Justification: "From All Things" and "of Life"
Stanley Bruce Anstey
Table of Contents
Justification
“From All Things” and “Of Life”
Justification is one of the great truths of the gospel that Paul preached, which he calls “my gospel” (Rom. 2:16; 16:25, etc.). It is distinctly Pauline, for no other New Testament writer treats the subject as he does. (James mentions it, but in a different sense.)
Justification has to do with a person being cleared from every charge of sin that has been laid against him by being set in a new position before God in Christ, wherein he is no longer viewed by God as a sinner. The person is thus “reckoned” or “constituted” righteous in God's mind (Rom. 4:4-5; 5:19), and thus, has his legal standing before God changed from a sinner to a saint. The Concise Bible Dictionary states: “The word ‘justification’ may be said to be the estimation formed in God’s mind of the believer in view of that order of things of which Christ is the Head. Such estimation has its expression in Christ Himself, and its consequences are seen in Romans 5” (p. 465).
Two Parts to Justification
There are two parts to justification—a negative side and a positive side:
The negative side has to do with the believer being cleared “from all things”—i.e. any charge of sin against him (Acts 13:39).
The positive side has to do with the believer being placed in a new position before God “in Christ” (Gal. 2:17 – J. N. Darby Trans.) in a life that cannot sin—called “justification of life” (Rom. 5:18)—whereupon no legitimate charge can be brought against him.
J. N. Darby said, “There are two parts of justification—‘from sins,’ and ‘of life;’ the first, the clearing me of my old state; and the second, the putting me into a new place before God” (Collected Writings, vol. 21, p. 193). He also said, “‘Justification of life;’ this was a new position of man, not indeed yet the glory or resurrection with Christ and union with Him, but a new position and standing; not merely the clearing away of the sins a man was guilty of in connection with his old standing, but a new standing in life, a justification of life (Collected Writings, vol. 13, p. 206).
W. Kelly said, “The weighty theme of justification has been now fully treated, on the side both of Christ’s blood shed in expiation and of His resurrection as carried through death in the power of God; that is to say, both negatively and positively—bearing all the consequences of our sins and manifesting the new estate in which He stands before God” (Notes on the Epistle to the Romans, p. 56).
F. B. Hole said, “Justification, as set before us in Scripture, implies more than the negative blessing of our being completely and righteously extricated from the condemnation [judgment] under which we lay; it involves our standing before God in Christ, in a righteousness which is positive and divine (The Great Salvation, p. 14).
Christ’s Acceptance is the Measure of Ours
Our new standing before God has to do with Christ’s position before God. In fact, His acceptance there is the measure of ours! To see this, we must turn to Isaiah 50. In that chapter, the Lord is seen as Jehovah’s Servant coming in perfect obedience to do God’s will in this world, and to redeem Israel (vss. 4-5). However, as the prophecy shows, the Jews rejected Him as their Messiah (vs. 6). Being rejected as such, the Lord did not turn back but set His face “like a flint” to do His Father’s will, and went to the cross to settle the question of sin (vs. 7). Having made atonement for sin through death, God vindicated Him by raising Him from the dead and setting Him at His own right hand. From that position on high we hear Christ challenging His adversaries—particularly “that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan ... .the accuser of our brethren” (Rev. 12:9-10)—to come forward and prove any charge of sin against Him. But none can. He cried: “He (God) is near that justifieth Me; who will contend with Me? let us stand together; who is Mine adverse party? let him draw near unto Me. Behold, the Lord Jehovah will help Me: who is he that shall condemn Me? Behold, they all shall grow old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up” (vss. 8-9).
What is so incredibly wonderful about this is that in the New Testament, the Spirit of God has the Apostle Paul apply this very passage to believers on the Lord Jesus Christ! (Rom. 8:33-34) He does this only after he has established the fact that all believers are “in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). “In Christ” is a technical expression in Paul’s writings used to denote the believer’s place before God in the risen and glorified Man at His right hand. Thus, to be “in Christ” is to be in Christ's place before God! Therefore, just as no viable charge of sin can be brought against Christ, so also, no viable charge of sin can be brought against those who are “in Christ,” for they stand in His place before God! Since no condemnation can be attached to Him, no condemnation can be attached to us, for His justification and acceptance is the measure of ours!
We are “justified in Christ” (Gal. 2:17 – J. N. Darby Trans.). The believer is thus not only in a new position before God, but he is there in an entirely new condition, having a new life that cannot sin. As mentioned already, this is called “justification of life” (Rom. 5:18). Hence, justification has to do with the believer’s standing before God, not his state. The setting of the believer in this new place is a declarative act of God in which an ungodly sinner is “reckoned” righteous (Rom. 4:5).
