§1992Justification has been merited for us by the Passion of Christ who offered himself on the cross as a living victim, holy and pleasing to God, and whose blood has become the instrument of atonement for the sins of all men. Justification is conferred in Baptism, the sacrament of faith. It conforms us to the righteousness of God, who makes us inwardly just by the power of his merc…

Those whom God effectually calleth, he also freely justifieth; not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous; not for anything wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ's sake alone; not by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them, as their ri…

Justification is an act of God's free grace, wherein he pardoneth all our sins, and accepteth us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone.

Whosoever will candidly consider each particular, will recognise the greatness of the gifts which were given by Him. For from Jacob sprang all the priests and Levites who minister at the altar of God. From him also was descended our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh. From him arose kings, princes, and rulers of the race of Judah. And all these were highly honoured and ma…

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. Calvin shows that Paul's conclusion is devastating: there is none righteous, no not one. The advantage of the Jew lay in having the oracles of God, but this did not exempt them from condemnation. By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified, for the law is a mirror that shows sin, not a ladder to climb to righteous…

If we believe that Christ redeemed men by His blood, we are forced to confess that all of man was lost; otherwise, we make Christ either wholly superfluous, or else the redeemer of the least valuable part of man only; which is blasphemy, and sacrilege. Man's salvation is wholly dependent on the working of God, not on the works or will of man.

Without grace, can man know anything? Without God's grace, can man do or wish any good? Without grace, can man love God above all things? Without grace, can man keep the commandments of the Law? Without grace, can he merit eternal life? Without grace, can man prepare himself for grace? Without grace, can he rise from sin? Without grace, can man avoid sin? Having received grace,…

Is grace fittingly divided into gratuitous grace and sanctifying grace? The division into operating and cooperating grace The division of it into prevenient and subsequent grace The division of gratuitous grace The comparison between sanctifying and gratuitous grace Article 1. Whether grace is fittingly divided into sanctifying grace and gratuitous grace? Objection 1. It would …

What is the justification of the ungodly? Is grace required for it? Is any movement of the free-will required? Is a movement of faith required? Is a movement of the free-will against sin required? Is the remission of sins to be reckoned with the foregoing? Is the justification of the ungodly a work of time or is sudden? The natural order of the things concurring to justificatio…

This disposition or preparation is followed by Justification itself, which is not remission of sins merely, but also the sanctification and renewal of the inward man, through the voluntary reception of the grace and of the gifts, whereby man of unjust becomes just, and of an enemy becomes a friend, that so he may be an heir according to hope of life everlasting. The causes of t…

When the Apostle says that man is justified by faith and freely, those words are to be understood in that sense which the perpetual consent of the Catholic Church hath held and expressed; to wit, that we are therefore said to be justified by faith, because faith is the beginning of human salvation, the foundation and root of all Justification; without which it is impossible to …

Justification is another word for pardon. It is the forgiveness of all our sins, and — what is necessarily implied therein — our acceptance with God. The price whereby this hath been procured for us is the blood and righteousness of Christ. The condition of it is faith, and faith alone — not works, not even evangelical obedience.

Q. How are you right with God? A. Only by true faith in Jesus Christ. Even though my conscience accuses me of having grievously sinned against all God's commandments and of never having kept any of them, and even though I am still inclined toward all evil, nevertheless, without my deserving it at all, out of sheer grace, God grants and credits to me the perfect satisfaction, ri…

The Synod rejects the errors of those who teach that what is involved in the new covenant of grace which God the Father made with humanity through the intervening death of Christ is not that we are justified before God and saved through faith, insofar as it accepts the merits of Christ, but rather that God, having withdrawn his demand for perfect obedience to the law, counts fa…

We believe that our blessedness lies in the forgiveness of our sins because of Jesus Christ, and that in it our righteousness before God is contained, as David and Paul teach us when they declare those people blessed to whom God grants righteousness apart from works. And the same apostle says that we are "justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Chris…

We teach that sinful man is justified before God (that is, absolved from all his sins and from the sentence of death) only by the grace of God, for the sake of Christ, through faith alone, without any merit of his own. For "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" and "are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus." Christ took…

Those whom God effectually calls He also freely justifies, not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous — not for anything wrought in them or done by them, but for Christ's sake alone; not by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them as their righteou…

We are accounted righteous before God only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our own works or deservings. Wherefore, that we are justified by faith, only, is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort.

This is the first and chief article: Jesus Christ, our God and Lord, died for our sins and was raised for our justification. He alone is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. This article cannot be yielded or conceded, for on it rests all that we teach and practice. Nothing in this article can be given up or compromised, even if heaven and earth and all things t…

The longest and most important article of the Apology. Melanchthon defends the Reformation teaching that sinners are justified freely by grace through faith in Christ, apart from works of the Law. Faith is not merely knowledge but trust (fiducia) in God's promise of mercy for Christ's sake. Justification is forensic — God declares the sinner righteous by imputing Christ's right…

We believe that the great gospel blessing which Christ secures to such as believe in Him is justification; that justification includes the pardon of sin, and the promise of eternal life on principles of righteousness; that it is bestowed not in consideration of any works of righteousness which we have done, but solely through faith in the Redeemer's blood; by virtue of which fa…

Justification is a free gift, purchased by the blood of Christ and received by faith alone. Spurgeon thunders against any system that mixes human merit with divine grace. If justification is by works, then Christ died in vain; if it is by grace, then boasting is excluded. The sinner contributes nothing to his justification except the sin from which he needs to be saved. God dec…