For your sins

Christ suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust in order to lead men to God (1Pe 3:18). He is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2: 2), breaking down the barrier of enmity that existed between God and men. Once freed from Adam’s condemnation, man is able to do good works, for they are done only when one is in God (Is 26:12; John 3:21).

For your sins

I read an excerpt from Sermon No. 350, by Dr. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, under the title “A well-aimed shot at self-righteousness”, and I could not help commenting on a statement in the sermon.

The last sentence of the sermon caught my attention, which says: “Christ was punished for your sins before they were committed” Charles Haddon Spurgeon, excerpt from sermon No. 350 “A sure shot in self-righteousness”, taken from the web

Now, if Dr. Spurgeon considered the biblical text that says that Jesus is ‘the lamb that was slain since the foundation of the world’, in fact he should emphasize that Christ died before sin was introduced into the world (Rev 13: 8 ; Rom 5:12). However, as he claims that Jesus was punished before every Christian’s sin was committed individually, I understand that Dr. Spurgeon did not refer to verse 8, chapter 13 of the Book of Revelation.

Christ was punishing for the sin of all humankind, but who committed the offense that led all humankind to be under sin? Now, by the Scriptures we understand that sin comes from the offense (disobedience) of Adam, and not from the errors of conduct that men commit.

The punishment that brought peace was not due to errors of conduct made individually ’, since all men are generated in the condition of being alienated from God (sinners). Christ is the Lamb of God who died before the foundation of the world, that is, the lamb was offered before Adam’s offense took place.

The punishment that fell on Christ is not due to the conduct of men (sins committed), but to Adam’s offense. In Adam, men were made sinners, since by an offense came judgment and condemnation on all men, without exception (Rom. 5:18).

If sin (the condition of man without God) arises from the conduct of men, for justice to be established, necessarily salvation would only be possible through the conduct of men. It would be required that men do something good to ease their bad conduct; however, it would never be ‘justified’.

But the gospel message shows that by the offense of one man (Adam) all were condemned to death, and only by one man (Christ, the last Adam) did the gift of God’s grace abound over many (Rom. 5:15). When Jesus died for our sins, an act substitution took place: as Adam disobeyed, the last Adam was obedient until the ordeal.

The last sentence of the excerpt from Dr. Spurgeon’s sermon demonstrates that it was not considered that:

all men are sinners because the first father of mankind (Adam) sinned (Is 43:27);
that all men are formed in iniquity and conceived in sin (Ps 51: 5);
that all mankind has turned away from God since mother (Ps 58: 3);
that all men have been wrong since they were born (Ps 58: 3), because they entered through a wide door that gives access to a wide path that leads to perdition (Mt 7:13 -14);
that because they were sold as a slave to sin, no one transgressed according to Adam’s transgression (Rom. 5:14);
that the best of men is comparable to a thorn, and the upright is worse than a hedge of thorns (Mk 7: 4);
that all men have sinned and fall short of the glory of God because of the condemnation established in Adam;
That there is no righteous one, none at all, among the descendants of Adam (Rom. 3:10), etc.

What good or bad does a child do in his mother’s womb to be has conceived in sin? What sin does a child commit to walking ‘wrong’ since he was born? When and where did all men go astray and become filthy together? (Rom. 3:12) Wasn’t the loss of humanity through Adam’s offense?

In Adam, all men were made filthy together (Ps 53: 3), because Adam is the wide door through which all men enter at birth. Birth according to the flesh, blood and the will of the man is the wide door through which all men enter, turn aside and become unclean together (John 1:13).

What event made all men ‘together’ become unclean? Only Adam’s offense explains the fact that all men, in the same event, become unclean (together), since it is impossible for all men of countless ages to perform the same act together. Considering: Did Christ die because Cain killed Abel, or did Christ die because of Adam’s offense? Which of the events compromised the nature of all humanity? Cain’s act or Adam’s offense?

Note that Cain’s condemnation does not come from his criminal act, it stems from the condemnation in Adam. Jesus demonstrated that he did not come to condemn the world, but to save it, as it would be counterproductive to judge what is already condemned (John 3:18).

