Justification

Galatians 2:16

Today I will address a very important subject or doctrine of the Christian faith: Justification. I will first define Justification or answer the question What Is Justification? The first point then will be The Meaning Of Justification. Then we will look at the second point which will attempt to answer the question how is a sinner justified or The Means of Justification, then finally we will look at why justification or The Merit of Justification.

If I am not wrong, majority of us in this service this morning have been raised in Christian homes or have some Christian upbringing. We may have been attending church all our lives. And we must not take this for granted at all. It’s God’s providence by which we have been guided into the faith. We must be grateful to God for those of us who grew up in Christian homes or Christian environment. We have a clear biblical example of someone who grew up under the influence of Christian parents and grew into the faith.

I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well (2 Timothy 1:5).

This text presents us with the strong influence parents have on their children’s salvation. And for you children here. Listen to me. Know that your parents who are Christians and raising you in the Christian way are obeying God’s command to teach you matters of the faith and we hope when you grow up, you will not depart from the faith. Let me show you how your parents are obeying God’s command by raising you in a Christian home.

Children your parents love you, that’s why we are raising you as Christians hoping you will indeed come to faith in the Lord. It is for your own good. Love the Lord, believe in Jesus, receive Christ as your Lord and Saviour. Be reconciled to God. You may be wondering if my sermon is to only children today. Don’t worry, I am building a point.

Now if you look at the picture I painted about many of us growing up in Christian homes, there is a connection I want to make to the text we read. Paul describing the state of Jews in his confrontation of Peter, says that “We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners” (v.15). This verse paints a picture of a moral people. Paul does a comparison between Jews and Gentiles. He sees that they are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners. In other words, as Jews, we are not worse as Gentiles. There is a moral comparison going on here. The Jews, by their natural descent were those who were custodians of God’s law. They were those who followed God’s law strictly and even added to it.

Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God (Romans 3:2).

So the Jews, in comparison with Gentiles or non-Jews are morally fine, a religious people, natural descendants of Abraham and are to be in many ways considered moral than Gentiles. But look at what Paul does: “yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law” (Galatians 2:16)

Both Jews and Gentiles will all have to be justified by faith and not works. Simply, a moral person and an immoral person will also be justified by faith not by their works. In other words, we can grow up in a Christian home and still not be saved. Our morality will not justify us before God. We will not be justified before God because of our Christian Parents. A moral unsaved person is no different from an immoral unsaved person in the scheme of things in salvation.

The Meaning Of Justification

Throughout this series, up to where we are now, you may have been consistently hearing me saying things like “we are not justified by the law”, “we are not justified by good works,” good works cannot justify us.” It is so because, Justification is the motif of the book of Galatians. The single thread that weaves the whole of Galatians together is justification. Look at the verse we read and the number of times the word justified is used:

(i) Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law

(ii) so we also believed in Christ in order to be justified

(iii) Because by works of the law no one will be justified.

Look at 3:8 also, the word justify is there: And the Scripture, foreseeing that God will justify the Gentiles by faith…” Look at 3:11 also: Now it is evident that that no one is justified before God by the law.” Again look at Chapter 5:4: You are severed from Christ you who would be justified by the law, you have fallen from grace”

Six times, the word Justify/Justified is used. This word must be important. And indeed it is important. It is important because the word justification is the heart of the gospel. When we get Justification wrong, we have gotten the gospel wrong. When we get Justification right, we have got all of Christianity right. For this matter of Justification is life and death. Listen to Martin Luther, the 16th Century Reformer who God used mightily to spark the Protestant Reformation. Luther says:

On the question of Justification we must remain adamant, or else we shall lose the truth of the Gospel. It is a matter of life and death. It involves the death of the Son of God, who died for the sins of the world. 1

Dear friends, the doctrine of Justification points to how sinners are made right with God. Without it, that is Justification, no one can be right with God. So the question is, What is Justification.

