Despite all sinners falling short of God’s glory, the sinner can be “justified” in Romans 3:24 or declared righteous. Justification in Romans means to declared righteous not to make righteous. This legal or forensic meaning is found in Deuteronomy 25:1. In this courtroom scene,[1] the guilty were to be declared guilty and the innocent were justified or declared righteous.
Paul’s first mention of the doctrine of justification by faith was in his letter to the Galatians. In Galatians, Paul was contesting Judaism’s works righteousness with the true means of salvation. In Paul’s first reference to justification by faith, he repeats this doctrine three times in Galatians 2:16: “Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.” John Stott nicely distinguished the three statements:
The first statement is general (verse 16a). We “know that a man is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.” Paul has nobody specially in mind here; he is deliberately vague. Just ‘a man’, any man, any woman.
The second statement is personal (verse 16b). Not only do “we ourselves ... know,” but “even we have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ.” That is, our certainty about the gospel is more than intellectual; we have proved it personally in our own experience.
The third statement is universal (verse 16c). The theological principle and the personal experience are now confirmed by Scripture .... It refers to “all flesh,” mankind without exception. Whatever our religious upbringing, educational background, social status or racial origin, the way of salvation is the same. None can be justified by works of the law; all flesh must be justified through faith in Christ. It would be hard to find a more forceful statement of the doctrine of justification than this.[2]
Sinners can only be justified “freely by his grace” in Romans 3:24. Paul importantly adds in Romans 3:28 “that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” This justification by faith results in redemption.
[1] C. F. Keil, and F. Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament, vol. 1 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1966), 953.
[2] J. R. W. Stott, The Message of Galatians: Only One Way (Leicester, England; Downer’s Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. 1986), 63-64.