Ptr. Reyson Ventura
The doctrine of justification by faith is one of the most essential and multifaceted truths of the
atonement. It answers the most foundational question any sinner before a holy God can ask:
how can the guilty be declared righteous? Three biblical passages — Romans 3, Romans 5,
and Titus 3 — unfold what Christ’s atoning work has secured for all who trust in him.
1. Romans 3:21–31. In Romans 3:21–31, Paul mentions key themes in relation to
understanding the doctrine of justification. First, God’s righteousness is both revelatory and
redemptive in nature. God’s act of showing his justice and his divine pronouncement upon guilty
sinners as righteous breaks in and is embodied in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
Second, Paul highlights that this declarative and redemptive act of God is only through the
atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ by faith. To be righteous before God is to trust in the
person and work of the Son, Jesus Christ, who revealed God and his redemptive work. Third,
justification by faith in Jesus and in his redemptive work is crucial in the biblical assertion of the
oneness of God — that God is both the God of the Jews and the Gentiles. So, salvation is
available only by the provision of this one God through faith in the one Savior, Jesus Christ.
2. Romans 5:15–21. Further, the doctrine of justification by faith in Christ is not only a
pronouncement of God upon guilty and condemned sinners that they are righteous before him
through Jesus by grace (Rom 5:15–17). It is important to note that justification is a real-life and
here-and-now experience of that life through and by union with Christ. Note that Paul argues all
humanity is condemned and experienced death because of their union with the first Adam. This
is not only a pronouncement of God’s judgment but a real-life experience. So, in Jesus Christ’s
obedience, as the second Adam, those who are united with him are not only declared righteous
before God but experience the here-and-now of eternal life (Rom 5:17, 21).
3. Titus 3:4–7. Finally, the doctrine of justification in Titus 3:4–7 is revealed as a work of the
Trinitarian God — the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father saved us out of his
mercy and grace, not on the basis of our works. The Son pours out on us the Holy Spirit
through his death and resurrection. The Holy Spirit washed and cleansed us from our sins and
gave us life. Justification is also tightly connected with our adoption as heirs of that eternal hope
and life through Christ. As children of God through Christ, we are called to live a life that honors
God by edifying the body of Christ and being a living witness to our neighbors that we are God’s
righteous children by his grace (Titus 3:1–3, 8–11). In other words, justification has ethical and
ecclesiastical implications.
What a remarkable gift the atonement has secured: declared righteous before a holy God,
adopted as his heirs, and sent into the world as living witnesses of his grace. To the Trinitarian
God who has accomplished this for us — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — be all the glory.