Justification by Faith – Perfect in God’s Eyes, as a Free Gift
Justification by faith is the heart of the good news: perfect forgiveness and righteousness in God’s eyes, as a free gift.
(Acts 17:11: Please learn to do your own Bible studies like this one – here.)
The Essence and Result of What Jesus Did for Us on the Cross
Perfect eternal forgiveness, righteousness, and justification by confession of faith alone, through grace alone, through the blood, death, and cross of Jesus alone. The pure perfection in the eyes of God – for free – as a free gift from the heart of the Father.
Definition of the word: Grace
Undeserved complete forgiveness for free – enabling us to live the Christian life by the Holy Spirit now living in us.
About this subject
An absolutely necessary foundation to know that you know that you know in life is the doctrine of righteousness by faith / justification / perfection and holiness by faith alone, through grace alone, through the blood, death, and cross of Jesus Christ alone.
I became a Christian when I understood this
The truth here is that it is the goodness of God that leads us to think correctly about God (Romans 2:4). This gift from God – this package from God – is standing in front of you, ready for you now – yes, right now – waiting for you to believe it, to receive it, thereby unpacking and opening it to experience it personally. That is how I became a Christian. I understood that Jesus knows all my sin, all my pride and impurity, all my egotism and shame, and yet – still – He knows it and knew it, and He still fixed it, forgave it, and already before I realized it, completely loves me. Now that perfect love drives me to Him – into His loving arms – and from there (from complete, perfect sonship and complete acceptance) I now willingly, gladly, and excitedly choose to live out the love I got, the peace I got, the forgiveness I received.
This, Right Here, Is the Best News Ever
Understanding the crazy, absolute love, forgiveness, and unity with God the Father through what Jesus did for us – enabling us to now receive the peace of the Holy Spirit as He, God’s own Spirit, can now move in and live in us, and we become the very temple and living house of God on earth through faith – is what we all were made for, what we long for, the very core heart of the meaning of life! This is the New Covenant by the blood of Jesus – established for us by God Himself. We were not involved at all in establishing this free, perfect gift package from God to us. He fixed it and made it by Himself, in Himself – so we could not mess up the perfection of the gift.
The consequence of this gift of restoration is INTIMATE FRIENDSHIP WITH OUR FATHER! We destroy it by trying to deserve it – so let’s fully enjoy it, with no condemnation, faultfinding, or accusation, for that is not from the Father. He will rebuke us – but not to condemn; to get us into Him and to work out our salvation radically following Him – for we never want to get away from His sweet love.
So – dear, dear friend reading this – please understand that to the same extent that Jesus IS light (like a million suns), gives life to all that is alive, and IS truth – He is also love. And that pure, unfiltered, unstoppable, all-consuming fire of love is directed toward you – and proven in action in the most extreme suffering ever, on the cross. He is stretching out His arms wide toward you and says, like a Father to a child: Friends? Do you want to be friends with Me? I want to be best friends with you. Do you want to respond to that call? For it is true and believable.
Now when we are rooted and established in that truth – that we are still re-loved, forgiven, and given peace, holiness, and perfection for free – then we live that love out. We willingly and gladly follow Him by the Spirit living in us. We let ourselves be transformed to live and work out the character of God, who lives inside us and changes us from the inside out. We obey Him as best we possibly can – for He is love, and His commands are all pure love in action. Now we become healthy “Action Christians” – rooted in the truth of the depth of the love of God (Ephesians 3:17).
What the Bible Says – Please Read These Scriptures in Context
Here are some of the many hundreds of Scriptures from the wonderful life manual of the Bible that deal with this. The words of God in the Bible stand as fire, truth, and revelation forever – please drink from this well of the eternal water of life:
The problem: the need for perfect forgiveness from God
But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Matthew 5:28
For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.
Matthew 15:19
Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Matthew 5:48
It is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
1 Peter 1:16
All have sinned (miss the mark) and fall short of the glory (honor) of God.
Romans 3:23
Very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate (the Holy Spirit) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
John 16:7-11
What is the solution?
