Justified and Righteous

What do they mean

April 2025

 In the past, I have not paid much attention to the facts or meaning of the words justified and righteous. Those words held a back seat to the facts of being born again, saved by grace through faith, and forgiven when I became a Christian. Lately, I have been thinking about those words and their meanings. Why now, and why are they important? I am 77 years old and have been a Christian for many years, so why think about them now? Partly because I think the end is near and partly because I want to learn as much as I can from scripture.

Scripture warns us that the end is near (have you watched the news and weather lately?) and to be ready. I do believe the end is near, however, I also believe that many people who claim to be Christian may not be ready. This opinion is not a judgment call, just an observation from what I see, hear, and read. 

A recent study stated that among those who said they were Christian, only 16% said they believed in the Trinity of God. Of those who said they were born again Christian, the percentage was 48. What a sad commentary. Then there are weekly reports of pastors committing sinful (and many times illegal) acts with minors and women. And more and more churches are being filled to capacity, not because of accurate biblical teaching but because of easy beliefs, name-it-and-claim-it teachings, and a variety of fun things to do at church. There are also the social and watered-down gospel issues of the day that supersede the main focus of the true gospel. 

Some things I consider to be the reasons that people do not believe in who God really is are: pastors are afraid to teach the difficult passages of what is expected of Christians, people don’t take His words seriously, and people lack understanding of scripture and the fact that they ignore scriptures that state “not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 7:21-23).  

There is also the case of understanding or misunderstanding the meaning of being justified and being righteous (which should also be taken very seriously). 

Consider this: We are justified, declared righteous, at the moment of our salvation. Jesus finished the work required for our justification on the cross. “Since His blood has now justified us, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through Him!” (Romans 5:9). He was then “raised to life for our justification” (Romans 4:25)

Justification does not excuse our sin, ignore our sin, or endorse our sin. Our sin is fully punished by Jesus taking the penalty for us. He was our substitute (1 Peter 3:18). Because the wrath of God is satisfied in Christ (Isaiah 53:4–6), we are free from condemnation. However, the blood of Jesus on the cross does not give us the ability to do as we please and ignore the commands He has for us to follow. The fact is, if we ignore them, the consequences are devastating. 1 John 2:4 If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. There are no liars in heaven!

The Bible describes the righteous person as just or right, holding to God and trusting in Him (Psalm 33:18–22). Just what does that mean?

In our power, righteousness is not possible, and this is where Jesus and the cross come into the picture again.  Righteousness is possible for mankind, but only through the cleansing of sin by Jesus and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The only way Christians can obtain the righteousness of Christ is because “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) On the cross, Jesus exchanged our sin for His perfect righteousness so that we can one day stand before God and He will see not our sin, but the holy righteousness of the Lord Jesus. 

Maybe… not enough pastors are explaining to the flock that ignoring the serious, black-and-white, salvation-resting commands in scripture means that a person is not a true born-again Christ-follower, does not know the Lord, and will be told “I never knew you.” (Matthew 7:23)

Justification and righteousness are gifts from the grace of God (as are many other things) and should never be taken lightly.  

“Hellfire and brimstone preaching” may be just what is needed to get people on track, believers and non-believers alike!