Die-For Doctrine (Dogma): The non-negotiables.  You must believe this to be a Christian.  This is the core.
Debatable Doctrine: Very important to have a right understanding of these things.  Good Christians can and do disagree about matters in this arena.
Opinion: Not of great importance.  Worth thinking about, but not dying for.

If you've ever driven somewhere that is a central hub of power, say to the capitol building in DC, you've probably noticed that the sense of anticipation gets stronger the nearer you get.  In similar fashion, today, we head toward the "capitol" of orthodox Christian doctrines, justification by faith alone.  This is absolutely key to understanding our salvation.  This doctrine was also a major cause that the Reformers broke from the Catholic church.

Last week, we discussed sanctification, which could be renamed, "holi-ification," that is, being made more holy.  This week, we examine justification, or "righteous-ification."  To be justified is to be declared righteous or right.  Now we'll look at how that happens and what the implications are.

Answer this question for each of the following passages, what does this passage say about justification?  apprehended by faith alone, God's working, double imputation, legal declaration of the ungodly, one-time deal, accomplished by Christ

Gen. 15:6- comes by faith
Gal. 3:24- comes by faith, not by the law
Gal. 2:16- comes by faith in Jesus Christ
I Cor. 1:30- Jesus is our justification
Rom. 10:10- justification is the result of belief/faith in Jesus
Rom. 8:30- the order: predestined, effectually called, justified, glorified.  Justification comes after the effectual calling
Rom. 5:19- our justification is predicated upon Jesus' obedience
Rom. 4:5- it is ungodly people that are justified, not good people.  God does the justifying.
Rom. 3:21-25- step through this one.  Deal's with God's righteousness.  It's through faith.  It is only through Jesus, who absorbed God's wrath against our sin, in our place.
II Cor. 5:21- this is the summary verse of justification.  We see God doing a double imputation (counting/reckoning) of our sin to Christ and His righteousness to us.  This is "the great exchange," as Luther put it. 

Justification is a legal term that declares our standing.  It's as though we are in the courtroom of heaven on trial.  God is the judge and we are the defendants. 

• Since we possess a faith, given to us by God, He declares us righteous. 
  
• God's declaration about us would not be correct unless He credited an alien, foreign righteousness to our account. 
  
• So, in the act of justification, we are credited with Jesus' righteousness and declared to be righteous in God's sight because of that. 
  
• At the same time, Jesus is credited with our sin. 
  
• Having already dealt with that sin in Jesus' death and resurrection, God can justify the ungodly and still remain a just God with all His righteousness and glory intact. 
  
• This is a one-time deal and does no work to change our inner being.  This is a change of legal standing before the judge of the earth, not a change of heart (that's sanctification).
  

We may define [justification] as follows: Justification is an instantaneous legal act of God in which he (1) thinks of our sins as forgiven and Christ's righteousness as belonging to us, and (2) declares us to be righteous in his sight. -Grudem, Systematic Theology

Westminster Larger Catechism, question 70:

Q. What is justification?
A. Justification is an act of God's free grace unto sinners, in which he pardons all their sins, acceptas and accounts their persons righteous in his sight; not for any thing wrought in them, or done by them, but only for the perfect obedience and full satisfaction of Christ, by God imputed to them, and received by faith alone.


How were people in the Old Testament justified?

Read Rom. 4:1-8 (quoting Gen. 15:6 and Ps. 32:1-2).  It is only by faith that they were justified.  This has nothing to do with sacrificing animals.  They had faith in God and in a coming Savior who could justly take their sin (Abraham's covenant spoke of Christ, and David knew Is. 53).

Read Rom. 3:23-26: before Christ, it looked as though God's justice were in jeopardy.  After Jesus' death and resurrection, it was clear that God justifying people and not counting their sin against them was based on the future work of Jesus.  For those of us who come after Jesus, our justification is based on the past and completed work of Jesus.  It ALL points to Jesus and depends on Him.

What orthopraxy flows from this orthodoxy? 

• We should never trust our works or deeds to improve our standing before God.  It's only by faith in Jesus that we were declared righteous.  That declaration is never changed.
  
• This doctrine removes all grounds for being prejudiced for or against anyone.  Every human is born in sin.  For those that are justified, it's all because of God's work, not by our strivings or innate goodness.
• Since all of human/redemptive history points to Christ's life, death, and resurrection, so should our lives.  Glory only in the cross of the Lord Jesus.

What are some bad teachings regarding justification?

Catholicism

These men stood against the Roman Catholic doctrine of infused righteousness where the righteousness of the saints and of Christ is gradually infused to the believer through the sacraments. For the Catholic, infused righteousness either gradually dissipates as the believer takes part in worldly sins or is enhanced by good works. If the believer dies without having the fullness of righteousness, coming in part from the last rites, he or she will temporarily spend time in purgatory until the sinful status is purged from his or her record. -From Theopedia.com