This is the age-old question that Bildad asked Job. The answer to this all-important question is, “It is God who justifies.” (Romans 8:33).
The context is found in Job 25:4-6 ESV. “How then can man be in the right before God? How can he who is born of a woman be pure? Behold, even the moon is not bright, and the stars are not pure in his eyes; how much less man, who is a maggot, and the son of man, who is a worm!”
The word justification in the Bible means that a person who trusts Jesus Christ as Savior, is forgiven of his sins, and made righteous by God’s grace. “By grace you have been saved.” (Ephesians 2:5). No person can justify another person. It is exclusively God who justifies the sinner.
Each of us must fully realize and understand that sin is directly against God. Psalm 51 is a psalm of penitence by King David when the prophet Nathan confronted him about his sin with Bathsheba. David confessed to God, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.” (Psalm 51:4).
A person is not saved because of good deeds. The Scripture says, “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:4-7).
“God our Savior . . . saved us.” Mortal man is a sinner and desperately in need of a Savior to be saved from the guilt and penalty of all his sins. God according to his own mercy, has provided salvation for us in the Person of His Son Jesus Christ and through His shed blood and death on the Cross.
It must be understood that it’s “not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy” He saved us. Works done by us in righteousness will not save us. Salvation is solely by God’s grace. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8,9).
“There is not anything we could possibly say or do that would motivate God to save us.” Dr Charles Stanley. “He offers us salvation completely because of His mighty grace, which was displayed on the Cross (Romans 11:6). He cleanses us, imparts us with a new nature, and gives us eternal life because of His great love for us.” (The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible NKJV p. 1480).
Romans 11:6 as given by Dr Stanley reads: “But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.”
William MacDonald explains being justified by God’s grace: “The immediate result of our regeneration is that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, God reckons us righteous by an act of amazing grace. And we become heirs of all that God has prepared for those who love Him. Everything that is included in being with Christ and like Him for all eternity is our hope.” (Believer’s Bible Commentary NKJB, Thomas Nelson Publishers Nashville, TN p. 2144).
We can therefore conclude that a man can be justified with God. Absolutely! There’s no other way for a sinful man to have peace with the righteous God. The Scripture makes it clear. “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand.” (Romans 5:1,2).
Anyone who accepts the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior is justified, which means he or she is declared righteous by God because Jesus Christ died to pay the penalty for their sins. The Bible says, “For our sake [God] made [Jesus] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Justification is an act of divine reckoning and does not mean to make a person righteous. Firstly, we are justified by God’s grace. Secondly, it is through the redemptive work Jesus on the Cross. Romans 3:24 says we “are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Thirdly, it is by faith alone through Christ alone, and not by works. Romans 3:28 says, “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.”
Justification can therefore be proclaimed as a divine act of God whereby He declares and treats as righteous anyone who believes in Jesus Christ as their Savior. This is guaranteed by God since it is God alone who justifies the believing sinner.
No one can change the standing of the justified believer in Christ Jesus. “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. (Romans 8:33). Also “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh (but according to the Spirit). For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:1,2).