The results of Christ's death for us on the Cross can be described in several ways. For example, 'reconciliation' portrays how Jesus' sacrificial payment for our sins removed the enmity between God and us (see Colossians 1:21-23). 'Redemption' depicts the slave market. Christ has bought us back for God (Mark 10:45).  Col.1:14 speaks of both our redemption and our forgiveness. 'Substitution' refers to the fact that Christ died in our place, so that we do not have to die for our sins. 'Atonement' and 'propitiation' take us to the sacrifices in the Temple. God presented Christ as a ‘propitiation’ which means ‘a sacrifice that bears God’s wrath to the end and in so doing changes God’s wrath toward us into favour’ (Grudem) . 'Atonement' is the act which means ‘to make at one’ or 'to give satisfaction or make reparation, or ’to appease’.

But, both at the heart of this salvation, and under-girding all the other ways of thinking about it, is 'justification'. This is a legal term; it comes from the court room.  The picture is of us individually standing in the dock with God as our judge. We are accused of rebellion against him (which is what sin is).  But after the charge is made, Jesus Christ steps forward and says that He has died for us so that we need not, and that we have put our faith and trust in Him. To which God the Judge declares us not guilty. THAT is what justification is - to be declared not guilty by God. To be justified is to be declared righteous. For righteousness - perfectly living - is what God requires.

We have all fallen short of God's standard.

God has consistently reminded us of this. In Leviticus 19:2 He declares ‘Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am Holy.’ In other words His standard is for us to be as holy (morally perfect) as He is! Jesus emphasised exactly the same point when He said ‘Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.’ Matthew 5: 48

‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ and ‘Love you neighbour as yourself.’ Matthew 22:37-39

Now, none us has come anywhere near that standard, because actually we don’t want to. We are rebellious. So we are guilty before God. So what can we do? Answer - nothing for ourselves. Only God can help us. The Good News of the Christian Gospel is that through His Son Jesus Christ, God has provided a way back for us into harmony with Him. So how has He done it?

Since we are morally guilty before God we need two things. First, we need forgiveness: we need to be forgiven by God for both our inbuilt, in-bred rebellion and the many sins that have resulted from that. Second, we need righteousness - a record of a perfect life lived in perfect obedience to God! So how are we going to gain these so that God can accept us? It sounds an impossible task. Forgiveness and Righteousness are bound up together, but it is helpful to think about them separately, to really understand what God has done for us.

Our search for forgiveness takes us to the cross of Jesus Christ, for there by His death He paid the penalty for our rebellion and our sins, so

 that we don’t need to pay for them. Paul writes

‘In him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins..’ Ephesians 1:7

This message is repeated again and again throughout the New Testament. If we want to be free of God’s condemnation on Judgement Day we must turn to Christ. Jesus himself said

‘For even the Son of Man [his name for himself] did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.‘ Mark 10:45

Quoting Paul again ‘there is now no condemnation for those who are [believing] in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the spirit of life has set me free from the law of sin and death.’ Romans.8:1,2.

Isn’t that just the best news ever! God will declare us forgiven when we repent of our rebellion and put our trust in the death of Jesus Christ. He paid the price for our sins so that we don’t have to! To repent is to turn round. Repentance is when we acknowledge our rebellion; express to God our sorrow and remorse for it; and turn round to live for God instead.

But what about the second thing we need - righteousness - a record of a perfect life? Although we can be forgiven, how can God reckon us to have lived a perfect life - because we haven’t. Is the record of our life just a blank - no sins because they have all been wiped out by God - but no righteousness (perfect living) either? 

Paul gives us the answer in Romans 3: 21. Listen to what he says ..…

But now a righteousness from God, apart from law [keeping the law of Moses], has been made known, to which the law and the prophets testify [they foresaw it].’ …

NOW HERE COMES THE KEY TO IT …‘This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.’

Have you got it? To everyone who believes in Jesus Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross, God credits righteousness.

In the following verses Paul drives it home

‘… for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified [put right with God] freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.’

In one of his other letters Paul explains where this gift of righteousness comes from. He writes ‘We implore you on Christ’s behalf; be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.’ 2 Corinthians 5:20,21

This last verse is often called ‘The Great Exchange’ because it explains that Christ takes our sin and in exchange we are credited with his righteousness - which is the perfect life of obedience that He actually lived. This total obedience included His willingness to die for us. His perfect life is credited to our account just as if we had lived it!

So Christ did two things -

He died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin so that we need not die to pay the penalty for our sin!

and

He provided a perfect life that could be credited to us so that we are morally acceptable to God, because we could not live a perfect life of our own!

So in reckoning our sin to Christ and reckoning His righteousness to us, God puts us right with Himself. That’s why 2 Corinthians 5 :19 says ‘God was reconciling the world [anyone who believes] to Himself in Christ.’

In Philippians 3:9 Paul says ‘[I want to] be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from [keeping] the law, but that which is through faith in Christ - the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.

It is by faith alone that we may be justified. We could never offer God anything that could remotely add to what Christ has done perfectly and completely for us.

No! Our good deeds cannot count towards our forgiveness and justification. That is entirely God's work through Jesus Christ. If we ever thought our good deeds could earn salvation, then we have a very poor view of God’s perfection. A hundred good deeds every day for a thousand years would never reach God‘s standard of perfection.

And even more, the good deeds we do after we have are justified (put right with God) cannot make us more justified. How could we add to what Christ did so perfectly? Trying to add to what Christ did would mean we believe His sacrifice was in some way insufficient or defective and that we have to supplement it. As if we could?!

But Yes! our good deeds do matter because we are saved in order to do them ...

‘For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works [there it is again!], so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.’ Ephesians 2:8-10

In other words, God did all the work for our salvation, so that then we could work for Him!

Our good deeds do not contribute to our salvation, but they should certainly follow it.

Salvation is not by our good deeds but by faith in Christ; but saving faith results in good deeds. See the difference? We are saved by faith alone without good works, but saving faith results in good works.

The Apostle James is very concerned that we should understand this. He asks how God or any other person will believe that the faith we have is genuine if there are no good deeds to show for it? He says ‘ As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.’ Someone who claims to have been justified but shows no fruit of good deeds or purity of life is fooling themselves.

There are two very good reasons why we should be doing good deeds of every kind in the service of God….

(1) out of gratitude that Christ has reconciled us to God, forgiven our sins, and credited us with Christ’s perfect righteousness.

‘For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.’ Colossians 1:13,14.

(2) because when God justifies us He gives us his Holy Spirit to live within us. The Spirit’s work is continually to remind us of what Christ has done, and to empower us to live a life that pleases God in service, devotion, purity and goodness.

‘But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.’ Galatians 5:22

‘Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Galatians 5:25

‘And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.’ Ephesians 4:30.

So how do we find our own justification before God? What exactly do you have to do? You should speak to God in prayer. You must repent of your rebellion, sincerely apologise to God for living your life so far as if He did not exist. Ask Him to forgive you and accept you through the death of Jesus Christ. Ask Him to give you eternal life through Christ’s resurrection. And ask Him to help you from now on to live with Jesus Christ as you ruler.

If it is available to you, seek out a Christian church, or other gathering of Christians, where the Bible is faithfully taught and studied. The Bible exhorts all Christians to gather together for mutual encouragement and support. Another action you can take is to read for yourself in the New Testament, first the Gospel of Mark and then the Gospel of John. For further help you can email this website using the address on the Home Page.

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