DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFICATION

Delta Report ^ | 6/27/77 | R. B. Thieme, Jr.

[Cvengr]

A. ETYMOLOGY.

1. The noun DIKAIOSUNE means anything pertaining to the integrity of God, His righteousness or justice. When used for man it refers to imputed perfect righteousness.

2. The adjective DIKAIOS means "just," or "righteous." When used of God it refers to His integrity. When used of man it refers to his salvation adjustment to the justice of God, i.e.,"a justified one."

3. The verb DIKAIOO means:

a. To be made righteous.

b. To have a relationship with the integrity of God, therefore, to justify, to vindicate, Rom 3:22.

4. The phrase DIKAIOSUNE THEOU, "the righteousness of God," refers to various aspects of the integrity or thinking of God.

5. The word DIKAIOMA means "righteousness." Rom 5:18.

B. Definition of DIKAIOSUNE THEOU.

1. The "perfect righteousness of God" becomes the function of blessing from the justice of God to man. It begins at salvation.

2. This function of divine blessing from the justice of God at salvation is called DIKAIOSUNE THEOU or the integrity of God, or DIKAIOO or justification, a judicial function of the justice of God.

3. Justification means an act of vindication. This is a judicial act of vindication, because we are born under condemnation, being spiritually dead.

4. Therefore, justification is an official judicial act which occurs every time anyone believes in Christ. The justice of God acts on our behalf pronouncing us justified, which means, having a relationship with God forever, having the perfect righteousness of God imputed to us.

5. Justification means that God recognizes that He has given us His perfect righteousness. Therefore, this is technically called forensic justification. Justification is the judicial act by God, whereby He recognizes we have His perfect righteousness.

6. The mechanics at salvation adjustment to the justice of God include three logistical steps.

a. Personal faith in Christ. The object of faith has all the merit. We are nothing till we have something of the integrity of God through maximum Bible doctrine in the soul.

b. The justice of God provides perfect righteousness to all who believe.

c. God judicially pronounces us justified, officially righteous.

7. All of these steps occur simultaneously at the moment of faith. But there is a logistical sequence even in simultaneous things.

8. Mankind can only be justified by the justice of God. This only happens when we possess what justice possesses: perfect righteousness.

9. The justice of God guards the essence of God. Perfect righteousness guards justice. Justice cannot go wrong, because perfect righteousness is behind it. At salvation we receive God's perfect righteousness, and His justice must recognize that very same perfect righteousness which backs Him.

10. God's perfect righteousness is the principle of His integrity. His justice is the function of His integrity. Always behind the function of God's justice is the principle of God's perfect righteousness. If God gives us perfect righteousness, the principle, at the point of faith, and He does, what can God's justice do with us now?

11. If you sin, you haven't changed your status with God. You are still justified. You still have perfect righteousness, and therefore eternal salvation. So you are justified forever. The justice of God can only judge sin with divine discipline. But if we rebound first, the justice of God can only forgive us.

12. Until perfect righteousness is imputed there can be no justification. We can never be justified until we first receive perfect righteousness. No perfect righteousness imputed means no justification.

13. All human categories of righteousness are excluded. God doesn't think much of your personality or self-righteousness. He isn't impressed with anything but His own perfect righteousness. God loves His perfect righteousness with an eternal love. Perfect righteousness is the only thing we have that counts with God.

14. Justification is the possession of divine perfect righteousness imputed at salvation. Justification frees the justice of God to pronounce the fact we have His perfect righteousness. Now He is free to give you eternal life. So the Holy Spirit gives you seven things of the forty things you receive instantly at salvation.

15. Justification is another way of describing salvation relationship with the integrity of God.

16. Justification is not forgiveness. Forgiveness is subtraction, justification is addition by grace. Forgiveness subtracts sin, justification adds the perfect righteousness of God.

17. Justification is the work of the integrity of God. Specifically it is the modus operandi of divine justice after imputation of divine perfect righteousness. At the point of faith in Christ, justification is the judicial act of God whereby the imputation of divine perfect righteousness is recognized as valid for vindication.

18. Justification, then, is the completion of the believer's salvation adjustment to the justice of God. It is the consummation of the salvation work of God logistically.