Old Testament words by God – and God can never take back a word He says, for He speaks, and it is so; for He is truth, and so His words are eternal truth:
And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
Genesis 2:16-17
For the wages (consequences) of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23
In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
Hebrews 9:22
For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.
Leviticus 17:11
Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole. (See also Deuteronomy 21:23.)
Galatians 3:13
“The time has come,” Jesus said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent (think differently = correctly) and believe the good news!”
Mark 1:15
God made him (Jesus) who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
2 Corinthians 5:21
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.
Colossians 2:13-14
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9
Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
James 2:10
But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands… He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.
Hebrews 9:11-12
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.
Romans 10:9-10
Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again… no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.
John 3:3-5
By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
John 7:39
The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”
Romans 8:15
Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”
Galatians 4:6
I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard?
Galatians 3:2
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!
Galatians 2:20-21
The problem and the solution in one
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
1 John 1:7-10
But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known… This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus… For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.
Romans 3:21-28
Please read the whole passage, Romans 3:9-28, which begins: “There is no one righteous, not even one.”
How do we live this God-life in a body that is still decaying, among demons and people who are not yet born again?
The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.
Romans 8:6
Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
Galatians 6:8
For further study, please see:
Again – What Does All This Mean?
It means that in the eyes of God the Father, when you simply believe in Jesus, you are accounted and judged as absolutely loved and spotlessly clean and perfect. The only… (please read this again) the only (!!!) requirement to achieve that status is to choose to repent (= think correctly), which is to agree with and submit to the wonderful truth that Jesus died for you, taking on Himself all the sin of the entire world for all eternity – solely based on His love and complete goodness of heart for you – paying for the sin, rebellion, and evil that we humans, both in our genealogy and personally as adults, have done.
Now all sin is on Jesus – forever. This means the truth is that there is none on you. The requirement to walk in it, experience it, and be filled with the peace and presence of God is that you agree with this, receive it, and believe it personally. No one else can do this for you. Why? The sin you have done in your body must be punished in a body – and it was done in His, out of love for you. You choose whether you will receive the judgment of your sin on yourself or allow Jesus (God in the flesh, the Creator of the universe) to serve you by taking your sin on Himself – entirely, forever.
So – if Jesus has taken all your sin – how much sin is left on you? Yes – the correct answer is: Nothing.
Does that mean you are 100% clean and perfect when God judges you? Yes. God is “blinded” to your sin by Jesus. This was the plan – so God could judge with truth and perfection according to His personality, yet you could go to Heaven through faith.
So, are you then, in the eyes of God, sinful when He sees you through what Jesus did? No. What are you then? You are as perfect as God Himself – in His eyes. He is “legally blinded” by the cross, blood, and death of Jesus – if you will only receive it, believe it, and stand on it. According to Galatians 2:21, we can add nothing and take away nothing from perfection. This makes mathematical sense! Either we are absolutely perfect by faith – or we are absolutely not. As legally perfect, can we then earn rewards by choosing to live that out wholeheartedly – because God first loves us wholeheartedly? Yes! This is about the two separate judgments – see more here: Understanding the Two Judgments of God.
So, we have a righteousness, a perfection, a holiness which is not our own; it is the free gift of God. He paid a real price for it. This love of God is proven in action through real suffering and a time of real rejection between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They all felt the separation! (Daddy and Holy Spirit – I am so sorry for not seeing how you suffered the separation from your Son out of love for me.) This is an eternal act. It continually cleanses you as you continually believe in it. And how do you know that you believe and that the Holy Spirit lives in you? You just know that you know that you know – deep inside, in your heart, by the Spirit. And it is for all people everywhere. It is the New Covenant by the blood of Jesus. It stands eternally, and the offer lasts until we die or until Judgment Day, when Jesus will come back and judge all.
So, we can say with absolute humility, truthfulness, and love: I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. It is not my own good works that make me a child of God – it is grace through faith (my choice). It is the free gift of God.
On this basis alone we come boldly before the Father as fully accepted kids. We have peace with God through Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit can now come and live inside us, and we are born again by the Spirit of God – for God can only live with someone who is holy and perfect.
