Reference: JUSTIFICIATION
American
The being regarded and treated as if innocent; or acquittal from the consequences of guilt before the tribunal of God. "Justification by faith" means that a person, on account of true and living faith in Christ as manifested by good works, will be delivered from condemnation on account of his sins; that is, his sins will be forgiven, and he be regarded and treated as if innocent and holy. Thus, besides the remission of sins and their penalty, it includes the restoration and everlasting enjoyment of the favor of God.
We obtain justification by faith in Christ. Yet neither this nor any other act of ours, as a work, is any ground of our justification. In acquitting us before his bar, God regards not our works, in whole or in part, but the atoning work and merits of Christ. He was treated as a sinner, that we might be treated as righteous. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus;" the moment we believe, our justification is as perfect as the infinite worthiness of our Redeemer. Its validity does not depend on the measure of our assurance of hope, nor on spotless holiness of life. Sanctification, indeed, or progressive growth in holiness, commences simultaneously with justification, and must in the end reach the same perfectness. Yet it is important to distinguish between the two, and to observe that, could the believer's holiness become as perfect as an angel's, it could not share with the atoning merits of Christ in entitling him to admission to heaven.
The best obedience of my hands
Dares not appear before thy throne;
But faith can answer thy demands,
By pleading what my Lord hath done."
True justification, by the gratuitous gift of the Savior, furnishes the most powerful motive to a holy life. It is followed by adoption, peace of conscience, and the fruits of the Spirit in this life; and by final sanctification, acquittal in the day of judgment, and admittance to heaven, Ro 3:20-31; 5; 8:1-4; 10:4-10; Ga 2:16-21; Eph 2:4-10.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
For by the deeds of the law, no flesh shall be justified in his sight; for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now, without the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets: read more. the righteousness, that is, of God by the faith of Jesus, the Christ, for all and upon all those that believe in him, for there is no difference; for all have sinned and are made destitute of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus, the Christ, whom God purposed for reconciliation through faith in his blood for the manifestation of his righteousness, for the remission of sins that are past, by the patience of God, manifesting in this time his righteousness that he only be the just one and the justifier of him that is of the faith of Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? No, but by the law of faith. Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, seeing it is one God who shall justify the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision by faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? No, in no wise; to the contrary, we establish the law.
So that now, there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ, Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ, Jesus, has made me free from the law of sin and death. read more. For that which was impossible to the law, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
For Christ is the end of the law, to give righteousness to every one that believes. For Moses describes the righteousness which is by the law, That the man who does those things shall live by them. read more. But thus saith the righteousness which is by faith, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven (that is, to bring the Christ down from above)? Or, Who shall descend into the deep (that is, to bring up the Christ again from the dead)? But what does it say? The word is near thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto saving health.
knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. But if, while we seek to be justified in Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of our sin? No, in no wise. read more. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a rebel. For through the law I am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not reject the grace of God, for if righteousness comes by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great charity with which he loved us, even as we were dead in sins, he has made us alive together with the Christ (by whose grace ye are saved) read more. and has raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God, Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has prepared that we should walk in them.