Devotion 3 – Our Identity in Christ - Justification
To be “in Christ” is the most basic identity as a Christian. In fact, all other essential components of our identity are based on or drawn from this identity. To be ‘justified’ is another important component of our identity which we need to understand well. It is the very heart of the gospel and one identity that Satan always try to confuse us on. But what does it really mean to be justified?
Rom.5:1 - “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”
Justified is a legal word, it means one has been declared ‘right’ according to the appropriate law. And in the kingdom of God, to be justified means that one has been declared ‘righteous’ by God with respect to His law. But how can God declare us righteous with respect to His law when in reality, we continue to disobey it on a regular basis?
Gal.3:10 – “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.”
And there is no way we can justify ourselves because we simply cannot keep all the laws of God. And this verse states very clearly that we can only be justified by the works of the law through perfect obedience to all the requirements of God’s law.
Christ our Justification
2 Cor.5:21 – “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Jesus did not have a sinful nature like us as He was not descended from Adam. In Him there is no sin (1 Jn.3:5). Jesus, in His humanity, is absolutely sinless, infinite in holiness precisely the same as the Father is infinite in holiness.
Yet, in the plan and purpose of God, He was “made…to be sin for us”, that is He came to bear the weight and guilt of our sin. Every sin that we commit in thought, word, deed and motive was heaped upon him. He came to bear all our sins so we can walk away righteous.
1 Pet.2:23-24 – “He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness…”
God made Jesus to be sin so that we might become the righteousness of God. This is what it means to be justified. Hence, to be justified can also mean ‘just as if I had never sinned’. Our sins are forgiven because they are charged to Christ and the perfect righteousness of Christ was then fully credited to us. What a great divine exchange!
How can we be Justified?
Phil.3:9 - “not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith”
The divine exchange can only be possible by exercising faith in Jesus Christ. However, it is imperative to understand that this faith works like two sides of a coin – ‘renunciation & reliance’. We must first renounce any trust in our own righteousness and rely completely on the finished work of Christ.
Gal.2:20 – “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
Like Paul, we need to see that justification is not only a past event but also a present reality. Every day, we need to look beyond ourselves to Christ and His finished work and see ourselves righteous in the sight of God because of our union with Him - we are in Christ!
Unfortunately, this is not a reality for many of us. In our good days, we think God must surely be pleased with us and smiling at us because we have walked justly and lived righteously. However, on bad days, we tend to think God must be very angry with us and that we have lost favour with Him because of our sins. We often forgot that He no longer counts our sins against us because Jesus has already borne all sin in His body on the cross.
We are not suggesting that we should not take our sins seriously. Unquestionably, we need to confess and repent of our sins. But in order to experience the reality of our justification daily, we need to be conscious of our identity in Christ. We must learn to preach the gospel of the good news to ourselves every day. We need to constantly declare to our own souls that we are justified, we are righteous before God because God has charged our sin to Christ and credited to us His perfect righteousness. This is our true spiritual identity!
