Reformation: Justification
Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed. Romans 3:20-21a
In Romans 3:20-21, the same Greek root word appears here as both a verb, “justified,” and a noun, “righteousness.” The basic meaning is “To declare not guilty.” Paul has been making the case that if we are judged by the law, then no one can be justified before God since we have all sinned. Wherever the law finds sin, it always condemns it and never excuses or forgives it.
“But now!” Paul says, “a righteousness has been revealed apart from the law.” That means having nothing at all to do with the demands or condemnations of the law. Then, he says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Notice the group of people he says are “justified” are the same “all” who have “sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Since those who have sinned are condemned by the law and cannot be righteous through the law, Christ enters in, “whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood.”
A propitiation is a sacrifice that atones for sin. It is Christ paying the debt you owed so that God’s wrath is removed. The result is that “He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” It is the sacrifice which changes the condemnation of the law into the justification of the gospel. This we call “forensic” justification, meaning a legal decree. Christ by His perfect life and innocent death has taken your place so that God’s decree for you is “not guilty.” More than that, it is “righteous!” For a switch has taken place. He was made sin for you and you were made the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). He took your place and you took His. He died your death and you live His life.
Because the sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free;
For God, the just, is satisfied, to look on Him and pardon me.
Lutheran Service Book 574:4