Christ was punishing because of the sin of humankind, however, sin does not refer to what men commit, rather it says of the offense that brought judgment and condemnation on all men, without distinction.

The actions of men under the yoke of sin is also called sin, since anyone who sins, because he is a slave to sin. The barrier of separation between God and men came about through Adam’s offense, and because of the offense in Eden, there is no one among the sons of men to do good. Why is there no one who does well? Because they have all gone astray and together they have become unclean. Therefore, because of Adam’s offense, everything that a man without Christ does is unclean.

Who from the unclean will take away what is pure? Nobody! (Job 14: 4) In other words, there is no one who does good because everyone is a slave to sin.

Now the slave of sin commits sin, since everything he does belongs to his master by right. The actions of the servants of sin are sinful because slaves to sin do them. That is why God has freed those who believe to be servants of righteousness (Rom. 6:18).

God’s children, on the other hand, cannot sin because they are born of God and the seed of God remains in them (1 John 3: 6 and 1 John 3: 9). Anyone who commits sin is of the devil, but those who believe in Christ belong to God (1Co 1:30; 1Jo 3:24; 1Jo 4:13), since they are the temple and abode of the Spirit (1Jo 3: 8).

Christ was manifested to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3: 5 and 1 John 3: 8), and all who are begotten of God abide in Him (1 John 3:24) and in God there is no sin (1 John 3: 5) . Now if there is no sin in God, it follows that all who are in God do not sin, since they were begotten from God and the seed of God remains in them.

A tree cannot bear two types of fruit. Thus, those who are born of the seed of God cannot produce fruit for God and the devil, just as it is impossible for a servant to serve two masters (Luke 16:13). Every plant planted by the Father bears much fruit, but it bears fruit only for God (Isaiah 61: 3; John 15: 5).

After dying to sin, the old master, it is up to the resurrected man to present himself to God as alive from the dead, and the members of his body as an instrument of justice (Rom. 6:13). The ‘living’ condition of the dead is acquired by faith in Christ, through regeneration (new birth). Through the new birth, man becomes alive from the dead, and it remains, therefore, to voluntarily present to God the members of his body as an instrument of justice.

Sin no longer reigns, for it no longer has dominion over those who believe (Rom. 6:14). The Christian must offer his members to serve righteousness, that is, to serve the One who sanctified them, since Christ is the justification and sanctification of Christians (Rom. 6:19; 1Co 1:30).

Men without God, on the other hand, exist without hope in this world, because they are like the unclean and everything they produce is unclean. There is no way for man without God to do well, because evil nature only produces badly.

“But we are all like the filthy, and all our righteousness’s like the filthy rag; and we all wither like a leaf, and our iniquities like a wind take us away ”(Isa 64: 6).

The prophet Isaias in describing the condition of his people compared them too:

The unclean – When did the people of Israel become unclean? When all went astray and together became unclean, that is, in Adam, the first Father of mankind (Ps 14: 3; Isa 43:27);
Justice as filthy rags – All works of justice of the filthy are comparable to filthy rags, which are not suitable for clothing. Although they were religious, the works of the people of Israel were works of iniquity, works of violence (Is 59: 6);
Wither like the leaf – There was no hope for the people of Israel, as the leaf was dead (Is 59:10);
Iniquities are like wind – Nothing Israel did could free them from this horrendous condition, since iniquity is comparable to the wind that snatches the leaf, that is, man cannot get rid of the lord of sin.

Christ, in his time, died for the wicked.

Sinners have sacrificed the Lamb of God since the foundation of the world.

“Because Christ, while we were still weak, died in due time for the wicked” (Rom. 5: 6);

“But God proves his love for us, in that Christ died for us, while we are still sinners” (Rom. 5: 8).

Now, Christ died for the slaves of sin and not for the ‘sins’ that the slaves of sin practice, as Dr. Spurgeon understood.

Christ died for sinners, therefore those who believe die together with Him. Christ died for all so that those who are quickened may no longer live for themselves, but live for the One who died and rose again (2Co 5:14).

