Episode 314: I’m Talkin. . .Justification

I’m Talkin’, episode 314, for April 21st, 2024.

This is Joel from the I’m Talkin’ microcast, where I share my thoughts on a topic that has piqued my interest this past week.

This week we’re talking justification.

Of all the church words that I’ve been doing over the past weeks, and probably for a few more, depending on if I can think of more words, this one may be the weaker church word of them all, maybe, and not weak in that it doesn’t have significant meaning, but weak in the sense that the world uses this word as well.

It is actually a word that the world likes.

It’s something that they rely on to prove what they’re doing is correct, and really to justify themselves, so very different meaning, because it allows us as humans in the world to do things that maybe we shouldn’t be doing, but we justify them.

Because of that, we say it’s a justification for our actions, because someone else wronged us, or because this certain thing happened, or because it was a moment of weakness, whatever it happens to be, and the rules for doing something are based on our own definition and thoughts of justification, and therein lies the challenge for those of us who call ourselves Christians.

Very rarely does personal justification carry the weight that we think it does, because we are flawed, sinful human beings, and so, because of that, many in the Christian community say that justification is, or can be defined as, just as if I’d never sinned, and while I kind of understand that, and in a sense, you could say that, I’ve never really liked that definition or that use of the word, because it minimizes the idea of Christian justification.

So a couple definitions or ideas to get out of the way first.

The fact is that justification in the Christian sense happens in a moment in time.

It is instantaneous.

It requires no work on our part.

There’s nothing that we can do to justify ourselves.

It is fully because of the work of Jesus on the cross and his act of obedience to his Father God, and the reality is that holy God and sinful man cannot be in a relationship because of that.

God is holy and sinless, and we are sinful, and so I don’t like to say just as if I’d never sinned, because the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, his blood that covers my sin, that even though I have been and continue to be a sinner, God’s blood justifies me so that I can have a relationship with a holy God.

It makes me look pure to a holy God, and that’s the thing that’s so interesting, is because God knows that I’m a sinner, and so that hasn’t changed, but through the blood of Jesus Christ and his atoning work, if we look back at last week’s word, I can now have a relationship with God the Father through Jesus Christ the Son in the power of the Holy Spirit, and that is a work that is instantaneous because of the cross, and so while we have justification as Christians, don’t minimize it by thinking it didn’t take work from somebody, that it didn’t take pain from somebody, that it didn’t take life-giving blood from somebody.

Justification is a very important word in our theology, and it took the hard, sweating drops of blood, pain of a crucifixion work on the cross of our Savior Jesus Christ so that we can stand justified before a holy God.

Until next week, this is Joel from the I’m Talking Microcast.

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