What is Justification?

SHORT DEFINITION:
Justification is the declaration by a judge that one is righteous.

LONG DEFINITION:
Justification is the declaration by a judge that one is righteous, and in the case of being accused, is acquitted of wrongdoing. When justified, the guilt is removed and the person stands as though they committed no wrong. In the case of Christians, being justified means that we have been declared righteous in God's eyes. (Romans 5:19; Philippians 3:9) We are no longer sinners but are righteous, not because of our deeds but because of what Christ has done in us. Christians are justified by faith in Christ.
(Romans 5:1)

When we sin, we want to justify ourselves. We want to prove that we did nothing wrong. This is exemplified In Luke 10:25-29: On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" "What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?" He answered: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" "You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live." But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

According to the Bible, we cannot be justified by the Law because we are sinful. (Romans 3:10-12, 20) We are born into sin from the lineage of the first man. (Psalms 51:5) Adam had sinned against God. It was not just that he disobeyed God, his entire being/nature was corrupted by sin. He became sinful. In this sense, sin was a like a curse or disease that plagued the entire human race. Adam and Eve gave birth to sinful children who gave birth to sinful children that has lead to our own birth into this terrible state of being. We do bad things, not because we stumble or fall, but because our heart is wicked. Because of this, no amount of good works will change that fact. We cannot make ourselves good and righteous by doing good works. This will not suffice. We have been corrupted. We are lacking in goodness. We do not have it. Therefore, we cannot be justifed by the law or good works. No matter what we do, our nature is to sin.

This truth is made apparent to us by our death. Because of sin, death entered into us. People are not born with eternal life. We are born into death. Everyone dies. This death is a corruption of God's original design. God does not want anyone to die. He is the giver of life. However, because we are filled with this disease of sin, we die.

This is why we need Christ and why we are justified by faith. We need Christ to fill us with life. However, before He can do so, we need to be cleansed of our sin. Christ did this for us on the cross. He paid the price. He gave His life in exchange for ours. He traded His eternal, glorious, righteous life for our sinful life. He took our sins upon Him and suffered our punishment. He died for us. Because of this, Christ has the power to offer life to anyone who asks.

He offers this life freely upon one basis. We must come by faith. We must believe in Him (John 3:16). He requires faith because faith means we rely and trust in Him to set us free. In faith, we share in His death and resurrection. We die with Christ and live with Christ. Faith is like a door that makes it possible for Christ to enter into our lives and make us righteous by His power.

Therefore, we are justified by faith in Christ. (Romans 4:2-8) We can stand before God on the day of judgment and say, "I am righteous, I am clean" not because of what we have done but because of what Christ has done in us by our faith in Him. We stand by faith in that we continually rely on Christ to work in us to produce good fruit.

Conclusion

By the death of Christ, God is free to declare anyone righteous based simply upon faith in His Son. In addition, by the atonement, God remained just and fair in His judgment by not giving His grace impartially. Christ paid the debt of sin on our behalf, and as such, God is both just and justifier. (Romans 3:25-26)