Inspirational Quotes on Justification

“For the doctrine of justification by faith is like Atlas: it bears a world on its shoulders, the entire evangelical knowledge of saving grace. The doctrines of election, of effectual calling, regeneration, and repentance, of adoption, of prayer, of the church, the ministry, and the sacraments, have all to be interpreted and understood in the light of justification by faith. …when justification falls, all true knowledge of the grace of God in human life fall with it, and then, as Luther said, the church itself falls… When Atlas falls, everything that rested on his shoulders comes crashing down too.”

“Whom God legally saves, He experimentally saves; whom He justifies, them He also sanctifies. Where the righteousness of Christ is imputed to an individual, a principle of holiness is imparted to him; the former can only be ascertained by the latter. It is impossible to obtain a Scriptural knowledge that the merits of Christ's finished work are reckoned to my account, except by proving that the efficacy of the Holy Spirit's work is evident in my soul.”

“The truth is that, though we were justified by faith alone, the faith that justifies is never alone (it always produces fruit, "good works,"...a transformed life).”

“Night and day I pondered until I saw the connection between the justice of God and the statement that 'the just shall live by his faith.' Then I grasped that the justice of God is that righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy God justifies us through faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise.”

“We are justified, not by giving anything to God, - what we do, - but by receiving from God, what Christ hath done for us."”

“The faith by which we are justified is faith. Faith is like a channel through which the benefits of Christ flow to us. We are not justified on account of faith; we are justified through faith. It is the work of Christ, not our faith, which is the foundation of justification. Faith itself is a gift of God.”

“The soul is the life of the body, faith is the life of the soul, and Christ is the life of faith. Justification by faith in Christ's righteousness is the golden chain which binds the Christian world in one body.”

“The inner change, justification, is effected at the moment of salvation. The outer change in the believer's daily walk, sanctification, continues throughout life. But the progressive work of sanctification is only fully effective when the radical, inner transformation of justification is realized and appropriated by faith.”

“Justification and regeneration are simultaneous. The pardoned sinner becomes a child of God in justification.”

“Saving faith is an immediate relation to Christ, accepting, receiving, resting upon Him alone, for justification, sanctification, and eternal life by virtue of God's grace.”

“If you do not put a difference between justification wrought by the Man Christ without, and sanctification wrought by the Spirit of Christ within, you are not able to divide the word aright; but contrariwise, you corrupt the word of God.”

“Faith acts upon Christ for justification, as he is a Jesus, or by receiving him as a Jesus; faith acts upon Christ for sanctification, as he is a Lord, or by receiving him as Lord.”

“The Lord Jesus had goings forth for His people as their representative before the throne, long before they appeared upon the stage of time.”

“So in the midst of our struggle with indwelling sin, we must continually keep our focus on the gospel. We must always go back to the truth that even in the face of the fact that so often "I do not do the good that I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing" (Rom 7:19), there is no condemnation. God no longer counts our sins against us (Rom 4:8). Or, to say it another way, God wants us to find our primary joy in our objectively declared justification, not in our subjectively perceived sanctification. Regardless of how much progress we make in our pursuit of holiness, it will never come close to the absolute perfect righteousness of Christ that is ours through our union with him in his life and death. So we should learn to live with the discomfort of the justified life. We should accept the fact that as still-growing Christians we will always be dissatisfied with our sanctification. But at the same time, we should remember that in Christ we are justified.”

“Any church which puts in the place of justification by faith in Christ another method of salvation is a harlot church.”

“Indeed this is one of the greatest mysteries in the world - namely, that a righteousness that resides with a Person in heaven should justify me, a sinner on earth.”

“There are three things which the true Christian desires in respect to sin: Justification, that it may not condemn; sanctification, that it may not reign; and glorification, that it may not be.”

“En effet, ils n'ont ni connu ni fait la volonté de la loi ; ce qu'ils ont pensé, ils ont cru que la loi le voulait. Ainsi ils n'ont pas cru à la loi en tant que parole prophétique, ils n'ont vu en elle qu'une parole stérile. C'est par crainte, non par affection ni par foi qu'ils lui ont été fidèles; car Jésus-Christ, dont l'avènement a été prédit par la loi, est la fin de la loi pour justifier tous ceux qui croiront.”

“There is a familiar play on the word "justification" that it means "just as if I'd never sinned." But there is another way of saying this that is even better---justification means "just as if I'd always obeyed." That's the way we stand before God: clothed in the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. And that's the way we can live with the discomfort of the justified life.”

“God has reserved to Himself the right to determine the end of life, because He alone knows the goal to which it is His will to lead it. It is for Him alone to justify a life or to cast it away.”