An Old Testament Type of Justification
The great thing about being justified is that God no longer sees us as we once were, as sinners, because we are now in a new position before Him. This is illustrated in type in Numbers 23. Balaam prophecied about God's people from God's viewpoint (“the top of the rocks”), typifying what Christ’s work on the cross and His resurrection from the dead would make Christians to be (Rom. 4:25). From that vantage point, God did not view Israel as they actually were in the wilderness, as far as their state was concerned—which was altogether deplorable. Balaam said: “He (God) hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath He seen perverseness in Israel’ (vs. 21). The prophet was not saying that God was blind to their faults; he was speaking under the power of the Spirit as to what Israel was positionally before God, and typically of what we are positionally before God through Christ’s finished work.
What though the accuser roar
Of ills that I have done!
I know them well, and thousands more:
Jehovah findeth none.
L. F. #12 App.
Christians Are No Longer Sinners
Since our legal standing before God has been changed and we are no longer viewed by Him as sinners, it is not consistent with the truth of justification for Christians to go about calling themselves “poor sinners.” It denies what God has done through Christ’s death and resurrection and ascension, and it is beneath the dignity of the position in which we have been set as “sons of God” (Rom. 8:14; Gal. 4:4-7; Eph. 1:5). Believers can sin, and sad to say, sometimes do, if they allow their old nature to act, but they are not categorized as sinners before God. It would be more intelligent to say that we were once sinners. We realize that when Christians call themselves sinners, it is with the intention of conveying humility, but it is, unfortunately, not an accurate expression for what the grace of God has made us in Christ.
W. Kelly said, "Some people talk of 'a believing sinner,' or speak of the worship offered to God by 'poor sinners.' Many hymns indeed never bring the soul beyond this condition. But what is meant by 'sinner' in the Word of God is a soul altogether without peace, a soul which may perhaps feel its want of Christ, being quickened by the Spirit, but without the knowledge of redemption. It is not truthfulness to deny what saints are in the sight of God" (Lectures on the Epistle to the Galatians, p. 47).
Mr. Kelly also said, "There prevails among too many evangelical persons a mischievous habit of talking about 'saved sinners.' To my mind it is not only inexact, but misleading and dangerous. Scripture knows no such thing as a 'saved sinner.' We may rejoice over a 'sinner saved' if we know the mercy of it in our souls; but if we license the phrase—a 'saved sinner,' the moral effect is, that, when and though saved, he is still free to sin....It is perfectly true that, when God begins to deal with a soul, He certainly begins with him as a sinner; but He never ends there. I am not aware of any part of the Word of God in which a believer, save perhaps in a transitional state, is ever referred to as a 'sinner.' ...It is evident that to be a saint and sinner at the same time is simply a flat contradiction. In short, Holy Scripture does not sanction such a combination, and the sooner we get rid of such phrases, which deserve no better name than religious cant, the better for all parties" (Lectures Introductory to the New Testament," pp. 213-214).
There is an exception to this in James 5:19-20. James calls a failing believer a “sinner,” but not in the sense of a positional thing as Paul uses the word. James is speaking of what characterizes a believer who persists in following a course of sin in his life.
Old Testament Saints Did Not Have This Blessing
Old Testament saints were not so blessed, for in their day there was not a glorified Man at God’s right hand in whom they could have justification. Abraham was justified in the sense of being reckoned righteous (Rom. 4:2-3), but he was not in a new place before God “in Christ,” as Paul’s gospel announces. Such is a Christian blessing based on Christ’s death and resurrection (Rom. 4:25). Regarding this, J. N. Darby said: “The difference is very real, because justifying forgiveness (unknown in the Old Testament) is now complete once and forever, as Hebrews 9-10 states—‘no more conscience of sins’” (Letters, vol. 2, p. 275).
"Just-as-if-I'd-Never-Sinned"
Some say that justified means "just-as-if-I'd-never-sinned." However, this definition comes far short of the truth of justification. If it were correct, justification would place believers back on the ground of innocence, equal to that on which Adam was in the Garden of Eden before he sinned. Adam fell from that ground, and that means that if we were placed in that place, there is a very real possibility that we could fall from it too. Then we would be sinners under judgment all over again! Justification sets us in a far higher place than that of innocence. As mentioned, our position before God as justified, is the very place of acceptance and favour that Christ Himself is in before God, because we are “justified in Christ” (Gal. 2:17) and we are there with a life that cannot sin (“justification of life” – Rom. 5:17). The believer cannot possibly fall from this place.
Eight Expressions Regarding Justification
There are eight different expressions regarding justification in Scripture, each denoting a different aspect. They are:
Justified by grace—the source (Rom. 3:24).
Justified by faith—the means of appropriation (Rom. 3:28).
Justified by blood—the price (Rom. 5:9).
Justification of life—a new condition (Rom. 5:18).
Justified from sin—an honourable discharge from that master (Rom. 6:7).
Justified by God—the One who does the reckoning (Rom. 8:33).
Justified in Christ—the new position of acceptance (Gal. 2:17).
Justified by works—the manifested evidence in the believer’s life of his being reckoned righteous before God (James 2:21, 24).