Thomas A. Swann

Justification is salvation’s first great gift. Eternity is certainly the grand prize that occupies a great deal of our attention, but eternity itself is elusive if we have not yet been justified.

Humanity’s greatest necessity is to be reconciled to its Creator. Even if our hearts have been dulled to this reality by the expressions of a sinful world around us, we are a fallen creation in desperate need of restoration. And justification is where it all begins. In its simplest terms, justification happens when creation is made right with its Creator. Justification is when human beings are made right with God.

The great necessity of our restoration is completely our fault too. From our heart to our hands, our lives are full of sin. Even if we can somehow lie to ourselves about our personal propensity to sin, we would have done so while falling prey to the sin of pride itself. So the cycle just continues. We would like to believe it is not, but sin is a very serious matter. It is the literal thing that separates us from our Creator. Sin is the cause of our great divide. The Bible doesn’t hide the seriousness of this sin stressed separation either. Romans 5:10 goes so far as to label us in our separated state as “enemies of God.” That is the product of our sin. It severs our relationship with God.

So if we are fallen (we are), and if we are separated from our Creator (we are), how can we ever hope to repair this brokenness? How can we ever cover this great divide between us and God? This is the intervening grace of justification.

Justification changes how God sees us. Justification takes enemies of God and boldly declares them to be sons and daughters of God (1 John 3: 1). Justification redefines us to our core – even all the way through to the deepest depths of our sinful heart.

And in the greatest plot twist of all time – God does all this for free. Justification is a gift of His grace that is available to every generation that has ever walked the earth (Romans 4:18-25). Justification is God’s gracious way of wrapping His arms around an estranged child and welcoming them back home. And He does it in exchange for nothing from us. It is free.

The thought of justification for free tends to rage against our human nature. To such an enterprising people, it can feel shallow to receive something we have not worked for. After all, everything in our world has a cost, and work is wired into the very fabric of our humanity (Genesis 2:15). If our ancestors wanted to eat, they labored in the ground to grow food. Today, if we want to thrive in society, much of our life is spent working. We trade our time and talents for the costly commodities of commerce. Everything has a cost that requires our effort.

Have you ever wronged someone you love? What did you do to earn their forgiveness? Buy them pretty flowers? Write them a thoughtful note? Dig deep in your pockets for a fancy night out? This is how human beings often operate – we seek to trade action for everything, even forgiveness. Everything in the economy of humanity has to be earned. So then how can God’s greatest act over humanity be free?! How can it come without us doing something? How can we be justified without earning it?

Truthfully, justification is not free. It is actually exorbitantly expensive. Free, but for a fee. It is so costly that all the money and good works in the world would be mere pennies against the true cost of salvation. Justification is that valuable. Even the disciples gasped at the steep cost of salvation (Matthew 19: 16-26). “Who can be saved?” they questioned as they watched a rich man turn away from Jesus, having denied the free gift of salvation he was offered. Here was a man of great wealth and attestations of great works of the law, yet even the sum of his life’s work was worth nothing to him in the face of Jesus. As Jesus said to the disciples, “With man this is impossible.” In reality, justification can’t be bought or earned. It is a work of God alone. “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Thus it is with justification. God does the impossible that we cannot do for ourselves. He Himself pays the high penalty for sin and repairs our great divide.

This is Jesus. “He Himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2). Justification came to us for free but at a great cost to God – the life of His Son, Jesus.

Who is Jesus to you? A good man? A great teacher? A fine moral example to follow? My friend, you have barely scratched the surface if this is who He is to you. He is so much more. He is the only way you can be made right with God, and not because Jesus shows you the way to live or because He gives you a good example to follow. He is the only bridge over the great divide we have created between us and our Creator. There is not another way (John 14:5-7). He suffered the full pains of sin’s penalty, and He did it all for you and me so that we too could be made right with God.

But can you accept these terms? You sin, and Jesus pays the fee? Or is this too shallow an arrangement for wearied working hands to accept?

Perhaps it is with great difficulty we wrestle to fully grasp the true nature of God’s free gift of justification. Maybe that difficulty to grasp is at the heart of much of our own backsliding in the faith or our unwillingness to accept Jesus in the first place. We find ourselves working for everything and just can’t stop.

The already justified still trying to justify ourselves, and the not yet justified still trying to cover and work past the penalty of sin in their own strength. Both are caught in endless cycles of self righteousness and self determinism that ultimately still leaves them separated from God.

The Apostle Paul captures the heart of this so pointedly in his letter to the Galatians. He says, “It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” (Galatians‬ ‭3‬:‭1‬-‭3‬‬).

“Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” That hits like a punch straight to the gut for the believer and the not yet believing. It sucks the wind right out of our misguided intentions. It brings us to the heart of the true question: if you are already justified by Christ’s death, why are you still trying to purchase your justification through your own good works? And if you have not yet received God’s gift of justification and salvation, why would you remain in a divided and despondent state of existence when the God of the universe longs to love you like a son or daughter and has made a way for you?

There is nothing this world can offer that is sweeter than Jesus. The way forward for us all is simple: place our faith in Jesus, be justified in Him, and then walk with Him in the way that leads to life – not to earn our salvation but because salvation has already been given to us and now we are free in Christ.

Be justified and never turn back.

God bless you, my friends!