Sentinel Research Ministries

(5) Justification...our righteous standing before God

"Justification reflects our union with Christ through which God; 1) thinks of our sins as forgiven and Christ's righteousness as belonging to us, and 2) declares us to be righteous in His sight". 

Justification, is also a ongoing state of grace, through participation, in the life of Christ due to our inclusion in His resurrection and ascension. 

God acting in His capacity as Judge of all creation and bestows on all who believe in Jesus, a Royal Pardon, in response to their faith in Christ. Those who are justified by God are also declared to be righteous in His sight, not on the basis of their good works, but in response to their faith; not of themselves but a gift of God.

"Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of Works? No, but by a law of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law." (Rom 3:27-28)

1. Because it enables us to offer genuine hope to unbelievers who know they could never make themselves righteous before God...
2. It gives us confidence that God will never make us pay the penalty for sins that have been forgiven based upon the merits of Jesus Christ...
3. Because saving faith is the exact opposite to depending on ourselves, and therefore is the right attitude that perfectly fits salvation, which depends not on our own merit but entirely on God's free gift of grace...
4. Because in this way, through justification, Christ's righteousness became ours:
1. the guilt of Adams sin was imputed to us, God viewed it as belonging to us and therefore it did...
2. Jesus died for our sins, because God imputed our sins to Him, God thought of it as belonging to Him, and He paid the penalty for it...
3. Now in the act of justification, Jesus' righteousness is imputed to us who believe in Him, and therefore God thinks of it as belonging to us...
4. It is not our own righteousness, but Jesus' righteousness freely given to us...