Justification is God's gracious and full acquittal of sinners, who believe in Christ, from all sin, through the satisfaction that Christ has made; not for anything wrought in them or done by them; but on account of the obedience and satisfaction of Christ, they receiving and resting on Him and His righteousness by faith alone.

The Westminster Longer Catechism Question 70 asks,

What is justification? Answer: Justification is an act of God's free grace unto sinners, in which he pardoneth all their sins, accepteth and accounteth their persons righteous in his sight; not for any thing wrought in them, or done by them, but only for the perfect obedience and full satisfaction of Christ, by God imputed to them, and received by faith alone.

WLC 71 How is justification an act of God's free grace?

Answer: 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, yet in as much as God accepteth the satisfaction from a surety, which he might have demanded of them and did provide this surety, his own only Son, imputing his righteousness to them, and requiring nothing of them for their justification but faith, which also is his gift, their justification is to them of free grace.

Some Quotes from Martin Luther

"Justification by faith alone is the article of the standing or falling Church."

"This doctrine [justification by faith alone] is the head and the cornerstone. It alone begets, nourishes, builds, preserves, and defends the church of God; and without it the church of God cannot exist for one hour. For no one who does not hold this article or, to use Paul's expression, this 'sound doctrine' (Titus 2:1) is able to teach aright in the church or successfully to resist any adversary . . . this is the heel of the Seed that opposes the old serpent and crushes its head. That is why Satan, in turn, cannot but persecute it."

"Whoever departs from the article of justification does not know God and is an idolater . . . For when this article has been taken away, nothing remains but error, hypocrisy, godlessness, and idolatry, although it may seem to be the height of truth, worship of God, holiness, etc. . . If the article of justification is lost, all Christian doctrine is lost at the same time."

"When the article of justification has fallen, everything has fallen. Therefore it is necessary constantly to inculcate and impress it, as Moses says of his Law (Deut. 6:7); for it cannot be inculcated and urged enough or too much. Indeed, even though we learn it well and hold to it, yet there is no one who apprehends it perfectly or believes it with a full affection and heart. So very trickish is our flesh, fighting as it does against the obedience of the spirit."

The Protestant Reformers Clearly Saw...

1. That saving faith is to be directed to the doing and dying of Christ alone and not to the good works or inner experience of the believer.

2. That the Christian's righteousness before God is in Heaven at the right hand of God in Jesus Christ and not on Earth within the believer.

3. That the ground of our justification is the vicarious work of Christ for us and not the gracious work of the Spirit in us.

4. That the faith righteousness of justification is not personal but vicarious, not infused but imputed, not experiential but judicial, not psychological but legal, not our own but alien to us, and not earned but graciously given through faith in Jesus Christ, which faith is itself a gift of grace.

- Robert L. Reymond

"Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness." Romans 4:4-5

"Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:" Romans 5:1

[we]"...are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood... He did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus." Romans 3:25,26

"For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law." Romans 3:28

"Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men." Rom 5:18

"... through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses." Acts 13:38

"those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified." Rom 8:30

"knowing that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified." Galatians 2:16

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Justification: What God Requires, Christ Provides

1. The seriousness of our lost condition shows us that we need a righteousness that only God can provide.

2. The righteousness that sinners need must be the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ, the righteousness of both His sacrificial suffering (passive obedience) and His perfect life (active obedience).

3. The work of Christ is meritorious for us in the sight of God. As the Heidelberg Catechism declares, Question and Answer 21: "everlasting righteousness and salvation are freely given by God, merely of grace, only for the sake of Christ's merit."

4. The righteousness of Christ is reckoned or imputed to sinners, not infused or worked in them, for their justification. Belgic Confession Article 22 states: "Jesus Christ, imputing to us all His merits, and so many holy works which He has done for us and in our stead, is our righteousness."

Westminster Confession of Faith

11,1: "Those whom God effectually calleth, He also freely justifieth: not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous; not for any thing wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ's sake alone by imputing the obedience and satisfaction of Christ unto them."

5. Faith and faith alone is the instrument that looks away from self to Jesus Christ and receives the imputation of His perfect righteousness.

6. Justification and sanctification are present together in the redeemed, but are clearly distinct from one another.

Westminster Larger Catechism

Q and A 77: "Wherein do justification and sanctification differ? 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."

7. There is a definite and vital distinction between justification and sanctification. In justification, "sin is pardoned;" in sanctification, "it is subdued." Justification "doth equally free all believers from the revenging wrath of God, and that perfectly in this life, that they never fall into condemnation;" sanctification "is neither equal in all, nor in this life perfect in any, but growing up to perfection."

8. Sanctification is a work of God's renewing grace by which Christians become more holy over the course of their lives while still confronting real sin in their lives - making it impossible for even our best works to stand in the face of perfect judgment.

Westminster Shorter Catechism

Q and A 35: "Sanctification is the work of God's free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness."

9. Justification occurs when one comes to true faith, giving peace of conscience and assurance of eternal life in the present.

10. God's final judgment is not the justification of His own, but their vindication and perfection. Justification is the possession of all true believers now in this life. "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." (Rom. 5:1)

Justification by faith alone, is really theological shorthand for justification by Christ alone, who through Grace alone, gives us the present reality of peace with God. This peace or shalom with God is not a temporary ceasefire in the hostility. It is not something that could be unsettled by either an international or even a cosmic "incident." No, the two parties who were at war, God and men, are brought together through Christ's mediatorial work on the cross, establishing not merely the end of conflict; not merely a toleration of one another, but a full and complete reconciliation, and an abiding, permanent, and everlasting peace.

Romans 5:8-11

8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.

10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

11 And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

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Sola Fide - Faith Alone

"Sola Fide," the Latin words for "Faith Alone" was one of the battle cries of the Protestant Reformation.

