I wrote:
This is a yes or no question that you have not yet answered.
You wrote:
This is a question that I have answered. I have said that when God justifies us, He declares us righteous. And in doing this, it is impossible that He should lie (Titus 1:2, Hebrews 6:18). Therefore when God declares us righteous, He is calling those things which be not as though they are (Romans 4:17).
Therefore when God declares us righteous (justifies us), He also makes us righteous (sanctifies us)...Romans 5:19, Matthew 5:6, 1 John 3:7.
If we are declared righteous before God (justified) then our righteousness is a reality, not just a label that God places on us without any real meaning.
Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. 1 John 3:7.
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Matthew 5:6.
For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Romans 5:19.
Therefore justification and sanctification are two different things, being defined differently: however, you cannot have one without the other. If someone is declared righteous before God (justified), then he is also made righteous in reality (sanctified), even as Jesus Christ is righteous.
I would appreciate it if you would not neglect to answer my yes or no question, which is at the beginning of this post and at the end of my last post.
Thank you for replying to my questions. I also thank you for being respectful as we share our theology. Would you agree that Justification are distinct from each other? I will share what Reformed Theology teaches on Justification and the difference between it and sanctification (renewal). I already know you will disagree with it, but that's okay. We are here to share with Love, not Hate, right?
This is an excerpt from a excellent theologian Roger Nicole, "Our Sovereign Saviour".
Justification: Standing by God's Grace
Atonement or reconciliation describes the heart of the gospel from God's standpoint. If we turn now to the human standpoint, to those who will benefit from its reconciliation, their primary blessing is that justification. Justification is not a subject on which those who are distinctively Reformed, as compared with Lutherans, Arminians or perhaps even those of some other branch of Christendom, claim a peculiar corner. Since it is central to the gospel and a cornerstone of the whole Reformation movement, we can gladly express our full-fledged agreement with many of our evangelical brothers and sisters on other groups, emphasizing the exclusiveness of the work of Jesus Christ and its complete adequacy for those who trust him.
Let me start with a definition: 'Justification is that redemptive act of the Triune God whereby, on the basis of the substitutionary work of Jesus Christ, the head and mediator of the New Covenant, he declares the penitent and believing sinner to be free of all guilt and to be entitled to all the blessings secured by the perfect obedience of Christ.'
Acquittal in Court
To help us understand justification the Scripture draws parallels from three major areas of life. These supplement each other by enabling us to grasp various aspects of this great blessing.
The first area is the law court. In fact, it is from this area that the word itself is drawn, for justification is a forensic term. It deals with the plight of someone who is exposed to the verdict of the tribunal. Justification specifically indicates that at the bar of the court, where condemnation may well have been expected, there is acquittal. In the place of condemnation, there is a declaration that the prisoner has been found not guilty and has been cleared of the charge.
This particular emphasis of Scripture makes plain that we need to consider justification to be primarily the work of Jesus Christ
for us, rather than the work of the Holy Spirit
in us. Regeneration is the work of the Holy Spirit in us to renew our nature and call us to life. Justification involves, not our condition, but rather our
legal-
status or
legal-
standing before God.
This is made very plain by Scripture's use of the word 'Justification'. For example, there is the Bible's statement of what is the opposite of justification. If what was in view was the condition of our nature, then the opposite of justification would be pollution, and justification would be seen as renewal. But that is not the way in which Scripture handles the matter. It shows that, the opposite of justification is condemnation (e.g. Rom. 5:16,18). Consequently, justification means acquittal. It is the act whereby one authorized to make the pronouncement declares that the person brought to the bar is free of the charges against him or her.
Proverbs 17:15, may be quoted to prove that in Scripture 'to justify' means 'to declare righteous,' rather than 'to make righteous.' 'He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous, both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord (NASB). If justification were a process whereby someone is restores to a right attitude or to a right character, we would have to say that one who justifies the sinner is pleasing to God. But justification is not a rehabilitation program. The sense of this text is that God does not countenance injustice. If people come to court, their cases must be examined on its merits, not in terms of some preferential attitude the judge might have to one party or the other. In court he who declares the transgressor to be righteous, and he who condemns the innocent, both prostitute justice and are an abomination to the Lord. It is plain in this passage that justify means to declare righteous and nothing else.
We find another proof in Luke 7:29 which says that even the tax collector 'justified God' (KJV). If 'to justify' meant 'to make righteous', 'the tax collector could not do this. God does not need to be made righteous. He is righteous in essence. He is the foundation of all righteousness. Nobody can in any possible sense make God righteous. What happened, however, is that these tax collectors were ready to acknowledge the rightness of God's claims expressed in the ministry of John the Baptist, while the leaders of the religious life of that time, the Scribes and the Pharisees, in rejecting this ministry, were closing their eyes to the righteousness of God.
So, to justify is to declare righteous, and justification is the blessing by which God declares righteous those who are by nature not righteous.
It is important to see that in justification the principle of righteousness is present. For it is not as of God suddenly decided to wink at evil and say, 'I'm going to act as if this never happened.' On the contrary, in justification the justice of God is safeguarded. But how? God does not abdicate the office of moral ruler of the universe. God is not going to judge wrongly; he will not declare the guilty, righteous and the righteous, guilty. yet, if we are to be saved at all, he ash to do precisely this! How does he do it? He does it by placing our guilt upon the righteous So; namely Christ Jesus, and declaring us free of guilt by virtue of the work he has accomplished!
This might have been a travesty of the whole principle of justice. But because of the union that exists in God's mind between the mediator of the New Covenant and those whom he represents, this is not a travesty, but an exercise f justice. It is not a situation in which something that is iniquitous is accomplished in the name of the Law. On the contrary, it is a place in which, through his infinite resources, God has manifested both love and wisdom in exercising his justice in full. in Christ he has punished in full the sins we have committed and has transferred Christ's blessings to us so that we, who are sinners, are acquitted in his court, and Christ, who is righteous, having voluntarily accepted this awful burden upon himself, is condemned. Christ absorbs to the full the awesome weight of the wrath of God, and he does it in order to secure freedom, acquittal and forgiveness for us! God does not dismiss evil. He does nor cloud the principle of justice, but rather brings it to its fulfillment and most emphatic expression.
It is very important that we should understand justification in the light of Calvary. God did not simply manifest his Love at Calvary, although Christ's death is the supreme expression of divine Love. But he manifested at the same time, and supremely, his justice, his righteousness. If we allow this factor to be moved out of the picture, the cross becomes a completely opaque enigma: there remains no point to the sufferings of Christ. Unless we have a substitute in which our Lord has taken the place of His own people before he bar of God, then the Cross ceases to be effective in any other way.
Justification brings joy to the heart and soul of one who deeply senses his or her guilt. It provides a resolution of the problem of guilt, not a dismissal of it, not a glossing over it. Here there us no suggestion that we are somehow mistaken because we feel guilty. Some psychologists tell us: 'Don't feel guilty! Get rid of your guilt complex.' Well, there are some people who obviously are exaggerating guilt, and harm themselves in this way. But the basic problem with humanity is not that it has so much guilt, but that it has so little, We tend to gloss over our misdeeds.
Justification comes not by something we have done, but by what Christ has done in OUR place. Our sin is not going to come forward as a huge charge against us. It has been expunged from our records, because Christ died. He has borne to the full, the burden of our sins; therefore, they are thrown behind God's back, as it were (Isa. 38:17). They will not count on the day of judgement. Luther gloriously perceived this truth and it led to the tremendous ministry that he was enabled to carry forward by the Grace of God!
Hope this Helps???
God Bless!
