Justification Is Forensic (Not Transformative)
Forensic vs. Transformative
Against the apocalyptic interpretation, I will argue that justification is forensic instead of being transformative. Certainly Paul teaches that Christians are transformed by God’s grace. But we must not make the mistake of reading Paul’s theology as a whole into every word he uses. Salvation has many dimensions (redemption, reconciliation, sanctification, etc.), but the terms don’t all mean the same thing. We should not merge the words together so that justification means the same thing as sanctification. We could, of course, make the mistake of driving too sharp a wedge between the various words Paul uses to describe our salvation in Christ. But at the same time we could make the mistake of lumping words together indiscriminately so that they lose their distinct meanings.
It is also a mistake to collapse covenant and righteousness together in Paul. Actually, Paul rarely puts the two words “righteousness” and “covenant” together.1 Now we should not conclude from this that covenant is a minor theme in Paul, nor should we conclude that righteousness has nothing to do with covenant. Still, since the words aren’t collocated together, we have significant evidence that covenant isn’t the dominant lens by which we should define justification. If we think broadly, we could say that God’s righteousness fulfills God’s covenant promises, but that isn’t the same thing as saying that God’s righteousness is covenant faithfulness.
Christ Crucified
Thomas R. Schreiner, Thomas R. Schreiner, Brian S. Rosner
This addition to the New Testament Theology series focuses on the specific teachings of Galatians to remind readers of the truth of the gospel and the only possible path to salvation—Jesus Christ.
We should begin by looking at the meaning of the verb “justify” (dikaioō), and what is striking is that the verb is clearly forensic, that it has to do with being declared righteous instead of being made righteous. A few examples should make this clear.2 We read in Deuteronomy 25:1, “If there is a dispute between men and they come into court and the judges decide between them, acquitting [dikaiōsōsin] the innocent and condemning the guilty.” Judges don’t make the righteous innocent; they declare them to be such on the basis of the evidence presented in court. We find a similar example in 1 Kings 8:32 (cf. 2 Chron. 6:23) where Solomon is praying, asking God to “judge your servants, condemning the guilty by bringing his conduct on his own head, and vindicating [dikaiōsai] the righteous by rewarding him according to his righteousness.” Solomon isn’t asking God in this context to make those who are wicked righteous. He asks God to judge righteously, to render judgment according to what they have done so that the wicked are declared to be guilty and the righteous are declared to be innocent. Elihu exhorts Job,
If you have any words, answer me; speak,
for I desire to justify [dikaiōthēnai] you. (Job 33:32)
Elihu is saying that he wants the court of public opinion to realize that Job is in the right. Elihu is certainly not saying that he wants to make Job righteous. Instead, he wants to show that Job stands in the right, that there is no basis for condemning him.
The forensic character of righteousness is a common theme. Isaiah speaks out about the wickedness in Israel, calling them back to justice, saying, “bring justice [dikaiōsate] to the fatherless” (Isa. 1:17). Justice is to be enacted, to be made a reality in the public sphere. Still, it is a confusion of terms to conclude from this that the verb means “make righteous.” The justice that orphans deserve is being flouted in society, and thus the righteousness that belongs to orphans should be enforced by judges. The judges aren’t making anyone righteous, but they are enshrining and implementing justice in the political sphere.
The legal character of righteousness shines forth as well when the Lord says,
Put me in remembrance;
let us argue together; set forth your case, that you may be proved right [dikaiōthēs]. (Isa. 43:26; cf. also Isa. 43:9)
The Lord invites Israel to go to court with him and to argue their case in court. There it will be evident if their case is truly right. It isn’t envisioned that a judge would make Israel right. Quite the contrary. The question is whether they are declared to be in the right in their lawsuit against the Lord.
Paul also regularly uses the verb with a forensic meaning. For instance, Romans 2:13 says, “The doers of the law . . . will be justified [dikaiōthēsontai].” The legal and declarative sense of the verb is evident since those who keep the law will be declared to be in the right by the divine judge on the last day. They will not be made right but declared to be in the right. Or consider Romans 3:4,
That you may be justified [dikaiōthēs] in your words,
and triumph when you judge. (CSB)
Paul explains that when God judges sin, he is vindicated and shown to be in the right since those judged have flouted his will.
The legal character of justification is also clear in Romans 8:33, “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies [dikaiōn].” We have a law court context where God as the judge declares that those who are his own—the elect, his people—are in the right before him. No charge of guilt will stand. The legal dimension of righteousness also surfaces in 1 Corinthians 4:4: “For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted [dedikaiōmai]. It is the Lord who judges me.” Paul considers the verdict he will receive from the Lord on the day of judgment, informing the Corinthians that it is the Lord, as the divine judge, who will declare him to be in the right and vindicate him. Another fascinating text speaks to the justification of Christ himself:
He was manifested in the flesh,
vindicated [edikaiōthē] by the Spirit. (1 Tim. 3:16)
The vindication referred to occurred at Jesus’s resurrection, showing that he was not condemned by God. Jesus’s crucifixion suggested to people that God rejected him as a lawbreaker and blasphemer. They reasoned that God would not have allowed Jesus to die in such a horrible way if he were truly righteous. By way of contrast, Jesus’s resurrection demonstrates that he was approved by God, that he was declared to be in the right before God. God did not make Jesus righteous at the resurrection but declared him to be in the right, publicly vindicating him.
There are good reasons . . . to conclude that on the last day God will declare publicly to the world that believers stand in the right before him.
