"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1).

The Biblical doctrine of justification is a vital and spiritual truth. It means "being declared righteous" by a qualified judge. Since no one but God is wholly righteous, only He can do this. The wonderful truth is that even though "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God," we can be "justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:23-24).

We are justified freely, but the price God has paid for our free justification was great indeed! "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us," and we are "now justified by His blood" (Romans 5:8-9). He paid the supreme penalty for our sins, and we have been given "the gift of righteousness...by one, Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:17). Although we are justified freely by His grace, however, this gift must be accepted on faith. Then, "being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1).

The implications are profound. "Ye are washed,...sanctified,...justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God" (I Corinthians 6:11). No matter how great may have been our sins, "by Him all that believe are justified from all things" (Acts 13:39) in the eyes of God. After all, "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth" (Romans 8:33).

The ability of God to carry out such an amazing transaction is made certain by His defeat of death itself. Christ "was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification" (Romans 4:25).

Finally, the reality of our certain justification in the eyes of God is vouchsafed by our resulting righteous lives, for "by works a man is justified" (James 2:24) in the eyes of man. HMM