imagine this misery because we have tasted it often.
Then imagine someone getting up in court with evidence to acquit you. He persuades the prosecutor, the judge, and the jury that there is no evidence of your guilt. The jury acquits you. Then imagine listening to the judge pronounce his decision that all charges against you are dropped, and you hear yourself declared by this court to be innocent. The crowded courtroom erupts in applause, and with a respectful flourish, the bailiff escorts you to the free air and sunshine outside.
This is what justification is like, but it falls far short of what justification is; for in our analogy you were guilty and no amount of "evidence" will change that fact. In the plan of salvation, you are not only "declared right" by the Judge, but you are "put right" in the eyes of the community, and something happens within you too. That is the common, everyday meaning of justify—"to be put right." A person acquitted of an accusation of crime is not only "declared right" by the judge, but is "put right," straightened out. In printing, a right-hand margin that is "justified" is made straight, not merely declared straight. And so with you.
If there is an ounce of decency in your guilty soul, when you hear that judge pronounce you innocent and free, your immediate response is a wholehearted choice to be straight from then on, especially if the one who defended you in court did so at his own great personal expense and risk (more about this later).
This imagined courtroom case feebly illustrates the biblical idea of justification by faith. To borrow for a moment the theologians' terms, it is both forensic and effective, both legal and practical. It is not produced by any act or work of our own. "God shows that he himself is righteous and that he puts right [justifies] everyone who believes in Jesus." Romans 3:26, TEV. Justification is a "free gift [that] came upon all men" by the sacrifice of one, that is, Christ." Romans 5:18. We are "justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." Romans 3:24 (Emphasis supplied). He even "justifieth the ungodly" Romans 4:5 and He accomplishes this mighty feat "through his blood." Ephesians 1:7. It is a delicious experience to know in your inmost soul that "if God is for us, who can be against us? ... Who will accuse God's chosen people? God himself declares them not guilty [justifies them]!" Romans 8:31, 33, TEV.
What Justification Meant in Bible Times
If we don't let theologians and commentators confuse us with difficult terms, Scripture alone will interpret Scripture so we can understand it easily. Hence we propose to lay Bible commentators and the Reformers to one side for the moment and let the Bible itself explain what it means by justification by faith. You will discover that it really matters what one believes regarding justification!
1. The Old Testament meaning of justify in its primary sense was neither to make righteous nor to declare righteous, but to recognize evidence that says a person is righteous. Only in a secondary sense did it mean to declare righteous: "If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment [court], that the judges may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked." Deuteronomy 25:1. It would be absurd for a Hebrew judge to "declare righteous" an accused person unless he had previously recognized evidence to support his innocence. He must never make a snap decision of acquittal or condemnation without first laboriously examining all the available evidence. When the evidence confirms acquittal, he must not blind his eyes to it. He may not follow any subjective feelings on his part, prejudiced one way or the other. The "declaring" righteous is only the public expression of his investigation and recognition of the innocence of the accused.
Solomon asks the Lord to justify "the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness." 1 Kings 8:32. It would be redundant to "declare righteous" one who is already known to be righteous. Here again is the idea of examining evidence and recognizing the accused to be innocent (although, of course, no human soul is innocent before God). "Woe unto them ... which justify the wicked for a reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!" Isaiah 5:22, 23.
Here the meaning of justify is examining evidence and declaring what it requires without respect to bribes. Of course, we are not to understand that anyone on earth is innately righteous as he stands before God, or that he can earn any merit. But this law-court language prepares the way for us to grasp the meaning of justification by faith in the New Testament.
2. When we come to the New Testament idea of justification, we see again that its primary sense is recognizing evidence that demands a verdict of acquittal. But a new element is now introduced that is never present in an earthly law court. Something is credited or imputed for righteousness which enables God justly to recognize and declare the guilty person righteous. God must not permit Himself to make snap judgments based on subjective feelings or respect for persons. Like the Hebrew judge, He is bound by rules of evidence.
Let us look at several examples of the New Testament idea of justification: "And all the people that heard him [John], and the publicans, justified God." Luke 7:29. This justifying of God was certainly not an arrogant human assumption of the right to judge God. It was a simple recognition of evidence which proved that God is righteous.
