– Justifying God means recognizing that he is righteous in his works; among men, to justify means to demonstrate, to prove innocence, to excuse:
Ps 18:10 : The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true, all equally righteous.
Psalm 50 :6 : Your sentence thus appears just, and your judgment upright.
Ps 81,3 : Defend the oppressed and the fatherless, do justice to the humble and the poor.
Eclo 7,5 : Do not justify yourself before God, for he knows the depths of hearts.
Eclo 14,16 : Give and receive, and justify your soul.
Lk 10:29 : But he, wanting to justify himself, asked Jesus: “And who is my neighbor?”.
1Cor 4,4 : My conscience accuses me of nothing; yet I am not thereby justified. My judge is the Lord.
– Justifying man has the sense of God making him just, transforming him from one state to another:
Is 53:11 : The Just One, my Servant, will justify many men, and will bear their iniquities.
Acts 13:38s : Know therefore, brethren, that through him remission of sins is preached to you.
2Cor 5:21 : God made him who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
– It should also be noted that God’s judgment is always in accordance with reality, and no one can be declared righteous without actually being so. When God justifies the ungodly, it is necessary that he find him righteous, or justify him. Otherwise, either God would be declaring righteous who is not, or He would really be justifying. There is not a text to be found where a man justified by God is still called a sinner. According to Paul, justification is a justification of life, that is, it bestows supernatural life:
Rom 5:8: Here is a brilliant proof of God’s love for us: when we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
– The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Life:
Rom 8 :2 : The Law of the Spirit of Life has set me free, in Jesus Christ, from the Law of sin and death.
– Because it brings the life of grace to the righteous soul, in which it really dwells:
Rom 8:10 : If Christ is in you, the body indeed is dead through sin, but the Spirit lives through justification.
– Baptism brings at the same time purification, sanctification, justification:
1Cor 6,11 : But you were justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
– The principle of justification is faith, which comprises these elements: an act of intelligence, which accepts the word of God because he is incapable of deceiving himself and of deceiving us. When the object of faith falls under the sway of hope, faith is confident; act of obedience of the will, which inclines the intelligence to accept the testament of God. Therefore, for Paul, to believe IS to obey faith . And unbelief is presented as a lack of submission and revolt:
Rom 1 :5 : We have received grace and apostolate, in order to lead, in his name, all pagan nations to the obedience of faith.
Rom 16:26 : Through the prophetic Scriptures, made known to all nations, in order to lead them to the obedience of faith.
Rom 15:18 : Because I dare not mention any deed that Christ had not performed through my ministry.
Rom 6:17 : After having been slaves to sin, you have obeyed the rule of doctrine from your heart.
– Paul gives us, together, all the causes of justification: the efficient cause is God, the meritorious is the blood of Christ, the instrumental is faith, the formal is the righteousness of God communicated to man, the final is the brilliant manifestation of the righteousness of God:
Rom 3,21-26 : But now, apart from the Law, the righteousness of God, attested by the Law and the prophets, has been manifested.
– One is not absolutely sure of one’s own justification:
Rom 11:10 : Let their eyes be obscured so that they cannot see! Bend their spine without ceasing.
1Cor 4,4 : My conscience accuses me of nothing; yet I am not thereby justified.
1Cor 10,2 : All were baptized into Moses, in the cloud and in the sea.
Phil 2:12 : So, my dear friends, you who have always been obedient, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
1Pt 1:17 : If you invoke as Father the one who, without distinction of persons, judges each according to his works.
– See FAITH.
