Justification by Faith
Justification is received by faith.
This doctrine defines Christian orthodoxy. Denial places one outside the historic faith.
What the traditions say
The article on which the church stands or falls. Justification is by grace alone through faith alone. Works are the fruit, never the root, of justification.
Justification is forensic — God declares the sinner righteous by imputing Christ's righteousness through faith alone. This is not a process but a legal verdict.
The Fathers affirmed salvation by grace through faith, though they did not formulate it in the forensic terms of the Reformation. Augustine's emphasis on grace profoundly shaped both Catholic and Protestant soteriology.
Trent affirmed justification by grace through faith but rejected "faith alone." Justification includes sanctification — it is transformative, not merely forensic. The 1999 Joint Declaration with Lutherans narrowed the gap.
Orthodoxy does not share the Western preoccupation with the forensic metaphor. Salvation is primarily theosis (deification), not a courtroom verdict. The faith-works debate is largely a Western problem.
Who binds this (creedal)
Every affiliated congregation inherits its denomination's position. Follow a chip to see the confession's language.
Key scriptures
- Acts 13:39 — And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.
- Eph 2:8 — For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
- Eph 2:9 — Not of works, lest any man should boast.
- Gal 2:16 — Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
- Gal 3:11 — But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.
- Gen 15:6 — And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
- Hab 2:4 — Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.
- Heb 10:38 — Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
- Isa 53:11 — He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
- Jas 2:24 — Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
- John 3:16 — For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
- Matt 5:20 — For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
- Phil 3:9 — And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
- Ps 32:1 — Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
- Rom 1:17 — For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
- Rom 3:28 — Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
- Rom 5:1 — Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
What the confessions say
Articles of the historic confessions that address this doctrine.
- Reformed Westminster Confession of Faith 11.2 — Of Justification
- Reformed Baptist 1689 London Baptist Confession 11.2 — Of Justification
- Lutheran Augsburg Confession Article 4 — Of Justification
- Reformed Westminster Confession of Faith 11.1 — Of Justification
- Roman Catholic Council of Trent (Canons) On Justification · Canon 9 — On Justification
- Anglican Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion Article 11 — Of the Justification of Man
The Church Fathers
The earliest Fathers who commented on the Scriptures above.
I have greatly rejoiced with you in our Lord Jesus Christ, because ye have followed the example of true love [as displayed by God], and have accompanied, as became you, those who were bound in chains, the fitting ornaments of saints, and which are indeed the diadems of the true elect of God and our Lord; and because the strong root of…
But the servants would then have been proved false, and not sent by the Lord, if Christ on His advent, by being found exactly such as He was previously announced, had not fulfilled their words. Wherefore He said, "Think not that I have come to destroy the law or the prophets; I came not to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto…
And if to Abraham on his believing it was counted for righteousness; and if we are the seed of Abraham, then we must also believe through hearing. For we are Israelites, who are convinced not by signs, but by hearing. Wherefore it is said, "Rejoice, O barren, that barest not; break forth and cry, thou that didst not travail with child:…
After the ancient examples of the patriarchs, let us equally pass on to the ancient documents of the legal Scriptures, that we may treat in order of all our canon. And since there are some who sometimes assert that they have nothing to do with the law (which Christ has not dissolved, but fulfilled), sometimes catch at such parts of the…
These things, then, being to come to pass, beloved, and the one week being divided into two parts, and the abomination of desolation being manifested then, and the two prophets and forerunners of the Lord having finished their course, and the whole world finally approaching the consummation, what remains but the coming of our Lord and…
"Being justified therefore by faith, let us have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we glory in the hope of the glory of God." By this he most plainly invites the one who has understood what it is to be justified by faith and not by works to…