Justification Past, Present, and Future

DEFENSE

Scripture unambiguously teaches that justification has past, present, and future dimensions.

The term “justify” (Greek, dikaoō) means to declare or make someone righteous. In the Protestant community, it is normal to think of justification only as an event at the beginning of the Christian life. And Scripture does sometimes speak of justification as a past event: “You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 6:11b).

But Scripture also speaks of justification as a future event when we stand before God:

• “It is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified” (Rom. 2:13).
• “No human being will be justified in his sight by works of the law” (Rom. 3:20).

“We wait for the hope of righteousness” (Greek, elipida dikaiosunēs, “the hope of righteousness/justification”; Gal. 5:5).

We also see multiple dimensions of justification in how the New Testament authors discuss Abraham, who must have been justified in at least three ways:

• Abraham pleased God (Heb. 11:2) and thus was justified when he followed God’s command and left his homeland (Heb. 11:8–9); this was in the early stages of his career, corresponding to Genesis 12.
• Abraham was justified or reckoned righteous when he believed God that he would have descendants (Rom. 4:1–4, James 2:23), corresponding to Genesis 15:6.
• Abraham was also justified when he offered Isaac on the altar (James 2:21), corresponding to Genesis 22.

Scripture thus indicates that Abraham was justified at different stages of his walk with God, including Genesis 12, 15, and 22. This means that we can’t conceive of justification simply as an event that occurs at the beginning of the Christian life. It is an event that has an initial dimension that is then furthered as we grow with God and that will finally be complete when we stand before God on the last day (see Days 257 and 274).