Part 10 – The Nature of Justification
Continuing with our discussion of the Sixth Session of the Council of Trent, in Chapters Four and Seven, the Council provides a definition of Justification:
the Justification of the impious is indicated,-as being a translation, from that state wherein man is born a child of the first Adam, to the state of grace (Trent 33)
Justification itself, which is not remission of sins merely, but also the sanctification and renewal of the inward man, through the voluntary reception of the grace (Trent 34)
But Justification cannot be a subjective change of state, because Justification is a legal matter. It involves, not an inward change of heart, but an outward change of standing before God.
Justification must be a legal matter, because sin is a legal matter:
For in his presence no flesh shall be justified by the works of the law. For knowledge of sin is through the law. (Rom 3:20, CPDV)
What should we say next? Is the law sin? Let it not be so! But I do not know sin, except through the law. For example, I would not have known about coveting, unless the law said: “You shall not covet.” … Then was what is good made into death for me? Let it not be so! But rather sin, in order that it might be known as sin by what is good, wrought death in me; so that sin, through the commandment, might become sinful beyond measure. (Rom 7:7 & 13, CPDV)
Now the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. (1Co 15:56, CPDV)
But if you show favoritism to persons, then you commit a sin, having been convicted again by the law as transgressors. (Jam 2:9, CPDV)
Sin is a violation of God’s Law. It is a change of legal standing before God himself, from being innocent in his sight, to being guilty. Justification, therefore, must be a legal matter as well:
… and by the forbearance of God, to reveal his justice in this time, so that he himself might be both the Just One and the Justifier of anyone who is of the faith of Jesus Christ. (Rom 3:26, CPDV)
Yet truly, for he who does not work, but who believes in him who justifies the impious, his faith is reputed unto justice, according to the purpose of the grace of God. Similarly, David also declares the blessedness of a man, to whom God brings justice without works: “Blessed are they whose iniquities have been forgiven and whose sins have been covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord has not imputed sin.” (Rom 4:5-8, CPDV)
For I will forgive their iniquities, and I will no longer remember their sins.” (Heb 8:12, CPDV)
This is the Good News of the Gospel, that God remains just and holy, yet also justifies his people, changing their standing before him from guilty to innocent, based entirely on a work that is outside themselves. He justifies them apart from their inward state, good works, reformations, or any other subjective criteria. Instead, their justification depends entirely on the work of Jesus Christ:
The consummate act of obedience that Jesus Christ paid to the law was in suffering the ultimate penalty for the disobedience of His people that the law demanded. Thus, while upon the cross, Jesus Christ, as a perfect representative, substitute, and sacrifice for His people, became a curse for His people and suffered the unmitigated fury of God the Father, which was equivalent to suffering the very pains of hell. This was not for any guilt He had contracted Himself but for the sins of His people. Their guilt was imputed to Him, and He suffered the penalty their sins deserved. His finished work on the cross appeased God’s wrath in full toward all for whom He died and paid the ransom price in full for all for whom He died, guaranteeing the salvation of all for whom He died. [Gen 22:13; Exo 12:3-13; Lev 16:21-22; 17:11; Psa 22:1-18; 32:1; Isa 53:1-12; Dan 9:24-26; Zec 13:7; Mat 26:28; 27:35-50; Mar 15:24-37; Luk 23:33-46; 24:46; Joh 11:49-52; 19:16-30; Act 17:3; 20:28; Rom 3:24-25; 5:6-11; 1Co 1:30; 5:7; 6:20; 15:3; 2Co 5:21; Gal 1:4; 2:20; 3:13; 4:5; Eph 1:7; 2:13-17; Col 1:14,20-22; 2:13-14; 1Th 5:10; 1Ti 2:6; Tit 2:14; Heb 2:9-10,17; 9:12-14,26-28; 10:10-18; 13:12; 1Pe 1:18-19; 2:24; 3:18; 1Jo 1:7; 2:2; 3:5; 4:10; Rev 1:5; 5:9] (Christian Confession of Faith, IV.C.2)
The justification of a sinner happens when that sinner exercises faith. It has nothing to do with his inward change of state.
It is true that there is a change of state that happens when a sinner believes the Gospel. But that change is always a result of justification, never the cause of it. That change is called ‘the new birth’, or Regeneration:
And I will give to you a new heart, and I will place in you a new spirit. And I will take away the heart of stone from your body, and I will give to you a heart of flesh. And I will place my Spirit in your midst. (Eze 36:26, CPDV)
These are born, not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (Joh 1:13, CPDV)
even when we were dead in our sins, has enlivened us together in Christ, by whose grace you have been saved. (Eph 2:5, CPDV)
For you have been born again, not from corruptible seed, but from what is incorruptible, from the Word of God, living and remaining for all eternity. (1Pe 1:23, CPDV)
This is the true Regeneration, that happens through the will of God, not through Baptism. It is one of the fruits of Justification, not the cause of Justification.
References
Catholic Public Domain Version of the Holy Bible. Ed and trans. Ronald L. Conte Jr. 2009. Web. SacredBible.org
Christian Confession of Faith. True Gospel Ministry, 2003. Web. The Gospel & Its Enemies.
Trent, The Council of: The canons and decrees of the sacred and oecumenical Council of Trent. Ed. and trans. J. Waterworth. London: Dolman, 1848. Web. Hanover Historical Texts Project.
The Gospel & Its Enemies 