What is Justification?

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Steve_Andersen

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I’ve heard the phrases “Justification by X” or “Justified”

I always thought it was some strange Protestant phrase. :confused: I never heard it in Church. But now I see it being used on these forums.

Does it merely mean that you have some scriptural reference to back up your position?
It seems from context that it means something more.
 
From Harpers Bible Dictionary:
****justification, the exculpation of guilt or the demonstration of the correctness of an act or statement. ‘Justification’ and its related terms ‘just,’ ‘justly,’ ‘justify’ help to render the Hebrew ṣdq and the Greek dikaioō (altogether the two words occur in the Bible about seven hundred and fifty times). These concepts are more frequently expressed in English Bibles by the term ‘righteousness’ and its related forms. Translation by means of the English word ‘justification’ comes through the Vulgate’s justitia. The Latin verb justificare added the sense of ‘make just,’ though the Hebrew regularly meant ‘declare just.’ The two concepts relate, as at Rom. 3:26 where Christ’s death demonstrates that God ‘is righteous and that he justifies’ one who believes in Jesus.

ot uses reflect the human desire to justify oneself (Job 32:2; 33:32; Isa. 43:9) or show one is ‘in the right.’ When applied to God (Job 32:2; Ps. 51:4), they raise the question of theodicy or justifying the ways of God to human beings. The ot insists God ‘is just in all his ways’ (Ps. 145:17) and asks, ‘How can a person be just before God?’ (Job 9:2). It knows the complaint that ‘the way of the Lord is not just’ (Ezek. 18:25, 29) but replies God will judge nonetheless (33:17, 20). The eventual answer is not that love or mercy triumphs over righteousness but that righteousness is seen as having a saving dimension (Isa. 51:1, 5, 6, 8, rsv: ‘deliverance’). God who saves is the one who justifies (Rom. 8:33; cf. Isa. 50:8, ‘vindicates’).

Early Jewish Christians confessed that Jesus was put to death ‘for our trespasses’ and raised ‘for our justification’ (Rom. 4:25) and that we are ‘justified…in Christ Jesus…by his blood’ (Rom. 3:24-25). They further confessed that when ‘the Son was made sin’ (perhaps a ‘sin offering,’ 2 Cor. 5:21) it demonstrated God’s righteousness while at the same time showing that sinners are justified by faith in Jesus (Rom. 3:26).

Paul deepened this idea of justification through faith ‘apart from works of the law’ (Rom. 3:28) and applied it to non-Jews (Gal. 3:8) as well as Jews (Rom. 3:30), on the basis of Abraham’s experience (Rom. 4). The universality of justification is shown by comparing Christ with Adam: Adam’s trespass brought condemnation for all, whereas Christ’s act of ‘righteousness’ brings justification or acquittal and life to all. Thus sinners are ‘made [declared, established as] righteous’ (Rom. 5:16-21). God ‘justifies the ungodly’ who trust him (Rom. 4:5); they receive peace and life in the Spirit (Rom. 5:1; 8:4). The ethical aspects of justification emphasize ‘whatever is just’ (Phil. 4:8).

James speaks of justification (2:24-25), not in opposition to Paul but against people who fail to understand that faith includes obedience (Rom. 1:5) to God beyond creedal assent. See also Righteousness.

%between% ot Old Testament

rsv Revised Standard Version

%between%Achtemeier, P. J., Harper & Row, P., & Society of Biblical Literature. (1985). Harper’s Bible dictionary. Includes index. (1st ed.). San Francisco: Harper & Row.
 
Steve Andersen:
I’ve heard the phrases “Justification by X” or “Justified”

I always thought it was some strange Protestant phrase. :confused: I never heard it in Church. But now I see it being used on these forums.

Does it merely mean that you have some scriptural reference to back up your position?
It seems from context that it means something more.
Click to expand...
In a sense, “justification” is the curing of that state of alienation from God which “Original Sin” entails. We have been “essentially filled with God’s justice” when we are “justified,” so when God the Judge comes at the end of time, we will be judged eligible for friendship with God in Heaven.

The Protestant error is an assumption that this “justification” is somehow ultimately severed from the sacraments administered by God’s Holy Church.

It’s not.
 
Justification is the sanctification of the soul of man by God’s grace which elevates the perfection of the soul; it normally begins with the grace of faith which leads to repentence. This grace is not merited and assist the free will to dispose itself to the acquiring of perfection, but in adults acts of cooperation such as contrition, faith, etc., are necessary. It is the regaining of sanctifying grace by a soul; the regaining of the friendship of God; having - the state of never having lost sanctifying grace. (Concise Catholic Dictionary).
 
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