What is justification?

What the Bible says

The first question a person faces before God is this: am I all right with him? The Bible answers with the word "justify," a word from the courtroom. The judge declares the accused righteous. The difficulty is that all of us are standing in the dock. Paul writes:

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

Rom 3:23-24

Freely, by grace, through redemption: that is justification. God does not look away from sin. Paul says that God presented Christ as an atoning sacrifice, so that he might "be just and … justify the one who has faith in Jesus" (Rom 3:25-26). Sin has been dealt with, and Christ paid the price. So God can be just and still justify the sinner.

Paul shows how this becomes ours through Abraham.

However, to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.

Rom 4:5

A God who "justifies the ungodly" is startling. Faith is not a merit but an empty hand that receives. Jesus' parable shows the same picture. The Pharisee told God how good he was, while the tax collector beat his breast and asked for mercy. Jesus says:

I tell you, this man, rather than the Pharisee, went home justified.

Luke 18:14

The result is peace.

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

Rom 5:1

How, then, are we to read James?

As you can see, a man is justified by his deeds and not by faith alone.

James 2:24

Paul says that a person is justified not by works of the law but through faith in Christ (Gal 2:16), and the two statements seem to collide. The most widely held reading is that the two men address different people. Paul answers the idea that works build up a claim on God. James answers a professed faith without fruit, and says that "faith by itself, if it does not result in action, is dead" (James 2:17). Paul says the same when he writes that what counts is "faith expressing itself through love" (Gal 5:6). Many also think James uses "justified" closer to "shown to be genuine," and Paul for "accepted." Catholic teaching also reads James as describing growth in justification through good works done in grace.

The church's witness

Justification has been fiercely debated, so it matters first to see where everyone agrees. No church teaches that people reach God by their own strength, and none teaches that a holy life is unnecessary. The differences concern what exactly "justification" refers to.

Lutheran and Reformed churches understand it as God's declaration that the sinner is righteous: a forensic, courtroom act in which Christ's righteousness is counted as the believer's. The Augsburg Confession, the basic Lutheran confession, teaches that people are justified freely for Christ's sake through faith, not by their own merits Augsburg Confession, Art. IV. Calvin, in the Institutes, distinguishes justification from sanctification but will not separate them, since Christ is both our righteousness and the one who renews us Calvin, Institutes. Matthew Henry says likewise that when believers are justified by faith, "their faith does not justify them as a part, small or great, of their righteousness," but as the means of uniting them to Christ Matthew Henry.

The Catholic Church's official teaching is in the Decree on Justification of the Council of Trent (1547). Justification there is not only forgiveness of sins but also the infusion of grace, which sanctifies and renews the inner person. Grace is God's gift, which nothing before it can earn; faith is its beginning; and the person, moved by grace, cooperates with it and grows in righteousness Council of Trent, Decree on Justification. Protestants saw in this a mixing of justification and sanctification that let our contribution intrude on God's declaration. Catholics heard Protestants as saying that God only declares and does not actually change anyone. The Eastern Orthodox largely stand outside this debate and understand justification within a path of growing communion with God.

In 1999 the Lutheran World Federation and the Catholic Church, in the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, stated a shared conviction that people are accepted by God by grace alone, in faith in Christ's saving work, and not because of any merit of their own Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification. They declared that the sixteenth-century condemnations do not apply to the partner's teaching as now presented, and the World Methodist Council (2006) and the World Communion of Reformed Churches (2017) later affirmed it. Some theologians on both sides say the document smooths over remaining differences.

In the original languages

"Justify" is the Greek dikaioo (δικαιόω), from the same root as dikaiosyne (δικαιοσύνη), "righteousness." The verb stands at the centre of the dispute. Most New Testament uses have a judicial setting, and many Catholic scholars agree; so Protestants read it as "declare righteous." The Catholic tradition, following Augustine, who took the Latin iustificare as "make righteous," hears more: when God declares a person just, his word makes it so. Both traditions say that new life follows from, or is included in, being justified.

The Hebrew counterpart is tsadaq (צָדֵק), the language of right standing within a relationship. In the Old Testament "righteousness" is not only moral perfection but faithfulness within the covenant.

Pistis (πίστις) is translated "faith," but it also means trust and faithfulness. Scholars debate whether "faith in Jesus Christ" in Galatians 2:16 might be read "the faithfulness of Jesus Christ." The same verse says "we, too, have believed in Christ Jesus," so on either reading human faith stays in view, and the basis is Christ, not our achievement.

Common objections

"If God justifies freely, will people not conclude that sin does not matter?" Paul raised it himself: "Shall we continue in sin so that grace may increase?" (Rom 6:1). He answers, "Certainly not! How can we who died to sin live in it any longer?" (Rom 6:2). Justification comes in union with Christ, and those united to Christ begin to be made new. That grace is free does not mean it is cheap, for Christ paid the price. It must be admitted that this teaching has sometimes been abused as an excuse for careless living.

"A courtroom declaration is not reality. Calling a person righteous while his heart is unchanged is a legal fiction." This is a strong criticism, especially from the Catholic side. The Protestant answer is that God's word accomplishes what it says, and the person declared righteous is united to Christ, receives the Spirit and begins to be changed. Because Christ bore our sin, this is no fiction but a transaction in which a real price was paid (2 Cor 5:21). The Catholic answer is that God's grace actually produces righteousness in a person, so declaring and changing need not be separated. Both put God's grace first; this essay does not try to settle their exact difference.

Going further

Before it is a technical term, justification is a comfort. Paul says that "there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Rom 8:1). It is the news that today's report card is not the ground on which God accepts me. When conscience accuses me, Christ's righteousness is on my side. This does not make responsibility lighter: those who have received freely begin to live out of gratitude.

You might ask yourself: Do I feel I must be a good person before God will accept me? Which prayer in Jesus' parable is closer to mine? What changes if faith is a hand that receives and not a price I pay?

To read further, see What is grace?, What is faith?, How does a Christian grow holy? and How do Catholics and Protestants differ? Romans 3-5 is a good place to begin.