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In this lesson we shall cover another aspect of redemption, that is, justification. After the believers are forgiven, freed, washed, and sanctified, they have no more problems before God. Hence, God has the position, the ground, to justify them. In the Bible, justification means that God, according to His righteousness, declares that man is righteous. Therefore, when God justifies man, He justifies man according to His standard of righteousness.
Since justification means that God, according to His righteousness, declares that man is righteous, how can man be justified by God through his own works? God’s righteousness is perfect and supreme. But no one is perfect in works before the law of God. The Bible, therefore, definitely tells us that by the works of law no flesh shall be justified before God (Rom. 3:20; Gal. 2:16). Man’s righteousnesses simply cannot stand before the righteousness of God; they are even like a filthy garment (Isa. 64:6), being unable either to match the requirement of God’s righteousness or be justified before God. Therefore, man can never be justified by works before God.
Man is justified first by God’s grace. Because of man’s own weakness, no one can be justified before God by works of law. Everyone, however, can be justified by the grace of God (Rom. 3:24; Titus 3:7). Justification by law requires man to be perfect. This is a requirement which no one can meet. Justification by grace is God’s approving man by fulfilling for man freely all the requirements of His righteousness. This is a gift we all can receive and obtain. Because God has done everything that we may be justified freely, there is no need for us to do anything, neither to use any effort nor pay any price. God has done it all for us. Hence, this is grace. What we cannot obtain by law we can receive by grace.
We are justified by God’s grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus (Rom. 3:24). If the Lord Jesus had not shed His blood on the cross and accomplished redemption to satisfy all the requirements of God’s righteousness for us, God would have no ground and no way to justify us by His grace even if He desired to do so. Hence, without the redemption in the Lord Jesus, the grace by which God justifies us cannot reach us. The Lord Jesus, however, has shed His precious blood and paid the price on the cross, thus satisfying all the requirements of God’s righteousness (Rom. 5:9). Therefore, God can justify us by His grace according to His righteousness that we may be justified according to His standard of righteousness.
Man is justified by God’s grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus and also by believing into Christ.
The Bible clearly and definitely indicates that a man is not and cannot be justified before God by works; he is and can only be justified by faith (Gal. 3:8; 2:16; Rom. 3:22, 28; Acts 13:39). “By works” is to rely on our own doing, whereas “by faith” is to trust in what Christ has done for us. “Works” require our effort to do, to perform; “faith” is our receiving, obtaining, without effort. No one has the strength to do, but everyone can believe.
Acts 13:39 says, “And from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses, in this One [Christ] everyone who believes is justified.” Christ has died for us and shed His blood to accomplish redemption, satisfying God’s righteous demand, so that God can justify us according to His righteousness. But if we do not believe, Christ and what He has done have nothing to do with us, and we still cannot be justified by God. Therefore, we must be joined to Christ through faith; we must believe into Him and by faith receive Him and what He has done for us. Only then can we participate in Him and in His redemption, and only then can we be in Him and be justified through His redemption.
Galatians 2:16b says, “We also have believed in Christ Jesus that we might be justified by the faith of Christ.” The expression “the faith of Christ” shows that our faith comes from Christ. We are justified by the faith of Christ. The faith of Christ is actually Christ Himself, who has entered into us as our believing element and ability. Such faith is reckoned to us as righteousness by God (Rom. 4:22-24). Therefore, genuine believing is to believe into Christ by His faith. He is the source, the cause, of our faith (Heb. 12:2).
According to our natural man, we do not have any believing ability. We do not have faith by ourselves. It is when we read the Bible or hear a gospel preacher preaching this all-inclusive Christ according to the Bible, that the Holy Spirit causes us to see the revelation of the all-inclusive person and work of Christ through the word of the Bible. That is, by showing us the divine scenery, the Holy Spirit causes the knowledge and appreciation of Christ to be generated in us, thus producing in us the trust in Christ. This is Christ’s infusing Himself into us to be the faith in us. This faith is reckoned by God as the believers’ righteousness. God reckons this kind of faith as a righteous deed. In ourselves we do not have any righteousness, and before God we do not have any righteous deed. But if we take God’s word, stand on it, and obey it, and if we believe into His Son Jesus Christ, God will count this kind of faith as our righteousness. Therefore, we simply need to repent and call on the Lord, saying, “O Lord Jesus, I believe in You.” God will regard this as the highest righteousness, and we shall be justified by God. This is a matter of our being justified objectively by faith.
When we are justified by God’s grace, through the redemption in Christ Jesus, and by believing into Christ, we receive the righteousness of God (Rom. 3:22; 1:17; Phil. 3:9). Romans 3:22 says, “Even the righteousness of God through faith of Jesus Christ to all those who believe.” Hence, when we believe by the faith of Jesus Christ, we not only are justified by God, but we also receive the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God is what God is, God’s attribute, with respect to justice and uprightness. God is just and upright. Whatever God is in His justice and uprightness constitutes His righteousness. Furthermore, all that God is in His justice and uprightness is actually Himself in His acts and actions. Since God is also embodied in Christ (Col. 2:9), the righteousness of God is simply Christ. Therefore, when we receive the righteousness of God, we receive Christ Himself as our righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30). Just as He is righteous before God and justified by God, so we are also righteous before God and justified by God in Him.
