I do not believe that works other than repentance and faith, in the act of baptism, justify a person.
I do not see justification is an internal work of God that is definite and progressive from the moment of conversion onward until perfection. I think this is the Catholic version of justification. There is definitely the divine work of making the believers more righteous, and such could be called “justification”, the process of being made righteous, but the biblical authors fail to manage the word in this way. Rather, when the biblical authors wish to speak of our ongoing work of being made righteous, sometimes they are simply referring to faith or obedience or sanctification or being a slave to righteousness or sowing what one reaps, etc, etc.
If you look closely at the usage of the work (dikaioo) “justified” in the historical time period, the new testament documents itself, and particularly in Paul, you will see that it means a one-time definitive pronouncement or acceptance that someone or something is righteous or acceptable, innocent and freed from condemnation or accusation of wrong.
Matthew 11:19
The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold, a gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners! And wisdom is justified by her works.
Wisdom is not here to be understood as infused with right behavior which then later on after it is perfected comes to full justification. Rather, wisdom is being vindicated as right or praiseworthy because of something else, the works she produces.
What the Catholic wants to see from the text is the to be “justified” means to be internally given the holiness and goodness of behavior and obedience which once begun and finish, comprises the process of justification. But you will see that the word itself is never used this way. It is a very special term which is given to someone AFTER they have done something and are examined. Not before, in the means, and afterward, do you see?
Similarly, Romans 3:4 is of real importance for Paul uses the same word in reference to us just 20 verses later:
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God forbid: yea, let God be found true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy words, And mightest prevail when thou comest into judgment.*
Do you see when God is justified, it is not a process that begins before his speaks, in and throughout the process of his speaking, and finally then afterward. It is only AFTER his words are spoken, because they are righteous, that he is justified.
See Matthew 12:37, Luke 7:35, Luke 18:14, Acts 13:39, Romans 2:13, Romans 3:4, Romans 3:20, Romans 3:24, Romans 3:28, Romans 4:2, Romans 5:1, Romans 5:9, Romans 6:7, 1 Corinthians 4:4, James 2:21
That being said, justification is a gift of God’s grace which the NT authors define as being in a right-relationship with God (as Judge and law-giver) or the state of being accepted by God and in peace with Him. It is much more a state than a verdict, though it is a verdict.
I get this from Romans 5:1-5
Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;
2 through whom also we have had our access by faith into this grace wherein we stand; and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
3 And not only so, but we also rejoice in our tribulations: knowing that tribulation worketh stedfastness;
4 and stedfastness, approvedness; and approvedness, hope:
5 and hope putteth not to shame; because the love of God hath been shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit which was given unto us.
Do you see Paul expands this grace of justification to be something that we “enter”. And not just that but a place that we both “enter” and “stand on”. This is why I take the aspect of salvation, justification, to refer to the state of being in the family of God having peace with the Father. Justification is the prodigal son coming home to the Father and being embraced and accepted.
As to the role of our works in relationship to justification, well Paul finds no place for them. Justification is “free by the grace of God” (Rom 3:24) and “not by any deeds of righteousness which we have done” (Titus 3:7). However, justification is a pearl in the string of a necklace that God has done for us. Justification also denotes the freedom from sin’s enslavement. We are broken away from our Adamic human existence in Christ Jesus, and now reside in Christ the New Adam, and so live in the characteristics of this humanity- which is done by the Spirit- Love, joy, peace, patience, faithfulness, gentleness,etc,etc. This distinct “work” which comes out of the same cause (baptismal regeneration) is properly called sanctification, or if you want to call it justicfication, you can but without modifying the previous biblical definition of being right-with-God.
So when Paul says that the Corinthians have been “washed, justified, and sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor 6:11) - he is recounting to them their baptismal graces which are all bound up in our participation with Christ in his death and resurrection. Out of this participation, we are cleanse, freed from sin’s guilt and power, and our souls have been purified to live holy.
