2. Cited in John Murray, Collected Writings, 4 vols. (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1977), 2:202.
The Promise of Justification
Catholic theology renders instantaneous justification impossible. Worse, this view substitutes the believer's own imperfect righ teous ness in place of Christ's unblemished righ teous ness, as the basis of justification.
There is a second, equally dangerous, error: Do not separate justification and sanctification so radically that you allow for one without the other. This is the error of antinomianism. God will not justify those He does not sanctify. God does not offer justification as a stand-alone means of salvation. Election, regeneration, faith, justification, sanctification, and even glorification are all integral facets of God's saving work: "Whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son [sanctification], . . . and whom He predestined, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified" (Rom. 8:29 – 30). Justification cannot be isolated and made to represent the sum of God's saving work. Yet that is exactly the error that is rampant in contemporary theology.
Imputed Righ teous ness
The cornerstone of justification is the reckoning of righ teous ness to the believer's account. This is the truth that sets Chris tian doctrine apart from every form of false religion. We call it "imputed righ teous ness." Apart from it, salvation is utterly impossible.
Theologian James Buchanan wrote, "[Guilt] cannot be extinguished by repentance or even by regeneration; for while these may improve or even renew our character, a divine sentence of condemnation can only be reversed by a divine act of remission."2 Sin defiles us. The apostle James wrote, "Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all" (James 2:10). No amount of doing good can make up for even one sin. The person who has sinned owes an impossible debt.
Moreover, a righ teous God cannot simply overlook sin or act as if it never occurred. There must be atonement for sin. Law demands a penalty for sin, and it is a penalty that must be paid: "The wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23).
Yet atonement alone does not fully solve the problem. If it were somehow possible for sinners to atone for their sins and obtain forgiveness, they would still stand before God without merit. Although their guilt would be erased, they would still lack the perfect righ teous ness God requires (Matt. 5:20, 48).
Imputed righ teous ness solves the dilemma. Christ made atonement by shedding His own blood on the cross. That provides forgiveness. And just as
2. Cited in John Murray, Collected Writings, 4 vols. (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1977), 2:202.
Jesus Explains His Gospel
our sins were put to His account when He bore them on the cross, so now His righ teous ness is reckoned as our own. His perfect righ teous ness thus becomes the ground on which we stand before God.
This is a crucial point on which Protestants have historically been in full agreement: sinners are not justified because of some good thing in them; God can declare them righ teous because He first imputes to them the perfect righteous ness of Christ. We stand before God as if we were perfectly just. Judicially, the Father views us as if our righ teous ness were on the same lofty plane as His Son's!
Again, this is owing to no good thing in us — not even God's sanctifying or regenerating work in our hearts. Justification is possible exclusively through the imputed righ teous ness of Christ: "To the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righ teousness" (Rom. 4:5, emphasis added). "Those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righ teous ness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ" (5:17, emphasis added). "Through the obedience of the One the many will be made [declared] righ teous" (v. 19). "Now apart from the Law the righ teous ness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righ teous ness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe" (3:22, emphasis added). "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righ teous ness of God in Him" (2 Cor. 5:21). "Not having a righ teous ness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righ teous ness which comes from God on the basis of faith" (Phil. 3:9, emphasis added).
Forgiveness of Sins
Justification also guarantees the forgiveness and remission of sins. That may seem obvious from the meaning of the word. Yet it is not the kind of forgiveness that merely excuses or disregards wrongdoing. As noted, if God simply ignored sins, He would compromise His own holiness. Instead, the penalty sin demands was fully paid in the death of Christ. We are therefore "justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righ teous ness . . . that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus" (Rom. 3:24 – 26, emphasis added).
God can justify without besmirching His own righ teous ness because Christ made propitiation. That is a technical term describing the reconciliation of God to the sinner. Christ atoned for our sins; God is therefore propitiated. In other words, He is kindly disposed to us and eager to forgive. The enmity has
The Promise of Justification
been removed. The full price was paid, so God can receive believing sinners with no taint on His own righ teous ness.
A New Standing
"This man went down to his house justified" (Luke 18:14) describes the taxgatherer's standing before God. It is not difficult to imagine the Pharisees' anger when Jesus related this story. In essence He was telling them that a pathetic publican in abject repentance was more acceptable to God than they were.
The reason for this is quite simple: They "trusted in themselves that they were righ teous" (v. 9, emphasis added). Likewise, the Pharisee in the parable was seeking justification on the basis of his own righ teous ness: "I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax-gatherer. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get" (vv. 11 – 12). We commonly call such people self-righ teous. Have you ever considered why? It is because they assume they have ample righ teous ness of their own and do not see the need for imputed righ teous ness.
But the tax-gatherer was under no such delusion. All he could do was repent and plead for mercy. And so perfect righ teous ness was imputed to his account. Forever thereafter he stood before God fully justified.
Reversal of God's Wrath
Justification is the polar opposite of condemnation. One of the most blessed of all biblical truths is found in Romans 8:1: "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Justification by faith is what makes that possible. If God's demeanor toward us were determined by our own behavior, no one could escape His wrath; for all of us are wretched sinners — even the most mature saint in Christ (cf. Rom. 7:24). But we who are in Christ need not fear condemnation; we have been justified.
What do you suppose would have become of the tax-gatherer in Jesus' parable? Do you think he would have continued praying in fear and anguish week after week? Certainly not. Like Matthew and Zaccheus, two real-life tax-gatherers we have already met, this man would have discovered that justification offers the only possible relief from the guilt of sin. We can be certain that his life would not have continued as before.
Justification and the Life of the Believer
We noted above that antinomianism is the notion of justification apart from sanctification. Luther himself coined the term, for already in his lifetime,