What Does It Mean
to Be Justified?
Understanding justification can be a
bit challenging, in part because English uses words derived from two roots, just
and right- (just, justice, justify, justification, righteous, righteousness)
to translate Grek words based on a single root, dik-. Besides that, English
translations of the Bible differ in the terminology they employ.
In the Old Testament, to be righteous
or just (dikaios in the Septuagint) meant to be like Noah, whose
conduct was good, in harmony with God’s ways, and who therefore enjoyed a good
relationship with him that included his acceptance and blessing (Gen 6:9). To
be unrighteous or unjust meant to be someone whose conduct was evil and
contrary to God’s ways, a condition that led to judgment and condemnation (Gen
18:23-19:13). For Israel, God’s covenant people, righteousness primarily meant
to live out faithfully their covenant relationship with God, but of remaining
in the covenant relationship God had graciously given them (Deut 7:6-14). To be
justified (dikaioō in the Septuagint) originally meant to be
judged as righteous by God because one’s conduct was good, in harmony with God’s
ways. Faithful Jews hoped to be accepted as righteous, or justified, by God on
the day of judgment as a result of keeping the law of Moses (Ps 37:28-29; Wis
3:1-9; Dan 12:2-3).
But in the light of his encounter with
the risen Lord, Paul understood righteousness and justification more deeply. He
realized that the righteousness based on keeping the law was inadequate (Gal
3:10-11) and provisional (3:22-25; 4:1-5). He reflected on many Old Testament
texts that spoke of the universality of sin (he quotes many of them in Rom 3:9-19)
and concluded that no human being will be justified on the basis of their
conduct, since no one is truly just or righteous in God’s sight (Pss 14:1-3;
143:2; Rom 3:10, 20). Through the prophets God had promised to bring to pass an
infinitely better way of addressing the problem of sin (Jer 31:31-34; Ezek
36:22-27). What was needed for the person to be justified in a more radical
sense—namely, to be made righteous by a divine act that not only grants
forgiveness of sins but also transforms the person from within. The basis of
this justification is Christ’s loving gift of himself on the cross for our sins
(Gal 2:20). This discovery leads Paul to regard his previous righteousness
based on keeping the law as “so much rubbish.” Instead Paul aims to “gain
Christ and to be found in him, not having any righteousness of my own based on
the law but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from
God” (Phil 3:8-9).
Paul found confirmation in Scripture,
especially Gen 15;6 and Hab 2:4 that the way human beings are justified is
through faith. Through faith in Jesus and baptism, the believer is united with
him in his death and resurrection and receives his Holy Spirit. (See Gal
2:19-20; 3:27-28; 4:4. First Corinthians 6:11 is particularly clear on the role
of the Holy Spirit in justification: “You were justified in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God”) This is true justification,
which places a person in a harmonious relationship with God . . . (Albert Vanhoye
and Peter S. Williamson, Galatians [Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture;
Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2019], 82-83)
justify,
justification: according to its
most basic sense, “to justify” means to judge that a person’s conduct meets God’s
standards, which for a Jew meant the law of Moses. Paul, however, on the basis
of many Old Testament texts and his encounter with the risen Lord, came to see
that no human being will be found truly righteous before God on the basis of
conduct (Gal 2:16; Ps 143:2; see Rom 3:19-19). He discovers instead that human
beings need to be justified in a more radical sense—namely, to be made
righteous by a divine act that not only grants forgiveness of sins but also
transforms a person from within by the Holy Spirit. The basis of this
justification is Christ’s death on the cross for our sins (Gal 2:20), and the
way we receive this gif is through faith in Christ . . . (Ibid., 219)