So much Scripture backs this up all over the Old Testament, the Gospels, and the rest of the New Testament. It is called the red thread throughout the Bible that ties it all together.
Either the blood and death of Jesus cleanse 100% and are all that is needed – or we have to fulfill the entire law of Moses and all the laws of Jesus to 100% perfection to get to Heaven. We cannot even add baptism, communion, prayer, church activity, or any other good deed. We can do one thing – choose to reject His free offer of eternal forgiveness, life, and restoration, or receive it.
Photo: Liam Quin via Wikimedia Commons, Public domain
Shall We Go On Sinning?
This must be settled – and people who hear us talk should ask, like they “asked” Paul:
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
Romans 6:1-2
But if our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.) Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world?… Why not say—as some slanderously claim that we say—“Let us do evil that good may result”? Their judgment is just!
Romans 3:5-8
Interpretation
We do not add good deeds to get to Heaven, and no sinful action disqualifies us – except if we will not receive the forgiveness of sins (that is the only thing that disqualifies us)! Meanwhile, we are called, commanded, led, told, enabled by the Holy Spirit, and encouraged to live holy, obedient, and loving lives, as Jesus did. So, we have no excuse. We must repent and live on fire for God when we have received God’s grace.
The Difference This Makes Cannot Be Overstated
What happens when we do not have a solid biblical understanding of righteousness and justification by faith alone?
- We will get the consequences of sinning wrong. We will think we have lost our salvation when we sin (a little, a lot, or repetitively). In fact, there is just one unforgivable sin according to the whole breadth of truth in Scripture: to not believe, and thus be judged by God without the cleansing of the blood of Jesus. Please read my Bible study on the unforgivable sin here.
- We will get proactive, positive faith action and obedience to God wrong. We will not act out of having already been accepted, so what we do can only lead to one thing: we will strive to be accepted through what we do. That is 100% not the truth of how God wants it, sees it, or has done it! We are accepted in the Beloved = Jesus (Ephesians 1:6).
- We will have room for fear. If we get this, there will be no room for fear, for perfect love casts out all fear (1 John 4:18). And you have perfect love from the Father 24/7.
- We will not have peace with God. Through Jesus we have peace with God (Romans 5:1). The enmity is settled forever.
- We will not always go directly into the love of the Father – based only on the blood, death, and obedient love of Jesus for us. The truth is, we have direct, full 24/7 access through the blood of Jesus into the lap of the Father – through the blood into the Holy of Holies. He tore the veil and made a permanent, eternal way (read the whole letter to the Hebrews).
- The Father actually says to you, just as He said to Jesus: “You are my beloved child, my son, my daughter, in whom I am well pleased!!” (Matthew 3:17)
Get the Whole Truth – and the Whole Truth Will Set You Free
Before my freedom from porn, self-pity, and rejection, knowing this legal truth helped me at least stay in faith. This truth kept me coming back to Jesus and re-establishing myself in the forgiveness and love of God for free. What I didn’t see, understand, and was willing to completely own, was that I didn’t believe the Father was relationally fully and wholeheartedly for me – only partially. That’s why I fell – for, because I believed that lie was true, I decided to give Him back His own medicine. So, I punished God by holding part of my heart away from Him (for He started). How stupid are you allowed to be? Apparently very stupid… (read more of the whole story here)
How do I deal with sin now – now that I got free and stay free?
I continuously and consciously choose to re-understand that I am already totally forgiven and perfect in God’s eyes. It is not God staying away when I sin – it is me not receiving His love. So, in my understanding of the eternal truth of Jesus on the cross, I re-understand the absolute, perfect love of God for me.
Previously, I did not go back into the love of the intimate relationship and friendship of the Father. I had decided to believe the lie (and then brilliantly try to deny and bury that belief) that God was not wholeheartedly for me. So, I decided to retaliate, pay Him back, punish Him, treat Him like He first treated me, and deny Him the most intimate relationship space in my heart. Since He started, He was to blame, and I had the right to self-pity. So, to my sin of believing the lie of rejection, I added the sin of strong self-pity. This then led me to the sin of rebellion and further disobedience, working itself out in the fruit of self-satisfaction. For me, this led to watching porn.
