What is Justification in the Bible?

Put simply – What is Justification in the Bible?

God’s declaration that we are righteous.

A little more complicated –

All people are guilty before God because of their sin. The payment for sin is something we could never afford or earn. Justification is a key part in the salvation of the believer. When we trust in Jesus and his finished work on the cross, God no longer sees us as guilty sinners; our faith in Jesus means that God sees Christ’s righteousness rather than our sin. God declares us righteous based on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, which has the power to overwhelm the claim that sin had on our lives. When justification occurs, our position before him changes—we were once enemies and now we are children, adopted and no longer under our sin.

Scripture References:

• Romans 3:23–24 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”
• Romans 5:1 “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
• Galatians 2:16 “Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.”