Those who have risen with Christ are safe, since:

they are in Christ;
they are new Creatures;
the old things are gone;
everything has become new (2Co 5:17).

God reconciled with Himself those who believe through Christ and gave the living from the dead the ministry of reconciliation (2Co 15:18).

The living among the dead are lifting with the exhortation: do not receive the grace of God in vain (2 Cor. 6: 1). God heard you in an acceptable time, therefore, as an instrument of justice Christians has recommended too:

Do not give scandal at all – Why shouldn’t Christians give scandal? To be saved? No! Lest the ministry of reconciliation be censored;
Being recommendable in everything – In a lot of patience, in afflictions, in needs, in anguish, in whips, in riots, in riots, in work, in vigils, in fasts, in purity, in science, in long-suffering, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in unfeigned love, etc. (2Co 6: 3-6).

Christ was killed since the foundation of the world, even before all mankind became a slave to injustice due to the disobedience of one man who sinned: Adam.

Biblical definition of justification

Biblical justification is not a judicial act. There is no parallel between the justice of human courts and the justice of God. God’s Justification comes from a creative act of God, through which a new man is created according to God in true justice and holiness (Eph 4:24). Biblical justification does not resemble a judicial act, because even in a human court the guilty party is not found innocent.

Biblical definition of justification

Biblical JUSTIFICATION refers to the new condition pertinent to those who believe (rest) in Christ through the truth of the gospel (faith), as a result of a creative act of GOD, and the man generated in Adam, guilty before God, after dying with Christ is again created (made) a new righteous man, free from guilt and punishment.

It is known that the words ‘justified’ and ‘justice’ are translations of similar Greek words (verb dikaioõ, to make, declare just, justify; noun, dikaiosune, justice; adjective, Dikaios, just).

When God justifies man it is because He created a new man, that is, the new man was createding just, and for this reason, God declares him just and upright.

A judicial act or act of clemency would never establish the condition of righteousness (innocence) that is pertinent to the new creature. The new man generated in Christ is declared just because he is in fact free of guilt, that is, the new man is the son of Obedience, which contrasts with his old condition: guilty, damnable, son of wrath and disobedience.

For many theologians and among them we highlight E. H. Bancroft, the justification is:

‘The judicial act of God, whereby the one who places his trust in Christ is declared just in His eyes, and free from all guilt and punishment’ Bancroft, Emery H., Elementary Theology, 3rd Ed, 1960, Tenth Impression , 2001, Editora Batista Regular, Page 255.

For Scofield, although justified, the believer is still a sinner. God treats him as being righteous, but that does not mean that God makes someone righteous.

“Justification is an act of divine recognition and does not mean making a person righteous” Scofield, C. I., Scofield Bible with References, Romans 3: 28.

It appears that Justification is not a judicial act. There is no parallel between the justice of human courts and the justice of God. Justification comes from a creative act of God, through which the new man is generated, according to God in true justice and holiness (Eph 4:24). Justification is not a judicial act, because even in a human court the guilty person cannot be declareding innocent.

Justification is through the truth of the gospel, that is, through the faith (gospel) that was once giving to the saints. It is not the ‘faith’ that man deposits in God that justifies him, but the justification comes from the ‘gospel message’ (faith) that contains the power that gives life to the new man (Rom. 1:16 -17).

Such power is given to those who believe (faith), that is, who rest in Christ, the One who has the power to make the children of Adam children for Himself (John 1:12 -13). That is why Paul says that God’s justice is ‘faith in faith’.

For Scofield, God does not make a person fair, but only recognizes and treats him as being fair. Now the word translated by justification is to do, to make, to declare righteous, and in creating the new man in Christ, God makes all things new. In Christ a new man appears, with a new condition and in a new time!

The new man was createding in true justice and holiness, and therefore the statement that God makes falls on the new creature, never on the old man generated in Adam. God is not the man to lie. He does not declare falsehoods. Only the righteous are declared righteous. If God recognized and declared a person righteous, although he was not, it would not be true. However, we know that God is true.

“So that for two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have firm consolation, we who put our refuge in retaining the proposed hope” (Heb. 6:18).