Now – when things don’t go well, when things go well, and when things are average – and the better I do this 24/7 – I go into perfection and into a deep, intimate, heart-to-heart love relationship based not on circumstances but on the blood and loving obedience for me in the New Covenant. I step into the love of the Father through the blood, death, and rejection by the Father for my sin, and the obedience of Jesus – in spite of my sin and disobedience.
I run to the wholehearted love of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit for me and all others – love that bled and suffered, that I did not deserve, bought by death, that experienced rejection (my God, my God, why have you forsaken me), obedient first, wholehearted and eternally initiated, in the face of no love from me. That wholehearted love, grace-given perfection, and deep, intimate, God-bleeding friendship is what I run to now when I feel rejected, or feel like going into any self-pity or any kind of self-satisfaction. And it works – along with me taking authority over any and all demons of rejection, self-pity, and impurity.
Before the freedom I now have from porn, the intimate, wholehearted relationship part was missing – though I did get a lot of the legal part of justification in the judgment of God by faith.
Very Important to Understand
This perfection before God is a legal status achieved only by what Jesus did – and we can only receive it through faith, not having done anything to deserve it. If we try, we destroy its perfection – and insult and question the perfection of God. That is what Paul’s letter to the Galatians is all about. Even more importantly, this is also an eternal relational status – a rest we fight to enter daily (Hebrews 4:11) – where we are kids of Dad by the Holy Spirit for free. This is not an actual status of perfection in our flesh. Our flesh – our sinful nature – is still not changed, not redeemed, not perfect. We fight not to give in to the flesh, and we do that by setting the focus of our minds on the Holy Spirit and the things above (Galatians 5:17, Romans 8:5, Colossians 3:1-3) – for then we can do the will of God on Earth. And while we are yet broken, we can be used by God to live intimately, live holy, and do mighty, amazing, supernatural things.
So – now that the Holy Spirit lives in us, only because we received the free gift of extreme, perfect, eternal forgiveness and the raw love of the grace of God (Galatians 3:2) – what do we do?
- We run into the open arms of our loving Father and love Him right back. We form the most real, raw, honest, deep friendship with God we possibly can – for He is ready for that now! We are truly, fully Daddyo’s kids, Jesus’ sister / brother / bride; we are served by, and in our bodies we host, the Helper and Guide – the Holy Spirit. We are warriors, kings, priests, pro sportspeople in Christ Jesus, soldiers of love, obedient disciples – but first we are best friends with the Friend of friends! We are co-laborers with Jesus and each other, co-farmers and co-gardeners in the harvest. Like John we say: “I am the one Jesus loves.”
- We are changed from the inside out by the Holy Spirit now living in us – if we live broken, humble lives of faith and trust, open to the love of God and the leading of the Spirit. And we must now obey and follow the One who sacrificed all to love us, forgive us, perfect us, and give us back the status we were created to have – as truly, forever, proven-to-be-loved, dearly, wholeheartedly beloved kids of Daddyo. Please put that thought into your mind against all doubt, fear, and bad experiences (do not worship experiences – good or bad – for that is idol worship. Worship the truth of God’s loving, eternal Word by obeying the love of God for you, by settling in your heart of hearts that Daddyo is for you). Now, because of the perfection and forgiveness already given to us, He lovingly – for He loved us eternally first – commands us to follow Him, to live holy, to be obedient, to radically change our lives from lives of sin and rebellion to lives lived before Him and not in fear of what people might think. We do what Jesus did. We enter into training as disciples under our God and Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8), and we grow into all that He has called us to be and do in Him – which has never changed. We make His-story. We go on the adventure and quest of bringing the will of Heaven to Earth.
- We go for the eternal rewards that He promises throughout the Bible (see Understanding the Two Judgments of God). As we surrender more and more, are more and more obedient and more and more truly loving like Him, spend real quality time with Him, give to the poor – not to be seen by people – and fast before Him, He wants to reward us richly.
