What Is Justifying Faith

Romans 4:5 – And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness…

We hear theologians, pastors, and Christians talk a lot about justification. We are justified in Christ. But what does that mean? What is justification? What is this concept that Wilhelmus A Brakel says “is the soul of all Christianity and the fountainhead of all true comfort and sanctification” (Wilhelmus A Brakel, The Christians Reasonable Service:2, 341)? Gordon Reed states, “deals with the most basic issue of life” (Gordon K. Reed, Westminster Daily Devotional, April 8)?

As been my position concerning most subjects like this, an excellent place to begin is The Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms, where we can find much good teaching by God’s grace. It would be too much to quote all three in this essay, so we’ll focus on WCF Larger Catechism questions seventy through seventy-three.

Question 70 asks and answers: “What is justification? Justification is an act of God’s free grace unto sinners (Rom. 3:22,24-25; 4:5), in which he pardoneth all their sins, accepteth and accounteth their persons righteous in his sight (Jer. 23:6; Rom. 3:27-28; 4:6-8; 2 Cor. 5:19-21); not for anything wrought in them, or done by them (Eph. 1:7; Tit. 3:5-7), but only for the perfect obedience and full satisfaction of Christ, by God imputed to them (Rom. 4:11), and received by faith alone (Acts 10:43; Gal. 2:16; Phil. 3:9).”

Here, the Westminster divines explain what it means to be right with God. Justification has to do with the forgiveness of sins, a proper status, and a relationship with the Lord. The Bible clarifies that justification is based on God’s sovereign grace. We are justified because God is God, and because He is good, it is His good pleasure to treat the elect as if they have never sinned. In justification, God declares the unjust to be just. He pronounces the guilty to be not guilty in His holy sight (Reed). Again, Brakel explains, “[Justification] always pertains to the act of a judge and is the antonyms of ‘to condemn’” (Brakel, 344).

Question 71 asks and answers: “How is justification an act of God’s free grace? Although Christ, by his obedience and death, did make a proper, real, and full satisfaction to God’s justice in the behalf of them that are justified (Rom. 5:8-10,19); yet inasmuch as God accepteth the satisfaction from a surety, which he might have demanded of them, and did provide this surety, his own only Son (Isa. 53:4-6,10-12; Dan. 9:24-26; Matt. 20:28; Rom. 8:32; Heb. 7:22, 10:10; 1 Tim. 2:5-6; 1 Pet. 1:18-19), imputing his righteousness to them (Rom. 4:6-11; 2 Cor. 5:21), and requiring nothing of them for their justification but faith (Rom. 3:24-25), which also is his gift (Eph. 2:8), their justification is to them of free grace (Eph 1:7).”

Here is the heart of the Gospel. God sent His only Son into the world (Phil. 2:1-11) to live a perfectly obedient life. He ultimately did this keeping the full letter and spirit of the law down to the smallest of strokes. Then at the end of His perfect life, although He never sinned, was spotless and blameless, sacrificed Himself as the Lamb of God as a sin offering. Thus, by His sinless life, Christ imputes to us the merits of His obedience, and by His death, covers all of our sins with His blood. Morton Smith puts it this way, “From all this, we conclude that the ground of justification lies not in us, but lies in the righteousness wrought in our behalf by Christ. It is this righteousness which is imputed to the sinner, that is, reckoned to our account. It is this imputation of Christ’s work to the sinner that constitutes a new relation of the sinner to the Law of God, and becomes the basis for the declarative act of God in justification of the sinner” (Morton Smith, Systematic Theology:2, 458 – emphasis mine).

Question 72 asks and answers: “What is justifying faith? Justifying faith is a saving grace (Heb. 10:39), wrought in the heart of a sinner by the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:3; 2 Cor. 4;13; Eph. 1:17-19; 1 Pet. 1:2) and Word of God (Rom. 10:14-17; 1 Cor. 1:21), whereby he, being convinced of his sin and misery, and of the disability in himself and all other creatures to recover him out of his lost condition (John 16:8-9; Acts 2:37,4:12,16:30; Rom. 6:6; Eph. 2:1), not only assenteth to the truth of the promise of the gospel (Eph. 1:13; Heb. 11:13), but receiveth and resteth upon Christ and his righteousness, therein held forth, for pardon of sin (Zach. 3:8-9; John 1:12; Acts 10:43, 16:31), and for the accepting and accounting of his person righteous in the sight of God for salvation (Acts 15:11; Phil 3:9).”

In justification, God pronounces the guilty to not be guilty in His holy sight. The problem with most people is they deem this biblical doctrine too good to be true. Therefore, God, in His mercy, provides the grace to believe, to have faith. It is by faith that a person’s soul is set free from the bondage of earning salvation from God, of seeking to be justified by one’s own good works. Louis Berkhof says, “Faith can be regarded as the instrument of God in a twofold sense. It is the gift of God wrought in the sinner unto justification. Moreover, by working faith in the sinner, God carries the declaration of pardon into his heart and conscience” (Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, 444 – emphasis mine).

Finally, question 73 asks and answers: “How doth faith justify a sinner in the sight of God? Faith justifies a sinner in the sight of God, not because of those other graces which do always accompany it, or of good works that are the fruits of it (Rom. 3:28; Gal. 3:11), nor as if the grace of faith, or any act thereof, were imputed to him for his justification (Rom. 4:5,10:10); but only as it is an instrument by which he receiveth and applieth Christ and his righteousness (John 1:12; Gal. 2:16; Phil. 3:9).”

It is essential to understand that grace not only precedes good works but is the fountainhead from which they flow. We have learned that it is by grace we are brought into union with Christ. We are declared righteous before God because of His perfect life and self-sacrifice. Additionally, it is by God’s grace that we begin to do His works. They are not perfect works like He did. But Christ’s work for our justification assures that one day we will be fully conformed to His image. Charles Hodge’s apologetic against the Remonstrant view states this, “Faith is the condition on which God promises in the covenant of redemption, to impute unto men the righteousness of Christ. As soon, therefore, as they believe, they cannot be condemned. They are clothed with a righteousness which answers all the demands of justice” (Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology: 3, 105).

The Standards of Doctrine of the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors has a succinct summary that I think is a helpful conclusion: “Justification is the sovereign declaration of God that the righteousness of Jesus Christ has been imputed to those who have trusted in his sinless obedience and his substitutionary atonement on the cross for their salvation. When God justifies a person, he no longer treats him as a sinner but reckons him to possess that righteousness which Jesus Christ earned on his behalf. The declaration of justification does not come through any past, present, or future merit in the sinner. Justification is based exclusively on the merits of Jesus Christ and is received through faith alone” (Appendix C of Heath Lambert’s, A Theology of Biblical Counseling, 333).