Louis Berkhof in his Systematic Theology defines justification as a judicial act, which differs from the considerations above:

“Justification is a judicial act of God, in which He declares, based on the righteousness of Jesus Christ, that all claims of the law [both in terms of what the Law requires of us in the form of positive obedience and judgment of the sinner as to condemnation and death] are satisfied with a view to the sinner”. Idem.

Just as in a human court, the guilty person cannot being acquitting or free from punishment, so God does not justify the wicked, because such an act would be injustice.

“You will turn away from words of falsehood, and you will not kill the innocent and the just; for I will not justify the wicked” (Ex 23: 7).

That is why when believing in Christ; man dies with Christ, because the established penalty cannot pass from the person of the transgressor (Rom. 7: 4). Only the one who is dead is justified from sin “For he who is dead is justified from sin” (Rom. 6: 7). This means that God never declares the wicked righteous, that is, men born after the seed of Adam will never be justified by God. Only those born again in Christ are declared righteous, because they died with Christ, and a new creature resurfaces. God only declares righteous those who rise from the dead with Christ, for the new man was planting according to the incorruptible seed, the seed of the last Adam: Christ (Is 61: 3).

What is Justification?

Justification is neither forensic nor a judicial act of God, for which He forgives, exempts or treats man, who is not just, as if he were just. Now, if God treated an unjust as if he were just, he would actually be committing injustice. If God declared a sinner to be righteous, we would have a fictitious, imaginary statement, because God would be declaring something untrue about man.

What is Justification?

“For he who is dead is justified from sin” (Rom. 6: 7)

Theological definitions

It is common for theology to treat the doctrine of justification as a matter of forensic order, hence the expressions ‘God’s judicial act’, ‘divine recognition act’, ‘announce justice’, etc., in the definitions about the justification theme.

For Scofield, although justified, the believer is still a sinner. God recognizes and treats the believer as being righteous, however, this does not mean that God makes someone righteous.

“The believing sinner is justified, that is, treated as righteous (…) Justification is an act of divine recognition and does not mean making a person righteous …” Scofield Bible with References, Rom. 3:28.

For Charles C. Ryrie to justify means:

“Declare that someone is fair. Both the Hebrew (sadaq) and Greek (dikaioõ) words mean ‘announce’ or ‘pronounce’ a favorable verdict, declaring someone fair. This concept does not imply making someone just, but just announcing justice ”Ryrie, Charles Caldwel, Basic Theology – Available to everyone, translated by Jarbas Aragão – São Paulo: Christian World, 2004, p. 345.

George Eldon Ladd understands justification from the Greek term dikaioõ, as:

“‘ Declare fair ’, not making it fair’. As we will see, the main idea, in justification, is the declaration of God, the just judge, that the man who believes in Christ, although he may be a sinner, is just – he is seen as being just, because, in Christ, he arrived to a just relationship with God ”Ladd, George Eldon, New Testament Theology, translated by Darci Dusilek and Jussara M. Pinto, 1. Ed – São Paulo: Exodus, 97, p. 409.

Justification is neither forensic nor a judicial act by God for which He forgives, exempts and treats the man who is not just as if he were just. Now, if God treated an unjust as if he were just, he would actually be committing injustice. If God declared a sinner to be righteous, we would have a fictitious, imaginary statement, because God would be declaring something untrue about man.

The essence of the doctrine of justification is that God creates a new man in true justice and holiness and declares him to be just because that new man is actually just. God does not work with a fictitious, imaginary justice, to the point of treating as just the one who is not really just.

For reform theologians, justification is a judicial act of God without any change in their life, that is, God does not change the condition of man. There lies the deception, for God only justifies those who are born again (John 3: 3). Now, if man is again begotten according to God, this means that God changed the condition of man (1 Peter 1: 3 and 23).

The condition of the believer is completely different from when he did not believe in Christ. Before believing, man is subject to the power of darkness and, after believing, he is transported to the kingdom of the Son of his love “Who brought us out of the power of darkness, and transported us to the kingdom of the Son of his love” (Cl 1 : 13). When in the power of darkness man was alive to sin, therefore, he will never be declared righteous, but the dead to sin are justified from sin.