When we investigate the word “justify” in Galatians, it should be interpreted according to this legal frame. Three times in Galatians 2:16 we are told that people are justified (dikaioō) by faith in Jesus Christ instead of via the works of the law. Human beings don’t stand in the right before God because of their adherence to the torah but through faith in Jesus. The word “justified” has a declarative sense here, and the next verse indicates why works of the law don’t justify: “But if, in our endeavor to be justified [dikaiōthēnai] in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not!” (Gal. 2:17). The Lord, as the divine judge, declares that people are not right before him by the works of torah. The word “found” (heuriskō) often has a legal and judicial sense (see Acts 4:21; Acts 13:28; Acts 23:9, 29; Acts 24:5, 12, 20; Rom. 4:1; 1 Cor. 4:2; 15:15; 2 Cor. 12:20; Phil. 3:9; 2 Tim. 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:7; 2 Pet. 3:10, 14; Rev. 2:2; 14:5; 20:15), and that is the case in Galatians 2:17 as well. The reason for their condemnation is disobedience: people are “found to be sinners”—declared to be sinners—by the law. Thus, they will not stand in the right before God by their obedience since they are sinners. Instead they are right before God by faith. Paul reiterates these same themes several times in Galatians, affirming that justification is by faith (Gal. 3:8, 24) and not via the law (Gal. 3:11; 5:4).
I have argued that the verb “justify” has a forensic sense in Galatians 2:16–17, but what should we make of the noun “righteousness” (dikaiosynē) in Galatians 2:21? “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.” Does the noun “righteousness” also have a forensic meaning? It seems unlikely that the verb “justify” and the noun “righteousness” should be assigned different meanings since they both occur in the same context and they also address the same subject matter—that is, whether human beings can stand in the right before God.
The same conclusion should be drawn regarding the use of the word “righteousness” in Galatians 3:6. Paul refers to Abraham who “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Possibly, we could understand Paul to be saying that Abraham’s faith was virtuous, and if this is the case, then “righteousness” would stand for Abraham’s righteousness, his ethical virtue. Such a reading, however, contradicts the message of Galatians as a whole since God’s grace saves—not the righteousness of human beings. This is confirmed when we read Galatians 3:2 and Galatians 3:5 where faith is opposed to works of the law. In the same way, then, in Galatians 3:6 faith and human works represent two different approaches to God. Interestingly, in Galatians 3:8, which is only two verses after Galatians 3:6, Paul declares that “Scripture” foresaw “that God would justify the Gentiles by faith.”
The noun “righteousness” and the verb “justify” are closely aligned. We have already seen that the verb is forensic, and it makes sense that the noun “righteousness” should be understood similarly. In both Galatians 3:6 and Galatians 3:8, belief is necessary to be right with God. The noun “righteousness” is also found in Galatians 3:21, and it should be read forensically as well: “Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law.” If we consider how closely Galatians 3:21 reflects Galatians 3:11, the legal and declarative sense of justification finds further support. We see in Galatians 3:11 the close connection between the verb “justify” and the verb “live,” and in Galatians 3:21 the noun “righteousness” is connected with the verb “live.” The point here isn’t that the words “justify” and “live” have the same meaning. The two words aren’t synonyms. The aim is to show that the verb “justify” and the noun “righteousness” are both declarative, emphasizing that the law doesn’t justify or bring righteousness. So, it is very unlikely that the noun “righteousness” (dikaiosynē) and the verb “justify” (dikaioō) have different meanings. In both instances, one’s right standing before God is in view.
The last use of the noun “righteousness” appears in Galatians 5:5: “For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.” It is certainly possible that the reference here is to ethical righteousness. But the uses of the term thus far in the letter and the context point to a forensic understanding. Galatians 5:4 refers to those who are trying to “be justified by the law,” and the verb is clearly forensic. It seems quite unlikely that the noun “righteousness,” which occurs in the next verse (Gal. 5:5), has a different meaning than the verb “justify” in Galatians 5:4. The subject matter addressed also leads us to the same conclusion. Paul contrasts faith and the work of the Spirit with the law in Galatians 5:5, and by this point in the letter the notion that people stand in the right before God by faith is a common theme. There are good reasons, then, to conclude that on the last day God will declare publicly to the world that believers stand in the right before him. I conclude that in Galatians the noun “righteousness” has a forensic sense and that the noun “righteousness” and the verb “justify” should not be distinguished from each other in meaning.
Notes:
- This case is made especially in the important book by Mark A. Seifrid, Christ, Our Righteousness: Paul’s Theology of Justification, NSBT 9 (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2001).
- Although the following quotations from the ESV Old Testament are based on the MT, I have provided the form of *dikaioō* that appears in the LXX.
This article is adapted from Christ Crucified: A Theology of Galatians by Thomas R. Schreiner.
Related Articles
10 Key Bible Verses on Justification
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand . . .
What Did Jesus Teach about Justification?
When we think of justification conceptually instead of just verbally, we see that Jesus taught justification in his own idiom and his own way before Paul ever came on the scene.
Podcast: The Doctrine on Which the Church Stands or Falls (Matthew Barrett)
Matthew Barrett sheds light on the meaning of justification by faith alone, explaining why it’s so central to the Christian faith, and he explores why the book of James says that we’re not justified by faith alone.
Podcast: Have We Domesticated the Cross? (Jeremy Treat)
Jeremy Treat talks about how the doctrine of atonement is often misunderstood by believers and unbelievers alike and about the impact that it should make on our day to day lives as followers of Christ.
