Justification by Faith

Justification is the act by which God declares a sinner righteous. It is a legal declaration, not a moral transformation: the judge pronounces the verdict “not guilty” and imputes, or credits, righteousness to the one standing before him. The question at stake is how a sinful human being can stand before a holy God and be declared righteous rather than condemned.

The answer Scripture gives is faith in Christ. Paul’s argument in Galatians and Romans is that Abraham was justified by faith before circumcision and before the Law, establishing that the principle has always been the same: God justifies the ungodly who trust in his promise. The Law was never the basis of justification; it was given to expose sin and to drive sinners to trust in the promise of a Redeemer. “The righteous man shall live by faith” (Habakkuk 2:4) is the text Paul quotes as the heart of the matter.

The Reformation controversy over justification was not a debate about minor technicalities. The question was whether a sinner is justified by faith alone or by faith together with works and infused righteousness. The Reformers argued from Scripture that it is faith alone (sola fide), on the basis of the imputed righteousness of Christ alone (solus Christus). To add anything to faith as the ground of justification is to alter the gospel Paul proclaimed and to fall under the anathema of Galatians 1. The articles below engage with this theme through several of the key passages in Galatians.