What Does It Mean to be Justified?

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 5:1
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​We read and sing about being justified before God all the time.  Some form of the word appears forty-three times throughout the Bible, with thirty-eight of those occurrences appearing in the New Testament alone.  The Greek word which lies behind the English word justify is some form of the verb dikaioō which is variously translated into English as to justify or to acquit.  The noun forms of this Greek word (dikaiosis, dikaioma, dikaiosune, dikaios) are variously translated as righteous, righteousness or justification and appear nearly six hundred times throughout the Bible.  Yet, when Christians are asked to explain the Bible’s teaching on justification, many will scratch their heads and fumble through answers of being saved, forgiven, redeemed, or reconciled to God.  While all these concepts are related to justification, the biblical doctrines of regeneration, forgiveness, redemption, and reconciliation are not synonymous with justification.  What then does it mean to be justified before God and why does it matter that we know this?

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