Now, the legal systems that we find in the courts deal with issues and relationships that have materiality among the living, whereas the doctrine of justification does not involve forensic principles, because only those who are dead to sin are justified from sin!

The Bible demonstrates that both Jews and Gentiles are saved by the grace of God revealed in Christ Jesus. To be saved by the grace of God is the same as to be saved through faith, for Jesus is the manifest faith (Gal 3:23). Jesus is the firm foundation on which man has complete trust in God and is justified (Heb 11: 1; 2 Cor 3: 4; Col 1:22).

Daniel B. Pecota stated that:

“Faith is never the foundation of justification. The New Testament never claims that justification is dia pistin (“in exchange for faith”), but always pisteos dia, (“through faith”) “.

Now, if we understand that Christ is the faith that was to be manifested, it follows that Christ (faith) was, is and always will be the foundation of justification. The confusion between ‘dia pistin’ (trust in the truth) and ‘dia pisteos’ (the truth itself) is due to a poor reading of the biblical passages, since Christ is the firm foundation on which men who believe become pleasing to God , because justification is through Christ (pisteos day).

The biggest problem with the reformers’ doctrine of justification is in trying to dissociate the doctrine of justification from the doctrine of regeneration. Without regeneration, there is no justification and there is no justification apart from regeneration. When man is made according to flesh and blood, there is God’s verdict: guilty, because this is the condition of man-made according to flesh (John 1:12). However, when man is generated again (regenerated), the verdict that God gives is justified, because the person is actually just.

Condemnation in Adam

The first step in understanding the doctrine of justification is to understand that all men have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). This means that, because of Adam’s offense, all men together, when on Adam’s ‘thigh’, became unclean and dead to God (Ps 53: 3; Ps 14: 3). After Adam’s offense, all of his descendants began to live for sin and were dead (alienated, separated) to God.

In speaking of this condition inherited from Adam, the apostle Paul said that all men (Jews and Gentiles) were by nature children of wrath (Eph. 2: 3). Why children of wrath? Because they were children of Adam’s disobedience “Let no one deceive you with empty words; because of these things the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience”(Eph. 5: 6).

Because of Adam’s offense sin entered the world, and because of his disobedience all men are sinners “Therefore, as sin entered the world through sin, and death through sin, so death passed on to all that is why all have sinned ”(Rom. 5:12).

All men born according to the flesh are sinners because Adam’s condemnation (death) passed to all his descendants.

Many are unaware that men are sinners because of the condemnation inherited from Adam, and consider that men are sinners because of behavioral issues arising from the knowledge of good and evil.

It is necessary to see Adam’s offense well from the knowledge acquired from the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. While the knowledge of good and evil was not what separated man from God (sin), because God knows good and evil (Gen. 3:22), disobedience brought sin (division, separation, alienation) by cause of the law that said: you will surely die (Gen. 2:17).

Sin proved to be excessively evil because through holy, just and good law sin dominated and killed man (Rom. 7:13). Without the penalty of the law: ‘you will surely die’, sin would have no power to dominate man, but through the power of the law (you will certainly die) sin found occasion and killed man (Rom. 7:11). The law given in Eden was holy, just and good because it warned man of the consequences of disobedience (you will not eat of it, for the day you eat of it, you will surely die).

Because of offense, men are formed in iniquity and conceived in sin: (Ps 51: 5). From the mother (from the beginning) men turn away from God (Ps 58: 3), the best of men is comparable to a thorn, and the straightest to a fence made of thorns (Mk 7: 4). It is because of Adam’s offense that the verdict was hearding: guilty! (Rom 3:23)

Hence Job’s question: “Who can bring the pure out of the unclean? No one”(Job 14: 4). However, what is impossible with men is possible with God, because He has the power to make everything new: “Jesus, however, looking at them, said: For men it is impossible, but not for God, because for God all things are possible” (Mark 10:27).