Justification is a judicial act of God pardoning sinners (wicked and ungodly persons, Rom. 4:5; 3:9-24), accepting them as just, and so putting permanently right their previously estranged relationship with himself. This justifying sentence is God’s gift of righteousness (Rom. 5:15-17), his bestowal of a status of acceptance for Jesus’ sake (2 Cor. 5:21)

–J.I. Packer 

Generally, this definition means Justification is the acceptance of sinners by God.

Now to our next point:

The Means Of Justification

When we are talking about Justification, we don’t only have to know the meaning of Justification. We also have to know how sinners are justified. Now there are only two ways we can consider this. Justification is either by the law or by faith. Only one of the two is correct: Law or faith. And the Scriptures has made the distinction clearly:

Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified (v.16).

Per the definition of Justification earlier on, this simply means, by the law, no person—whoever they are will be accepted in the sight of God by keeping the law or any moral code. Any good works we do cannot make us accepted before God. The law is weak to make us accepted by God.

The law has no right to tell me that I must be justified by it. The law has the right to tell me that I should love God and my neighbour, that I should live in chastity, temperance, patience, etc. The law has no right to tell me how I may be delivered from sin, death, and hell. It is the Gospel’s business to tell me that. I must listen to the Gospel. It me, not what I must do, but what Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has done for me (Martin Luther commentary on Galatians)

The means of Justification if it is not by the law, then as we have seen clearly in the text, it’s by faith (Galatians 2:16)

Faith is trust in the work of Christ on behalf of sinners. For a sinner to be accepted before God, they have to believe and accept that Christ died for their sins. Christ gave himself for our sins (Read Galatians 1:4; 2:20). There’s no way you and I will find justification and acceptance before God but only through faith in Christ. Anything outside of faith in Christ will justify no one. Last week I indicated there are about 600 laws in OT alone and if we will be justified by law, we have to keep every single one of them. Breaking just one, jeopardises everything.

The evidence is before us. None of us can keep the law to be saved. None of us can be so good to merit salvation. Sinners must believe in Jesus to be saved

The Merits of Justification

What are the benefits or merits of Justification? When I defined Justification from J.I. Packer, there are some things we can look at which will point us to The Merits of Justification.

Justification is a judicial act of God pardoning sinners (wicked and ungodly persons, Rom. 4:5; 3:9-24), accepting them as just, and so putting permanently right their previously estranged relationship with himself. This justifying sentence is God’s gift of righteousness (Rom. 5:15-17), his bestowal of a status of acceptance for Jesus’ sake (2 Cor. 5:21) (J.I. Packer)

Pardon of Sin.

In the definition, Parker spoke of Justification as “a judicial act of God pardoning sinners” This means it is legal in nature. It’s a legal proclamation of a sinner as righteous before the court or judgement seat of God. In God’s court, to be justified is to be declared not guilty. So anyone who has put their faith in Christ has been forgiven of their sins.

In legal language, they have been acquitted or discharged of any wrongdoing. Brothers and sisters. This is the first merit of our justification. We are declared free of any sins. All our sins was imputed to Christ on the cross and his righteousness imputed to us. In Christ’s death, we died to sin and live together with him in righteousness:

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20).

We live in a world of sin and in a body of sin. Truly we are saved from sin yet we still struggle with sin in this body.  But the fact is that we have been forgiven of all our sins in the past: We have been justified. We are forgiven of all our sins in the present and shall be forgiven of all our sins for the future. This is the truth of the gospel. Before God, there is no sin against us. Our sins have been counted to Christ and we look to him alone for our justification.

Reconciliation

In Justification, we have been reconciled to God. We who once were enemies of this holy God have now been reconciled to him. Ephesians 2 says we were once without God and hope in this world. But now you and I have been justified, accepted and adopted into God’s family as his children. We have peace with God. We have moved from a condemned people to justified people. Enemies now we are friends with God. What a privilege and an honour.

Passed From Judgement Into Life

A status of acceptance. All our sins have been transferred to Christ. Standing justified before God, we are no more condemned to eternal damnation. We have passed on from death to life. From condemnation to acceptance. From eternal judgement to eternal life. All these is done for us in Christ

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