Observation # 10: Justification is Distinct From Sanctification, Yet it Must Never Be Seperated

To start, we must see that justification and sanctification are linked, are not to be severed from each other. The Bible is clear that those whom God justifies, he also sanctifies ( 1 Corinthians 1:30). Both justification and sanctification are fruits of our union with Christ. Because we are ‘in Him’, we are justified. On the flip side, because we are ‘in him’, we are also being sanctified.

Yet, justification and sanctification are also distinct. Here are three ways in which justification and sanctification are distinct from each other. These are taken directly from Anthony Hoekema's 'Saved By Grace'.

a)     Justification removes the guilt of sin, whereas sanctification removes the pollution of sin and enables the believer to grow in his or her likeness to Christ.

b)    Justification takes place outside the believer and is a declaration made by God the Father about ones legal status. Sanctification, however, takes place within the believer and progressively renews his or her nature.

      c)  Justification takes place once for all and is neither a process nor a repeated event. Sanctification,         however, as it is usually understood, is a process which continues throughout life and is not completed until after this life is over.

Observation # 9: Justification has Eschatological Implications

Because we are justified by Christ’s finished work, we no longer have to fear our future verdict. Our future is decided. On the final day of judgment, we are justified. Obviously, justification has present implications, but it is important to realize the future, or eschatological implications justification has. Because we are presently justified by Christ once and for all, we can be confident on the last day that we will also be justified. Here are the lyrics to an excellent song, 'Before the Throne', which describes our standing before the throne of God. 

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea
A great high Priest who’s name is Love
Who ever lives and pleads for me

My name is graven on His hand
My name is written on His heart
I know that while in heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart

When satan tempts me to despair
and tells me of the guilt within
upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin

Because a sinless Savior died
my sinful soul is counted free
For God the just is satisfied
to look on Him and pardon me

Behold Him there, the risen Lamb
My perfect spotless righteousness
The great unchangeable I AM
The King of Glory and of grace

One in Himself, I cannot die
My soul is purchased by His blood
My life is hid with Christ on high
With Christ my Savior and my God

Observation #8: Justification Has Both a Negative and a Positive Side

From Anthony Hoekem's 'Saved By Grace'.

"On the negative side, it means the forgiveness of our sins. On the positive side, it includes our adoption as children of God and our reception of the right to eternal life. "

In other words, justification includes both the cleansing of our sin, and the full rights of adoption. As we've discussed previously, the full rights of adoption as sons of God includes the imputation of Christ's righteousness. 

Observation #7: In Justification God's Mercy and Justice Come Together

Thus far, we have touched on each of these elements. In the first observation, we talked about how justification presupposes God's wrath. This has to do with God's justice. Because God is just, sin cannot go unnoticed. Sin demands a judgment from a holy God. The judgement is death. In fact, in the book of proverbs it is stated, "He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the LORD" (Proverbs 17:15). If the Bible testifies that we are wicked, how is it that God justifies us. This goes against His justice.

However, this is where the second element comes in. While we deserve God's wrath because we have sinned, God is infinitely gracious in showing us mercy. His mercy is shown in providing us a way out. The single greatest act of grace is seen at the cross, where God's justice and mercy meet. Jesus absorbed the wrath that we deserve.

The Bible teaches that God can only justify us because his justice is satisfied. Jesus satisfied God's justice in his substitutionary death on our behalf. Therefore, if we confess our sin, God is faithful and just to forgive us (1 John 1:9). The penalty is paid. Justice is served. We are justified if our trust is in Jesus' acts on our behalf. 

As the famous hymn 'Let us Love and Sing and Wonder' puts it, 

Let us wonder grace and justice

Join and point to mercy's store

When through grace in Christ our trust is

Justice smiles and asks no more. 

Observation # 5: Justification is Based on the Substitutionary Work of Christ For Us

At the heart of justification is the substitutionary work of Christ. This involves Christ's exchanging places with us. Given that our sin demands God's just wrath, Christ substitutionary work on our behalf involves Christ standing in our place and bearing the wrath that we rightfully deserve. 

This is taught even in the Old Testament, as the prophet Isaiah foretold of the coming Messiah, 

"But he was wounded for our transgressions;

   he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

    and with his stripes we are healed.

 All we like sheep have gone astray;

   we have turned—every one—to his own way;

and the LORD has laid on him

   the iniquity of us all."

Isaiah 53:5-6

This passage is clear that the Savior would take upon himself the iniquity of His people. This is exactly what Jesus did at the Cross. The Apostle Paul puts it this way in his letter to the Galatians, 

"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us." 

Galatians 3:13

Because we have failed to follow God's law, we deserve the curse of not following it. What makes the Gospel good news is that Christ has bore the weight of sin that we deserve. He suffered the debt we owed. The just for the unjust, once and for all. We are able to be justified because Jesus substituted himself in our place. 

We will see in the next observation that justification involves not only the substitutionary work of Christ in terms of him taking our sins, but it also involves the positive aspect of Christ imputing to His children His perfect righteousness. 

Observation # 4: Justification is Rooted in Our Union With Christ

We are only able to receive the benefits of Christ through our present union with Him. Because we are united to Him, we are seen as if we achieved His righteousness. The imputation of Christ's righteous to us finds its roots in our union to him. The Bible comes back to this teaching time and time again. Here are just a few verses that talk about our justification being 'in him', which is the equivilent to being united in Christ.

"It is because of him (God) that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God- that is our righteousness, holiness and redemption." 1 Corinthians 1:30

"God made him (Christ) who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might became the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians 5:21

"...that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ-the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith." Philippians 3:8-9

These 3 verses specifically refer to our righteousness before God, that is, our justification, as being rooted in our present union with Christ. It is 'in him' that we have attained a righteousness. We receive this righteousness because we are in him. 