Justification is God’s answer to the most important of all human questions: How can a person become acceptable before God? The answer is clear in the New Testament, especially in the following order of Jesus Christ: “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who is not born again cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3: 3). It is necessary to be born of water and the Spirit, for what is born of the flesh is carnal, but those born of the Spirit are spiritual (Rom. 8: 1).

The problem of the separation between God and men (sin) stems from natural birth (1Co 15:22), and not from the behavior of men. Sin was relateding to man’s fallen nature, and not to his behavior in society.

The solution to the condemnation that man achieves in justification in Christ comes from the power of God, and not from a judicial act. First, because it was enough for man to disobey the Creator for the judgment of condemnation to be established: the death (separation) of all men (Rom. 5:18). Second, because when Jesus calls men to take up his own cross, he makes it clear that in order to be reconciled between God and men it is necessary to suffer the penalty imposed: death. In death with Christ justice is satisfied, because the penalty is nothing more than the person of the transgressor is (Mt 10:38; 1Co 15:36; 2Co 4:14).

When a paraplegic man was placed in front of Jesus, He said: “Now that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins (he said to the paralytic), I say to you, Arise, take your bed, and go to your house” (Mk 2:10 -11). This line from Jesus demonstrates that the classic passage from Romans 3, verses 21 to 25 on justification does not involve forensic concepts.

Forgiving sins is not a legal demand; it is a question of power! Only those who have power over clay can forgive sins to make vessels of honor out of the same mass (Rom 9:21). That is why the apostle Paul was not ashamed of the gospel, for the gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes (Rom. 1:16).

In talking about this issue with Job, God makes it clear that, for man to be able to declare himself righteous, it would be necessary to have arms like God’s and to thunder like the Most High. It would be necessary to dress up in glory and splendor and to dress in honor and majesty. He should be able to pour out his wrath by crushing the wicked in his place. Only by meeting all the requirements listed above would it be possible for man to save himself, (Job 40: 8-14).

However, since man does not have this power described by God, he will never be able to declare himself righteous or save himself.

The Son of man, Jesus Christ, on the other hand, can declare man righteous, because He Himself clothed himself with glory and majesty by returning to glory with the Father “And now, Father, glorify me with yourself, with that glory that I had with you before the world existed ” (John 17: 5); “Gird your sword to your thigh, O mighty one, with your glory and your majesty” (Ps 45: 3).

Fair judge

The second step in understanding the doctrine of justification is to understand that there is no way for God to declare those who are condemned free from guilt. Just God cannot let the penalty imposed on wrongdoers be applied to them.

God never declares (justifies) righteous the one who is wicked “You will turn away from false words, and you will not kill the innocent and the righteous; for I will not justify the wicked “(Ex 23: 7).

God never treats the wicked as if he were just “Far be it from you to do such a thing, to kill the righteous with the wicked; let the righteous be like the wicked, far from you. Would not the Judge of all the earth do justice? ” (Gen. 18:25).

God will never make sure that the penalty imposed on the offender is giving to another, as it reads, “The soul that sins, it will die; the son will not take the father’s iniquity, nor the father will take the son’s iniquity. The righteousness of the righteous will rest on him and the wickedness of the wicked will fall on him” (Eze 18:20).

When Jesus told Nicodemus that it is necessary for man to be born again, all the above questions were considering, as Jesus well knew that God never declares those born according to the flesh of Adam free from guilt.

When natural birth, man was madding a sinner, a vessel to be discouraged, therefore, a child of wrath and disobedience. To declare man free from sin, he must first die, because if he does not die he will never be able to live for God “Because he who is dead is justified Of sin” (Rom. 6: 7); “Foolish! What you sow is not quickened unless you die first” (1Co 15:36).

Christ died for sinners – the just for the unjust – but whoever does not eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ will not have life in himself, that is, it is essential for man to be a participant in the death of Christ

“Because Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, to lead us to God; mortified, indeed, in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit” (1Pe 3:18);

“Jesus therefore said to them, Verily, verily, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you will have no life in yourself” (John 6:53).

Eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Christ is the same as believing in Him (John 6:35, 47). Believing in Christ is the same as being crucifying with Him.

