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
Therefore no flesh shall be justified in his sight by the works of the law; for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But the righteousness of God without the law is now manifested, being attested by the law and the prophets, read more. Even the righteousness of God, by the faith of Jesus Christ, to all and upon all that believe; for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and are fallen short of the glory of God, And are justified freely by his grace, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth as a propitiation, through faith in his blood, for a demonstration of his righteousness by the remission of past sins, through the forbearance of God: For a demonstration, I say, of his righteousness in this present time, that he might be just, and yet the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay, but by the law of faith. We conclude then, that a man is justified by faith, without the works of the law. Is God the God of the Jews only, and not also of the Gentiles? Surely of the Gentiles also: Seeing it is one God who will justify the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through the same faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
Therefore there is now no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath freed me from the law of sin and death. read more. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God hath done: sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, to be a sacrifice for sin, he hath condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. For Moses describeth the righteousness which is by the law, The man who doth these things shall live by them. read more. But the righteousness which is by faith speaketh thus: Say not in thy heart, Who shall ascend into heaven, (that is, to bring Christ down:) Or who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring Christ again from the dead) But what saith he? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart; that is, the word of faith which we preach: That if thou confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thy heart, that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation.
and not sinners of the Gentiles, Even we (knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ) have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law; because by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. But if while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore the minister of sin? read more. God forbid. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through the law am dead to the law, that I may live to God. I am crucified with Christ, and I live no longer, but Christ liveth in me, and the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not make void the grace of God; for if righteousness is by the law, then Christ died in vain.
But God who is rich in mercy, through his great love wherewith he loved us, Hath quickened us together with Christ, even when we were dead in trespasses, (by grace ye are saved) And hath raised us up together, read more. and made us sit together in heavenly places through Christ Jesus: That he might shew in the ages to come the exceeding riches of his grace, in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace ye are saved through faith; and this not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created through Christ Jesus unto good works, which God had before prepared, that we might walk in them.