To be “justified” means to be right with God. Justified people have “peace with God” (Rom 5:1).
The controversy in Paul’s day
That controversy was about how Gentiles are justified. Some Jewish Christians maintained that Christians are justified “by the works of the Law” (Gal 2:16; 5:4). This means to be put right with God through the rituals of the Law of Moses, irrespective of whether you are a changed person.
Paul opposed this view and said that God justifies sinners “through faith” (Gal 2:16). To have faith means to be a changed person; one that trusts God to have mercy.
The Forensic View of Justification
We agree today that sinners are justified by grace through faith but we disagree about what that means. For some, the word “justified” implies some kind of legal process in the courtroom of heaven in which a person is put right with God irrespective of whether he or she is a changed person. In this regard, this view is similar to the Jewish view of 2000 years ago. The following are objections to this view:
Firstly, “justification” is one of several metaphors of salvation and must not be interpreted literally.
Secondly, the Imputation of Righteousness is just one of several Theories of the Atonement and not necessarily the right one.
Thirdly, in the Bible, to be justified means to be a changed person. For example:
- “The doers of the Law will be justified” (Rom 2:13).
- People are “justified by faith” (e.g., Gal 3:24).
A justified person, therefore, is a new creation (Gal 6:15) with “faith working through love” (Gal 5:6).
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To be “justified” means to be right with God.
Strong’s concordance defines the Greek word, which is translated as “justified,” as:
‘To show or regard as just or innocent’.
“Justified,” therefore, means that sinners are accepted and regarded by God as just. Justified people are described as:
“Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise” (Gal 3:29; cf. 3:7, 9, 14; 4:7),
“Sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:26; cf. 4:5), and as
Having “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 5:1).
The Controversy on Paul’s Day
The Jews thought that people are put right with God through the rituals of the Law.
The great controversy in Paul’s day was about how Gentiles are justified. This controversy is particularly described in the letter to the Galatians. In it, Paul uses the words “justified” and “justify” several times (e.g., Gal 2:16-17, 3:8, 11, 24, and 5:4).
The Galatians were trying to be “perfected by the flesh” (Gal 3:3), meaning to work for salvation in your own power. More specifically, some Jewish Christians maintained that Christians are justified “by the works of the Law” (Gal 2:16; 5:4). This does not mean to try to be good. It means to be put right with God through the rituals and ceremonies of the Law of Moses, irrespective of what kind of person you are. Circumcision was the first of such rituals because it was the door to Judaism.
Paul opposed this view and said that God justifies sinners “through faith” (Gal 2:16)
To have faith means to be a changed person. The word “faith” can also be understood as “trust.” To be justified by grace through faith is to trust God for what He can and will do for you, as opposed to trusting in what you can do for yourself through the “works of the Law:”
“God … will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith” (Rom 3:30).
“God would justify the Gentiles by faith” (Gal 3:8).
Paul taught a different law and a different means of justification.
The article – By Grace through Faith – discusses the Galatian controversy in more detail. In contrast to some Jewish Christians who were adamant that man is “justified by the works of the Law” (of Moses), Paul taught:
- A different law (the Law of Christ) and
- A different means of justification (by grace through faith).
The Forensic View of Justification
In the Forensic View, justification is a technical legal process.
We agree today that sinners are justified by grace through faith but we disagree about what that means.
For some, the word “justified” implies some kind of legal process in the courtrooms of heaven. Therefore, they use such legal undertones to explain how people are put right with God. They explain “justification’ as a technical legal process whereby Christ’s righteousness is imputed to believers. In this way, a person is put right with God irrespective of whether he or she is a changed person.
In this view, God has no option but the punish sin. However, Christ took our punishment so that we do not have to be punished.
This view is similar to the Jewish view of 2000 years ago because in both the person is ‘justified’ without being changed.
But “justification” is one of several metaphors and must not be interpreted literally.
One objection to the Forensic View is that “justified” is only one of several different Metaphors of Salvation that Paul used to describe how sinners are put right with God. For example, another vital metaphor explains justification as reconciliation:
“Were reconciled to God through the death of His Son” (Rom 5:10; cf. 2 Cor 5:18, 20; Col. 1:20, 22).
Paul drew these metaphors from different spheres of human experience. While the term “justified” may be used in a courtroom setting, Paul derived other metaphors from other parts of human life:
- “Ransomed” implies that the sinner was held hostage.
- “Redeemed” emphasizes our guilt before God.
- “Reconciled” suggests that the sinner was estranged from God.
- “Propitiation” implies that God was angry with the sinner.
- Adopted as “sons of God” (Gal 3:26; 4:5-7) is a metaphor from human relations.
These metaphors are different ways of saying the same thing and we should not interpret them literally. Nor should we emphasize “justify” over the other metaphors. See the article Metaphors of Salvation for a discussion of these metaphors.
And Imputation of Righteousness is just one of several Theories of the Atonement.
A second objection to the forensic view is that several atonement theories have been proposed over the centuries. The idea that people are justified by imputing Jesus’ righteousness to them is only one of such theories and not necessarily the right one. The article Atonement Theories provides an overview of these theories and also suggests further arguments against the forensic view. See the articles:
for the explanation of atonement which, in my view, best fits the data from the Bible.
A Changed Person
In the Bible, to be justified means to be a changed person.
People with faith are justified.
Firstly, Paul said that nobody will be justified by the works of the Law but that people are “justified by faith” (e.g., Gal 2:16; 3:11, 24). Faith is not a legal technicality. Faith means that the person trusts God. Paul, therefore, did not think of justification as a legal process, irrespective of whether it is a changed person.
Doers are justified.
Secondly, Paul taught that “the doers of the Law will be justified” (Rom 2:13). This also does NOT mean that a person is “justified” on some technical legal basis. It means that God judges people by their deeds.
Man does not justify himself. God justifies people through His Spirit.
Thirdly, Paul added that justification is something that God does: “God would justify the Gentiles by faith” (Gal 3:8). Justification, therefore, is not some legal technicality that justifies us before God. It is not something that I do myself or that Christ did to justify us before God. Rather, God Himself justifies people by changing them through His Spirit:
“God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts” (Gal 4:6). The Spirit is a power that is able to change us:
“Walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh” (Gal 5:16).
“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness …” (Gal 5:22-23).
“The one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life” (Gal 6:6).
Conclusion – A justified person is a new creation
If “justified” meant that our sins are forgiven through some legal technicality, God will be populating heaven with pardoned criminals. But to be justified means to be changed. It means to be “a new creation” (Gal 6:15) with “faith working through love” (Gal 5:6).
A False Picture of God
The Forensic view presents a false picture of God.
Many theologians today still describe salvation as a legal process. They no longer propose that people are justified by the rituals of the Law of Moses. They now say that God demands that somebody had to suffer for our sins, and Christ suffered in our place. That theology presents God as an arbitrary tyrant. That view is inconsistent with the Bible. God does not need some legal technicality to save people:
Christ “gave Himself for our sins … according to the will of our God and father” (Gal 1:4).
Or, stated even stronger, “God sent forth His Son” (4:4).
Christ’s death, therefore, did not make the Father willing to forgive or to be gracious. People who think that God needs a technical legal process to forgive people do not really worship the God of the Bible: They worship something created in their own image.
- “Justified” means to be right with God.
- Justification is not a legal process: A justified person is a “new creation.”
Listen to Graham Maxwell, a well-known preacher, as he explains, from the letter to the Galatians, his view of the Atonement and of Justification.