- We never go back to “I have to do this to be perfect in His eyes.” That is never going to cancel our debt of sin – only the blood of the Father’s Son, Jesus, cleanses us completely. We now only do good because we have already been made good in His eyes – and He now, in love and in freedom, commands us to be and do good, to live out the goodness of the Holy Spirit who is already inside us. What we go back to when sinning is His perfect forgiveness and love, the intimate friendship of our Daddyo – and turning from all sin.
In simple terms, the grace of the cross is
- RELATIONAL – Daddyo! Adopted. Accepted. Forgiven. Seen. Loved – and it is proven in action. First – but inseparable from the second truth.
- LEGAL – THE COURT OF HEAVEN – the New Covenant in His blood. Perfect. Justified. Righteous in Christ. These two are inseparable from the third – which is worked out gradually, increasingly, over a lifetime if we stay humble.
- DOING – WHILE BROKEN, REAL, AND HUMBLE – perfected by Him as we allow Him to change us, as we choose to be changed through repentance. Perfecting. Striving, yet never arriving (while on earth). Working in Christ, with Christ. Doing mighty deeds of supernatural faith. Action. Obedience. Following our Master. Submitting. Choosing holiness. Healthy fear of God (= fearing leaving Him – not fearing what people say; what God says matters most). Living in our full potential. Sacrificing in genuine love. Suffering. Renewing the mind to submit to truth. Is God passionate about us living out this intimate relationship, holiness, obedience, fear of God, discipline, joy, freedom, grace, and the power gifts of the Holy Spirit? Oh YESSS. For we are called, chosen, expected, and commanded to live out all these things – we were made for it – with Jesus as Lord and Master of every area of our lives. We can trust Him and safely give everything to Him, for He is love. He loves, loved, and will love us first – always. So we must now live this Jesus life out as direct disciples – right under Jesus.
The Same – but in Other Words: The Marriage of the Lamb of God
God is passionately in love with us. We are made in His image. And He is relationship (personified, perfect, eternal relationship – aka the Trinity). We are made for deep, intimate relationship with Him. So, He wants to be married to us. He wants to be so very close to us. He reaches out His hand 24/7 and asks: “Friends?” – will you reach back with yours and say: “Yes”? He has always wanted that. We are His bride. He is our groom.
We were, and still are, given free will – and our ancestors chose rebellion, disobedience, another husband: the enemy, satan. We are now born into that state of rebellion, unrighteousness, and sin, and our bodies and this world are fallen and decaying – under sin. God still loves us and still wants to be married to us – but has to judge our sin, corporately, generationally, and individually. For love is also truth, justice, and holiness / purity – and so there are consequences to evil. The biggest consequence is separation from our Father = death to that intimate friendship. But Jesus then came – still permanently, deeply in love with us – and took all our sin on Himself, as the Lamb who carries the sin of the world:
Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?” I answered, “Sir, you know.” And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”
Revelation 7:13-14
Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.
Revelation 19:7
He has given us new clothing – washed white in His blood (Hebrews 9:14). Now He commands all to repent from sin (turn from sin to getting clean through Jesus), believe in Him (Jesus lives and forgives), and live intimately with Him (Abba Father = Daddyo!) – and for Him and through Him, in the power of the Holy Spirit, we demonstrate through signs and wonders that all of this wonderful tale and worldview is true and from God.
Final summary
This is the true foundation of our good news: forgiveness alone, grace alone, faith alone, the Word alone, to the glory of God alone. When we truly, fully get this, we will, like Paul (1 Corinthians 15:10), work harder than all others by allowing God’s grace working in us to bring this grace to the entire world – for it is the best good news of all. We are restored to what we were created to walk in: intimacy with Abba Father – Daddyo, who is relationship, love, and holiness! Let’s live in that and spread this good news.
To read positive life changing and selfish life breaking teaching – see All Bible Studies of Peter Skov of Action Christianity. Let God lead you to what to engage with first.
And here is my YouTube course on the very minimum foundations of normal discipleship.