Question: What is by "faith alone?"

Answer: justification was by faith alone - not by any human work or merit - only the work of merit of Christ Himself.

Justification is a legal word - a word from the courtroom. It is the legal act whereby God declares the sinner to be innocent of his or her sins. It is not that the sinner is now sinless, but that he is "declared" sinless - not guilty, reckoned righteous, made the righteousness of God in Christ. This declaration of righteousness is being justified before God.

We can begin to grasp this amazing message by asking and answering these questions:

Did Jesus ever commit sin?

The answer is a resounding, "no."

Did we ever commit righteousness?

No, the best works we could do is as filthy rags before God. All who would approach God must come with pure and spotless garments, whcih speak of a righteousness worthy of such an audience. Many would understand that our sins are like filthy rags to God, but Scripture goes much further to say that the very best human action we can do is still tainted by sin, and in reality, in comparison with the absolute holiness of God, is filthy in God's sight. And remember, this is the best that man can produce.

Romans 3:9-12 declares "...we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; as it is written, "THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE."

Isaiah 64:6 "For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment."

On the cross, Jesus bore our punishment, as the Father's full wrath for our sin was meted out on Him. He was the substitute Lamb who took away our sins. Our sins were imputed to Him; yet, in exchange, the very righteousness of Christ is imputed or transferred to us. This can only be described as amazing Grace.

2 Corinthians 5:21 says, "He (God) made Him (Jesus) who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him."

Charles Hodge commented on this verse: "There is probably no passage in the Scriptures in which the doctrine of justification is more concisely or clearly stated than [this]. Our sins were imputed to Christ, and His righteousness is imputed to us. He bore our sins; we are clothed in His righteousness... Christ bearing our sins did not make Him morally a sinner... nor does Christ's righteousness become subjectively ours, it is not the moral quality of our souls... Our sins were the judicial ground of the sufferings of Christ, so that they were a satisfaction of justice; and his righteousness is the judicial ground of our acceptance with God.... "our pardon is an act of justice" - an act based on Jesus having borne our sins (see 1 Pet. 2:24) and yet it "is not mere pardon, but justification alone" -- that is, our forevermore standing as righteous before God because we are clothed with Christ's perfection - "that gives us peace with God."

Dr John Piper expressed the issue well when he said, "Justification cannot come through the law (see Gal. 2:21; Acts 13:38-39). Each of us - every single human being (see Rom. 3:10-12, 19-20) has failed to do what God's law requires of us (Gal. 3:10; 6:13; cf. James 2:10).

But to understand what God requires, we must see what Christ provides. In his mercy, God has provided his Son as a twofold substitute for us. Both facets of Christ's substitution are crucial for our becoming right with God. These facets are grounded in the twin facts that :

(1) we have failed to keep God's law perfectly, and so we should die; but

(2) Jesus did not fail -- he alone has kept God's law perfectly (see Heb. 4:15) and so he should not have died.

Yet in his mercy God has provided in Christ a great substitution - a "blessed exchange" according to which Jesus can stand in for us with God, offering His perfect righteousness in place of our failure and His own life's blood in place of ours. When we receive the mercy God offers us in Christ by faith (see Acts 16:31; 1 Tim. 1:15-16; 1 Pet. 1:8-9), his perfection is imputed -- or credited or reckoned -- to us and our sinful failure is imputed -- or credited or reckoned -- to him. And thus Jesus' undeserved death pays for our sin (see Mark 10:45; 1 Tim. 2:5-6; Rev. 5:9); and God's demand for us to be perfectly righteous is satisfied by the imputation or crediting of Christ's perfect righteousness to us. "If justification were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose" (Gal. 2:21). But "God has done what the law ... could not do" (Rom. 8:3)."

An Objection

An objection to all this has been raised by some, saying "we are not saved by believing in justification by faith alone, we are saved by believing in Jesus."

I don't personally know of anyone who confuses justification by faith alone with Jesus, so I'm not sure what is gained by making this assertion. So justification by faith alone is not the same as the Savior. Well of course! Absolutely! But that completely misses the point.

What does sola fide tell us? It is not a construct that takes the place of Christ, but it does tell us about what kind of faith actually saves. A faith that is solely focused upon Christ (to the exclusion of the concept of self-righteousness and personal merit) is the faith of which
sola fide speaks, in contrast to a faith that is wedded to works of righteousness. This is Paul's point in Romans 4:4-5:

4 Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due.

5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness.

Dr James White has commented on this saying, "The contrast is between working (with expectation of reward) and faith that does not expect or seek any reward at all, but instead casts itself upon another (the One who justifies) in recognition of that unworthiness (justifies the ungodly). This is the "faith" of "faith alone," and it also explains why it is the only faith that saves (hence the "alone" part of sola fide). So, the issue is simple: does a man or woman possess that kind of faith, or do they possess a faith that is corrupt, one that is associated with self-righteousness? Has their mouth been closed before a holy God (Romans 3:19) or are they still yapping about their goodness and how they are not as bad as someone else? That is the issue."

He goes on to say, "The "alone" element of sola fide speaks to the kind of faith that is focused solely upon Jesus Christ, for a faith that is diffused amongst various objects, seeking reward or solace in its various objects, is not the kind of faith created by the Spirit, and is not the kind of faith exercised by the new creation in Christ Jesus."

With Martin Luther we declare, "Justification by faith alone is the article of the standing or falling Church." It is vital to the eternal welfare of every soul as well as every so called Church. The doctrine of justification taught in the Reformed confessions is a faithful summary of the biblical teaching, is necessary for the faithful preaching of the Gospel, and is foundational to all Christian assurance and holy living.

JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH ALONE

Pastor John Samson