Where is justification in the bible

Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the kindred of Ram: against Job was his wrath kindled, because he justified himself rather than God. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done [this] evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, [and] be clear when thou judgest.

And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified. Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare this, and show us former things? Neither hath Samaria committed half of thy sins; but thou hast multiplied thine abominations more than they, and hast justified thy sisters in all thine abominations which thou hast done.

Thou also, which hast judged thy sisters, bear thine own shame for thy sins that thou hast committed more abominable than they: they are more righteous than thou: yea, be thou confounded also, and bear thy shame, in that thou hast justified thy sisters. The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners.

But wisdom is justified of her children. And all the people that heard [him], and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John. But they differ in some important ways. First, whereas justification addresses the guilt of our sin, sanctification addresses the dominion and corruption of sin in our lives.

Justification is God's declaring the sinner righteous; sanctification is God's renewing and transforming our whole persons—our minds, wills, affections, and behaviors. United to Jesus Christ in His death and resurrection and indwelt by the Spirit of Christ, we are dead to the reign of sin and alive to righteousness Rom. We therefore are obligated to put sin to death and to present our "members to God as instruments for righteousness" ; see Second, our justification is a complete and finished act.

Justification means that every believer is completely and finally freed from condemnation and the wrath of God Rom. Sanctification, however, is an ongoing and progressive work in our lives. Although every believer is brought out once and for all from bondage to sin, we are not immediately made perfect. We will not be completely freed from sin until we receive our resurrection bodies at the last day.

Christ has won both justification and sanctification for His people. Both graces are the concern of faith in Jesus Christ, but in different ways. In justification, our faith results in our being forgiven, accepted, and accounted righteous in God's sight. In sanctification, that same faith actively and eagerly takes up all the commands that Christ has given the believer.

We dare not separate or conflate justification and sanctification. We do distinguish them. And, in both graces, we enter into the richness and joy of communion with Christ through faith in Him. Teaching Series. Conference Messages. But he uses the concept of justification to express it whereas the other writers prefer other terms.

He says, "Just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous" Rom We should not understand "were made sinners" in any such sense as "were compelled to be sinners. Paul speaks of God "who justifies the wicked" Rom : it is not people who have merited their salvation of whom he writes, but people who had no claim on salvation.

It was "while we were still sinners" that Christ died for us Rom But the effect of Christ's saving work is that now all believers are "made righteous, ""accepted by God as righteous.

Paul insists that people are not justified by what they themselves do. Justification is not the result of the infusion of new life into people, but comes about when they believe.

The apostle points to the important example of Abraham, the great forbear of the Jewish race, as one who was not justified by works Rom And, of course, if Abraham was not justified by works, then who could possibly be? Specifically Paul says, "a man is not justified by observing the law"; indeed, "by observing the law no one will be justified" Gal ; cf.

There is something of a problem in that, whereas Paul says quite plainly that justification is by faith and not by works, James holds that "a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone" James chooses Abraham and Rahab as examples of people who were justified by works James James He points out that Abraham "offered his son Isaac on the altar" and that Rahab lodged the spies and sent them away. But we should notice that both these Old Testament worthies are elsewhere singled out as examples of faith.

Paul cited Abraham to establish the truth that we are justified by faith rather than by works. Indeed, he quotes Scripture, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness" Rom , citing Gen ; he cites it again in v.

In Romans 4 Paul has a strong argument that it was not works that commended the patriarch to God, but faith: Abraham is, for Paul, the classic example of a man who believed and who was accepted by God because of his faith. And the writer to the Hebrews says plainly that it was "by faith" that Rahab welcomed the spies Heb If we look more closely at what James says we see that he is not arguing for works in the absence of faith, but rather for works as the evidence of faith.

James is sure that saving faith transforms the believer so that good works necessarily follow; and he complains about people who say they have faith, but whose lives show quite plainly that they have not been saved. When people have saving faith God transforms their lives and James' point is that in the absence of this transformation we have no reason for thinking that those who profess to be believers really have saving faith.

We should not overlook the fact that James as well as Paul quotes Genesis to make it clear that Abraham was justified by faith. And we should bear in mind that this was many years before he offered Isaac on the altar; indeed it was before Isaac was born. While the offering of Isaac showed that Abraham was justified, his justification, even on James' premises, took place long before the act that showed its presence. And we must say much the same about Paul.

He certainly calls vigorously for faith, but he calls equally vigorously for lives of Christian service. And when he writes, "The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love" Gal , he is saying something with which James would surely agree. For James says, "I will show you my faith by what I do" Paul continually emphasizes the importance of justification by faith. In his sermon at Antioch in Pisidia he points out that "through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you" and immediately adds, "Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses" Acts More than once he quotes the words from Habbakuk , "the righteous will live by faith" Rom ; Gal ; cf.

He says explicitly that justification is by faith and not by observing the law Rom , or simply that "we have been justified through faith" Rom Paul does not, of course, argue that faith is a meritorious act that of itself brings about justification. He is not saying that if we believe strongly enough we somehow get rid of our sins. But real faith means trust in God and when we trust God we are open to the divine power that works in us to make us the sort of people we ought to be and to accomplish the divine purpose.

When we insist on our own moral performance we cut ourselves off from the good that God works in believers. At the center of Paul's religion is the cross of Jesus, and faith means trusting the crucified Lord.

Thus Paul says that Jesus "was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification" Rom