The following study is from the Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible & Christianity, copyright 1994. This 500-page hardcover Bible Encyclopedia is available from Way of Life Literature, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org. $29.95 + $4 S/H. 

Justification means "to declare righteous." Justification is God's declaration that those who trust Jesus Christ are perfectly righteous before Him. It is a legal concept, as when a judge gives a verdict. God is the great Judge. It is His law we have broken. Before I am saved, God declares that I am a condemned sinner. After I come to Christ, God declares that I am righteous because of what Christ did for me on Calvary. Justification is being brought into a new spiritual position before God (Ro. 5:1-2). The believer is no longer a part of the cursed household of Adam, but has entered the blessed household of Christ.

HOW IS A PERSON JUSTIFIED? (1) Justification is free (Ro. 3:24). We do not become righteous before God through good works, religious rituals, morality, law-keeping. It is a free gift. (2) Justification is because of Christ's redemption (Ro. 3:24). Justification is free because Jesus Christ paid the price with His own blood and death. (3) Justification is through faith in Christ (Ro. 3:25-28; 4:3-6; 5:1). Man's part in justification is to repent of his sin and to trust Jesus Christ.

OTHER IMPORTANT TRUTHS ABOUT JUSTIFICATION: (1) Justification is by imputation, not impartation. Justification is not God making a sinner righteous, but God declaring him righteous. It is true that God gives the believer a righteous nature, which remains in him and causes him to love and serve God, but this is not justification; this is regeneration (2 Co. 5:17). Justification is God imputing to the believing sinner the very righteousness of Jesus Christ (2 Co. 5:21; Ro. 4:4-6). (2) Justification is in Jesus Christ. To have Christ is to have justification (1 Co. 1:30; 2 Co. 5:21). (3) Justification is a present possession, not a process and a possibility (Ro. 5:9). Justification is not a gradual thing whereby a person grows in righteousness. The believer is as fully justified the day he is converted as he is after forty years of spiritual growth. Believers do grow in obedience, but this is not justification; it is sanctification (1 Pe. 2:1-2). (4) Justification promises eternal safety from wrath (Ro. 5:9-11). Since the believer possesses justification through Christ's blood, he does not have to fear ever suffering God's wrath. It is God who declares the believer righteous; thus the danger of wrath and condemnation are forever past for those who are justified by Christ's blood.

POSITION AND PRACTICE. The Bible makes a plain distinction between the Christian's position and his practice. Other terms for this are standing and state, relationship and fellowship, union and communion. The believer's position in Christ is unchanging, secure, and eternal the moment he is born again into God's family. His practice, on the other hand, depends upon his day by day fellowship with Christ and is a fluid condition. Justification has to do with the believer's position before God.

THE BOOK OF EPHESIANS. The book of Ephesians lays out this distinction plainly. Chapters one through three present the believer's position and standing; chapters four through six deal with his practice and state, his walk. In Ep. 1-3 the believer is repeatedly said to be "in Christ" (1:1,3,4,6,7,10,11,12,13; 2:6,10,13,22; 3:6,12). This is the theme of this section of the epistle. The key word in Ep. 1-3 is "grace" (1:2,6; 2:5,7,8; 3:2,7). In Ep. 4-6 the subject changes to the believer's walk in this world. The key words in Ep. 4-6 are "walk" (4:1,17; 5:2,8,15), "conversation" (4:22), "put on" (4:24; 6:11), and "obey" (6:1). The pivotal verse is Ep. 4:1--"I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called." Here we are told the believer is to bring his daily walk into line with his eternal calling. He does not live right in order TO BE called or in order to perfect his calling, but because he HAS BEEN called. There is a world of difference. To serve God because you have been saved is the Gospel; to serve God in an attempt to attain salvation or to perfect one's salvation is a perversion of the Gospel. Ep. 5:8 says, "For ye were sometimes darkness, but NOW are ye light in the Lord: WALK as children of light." The believer's position in Christ is that he is "light in the Lord." This is a present, eternal reality. He is instructed to live up to that position in his daily life.

JOHN'S FIRST EPISTLE. The difference between position and practice is also seen in 1 John. Here the Lord makes a plain distinction between relationship and fellowship. The theme of 1 John is "... that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ." The theme is fellowship, not relationship. It is written to those who have already established a relationship with God as children through faith in Christ. The Scriptures teach that a person is placed positionally into the family of God the moment he believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. God once for all imputes the righteousness of Christ to the sinner's account, and is forever satisfied (propitiated) in relation to that believer's sin because of the blood and death of Christ. This is where confession of sins enters into the Christian life. Obedience and confession of sins are essential in order to remain in fellowship with the Savior, but our walk in no way affects our position in Christ, or our relationship with God as our Father. If we sin He still remains our Father and Christ remains our Advocate (1 Jn. 2:1). How can this be? It is because He paid the full price demanded by God's law for sin (1 Jn. 2:2), and eternal life is a free gift, totally undeserved and unmerited by man, received by simple faith in Christ alone, and secure upon receipt.

JOHN'S GOSPEL. The Gospel of John also shows this distinction plainly. In John 1-12 the focus is on the unsaved, and the message is "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ" (Jn. 1:7,12; 3:15-16,18; 4:39; 5:24; 6:35,47; 7:38; 8:24; 9:35; 10:38; 11:26). When the unsaved asked about doing the works of God, Christ replied, "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent" (Jn. 6:29). That is the only work God will accept from the unsaved. In chapter thirteen, though, Christ turns His attention to His own little flock and the theme changes from faith to obedience. "If a man love me, he will keep my words" (Jn. 14:23). This change in the theme of John's Gospel illustrates the difference between relationship and fellowship. Faith is the prerequisite for relationship; obedience is the requirement for fellowship. Faith is the way to become a child of God; obedience is the way to walk in fellowship with the Father. [See Eternal Security, Footwashing, Gospel, Grace, Holy, Hope, Integrity, Mercy, Peace, Peculiar, Propitiation, Reconcile, Redemption, Repentance, Righteousness, Salvation, Sanctification, Seventh-day Adventism]