We Don’t Have to Justify Being Justified

Years ago, a spiritual mentor offered me sound advice for reading and understanding the Bible. “Always keep in mind that it says what it means – and means what it says.” He also advised, “When you read a passage, if the first sense makes good sense, don’t look for any other sense. 

That counsel has served me well over the years. Having read through the Scriptures numerous times, I’ve concluded if God could create the vast, wonderful universe, and could design our minds and bodies in such incredible ways, He’s certainly capable of compiling a book for clearly teaching us how we’re to live our lives and enjoy a growing relationship with Him.

 

This doesn’t mean that all the principles and truths we find in the Bible are simple or easy to grasp. More than 40 years into my walk of faith, there still are times when I read a passage and wonder, ‘Now what did the Lord mean by that?’

 

Case in point: the words “justified” and “justification.” These are terms frequently discussed and debated by theologians and in seminaries. They’re central to Christian doctrine, yet we often gloss over them without a full appreciation of their magnitude.

 

Years ago, I was mentoring a man who had recently committed his life to Jesus Christ. He had a doctorate in chemistry, and each week this very intelligent man would raise some challenging questions. One of them arose as we read Romans 5:1, which says, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

“What does ‘justified’ mean?” he asked, not trying to be sarcastic. He said as a chemist he often would have to justify conclusions based on data he had collected. In another sense, he noted sometimes he would try justifying things he did or said to his wife. “Is that what this verse is talking about?” he inquired.

 

One of the perplexities of the English language is a single word can have multiple meanings. We can say a scientific or mathematical conclusion is ‘justified’ by data. And in attempting to explain actions by giving a rationale for them, one might assert what he’s done is ‘justified.’

 

But in this case, “justified” carries a legal connotation. It comes from the Greek word for “righteous,” and means “to declare righteous,” a legal verdict. Used in the context of Romans 5:1 and other Scripture passages, it means being pardoned from the guilt and penalty of sin, and having Christ’s righteousness credited to our account.

 

There’s another sense of the word ‘justified’ that I’m especially familiar with, having spent my entire career working on newspapers, magazines and books. It’s a printing term: Type is considered “justified” if it’s perfectly aligned on both the left and right sides of the column. Type is presented that way in most books of the Bible, with both sides lined up perfectly all the way down the page.

 

Applying this to Romans 5:1, it means that by faith in what Jesus has done on our behalf – taking on the penalty for our sins on the cross – we are eternally “justified,” put in perfect alignment with God the Father. This relationship is based solely on Jesus’ sacrifice for us.

 

As the apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” Jesus ‘became sin for us’ that we might become the righteousness of God. Looking at our lives from day to day, even moment by moment, we’re inclined to say, “That’s impossible. How could Jesus take on the penalty for every sin I’ve ever done?”

 

We can accept this only through faith – which is what trusting in Christ, striving to walk with Him and serve Him every day, is all about. There will be a day of judgment for each of us. But having been justified by faith, we won’t need to defend or rationalize our sins – the wrong things we’ve done, the wrong things we’ve said, or the wrong things we thought. We’ll be acquitted – by words as simple as, “Jesus Christ is my Savior and Lord. By His mercy and grace, my sins are forgiven and I’m a child of God.”

 

According to the Bible, we’re ‘justified’ in believing and saying that! “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved” (Romans 10:9-10). 

 

Romans 4:2-8 puts it this way: “If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about – but not before God. What does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness’…. ‘Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.’” 

 

If this understanding of being “justified” seems too good to be true, remember what my spiritual mentor taught me: The Scriptures say what they mean and mean what they say. Every follower of Jesus Christ has the assurance of being put into right relationship with God solely because of what He has done for us. In God’s sight this makes sense – so don’t look for any other sense.