What’s the Big Deal About Justification?
Justification is the act of God whereby He forgives the unsaved person’s sin and imputes/credits/assigns to them the righteousness of Christ when through faith they believe.
At the moment of your salvation three things take place:
1st You’re forgiven
2nd You’re assigned Christ’s righteousness
3rd You’re given faith to believe
Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
1st Justification places the emphasis on God in our salvation
“For every look at self, take ten looks at Christ...”
~ Robert Murray McCheyne
Mark 8:35 NIV
For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.
Ephesians 2:8-10a MSG
Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving.
Ephesians 1:3-5 MSG
How blessed is God! And what a blessing he is! He’s the Father of our Master, Jesus Christ, and takes us to the high places of blessing in him. Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!)
Ephesians 1:8 MSG
He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need…
Ephesians 1:11-12 MSG
It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.
Romans 11:33-36 MSG
Have you ever come on anything quite like this extravagant generosity of God, this deep, deep wisdom? It’s way over our heads. We’ll never figure it out. Is there anyone around who can explain God? Anyone smart enough to tell him what to do? Anyone who has done him such a huge favor that God has to ask his advice? Everything comes from him; Everything happens through him; Everything ends up in him. Always glory! Always praise! Yes. Yes. Yes.
2nd Justification prevents the exercise of works righteousness
Romans 4:9a ESV
Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised?
Romans 4:7-8 ESV
"Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin."
Romans 4:9b-10 ESV
We say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised.
Romans 4:11a ESV
He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.
Genesis 17:9-11 ESV
And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.”
Romans 4:11a ESV
He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.
3rd Justification promotes the evangelism of all people
Romans 4:11b ESV
The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well…
Genesis 12:3 NLT
“All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”
Justification is the act of God whereby He forgives the unsaved person’s sin and imputes/credits/assigns to them the righteousness of Christ when through faith they believe.
Romans 4:11b-12 ESV
The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
