The Justification of the Ungodly

Sin entered the world through Adam (Gen 3). God considered the first man as responsible for the whole of his posterity (Rom 5:12–19; 1 Cor 15:22). Adam was the representative head of humanity. Man in his rebellion against the holy God, was separated and cursed. The plight of man, that is, his total depravity left him without any will or ability to be reconciled to the righteous God with whom he was now estranged (Rom 3:10–12; 8:7).

God is perfect in all his attributes. Man is corrupt in all of his attributes, the product of his fall into sin. If God is righteous and man is unrighteous, the question that must be asked is, “How can unrighteous man be right with God?”

First, man does not think his plight is as bad as it really is in truth (Gen 6:5). The Apostle Paul first established why the wrath of God is directed at man, both Jews and Gentiles (Rom 1:18–3:20). Simply put, lawlessness is universal (Rom 3:23; 1 Jn 3:4). God gave His Law to the Jews in written form through Moses (Ex 20; Dt 5); but it is on every individual’s heart. The Law of God is the light that illumines the sin of man (Rom 3:20). Thus, every person must acknowledge and confess his total depravity to God (1 Jn 1:9). This is what it means for one to agree with God’s assessment of him or her (Mk 1:15; Acts 17:30).

Second, we now come to the heart of the teaching in Romans 3:21–4:25: justification. Man can never be righteousness on his own because he does not stop sinning until he dies in the flesh; but there is a way for one to be declared “not guilty”. This is what it means to be justified.

When one receives the imputed righteousness of a substitute (2 Cor 5:21), it is justification before the judge (Rom 8:1; 1 Pet 2:24). God is the judge of every sinner (Gen 18:25; 2 Cor 5:10; Rev 20:11); and everyone is guilty of sin (Jas 2:10): inherited and practiced, if given any time to operate in this world of sin.

Third, an imputed righteousness, from Jesus Christ, the righteous by meritorious works of the Law, is received by those people whom God the Father gave to His Son before the foundation of the world (Jn 17:2, 6, 24; 2 Cor 5:21). The elect, redeemed people of God are justified by the blood of Christ Jesus (Rom 5:9), shed on the cross of Calvary (1 Pet 1:19). This precious blood atonement for the forgiveness of sins has literally cancelled the debt of sin for every saint (Col 2:14).

Fourth, justification is applied to God’s elect, redeemed by His grace (Rom 3:24), alone. No one is justified before God by his own works (Rom 4:5). God alone must apply the perfect work of Christ to His chosen ones. This is the meaning of grace: God’s work for the benefit of those who are being saved. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast (Eph 2:8–9).”

Fifth, one’s justification is manifest by that person’s faith in Jesus Christ (Rom 3:28). The believer trusts the Word of God, the Word of promise. This trust in God is illustrated by the apostle’s allusion to the patriarch, Abraham (Rom 4; see also Heb 7); for Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness (Rom 4:3, 9).

All of this suggests the Jews misinterpreted the reason for God issuing the written Law. The purpose of the Law was to demonstrate that no one could keep God’s statutes; rather, the Law insisted on another way. What was needed was a Savior, Christ the Lord (Lk 2:11), who declared Himself to be the way. He is the one and only way to the Father, Yahweh, the God of Israel (Jn 14:6).

So, God takes all of the sins of all His chosen people; and He imputes them to Christ on the Cross (1 Pet 2:24). Thus, Jesus Messiah was pierced through for our transgression. He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him (Is 53:5). Our iniquity fell on Him (Is 53:6). The righteous wrath of God directed at each one of us was re-directed on to Him as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (Jn 1:29). He absorbed God’s wrath against us in the propitiation for our sins (Rom 3:25; Heb 2:17; 1 Jn 2:2; 4:10). Stated another way, Jesus endured the punishment we deserve (Lev 16).

As the substitute sacrifice for our sins, Jesus, the Lamb of God became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor 5:21). This great exchange is believed by those who have been granted faith and the grace of repentance (Acts 5:31; 11:18; Phil 1:29). Our trust is in Jesus Christ, the Just, who justifies the ungodly (Prv 3:5–6; Rom 4:5).

Believers in Jesus are the justified ungodly; for He is just and the justifier of those who have faith in Christ (Rom 3:26). Faith comes to the elect by hearing the Word of Christ (Rom 10:17). We listen to the preacher, as he gives us the knowledge of our salvation (Lk 1:77). This is God’s revelation of Himself as our Savior. There is salvation in no one else (Acts 4:12); and for one to neglect so great a salvation is utter vanity and chasing after the wind (Heb 2:3).

The adversary distorts the Gospel of grace by insisting that one is justified by works done in sinful flesh. For grace to be grace, it must be God doing all the work of our salvation, so that all the glory is ascribed to God the Father in election (Eph 1:4–5), God the Son in redemption (Lk 1:68; Rom 3:24), and God the Spirit in regeneration (Jn 3:18; Eph 2:5; Col 2:13; 1 Pet 1:3). He began this good work in us; and He will finish it (Phil 1:6).

Justification means every soul that is born again of God is declared “not guilty” before God (Rom 8:1). Right standing or righteousness is the position of Christ, alone (1 Jn 2:1). We who have been transferred into His position “in Christ” are saved now and forever from the wrath of God against sinners (Col 1:13).

It behooves each person to examine himself; and then look to Jesus Christ, who has become to us salvation from our enemies, which includes oneself, if you remain in unbelief and continue in sin until death, which is followed by the day of judgment (Heb 9:27). There is no justification in that.

David Norczyk

Spokane Valley, Washington

December 28, 2024

Romans 3:21–4:25