Justification: Only By Faith

Studies In Fundamental Doctrines By:
Dr. Johnson C. Philip & Dr. Saneesh Cherian

Justification by Faith is such an essential doctrine of the Christian faith that the entire Protestant Reformation came up because of this doctrine. It all starts from the question of man's condition before God.

Even those who do not have access to the Bible or the Christian message know that man is a sinner.  "All have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God" is inherently recognized by people of all nations, times, and cultures. That is the reason why people worldwide do all kinds of penance and other things to get rid of their sins and iniquities. While they struggle in their own man-made methods, never getting an assurance of forgiveness because no human method can earn forgiveness, the Scripture explains the subject to God's children in great detail.

According to the Scripture, sin has created a number of needs and if a person needs to get a solution all these problems need to be solved. One of them is death. According to Romans 3:23, "The wages of sin is death" and the Holy Spirit makes it clear in the same passage that "the gift of God is everlasting life in Christ". Thus everlasting death is a problem solved by God.

Another need of the sinner is to get forgiven for his sins. Again the Scripture in Ephesians 1:7 makes it clear that "In whom (Christ)we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace". Now the question is, is the forgiven person going to live as a former-sinner or as a totally-righteous person. Consider for example a person who has been jailed on a crime. It can be any crime. He pays for his crime either via a fine or through imprisonment or both. Once it is paid, he comes out as a former-criminal. He is no longer a criminal, he cannot any longer be punished for the crime for which has paid the price, but the stigma of "former" remains with him. The label of former-criminal is not something pleasant. The same is the problem in spiritual life.

When a person accepts Christ, His sins are surely forgiven. But the question is, does he continue as a former-sinner the way the world usually projects offenders who have paid their fine or served their sentence? The clear answer of the Scripture is "no". God, after He forgives people, also grants them a totally new status so that the forgiven sinner is no longer required to carry with him an identity full of stigma. God transforms the person by giving him a totally new identity. This process is called "Justification" or justification by faith.

Some of the key verses about justification by faith are:

Romans 3:24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
Romans 3:28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
Romans 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

What the Scripture says in these passages is that once a person comes to Christ, and once he accepts Christ as his personal Saviour, God not only grants him forgiveness of sins, but He also "justifies" him. In other words, God not only forgives him, but also announces that this person has a totally new identity where God views him not as a former-sinner, but rather as a totally righteous person. This is purely an act of divine grace, and man cannot do anything to contribute to this process of justification. That is why we read that we are justified "freely" and by "grace". What is more, when God grants something freely and in His grace, it can be appropriated by man only and only by faith.

When God gives a gift, man can appropriate it only as a "gift" that he cannot earn. His human merits do not play a role. Since faith is a "non meritorious" response, humans obtain God's gifts by faith. That is why justification granted by God is called "Justification by Faith".

Summary: For many centuries the doctrine of Justification was suppressed by the Church. However, Martin Luther declared this doctrine openly, and that was the spark that ignited the Protestant Reformation. The Reformation came to its highest point when the Brethren movement started around the world. It came forth in India also around 110 years ago as a totally independent work of the Holy Spirit. Since we are heirs to that Reformation of Reformation, we need to stand strong for the doctrine of Justification by Faith.