Observation # 3: Justification is Received by Faith Alone

There are two important elements to note in this statement. One, justification is something received, not earned. Second, the means by which it is received is through faith.

If justification is an act of God, whereby he declares us righteous based on the merit of Christ, then justification can only be received by faith. In fact, being a Christian consists of turning from self-justification and turning to justification through faith in Christ. The Apostle Paul states it beautifully in his letter to the church at Galatia,

"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." Galatians 2:16

Again, justification has to do with trusting in the work of another. At times this can be a very difficult concept to functionally accept. There are two reasons this is true....

First, as Martin Luther said, our default mode is religion. In other words, our sinful, human tendency is to attempt to justify ourselves through 'doing'. This is religion. If we do x,y,z....then God will justify us. If we perform enough religious rituals, then we are OK with God. If we are nice people then we are righteous. If I get good grades and perform well on the sports field then I'm good. If I try to be moral and be a good parent, then God must accept me. The list is endless, and in some way, shape or form, applies to us all. Our default mode is to try to earn or merit our rightness with God. However, the Gospel of Jesus Christ tells us that we can never do enough ______(fill in the blank) and we can never be good enough, so Jesus lived the perfect life and died for our shortcomings. Therefore, to be accepted by God, to be justified, we must look to Christ in faith, trusting only in Him.

The second reason justification by faith can be a hard reality to accept is that we are constantly falling into sin. Even as Christians, those redeemed from sin, being renewed in the likeness of Christ, we still struggle with sin. It can be hard to believe that we are justified when we keep messing up. It is hard to rest in the work of another and trust that His pardoning favor is sufficient. However, this is exactly what faith is. Fully casting ourselves upon, and trusting in the work of another. Growing as a Christian means to grow in ones faith in Christ's finished work. If our trust is in the fact that we are justified by faith in Christ, then our faith will be as solid as a rock. However, if we are trusting in ourselves, we will have no comfort, peace or rest. Martin Luther used to say that a Christian is able to simultaneously call himself both 'sinner' and 'saint'. Sinner because he still struggles with sin, and still cannot earn salvation. Saint because he is hid in Christ.

Observation # 2: Justification is a Declarative Act

Continuing the 10 observations on the doctrine of justification, we come to our second observation on this concept.

Observations #2: Justification is a declarative or judicial act of God.

It must be understood that justification is a declaration of ones right standing with God. Therefore, justification is not a process by which we become more or less justified. Rather, it occurs as an act. God declares us righteous. One moment we are under His wrath, the next moment, through faith in Jesus, we are forever seen as right. Throughout the entire Bible, the use of the word to justify (both in the hebrew OT and greek NT) has a legal tone to it. It is as we are before a judge, or were under condemnation for our acts. Justification is the announcement that a sinner who was under condemnation is now righteous. He is no longer under condemnation (Rom. 8:1). Justification is a one time, once for all. legal declaration that a guilty sinner is no longer under God's wrath, but is now declared as righteous.

Now, in the later observations we will discuss in more detail the grounds by which we are declared righteous, but for now, I will only say that we are declared as righteous before God not based on our own merit or goodness, but solely on the righteousness of Jesus. As we will see tomorrow, that is why justification must be by faith alone.

The Concept of Justification

Over the next 10 days, I will be posting 10 observations from the concept of justification. In large, each of these observations will be taken from Anthony Hoekema's chapter on justification from his book on soteriology, 'Saved By Grace'. While these concepts may be simple in nature, my hope is whether we are visiting these beautiful truths for the first time, or revisiting them, that God would give us a deeper understanding of Christ's justifying work on our behalf, and that as a result, we would love Jesus more, and see Him as exceedingly glorious. I pray God would renew a sense of awe, wonder and joy in us for the doctrine of justification.

In his book, Hoekema defines justification as "that gracious and judicial act of God whereby he declares believing sinners righteous on the basis of the righteousness of Christ which is credited to them, forgives all their sins, adopts them as his children, and gives them the right to eternal life".

Observation # 1:

The Doctrine of Justification presupposes a recognition of the reality of God's wrath. 


The need for justification stems from God's holiness. Inherently, the word holy means to be 'set apart' or 'separate from'. In the biblical sense, it means that God is perfect. He is sinless. He is 'other' from us. He stands alone in His holiness. The Bible is clear in its teaching that because is holy, he cannot tolerate sin. Darkness cannot stain the perfect light. The prophet Habakkuk puts it this way, "Your [God's] eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong" (Hab. 1:13).

In order for the gospel to be good news, we must understand what we are saved from. Our state of sin demands God's wrath. Because He is holy, because He is perfect in all His ways, God cannot simply overlook sin. Rather, Sin deserves God's wrath.

Some observations from verses describing God's wrath:

God's wrath abides on those who reject Jesus (John 3:36)
We are all by nature, objects of God's wrath (Ephesians 2:3)
God's wrath comes upon those who are disobedient (Ephesians 5:6)
Because God's wrath abides on us, we are alienated from God (Colossians 1:21)
Christ saves us from God's wrath (Romans 5:9)

So, the first observation of the doctrine of justification is that it presupposes the reality of God's wrath. Because God is holy, and we have sinned, we deserve His wrath. This fits in line with God's perfect justice. We would not say it is unjust for a judge to give a fair punishment to a criminal. How much more  perfect is God's justice than an earthly judge. Our rebellion against God, our turning away from him rightly and justly demands His wrath. Therefore, in order to have any understanding of justification, we must understand what we are justified from, and why we need to be justified.