The Doctrine of Justification In the Christian’s Daily Life
Introduction
The Church of Jesus Christ must always be trumpeting forth the truth of a free justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone for any sinner that will come to Christ. If a clear understanding of the biblical doctrine of justification is lost, then all biblical expectation of eternal salvation is lost. There is no mistaking that whenever a Christian individually or a church corporately loses sight of this truth, they inevitably eclipse the gospel from shining its full beams of radiant light upon the lives of sinners and the activity of the church. That being said, every Christian has an obligation before God to study, understand, believe, and defend this great cardinal truth of the Christian faith. There are four aspects of this doctrine that every Christian, church, and denomination must always pay close attention to for their orthodoxy to remain vibrant, robust, and joyful in the Lord.
Defining the Doctrine of Justification
A biblical definition of justification is essential to a thorough and biblical understanding of the nature of salvation. There are several good definitions of justification, but one of the very best is given in the Westminster Shorter Catechism's question 33 which reads: “Justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein He pardoneth all our sins, and accepteth us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone.”
This statement accurately summarizes the revelation of God’s Holy Word on the subject of justification.(See Ephesians 1:7; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Romans 3:21–25; 5:19; Galatians 2:16; Ephesians 2:8–9.) Every word is carefully selected to guard against many errors and set forth the truth. The authors of this statement are communicating by it that justification is entirely of God’s unmerited and effectual favor bestowed sovereignly upon sinners. The statement notes that justification is grounded entirely upon the person and work of Jesus Christ, and particularly His sinless and perfect fulfillment of the law of God and His complete satisfying of the holy wrath of God by His death on the cross. It highlights that being justified is not only being pardoned forsin, but accepted by God as perfectly or wholly righteous because of the imputed, not infused, righteousness of Christ. One major point of the statement is that this justification is received by sinners simply and completely by the means of faith (i.e., trust or confidence) alone in Christ without any good works contributing whatsoever. Every Christian should undertake the task of memorizing such a concise and accurate statement of justification. Good Christian men and women have died for the freedom to express this glorious truth. May the Church today re-recognize the need for a thorough familiarity with such a definition. Whatever definition you use, it must entirely exclude any contribution of the sinner and clearly state all of these elements of the doctrine or it is critically deficient.
Displaying the Doctrine of Justification
Another aspect of the doctrine of justification that desperately needs to be understood and preached today is the truth that a justifying faith produced by the work of the Holy Spirit is also a sanctifying faith that evidences the work of the Spirit. James 2:17–18 could not be clearer in stating this. “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.” What James is pointing out is that the faith that justifies also sanctifies. He is not contradicting the Holy Spirit’s witness through the Apostle Paul, but is simply stating the reality that although justification is by faith alone, justifying faith is never alone. Good works will always follow and flow from God’s work in a sinner.
The same truth, although in different terms, is expressed by Paul in Ephesians 2:8–9. He notes there that all of salvation is all by grace through faith and not of works lest any man should boast. Paul then makes a striking point in verse ten that, although salvation is not “of works” (v9), it is “unto good works” (v10). From the moment a Christian is converted to Christ the fruits of a justifying faith will be evident even if they are of a small nature. A truly amazing aspect of the gospel is the justice of God in continually sanctifying those whom He has justified because they are in covenant with God through Christ. God will sustain His work of progressive sanctification from beginning to end. Psalm 92:13–15 states: “Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing; To shew that the LORD is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.”
Delighting In the Doctrine of Justification
Justification is not merely something to assent to and keep in our creeds. It is the doctrinal jugular vein of the Church of Jesus Christ. If a believer is cut there, the joy of the gospel will be bleed out very quickly. The heart and soul of the Christian’s joy is a thorough grasp of the doctrine of justification in daily life. This is why this truth must be constantly preached from the pulpit. From the moment a believer wakes up, he is bombarded by the world, the flesh, and the devil. It is the gospel that strengthens and enables the believer to face the challenges of living in a fallen world. Though Christians are at war with the world, they have peace with God (Romans 5:1). Although the believer is engaged in constant battle with sin and temptation, Christ has won the war on the believer’s behalf (Romans 7:24–25), and they are now accepted with God in the Beloved. The Christian faces the ugliness of his sin every day, but Christ, based on the reality of justification, speaks to His bride, the Church, and tells her in Song of Solomon 4:7, “Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee.” This text corresponds well to Paul’s words in Ephesians 5:25–26.
Though Satan comes with the most severe and vehement accusations of sin and lies about the believer’s condition in Christ, the believer can overcome him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of the testimony of the gospel (Revelation 12:10–11, 17). Every Christian must learn to believe and say with the hymn writer, regarding Satan’s accusations of sin, “What tho' the accuser roar of ills that I have done; I know them well, and thousands more; Jehovah findeth none.”
May every believer begin every day in the joy of the imputed righteousness of Christ. There is no greater joy than the continual forgiveness of sins that God justly bestows upon every Christian every day for Christ’s sake (Psalm 32:1; 1 John 1:7–9; Psalm 19:12). Proper daily meditation on this doctrine will produce humility in the believer’s interaction with others, joy in their daily walk with God, confidence in prayer, and a proper focus when presenting the gospel to lost sinners.
Defending the Doctrine of Justification
Justification must not only be thoroughly understood and enjoyed by the Church, but must also be steadfastly defended against all attempts to alter or pervert the Bible’s teaching on the subject. An alteration to justification is an adulteration of the gospel and results in an abomination before God. The Holy Spirit does not hold back on the seriousness of this issue when He writes through Paul in Galatians 1:8, “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” A free justification based on the imputed righteousness of Christ apart from the works of the law is the central issue that Paul is addressing in Galatians.
Justification is a fundamental tenet of the gospel. There are many angles by which Satan may attack this doctrine. Attacks on the person of Jesus Christ (i.e., His true humanity and divinity), His sinless life, and His work on the cross (i.e., the nature of the atonement) are all areas that have a significant bearing on the nature of justification. Therefore, deviation from the biblical truth in any of these areas results in inevitable consequences for the doctrine of justification. Any who seek to attack the historicity and historical accuracy of the Bible, particularly concerning a six-day creation and the entrance of sin into the world, is also going to damage the doctrine of justification (Romans 5:12). Any teaching that ever combines justification and sanctification in a way that makes justification dependent on sanctification must be vehemently opposed as dangerous and heretical. The Westminster Larger Catechism makes a careful point about this distinction between justification and sanctification in question 77: “Although sanctification be inseparably joined with justification, yet they differ, in that God in justification imputeth the righteousness of Christ; in sanctification His Spirit infuseth grace, and enableth to the exercise thereof; in the former, sin is pardoned; in the other, it is subdued: the one doth equally free all believers from the revenging wrath of God, and that perfectly in this life, that they never fall into condemnation; the other is neither equal in all, nor in this life perfect in any, but growing up to perfection.” If God’s people know the truth then they will, in most cases, be able to spot the error. Error abounds, but truth will always cut through error.
Conclusion
The doctrine of Justification by faith alone in Christ alone is to be defined, displayed, delighted in, and defended by God’s people in all ages. May the Lord give every believer grace to fight the good fight of faith and persevere through their pilgrimage in this wilderness of a world by trusting in the promise of pardon from sin and acceptance with God through Jesus Christ alone. May God give grace to the FPCNA to lead the way in biblical fidelity and lively zeal for this great doctrine of the Christian faith that sets it apart from every false religion.
