Works, 55 vols. (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1967), 54:308 – 9.
The Promise of Justification
In the sixteenth century, a German monk named Martin Luther sat in the tower of the Black Cloister in Wittenberg, meditating on the perfect righteous ness of God. Although he was the most scrupulous of monks, attending confession for hours each day, seeking forgiveness for the minutest of sins, he realized that the standard of perfect righ teous ness was absolutely unattainable. He thought of divine righ teous ness as an unrelenting, unforgiving, avenging wrath and believed his state was hopeless. Recounting the experience that transformed his life, he later said:
Th at expression "righ teous ness of God" was like a thunderbolt in my heart. . . . I hated Paul with all my heart when I read that the righ teous ness of God is revealed in the gospel [Romans 1:16 – 17]. Only aft erward, when I saw the words that follow — namely, that it's written that the righ teous shall live through faith [1:17] — and in addition consulted Augustine, I was cheered. When I learned that the righ teous ness of God is His mercy, and that he makes us righ teous through it, a remedy was off ered to me in my affl iction.1
The remedy Luther found was the doctrine of justification by faith. His discovery launched the Reformation and put an end to the Dark Ages. What Luther came to realize is that God's righ teous ness, revealed in the gospel, is reckoned in full to the account of everyone who turns to Christ in repentant faith. God's own righ teousness thus becomes the ground on which believers stand before Him.
This doctrine of justification is most fully expounded by the apostle Paul. The book of Romans in particular includes a lengthy treatise on justification, in which Paul demonstrates that as far back as Genesis, God graciously saved people by reckoning His righ teous ness to them because of their faith. No one has ever been saved through the merit system — salvation has been available only by grace through faith ever since our first parents fell. Abraham is the prime example of this: "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righ teous ness" (Rom. 4:3).
What Is Justification?
During His earthly ministry, Jesus rarely used the word justification. Nevertheless, justification by faith was the underlying theme of the message He preached. Look again at the parable of the Pharisee and the publican:
1. Martin Luther, Table Talk, Th eodore G. Tappert, ed., in Helmut T. Lehmann, gen. ed., Luther's Works, 55 vols. (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1967), 54:308 – 9.
Jesus Explains His Gospel
He also told this parable to certain ones who trusted in themselves that they were righ teous, and viewed others with contempt: "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, and the other a tax-gatherer. Th e Pharisee stood and was praying thus to himself, 'God, I thank Th ee that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax-gatherer. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.' But the tax-gatherer, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, the sinner!' " (Luke 18:9 – 13).
Jesus must have drawn gasps from the Pharisees when He punctuated His story with this pronouncement: "I tell you, this man [the tax-gatherer] went down to his house justified rather than the other [the Pharisee]; for everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, but he who humbles himself shall be exalted" (v. 14, emphasis added).
The parable reveals that justification is instantaneous. The repentant tax collector "went down to his house justified"; that is, there was no time lapse — no works of penance, no ritual, no sacrament, no confessional exercise, no meritorious deeds he needed to do before he could be whole in God's eyes. Everything had already been done on his behalf. He was justified by faith on the spot.
Here our Lord simply states the fact of justification; He does not explain the theology of it. Still, the parable is an ideal portrait of justification by faith, in perfect harmony with the doctrine that Paul would later articulate so clearly in Romans 3 – 5.
Justification may be defined as an act of God whereby He imputes to a believing sinner the full and perfect righ teous ness of Christ, forgiving the sinner of all unrigh teous ness, declaring him or her perfectly righ teous in God's sight, thus delivering the believer from all condemnation. That definition contains several elements: imputed righ teous ness, forgiveness of sins, a new standing before God, and a reversal of God's wrath. Those all indicate that justification is a legal verdict. It is a forensic reality that takes place in the court of God, not in the heart of the sinner. In other words, justification is an instantaneous change of one's standing before God, not a gradual transformation that takes place within the one who is justified.
There are two serious errors to avoid in the matter of justification. First, do not confuse justification with sanctification. Roman Catholic theology makes this error. Sanctification is the work of God whereby He sets the believer apart from sin. Sanctification is a practical reality, not simply a legal declaration. Sanctification involves a change in the sinner's character, not just a new standing before God. By including sanctification as an aspect of justification,