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How did David use the word “justification”?

“Against you, against you, I have only sinned, and done what is evil in your sight, that you may be justified when you speak, and pure when you judge.” (Psalm 51: 4)

The word ‘justified’ is used by the psalmist David to let his readers know that God is just (justified). As the psalmist knows that God is just, this motivates the psalmist to admit his condition. Thus, it appears that the word ‘justified’ (declaring fair) only applies to what is true in essence.

It seems to be redundant, but it is not: David declares that God is just because He is truly just, and not simply because the psalmist understands that he is this way.

The apostle Paul in declaring that ‘God is true’ is based on the declaration of King David, that is, when we declare something that concerns our God, we are fully aware that it is the truth, because it is what the Scripture tells us.

“He who accepted his testimony confirmed that God is true” (John 3:33)

We come to a crucial point: if the apostle Paul uses the word ‘justified’ (declaring righteous) to express something about Christians, that statement must also be true, that is, mirror the reality relevant to Christians.

There is no way to declare that someone is justified without that person not being effectively just, that is, the Christians effectively died “We, who are dead to sin…”, and were declared righteous “… because the one who is dead is justified from sin”.

When the apostle Paul writes that Christians have being declareding righteous, he does not refer to an amnesty, or an acquittal, or a concession, or to take into account or to make believe. Paul makes reference to something that is full of everything: the one who is dead is justified.

No one who is not a Christian lives up to such a declaration, as it is certain that he did not die to sin. Is it possible that someone who is not included in the first person pronoun in the plural of Romans six, verse two ‘We…?’ (Rom. 6: 2), receives the statement that it is just? No! Because? Because this person is not dead to sin!

Whoever is not dead to sin cannot be justified (declared righteous), because such a statement would not be true.

There is no way to apply the word ‘justified’ to those who have not died, since everyone who is born of the flesh is not true “… and every lying man as it is written” (Rom. 3: 4).

Not all men born of Adam are true, but God is true.

The condition of him who is not in Christ is a lie, in contrast to God, who is true “But if the truth of God stands out for my glory because of my lie …” (Rom. 3: 7).

In quoting Psalm 51, verse 4, the apostle Paul sets the necessary parameter for us to understand the extent of the word ‘justify’ when it is used by him.

The apostle Paul only uses the word ‘justify’ for something that is categorically true. If there was a shadow of doubt, or a possibility that the one who is dead is not justified before God, then Paul would not use the word ‘justify’.

It is true that ‘justifying’ does not refer to a condescending divine conduct in declaring an unjust person to be someone just.

Is it possible for God, who is true, to declare an unjust person just? We will conclude in another way: God does not justify the one who is alive to sin.

Since, through the quotation from the psalmist David, it is possible to measure the extent of the expressions ‘justify’ and ‘justification‘, it remains that Christians should consider their death with Christ to be certain (Rom. 6: 2-3 and 7 and 11) , and that, in the same way, their justification is certain, since the one who is dead is also justified.

If Paul recommends Christians to effectively assume the condition of being dead to sin (Rom. 6:11), it is because they needed to be aware that they were fully justified before God “Being therefore justified by faith…” (Rom. 5: 1).

Christians are just before God for the following reasons:

1. It is God who justifies us “It is God who justifies us” (Rom. 8:32);
2. We have peace with God, real evidence that we have been justified by faith “Having therefore been justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5: 1), and;
3. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for we have been fully justified “Therefore, now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus …” (Rom. 8: 1).

There is no justification for those who weigh condemnation on him. It is not justified who is still at enmity with God. It is not justified who does not trust in God, who can justify him.

If a person does not believe in what God has already provided free salvation, it remains that that person does not believe in Christ Jesus, as all these blessings were providing on the cross.

The apostle demonstrates that only those who are effectively dead to sin are justified and recommends Christians to be aware of this condition (Rom. 6:11).

Only those who were crucifying with Christ, planted with Him, buried by baptism in death and who rose with Him are justified.

The condition of being dead before God results from the penalty instituted in the divine alert (you will certainly die), as a result of judgment and condemnation. The condemnation brought enmity and separation, since God is life and everyone who exists apart from Him is dead. There is no darkness in God, because everyone who is darkness is separated from Him. As there is no communion between Light and darkness, it is clear that there is no communion between God (life) and men under condemnation (dead).

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What is it to be ‘alive’ and ‘dead’?

As the apostle, Paul declared that those who are dead are justified.  The answer to the four premises in question can only be in the phrase: “Because the one who is dead is justified from sin”.

Before we clarify the mystery above, we should check what ‘being dead ‘is and ‘being alive’.

The Bible establishes a relationship between ‘death’ and ‘life’. The relationship shows that it is impossible to be alive for sin and alive for God simultaneously. There is no way for man to assume both conditions (positions) simultaneously before God. That is, when man is alive to sin, he is dead to God, or, when he is alive to God, he is dead to sin.

Perhaps the reader will ask why it is not possible to be alive for sin and alive for God simultaneously.