"By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." Matthew 12:37. Again, this is far more than a mere declaration of innocence or guilt. Elsewhere, Jesus says that in the judgment the Father will not declare any lost person condemned ("the Father judgeth [condemns] no man," John 5:22); and if anyone does not believe in Him, Jesus said He likewise will refuse to declare his condemnation. (See John 12:47, 48.) Why? Because the evidence of the sinner's "words" will do the job, and all who observe, including those who are subjects of judgment, will concur in recognizing it. Likewise, the acquittal of the righteous will rest on evidence easily recognized—their "words" demonstrating faith in Christ.
The Sublime Paradox
The new element that comes into the picture is Christ's righteousness which is imputed (or credited) to the guilty person who believes in Him. (See Romans 4:6.) This is no celestial legal trick. If it were a mere maneuver, God could perform His legal manipulations without requiring any faith from the sinner. But it is clear that Christ's righteousness can be imputed to the guilty sinner only if he has faith.
This tells us something. The sinner's faith enables God to do the otherwise impossible—to be just while He justifies the unjust. He creates a sublime paradox, a beautiful arangement that rests on a legal foundation, but embracing infinitely more than a mere legality. The sinner's faith frees the legal logjam that otherwise would force God to abandon him to death—"the wages of sin"—which he deserves.
Such faith is obviously a magnificent phenomenon, complementary to God's own character of infinite love which provides Christ as our Substitute. It makes possible the beautiful formula of justification by faith. Faith is never our saviour, but it does make it possible for Christ's work as Saviour to be effective in our behalf. Our search for the meaning of faith is indeed the treasure hunt of the ages! Abraham's justification by faith is the grand model set before us: "Abraham believed God, and it [his faith] was counted unto him for righteousness... To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness... Faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness." Romans 4:3-9.
Counting or reckoning faith for righteousness is the same "recognition" idea we found in the Old Testament. It is radically different from the Roman Catholic invention of an infused righteousness poured in by the sacraments. Abraham did no ritual works of any kind; no righteousness was poured into him. Rather, his faith was counted for righteousness. Although his faith was not based on human performance, something had indeed happened within Abraham himself. As in the case of all true Christians, Abraham "with the heart" believed "unto righteousness." Romans 10:10. His heart was melted by something extraordinary: he discerned the sacrifice of Christ in his behalf, for he "saw [Christ's day], and was glad." John 8:56. His faith was a heart appreciation of the sacrifice of that "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." Revelation 13:8. Thus he became the "father" of all sinners "justified by [Christ's] blood." Romans 5:9.
This means that justification by faith must be more than a mere declaration of acquittal on the part of God. (It is that, of course; but it is also a reckoning or recognition by God of the sinner's "faith ... for righteousness.") Justification fey faith therefore goes far beyond a legal declaration, because it is a reconciliation of the sinner's heart, a miracle accomplished by the Holy Spirit who awakens this dynamic faith "which worketh by love." Galatians 5:6. And that working of faith in justification is not to be confused with sanctification—another theological word we will discuss later.
Paul has a grand idea, and we must let him get it across. It is simple and clear, and is not contradictory to our God-given sense of fairness. You don't have to believe a fiction in order to believe in justification by faith. The brilliant idea Paul has is that a sinner's faith is "reckoned" for righteousness, and this great idea packs a punch.
Imagine that you are in Paul's audience. In Romans 3:19 he has shown that all the world is guilty of sin that crucified the Son of God and that no one can be justified by any attempted obedience to the law of God for the simple reason that "all have sinned" by breaking it, and hence they cannot put themselves right. But "all" are "justified ['put right', verse 24, TEV] freely" by the grace of Christ when He shed "his blood" for us. Something about this sacrifice enables God to "declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past." Verse 25. People have often criticized this as illegal, unfair, even immoral. How can a fair God permit a good person's righteousness to be credited to a bad person? Isn't this a legal shenanigan? The kind of trick clever lawyers pull off behind the scenes?
Paul is aware of this charge. He goes on to say that God is just (has a right) to do this for the one who has faith—the one who believes in Jesus. Romans 3:26. Faith becomes the all-important key in this strange but wonderful transaction. The "law ... of works" (Romans 3:27) is useless; what counts now is a new law—"the law of faith." Faith becomes a principle in God's grand economy of salvation.
A Picture of True Justification by Faith
"Is anything not clear?" Paul seems to be asking. "Don't get discouraged; hang on a little longer," we seem to hear him say. It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words, and in chapter 4 we're going to see a picture of justification by faith—Abraham himself. We'd rather see a sermon any day than hear one, and Abraham is Paul's sermon, the supreme example of someone justified by faith. Even a child can understand by looking at the picture.