D. Justification is related to salvation adjustment to the justice of God in Rom 3:28, 5:1; Gal 3:24.

E. Justification is related to the principle of grace, Rom3:24;Tit3:7. When justice functions in the field of blessing, it is always grace. Imputed perfect righteousness comes through grace, not human merit. The integrity of God provides everything integrity demands.

F. Justification is not related to human works, Rom 3:20,28; Gal 2:16.

G. Mechanics of Justification, Gen 15:6; Rom 3:22.

1. From these passages it is obvious that the mechanics of justification involves on the part of man a non-meritorious function, believing, and on the part of God, the total work of Christ on the cross bearing sin, and God the Father judging those sins.

2. And when we believe, God must perform the added work of the imputation of perfect righteousness, so that by recognizing His perfect righteousness in us, He justifies us.

3. Rom 4:4-5, the person who works for salvation receives nothing from God because the justice of God is not free from grace to give him anything. Instead their works are credited to them as debt. Cf. Rom 9:30-32.

H. The judgment of sin frees the justice of God for the blessing of justification.

1. The justice of God guards the perfect righteousness of God by judging sin, so that there is no compromise in God's essence. Rom 4:25, the integrity of God is never free to bless man if there is compromise of God's essence.

2. By judging sin, the justice of God is free to bless man with salvation. If the justice of God cannot bless you at salvation, then there is no God, no blessing from God. Salvation in the Bible means justification, because it reveals the Source, the mechanics and grace. God did all the work by imputing perfect righteousness to us.

3. Christ was "raised up from the dead because of our justification." There was no resurrection until God had done everything necessary to provide justification.

4. Rom 5:8-9. Christ died spiritually for us. Physical death is dying for yourself. Justification is the word that emphasizes the total integrity of God. "Blood" is the word that emphasizes the total work of Christ.

5. Justification is the work of the integrity of God in providing a relationship between man and God. "Blood" refers to redemption, propitiation, and reconciliation as parts of salvation.

6. Justice is never free to bless unless justice can keep the whole Essence of God from compromise.

a. The justice of God is the second half of the integrity of God, the functioning half. Perfect righteousness, the other half, is the principle part of divine essence. You must have the principle from which there is function.

b. The justice of God is never free to bless man if any part of the essence of God is compromised. So the objective is no compromise for the essence of God.

c. The judgment of sin frees the justice of God for the blessing of justification, Rom 4:25. The cross was the place Christ was delivered over for judgment. Justice judged sin. Paul's basic thesis is that the justice of God had to judge our sins on the cross before the justice of God is free to bless us with salvation.

d. We, as believers, have one-half of the integrity of God in the imputation of perfect righteousness. But getting the other half (by reaching maturity) is the hard part.

e. In God's relationship with man, love is not the issue. The cross set-up the issue. Our first contact with the essence of God is with His justice, not His love. And where creatures are concerned, God always places His integrity before His love.

f. God the Father always loved His Son in Hypostatic Union. Yet even though His love for the Son was total and maximum, there was something more important than love: the justice of God. Why? Because justice is the operational part of divine integrity. Therefore, divine love was set aside.

g. Always where God is related to man justice comes before love. In the human realm, great lovers always have integrity behind their love.

h. The total word for our relationship with God is justification, because justification reveals and describes the Source of salvation.

(1) God the Father did the judging.

(2) God the Son received the judgment.

(3) God the Holy Spirit reveals the judgment.

i. Included in salvation are redemption, reconciliation, and propitiation, which are partial words summarizing the full words justification and blood of Christ.

I. Justification is related to ultimate sanctification.

1. Because the justice of God must judge sin before it is free to bless man, and because this work of justification was accomplished through the work of the cross, Christ has been resurrected from the dead and this links justification with the strategic victory of Christ.

2. Resurrection is the link between the victory of the integrity of God opening the way for the justice of God to bless us and the strategic victory of the angelic conflict, Rom 4:25.

3. Hence, justification is related to ultimate sanctification. Rom 8:29-30, "And whom He justified, these he also glorified." The integrity of God saves us and carries us all the way to glory. God's perfect righteousness is a down payment on ultimate sanctification. It is God's integrity guaranteeing you a resurrection body.

J. Maturity adjustment to the justice of God results in vindication by production.

1. We have production when we reach maturity, Mt 11:18-19. John the Baptist was slandered by the Pharisees because of his ascetic lifestyle. Also Christ's capacity for life is slandered. "Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds."