Anyone who believes is buried with Him and stops living for sin and starts living for God

“I am already crucified with Christ; and I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; and the life that I now live in the flesh, I live in the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me” (Gal 2:20; Rom. 6: 4).

The man who believes in Christ admits that he is guilty of death because of Adam’s offense. It implicitly admits that God is just when he speaks and is pure when he judges Adam’s descendants as guilty (Ps 51: 4). He admits that only Christ has the power to create a new man by resurrecting from the dead, so that the one who is burieding with Him resurrects a new creature.

New man in Christ

The last step in understanding justification is to understand that from the new birth comes a new creature created in true justice and holiness “So, if anyone is in Christ, a new creature is; old things are gone; behold, everything has become new” (2Co 5:17; Eph 4:24). This new creature is declareding righteous because effectively God created it again just and blameless before Him.

The man who believes in Christ is created a new partaker of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1: 4), for the old man was crucified and the body that belonged to sin undone. After being burieding with Christ in the likeness of his death, man resurrects a new creature “Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, so that the body of sin may be undone, so that we no longer serve sin” (Rom 6: 6).

Through the gospel, God not only declares man righteous, but also creates the new essentially righteous man. Unlike what Dr. Scofield claims, that God only declares the sinner righteous, but does not make him righteous.

The Bible states that God creates the new man in true justice and holiness (Eph 4:24), therefore, Justification comes from a creative act of God, whereby the new man is created a participant in the divine nature. Biblical justification refers to the condition of those who are generating a new through the truth of the gospel (faith): free from guilt or condemnation.

Don´t condemnation for those who are in Christ.

Why is there no condemnation?

The answer lies in the fact that staff ‘is in Christ’, because those who are in Christ are new creatures. “THEREFORE, now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” (Rom 8: 1),“So, if anyone is in Christ, a new creature is; old things are gone; behold, everything has become new ”(2Co 5:17).

The justification stems from the new condition of those who are in Christ, because to be in Christ is to be a new creature “And if Christ is in you, the body is actually dead because of sin, but the spirit lives because of justice. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit who dwells in you ”(Rom. 8:10-11).

Give the question of the apostle Paul: “For if we, who seek to be justified in Christ, we too are found to be sinners, is Christ the minister of sin? Not at all”(Gal 2:17). Now Christ is a minister of righteousness, and in no way a minister of sin, therefore, he who is justified by Christ is not found to be a sinner, for he is dead to sin “For he who is dead is justified from sin” (Rom. 6: 7).

When the apostle Paul says: God justifies them! “Who will bring an accusation against God’s chosen ones? It is God who justifies them ”(Rom. 8:33), he was quite sure that it was not a forensic issue, because in a court he only declares what it is, since they do not have the power to change the condition of those who appear before the judges.

When he say that God who justifies. the apostle Paul affirms the power of God that creates a new man.

God declares man righteous because there is no condemnation for those who are new creatures. God did not transfer the condition of the old man to Christ, but the old man was crucified and undone, so that from the dead new creatures arose who are seated with Christ for the glory of God the Father, and no condemnation weighs on them.

Christians are declareding righteous because they have been madding righteous (dikaioõ) by the power that is in the gospel, by which man is a participant in the body of Christ, because he died and rose again with Christ as a holy, blameless and blameless “In the body of his flesh, by death, to present you holy and blameless and blameless “before him” (Col 1:22; Eph 2: 6; Col 3: 1).

When Paul says: “Because you are already dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col 3: 3), it means that the Christian is justified from sin, that is, dead to sin (Rom. 6: 1 – 11), and I live for God “So we were buried with him by baptism in death; so that, as Christ was raised from the dead, by the glory of the Father, so may we also walk in newness of life ”(Rom. 6: 4).

Jesus was delivering by God to die because of the sin of humanity, because it is necessary for men to die to sin in order to live for God. That is why Christ Jesus rose, so that those who rise with Him may be declareding righteous. Without dying there is no resurrection, without resurrection there is no justification “Who was delivered for our sins, and rose for our justification” (Rom. 4:25).