Romans 4:25 says, “Who [Jesus]...was raised because of our justification.” This shows that the resurrection of Christ proves that we are justified; it is an evidence of our justification. The death of Christ fully fulfilled and satisfied God’s righteous requirements so that we may be fully justified by God through Christ’s death. Christ’s resurrection was God’s vindication and approval of His work, and it was also a sign of His universal success. His rising up from among the dead was a sign indicating that what He had done prior to His death was successful and that it has an eternal efficacy in His resurrection. Therefore, His resurrection proves that His death has satisfied God forever, and that through His death God can fully justify us. Hence, Christ’s resurrection is an evidence that we have been justified by God.
John 16:10 says, “And concerning righteousness, because I [Christ] go to the Father.” Therefore, Christ’s ascending to the Father after His death and resurrection is also a proof of the believers’ justification. Stanza three of Hymns, #20 says,
Father God, Thou hast accepted Jesus as our Substitute; Judged the Just One for the unjust, Couldst Thou change Thy attitude? As a proof of perfect justice, At Thine own right hand He sits; He, as Thy full satisfaction, Righteously Thy need befits.
Thus, the resurrected Christ who sits at the right hand of God is also an evidence that we have been justified. The redeeming death of Christ as the ground for God to justify us has been fully accepted by God and has fully satisfied God. And, as a proof of this, Christ has been resurrected from the dead and has ascended to the right hand of God, thus demonstrating the fact that God has justified us through His death.
We have been justified objectively, positionally, by God’s grace, through the redemption of Christ Jesus, and by our faith. Hence, we can be justified unto life (Rom. 5:18) subjectively by the divine life. The result of positional justification is that we have the position to receive the divine life. This life is working in us to make us righteous in every matter. Objective justification alters our outward position so that we may be justified by God and be reconciled to Him; subjective justification changes our inward nature so that our living may be justified by God.
Furthermore, we are justified subjectively by Christ in His resurrection. Romans 4:25 says, “Who [Jesus]...was raised because of our justification.” This indicates that, on the one hand, Christ’s resurrection is the proof of our outward, objective justification; on the other hand, the resurrected Christ enters into us that we may have the subjective justification. This resurrected Christ is living in us now to be our life (Col. 1:27b; 3:4a) that we may live out a life of righteousness. This is not the objective, positional justification which we have received through Christ’s redemption; rather, this is the subjective, dispositional justification which we obtain through Christ’s life. Outwardly, His blood brings us the objective justification; inwardly, His resurrection life brings us the subjective justification. Objective justification is by our believing into Him; subjective justification is by our living by Him. Therefore, God not only has the position outwardly to justify us, but He also can make us righteous by the resurrection life of Christ in us.
We are justified subjectively in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. First Corinthians 6:11 says, “But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.” To be in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ is to be in the person of Jesus Christ, that is, in Jesus Christ Himself. This tells us of the believers’ organic union with the Lord. When we call on the Lord Jesus, we have an organic union with Him in His name, in His living person, and we also participate in His divine life and nature. Thus, we are justified subjectively.
Moreover, we are justified subjectively in the Spirit. First Corinthians 6:11 continues, “You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” Therefore, we experience the subjective justification in the name of the Lord and in the Spirit of God. The Lord’s name denotes the Lord’s person. The Lord in resurrection now is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17). Therefore, we cannot separate the Lord’s name from His Spirit. When we have an organic union with Him in His name, we participate in and enjoy the resurrected Christ as life in the Spirit. Thus, we are justified subjectively.
God’s justification is God’s declaring that man is righteous according to His righteousness. Hence, no one can be justified by his own works. The believers’ justification consists of the objective aspect and the subjective aspect. We receive the objective justification freely by God’s grace, through the redemption in Christ Jesus, and by our faith. Faith is the way for us to be justified, and our faith comes from Christ, who is the source, the cause, of our faith. When He enters into us to be our believing element and ability, this faith is reckoned to us as righteousness by God. When we are justified by God, we receive God’s righteousness; that is, we receive Christ Himself as our righteousness so that we are righteous before God and are justified by God just as Christ is. The evidences of our justification are the resurrection and ascension of Christ. He has risen from among the dead and has ascended to the right hand of God. This proves that His redeeming death has been fully accepted by God and has completely satisfied God; God can fully justify us through His death. We are justified subjectively by the divine life, by Christ in resurrection, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit. Because the resurrected Christ is the Spirit, when we call on Him, we have an organic union with Him. Thus, we are able to participate in and enjoy Him as our life that we may live out righteousness by Him and thereby be justified subjectively.