2. The production of John and our Lord set aside any reality of this slander. Production is the means of justifying and therefore neutralizing the slander.

3. Lk 7:33-35, "But wisdom is justified by all her children." A synonym for production. There are different types of production.

4. Jas 2:21-26, the offering of Isaac was the production of an ultra-supergrace believer. Abraham did it as a result of maximum Bible doctrine in the soul. Justification by works is production from maximum Bible doctrine in the soul. Production is the follow through of maximum Bible doctrine in the soul.

[Forest Keeper]

The works we perform after being justified do not save us. Our justification is a one time event.

Yes, and I think the language can sometimes get confusing as to what the driving force actually is. We hear the quote so often that "we are justified by faith". I'm sure that many have the idea that we choose faith and that in turn is what justifies us. I would disagree since justification as a forensic declaration had nothing to do with our faith as a cause, but rather preceded our faith entirely. Here is an excerpt from Justification as an Eternal and Immanent Act of God (by John Gill) which makes the distinction:

Justification is an act of God's grace, flowing from his sovereign good will and pleasure; the elect of God are said to be "justified by his grace"; and as if that expression was not strong enough to set forth the freeness of it, the word "freely" is added elsewhere; "Being justified freely by his grace", #Tit 3:7 Ro 3:24. Justification is by many divines distinguished into active and passive. Active justification is the act of God; it is God that justifies. Passive justification is the act of God, terminating on the conscience of a believer, commonly called a transient act, passing upon an external object.

...... Now, as before observed, as God's will to elect, is the election of his people, so his will to justify them, is the justification of them; as it is an immanent act in God, it is an act of his grace towards them, is wholly without them, entirely resides in the divine mind, and lies in his estimating, accounting, and constituting them righteous, through the righteousness of his Son; and, as such, did not first commence in time, but from eternity.

First, It does not begin to take place in time, or at believing, but is antecedent to any act of faith. 1. Faith is not the cause, but an effect of justification; it is not the cause of it in any sense; it is not the moving cause, that is the free grace of God; "Being justified freely by his grace", #Ro 3:24 nor the efficient cause of it; "It is God that justifies", #Ro 8:33 nor the meritorious cause, as some express it; or the matter of it, that is the obedience and blood of Christ, #Ro 5:9,19 or the righteousness of Christ, consisting of his active and passive obedience; nor even the instrumental cause; for, as Mr. Baxter {5} himself argues, "If faith is the instrument of our justification, it is the instrument either of God or man; not of man, for justification is God's act; he is the sole Justifier, #Ro 3:26 man doth not justify himself: nor of God, for it is not God that believes": nor is it a "causa sine qua non", as the case of elect infants shows; it is not in any class of causes whatever; but it is the effect of justification: all men have not faith, and the reason why some do not believe is, because they are none of Christ's sheep; they were not chosen in him, nor justified through him; but justly left in their sins, and so to condemnation; the reason why others believe is, because they are ordained to eternal life, have a justifying righteousness provided for them, and are justified by it, and shall never enter into condemnation: the reason why any are justified, is not because they have faith; but the reason why they have faith, is because they are justified; was there no such blessing of grace as justification of life in Christ, for the sons of men, there would be no such thing as faith in Christ bestowed on them; precious faith is obtained through the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ, #2Pe 1:1 nor, indeed, would there be any room for it, nor any use of it, if a justifying righteousness was not previously provided. Agreeable to this are the reasonings and assertions of Twisse {6}, Maccovius {7}, and others. Now if faith is not the cause, but the effect of justification; then as every cause is before its effect, and every effect follows its cause, justification must be before faith, and faith must follow justification.

[Cvengr]

Revisiting an older note study.

Doctrine of the Body of Christ helps clarify the actions in sanctification, justification, and salvation. It is very easy to confuse the act of salvation as only effecting the individual believer, but once we are saved, in this dispensation we become part of the Body of Christ.

Think of the Body of Christ as that over which He is given control from His Volition, such that as the new man, we are members of His Body and by His Plan(Father) through faith in Christ(Son), He is able to perform by His volition maneuvering us where He wants us.

The Work of God the Holy Spirit glorifies the Son by continuing to sanctify the Body, while Christ also sanctifies the Body per Heb 13:11-13

[Cvengr]

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