It is not possible because of the following reasons:

“For it is Christ who died, or rather, who rose from the dead…” (Rom. 8:34)

Paul in his song of victory referred to the death of Christ. However, the Christ who died also rose from the dead. In the same way that those who believe are conformed to Christ in death (he dies with him), with him they also rise from the dead (or earlier).

It’s instant! That is, he who believes in Christ dies to sin and begins to live for God. Just as when he disobeyed divine determination, Adam immediately became dead to God, so too, those who believe in Christ are immediately resurrected with Christ, and begin to live for God.

We must keep in mind that God is Lord of all and of all things. God is Lord of the Living and the Dead, because for him, everyone lives “Now, God is not the God of the dead, but of the living; because for him all live”(Luke 20:38; 2 Tim 4: 1; Rom 14: 9).

These verses refer to the living and the dead, that is, it addresses both the death of the body and the immortality of the soul. Ex: Lazarus, the beggar, lived in this world and when he died, he only stopped living in this terrestrial tabernacle and started to live in eternity (Luke 16:20 -25). The rich man, who also died, was dead to God while he existed in this world, and when he died (he left the earthly tabernacle) he spent eternity in the condition of the dead (separated).

These are some references to the word death and possible uses that the Bible contains of the terms ‘death’ and ‘life’.

However, when the Bible says, “While we were still dead in our offenses, it quickened us together with Christ …” (Eph. 2: 5), it demonstrates that there is another use for the terms ‘death’ and ‘life’.

When man is without God in the world (without Christ) (Eph 2:12), he is dead to God. The condition ‘death’ of man is the result of the condemnation established there in the Garden of Eden, in Adam.

When God told the couple that on the day they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they would certainly die, a determination or warning was given (you will not eat), a time (on the day), the certainty of punishment (certainly), and the type of punishment (will die): death.

The judgment in Eden resulted in the condemnation of humanity! In other words, “The Judgment came from a single offense, in fact, to condemn …” (Rom. 5:16). Adam and Eve were createding alive for God, and after being condemned, they became dead before God.

The condition of being dead before God results from the penalty instituted in the divine alert (you will certainly die), because of judgment and condemnation. The condemnation brought enmity and separation, since God is life and everyone who exists apart from Him is dead. There is no darkness in God, because everyone who is darkness is separated from Him.

As there is no communion between Light and darkness, it is clear that there is no communion between God (life) and men under condemnation (dead).

Because ‘being’ dead before God, all the works that man does in this condition are tainting by sin. If you do good or bad deeds before men, they do not change the condition of the guilty man before God, because ‘good works’ are only achievable in God, who prepared them beforehand, for those who believe in Christ.

When sinning, Adam was condemned to death, and all men were condemned with him. As everyone dies, and it is certain that all have sinned “… so death has passed on to all men, because all have sinned” (Rom. 5:12).

Life is only possible in Jesus, because through Christ man reaches the gift of God, which is eternal life. Christ is man’s only access to God. If he accepts Christ, man becomes a son of the light, and will live in the light of God (communion).

So: death is the result of the condemnation that occurred in the garden of Eden, where all men became sinners. Life is the result of man’s reconciliation with God. Man is created again in true justice and holiness and begins to live for God (Eph 4:24).

We will need this concept later: The old man dies, is buried, and then a new man appears, created according to God in true justice and holiness (Eph 4:24).

Based on what we have just seen, it is clear that when the apostle Paul says that “… I am crucified with Christ …”, he refers to death with Christ and not his physical death.

When he says he lives (… and I live …), he expresses a new condition before God. He did not refer to his physical life.

In the second part of the verse, when he says: “… and the life I now live in the flesh…”, this ‘life’ refers to physical life.

“I’m already crucified with Christ; and I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh, I live in the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me ”(Gal 2:20)

When the apostle Paul claims that he is already crucified with Christ, he makes it clear that he died to sin, and that now his life is hidden with Christ in God (Christ lives in me). Paul ceased to live a life of ‘subjection’ to the law (Pharisaism), and went on to live his daily life (in the flesh) through faith in Jesus.

It is only possible for man to be in the condition of “living in Christ” after being crucified and buried with Christ.

“For the law of the Spirit of life, in Christ Jesus, delivered me from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8: 2)

The new life that man lives in Christ (life) cannot be shared when one is in sin (death), because sin is the cause of the condemnation of man without Christ. The life that God gives to man through faith in Christ frees him from the previous condition: sin (cause of judgment and condemnation) and death (penalty).

So that, by believing in Christ, man becomes partakers of his death, through the body of Christ that was delivered for sinners. The old man is killed when he is crucified with Christ (or, the man is circumcised with the circumcision of Christ, which is the stripping of the body of the flesh) (Col 2:11), and begins to live (new creature) through the Spirit Eternal, because of justice.

Thus, when the apostle demonstrates that the Christian is dead with Christ to sin, it is the same as saying that the Christians were alive through the Eternal Spirit.

“And if Christ is in you, the body is actually dead because of sin, but the spirit lives because of righteousness” (Rom. 8:10);

“For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col 3: 3)