Justification is absolution from guilt and punishment. It is to be declared free or to be cleared from guilt or blame. Justification can be understood as the state that the one who has broken the law is seeking to attain – that state he had before he broke the law and that he lost by breaking the law. A good phrase to remember justification by is, “Just as if I had never sinned.”

I Corinthians 6:9a, 11 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

We were unrighteous but we are no longer unrighteous for we have been justified in the name of the Lord Jesus. If we do not realize that we were unrighteous, then justification will not mean much. Because justification is only needed if you are unrighteous and have lost your right to something that you want to get back. So from what are we justified? What is the state that man lost and is seeking to attain through justification?

Romans 5:12, 18 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.

Verse 18 in The New International Version reads:

Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.

Justification by way of Jesus Christ’s righteousness brings life to man. This life was the state of man before man sinned, before he “broke the law.” To really see the greatness of our justification, we have to understand what man had before man sinned, before the fall of Adam. Some of what man had before the fall included: a life with no sin or evil, dominion and authority over God’s creation, being God’s under-ruler, fully equipped to handle all responsibilities given to man by God, having life in the image of God, and perfect fellowship with God. This is just a small glimpse of the state that man had before he “broke the law”, and the state that man has sought to obtain by being absolved from the guilt and punishment of “breaking the law.”

Our being justified in the name of the Lord Jesus absolves us and sets us free from the punishment and blame that resulted from Adam’s sin and gets us back to the state man was in before Adam sinned. But what we receive in Jesus Christ is even greater than what Adam had because what we receive is eternal and we cannot loose it again. Our justification in Jesus Christ not only absolves us from past sins but also from present and future sins – that is grace.

So just how is it that we are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus?

Acts 13:38, 39 Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man [Jesus] is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.

When we believe on Jesus Christ we are justified from all things that we could not be justified from by the law. It was not possible for man to be justified from sin by the law of Moses. It requires believing on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans 2:12, 13 For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

Here it says that it is the doers of the law that shall be justified. How do we get from this requirement that the doers of the law are justified to being justified by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ?

Romans 3:21-31 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also: Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

When we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ we establish the law. The word “establish” can be understood as to arrange payment or to balance the scale. The requirement that the doers of the law are justified is paid for by Jesus Christ. It is not that the law was done away with, it is that the law was kept by Jesus Christ. Our justification is in the keeping of the law, not by us but by Jesus Christ. We identify with him and his keeping of the law. Our believing on Jesus Christ and that he kept the law for us is what justifies us before God. We are justified freely by the grace of God because God paid the high price of His only begotten son for us.

Romans 4:25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

Jesus Christ was delivered over by God for our sins. And when our justification was completed he was raised to life again. We are justified from the unrighteous state by Jesus Christ. We now have available to us all that Adam lost.

The devil can’t take our justification away from us but he can talk us out of it. That righteous state I have in Christ Jesus cannot be affected by sins I now commit, but I can abuse and neglect my justification. We should not think of justification in terms of what we can get away with, but rather what we now have available to us to help us grow in our walk with God.

Galatians 5:1-4 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.

Our justification through Jesus Christ can become of no effect unto us if we turn back to the law for justification. The adversary is real subtle in getting us back into the works of the law. We need to stand fast in the freedom wherewith Christ has made us free.

We now have the ability to walk with God like Adam did before the fall. But it is going to take some work on our part, because the devil is constantly trying to get us to walk according to his ways or the world’s ways. But while we are working on walking according to God’s ways instead of the world’s ways, we should do so because we want to and not because we have to for justification.

Romans 8:33, 34 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

We need to believe God’s Word and know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God justified us. We need to believe God’s Word and know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Christ died for us. If we really believe God justified us, whom else are we going to allow accusing us? If we really believe Christ died for us, whom else are we going to allow condemning us? If we really believe God’s Word the answer is clear – NO ONE.

We were unrighteous before God. There is no way that we could be justified and become righteous without Jesus Christ. But praise God we have been made righteous in Christ Jesus, justified from all sin and guilt. We have attained that state that Adam had with God before the fall, and for us it is eternal. Let’s claim our sonship rights and walk with God as He made life available to us.