Abraham is claimed by millions, both Jews and Christians, as their "father," so that he is perhaps the most important man that lived in the era before Christ. But regardless of anyone's genetic claims on Abraham, Paul says, he can be "our father" only if we have his faith. His life experience is our story encapsulated in a fantastic struggle with doubt that went on for decades, while he "against hope believed in hope." Verse 18.
The Lord raised his expectations sky high by promising to make him "a great nation" through which the Messiah was to come, so that in Abraham "shall all families of the earth be blessed." He would have as many children as there are stars in the sky. (See Genesis 12:2,3; 13:14-16; 15:5, 6.) But what is this thing called faith?
And then the Lord seemed to drop out of sight, leaving the poor man to stagger on for decades with no sign of even one child being born to him. Most everyone else, it seemed, had no trouble having plenty of children, while he, with the tremendous promise ringing in his ears, appeared to be doomed to go childless.
When he left Haran to go to the Promised Land, Abraham, at seventy-five, was getting old and Sarah's hopes for becoming a mother faded with her increasing age. (She was only ten years younger than Abraham.) When Abraham was eighty-six, they tried to solve the problem with a kind of second-wife arrangement whereby Hagar bore Ishmael. But the Lord refused to recognize him as the promised heir, and another long decade ground slowly by with still no sign of a baby conceived by Sarah. See Genesis 16:17. Everything looked hopeless. God was powerful enough—both Abraham and Sarah were convinced of that. The problem was whether He was willing. Where was His love? (We always find it easier to believe in miracles of omnipotence than in divine willingness.)
And then, when Abraham was ninety-nine, something happened. Hebrews tells us that both he and Sarah together had "faith," and the impossible gynecological thing happened; Sarah conceived. There was great rejoicing when little Isaac was born. Such happiness must have been almost too much to endure after decades of hoping against hope with continual disappointments.
But the old hero's trials were not over. When Isaac was about twenty and the father's love for him the most tender and mature, God tested his faith a final time with the most horrendous trial that any mortal saint has ever had to face. He was to offer Isaac as a burnt offering on the hill that should later be crowned with Golgotha's cross.
Again the problem the poor man had to wrestle with was his perception of the character of God. Where was His love? Could Abraham believe when everything seemed to indicate that the Lord was a cruel ogre, as bad as the Canaanites' gods? In the thick darkness of finite sense, could he have faith to anticipate John's declaration that "God is love"?
With the infirmities of old age making the test more excruciatingly painful, Abraham went through it firmly and loyally. He "staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief." Romans 4:20. See also Genesis 22. And thus he well earned the right to that distinctive title by which we sometimes refer to him—"the father of the faithful," that is, of those who are full of faith, who appreciate and trust God's character of love when everything seems to deny it.
In Abraham's life experience was forged for all time the model of justification by faith. The Genesis formula, "He believed in the Lord; and he counted it [his faith] to him for righteousness," became the cornerstone for Paul's earth-shaking concept of righteousness by faith. See Genesis 15:6 and Romans 4:3-9.
How the "Law of Faith" Works
No one can improve on the way Abraham was "put right." All anyone has to do is to walk in the steps of that faith, which Abraham walked—not in the steps of mere human performance, says Paul, but in the steps of his faith! The "good news" of justification by faith was as valid in Abraham's day as it has ever been.
Like all the rest of us, Abraham was a sinner and deserved what all sinners deserve—death. "The promise ... was not to Abraham ... through the law, but through the righteousness of faith." Romans 4:13.
Please remember: Abraham's faith does not equal righteousness; it was counted for it. When he "believed God," his faith was neither an intellectual assent to doctrines nor a self-centered grasping for reward. It was not a clever move on his part to ensure for him or his descendents some valuable real estate, that is, the earth. Such "faith" would merely have been a smart yet selfish bargain. Neither was his faith a fire escape from the terrors of hell. That would mark him as merely a knowledgeable opportunist. It was not a trust built on self-centered insecurity.
"With the heart man believeth unto righteousness." Romans 10:10. Emphasis supplied. Abraham's faith was a heart-experience, or "heart-work," as earnest people of a former generation used to call it. By his faith Abraham was himself transformed from an enemy of God into a friend of God. He was actually reconciled to God, although he had no works to offer on which to be justified. All he had was faith, and that, Paul adds, while he was as yet uncircumcised. But that was all that God asked from him!
But what is this thing called faith?