2 Corinthians 5
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. (2 Cor. 5:10)
In 2 Corinthians 5:18–20, Paul explains that he has a ministry of reconciliation. This invites the question: How are we reconciled to God? That may seem like a silly question to us. “What do you mean, how are we reconciled? We say we’re sorry for our sins. God says it’s not a problem. And everything’s all better.” But God’s forgiveness doesn’t work like that. It would be a violation of his own nature. God is loving, but he is also just. God cannot simply pass over our sins because he feels like it.
Sin is a personal offense to God. If God were to simply look past our sin just because he really likes us, he would be treating his own name with contempt. There needs to be some kind of restitution for our wrongs, some kind of satisfaction of divine justice. Proverbs 17:15 says he who justifies the wicked is an abomination to the Lord. So how is God to justify us without committing an abomination? The answer lies in the great exchange (2 Cor. 5:21). For our sake, because he loved us, God sent his Son Jesus Christ, who never did anything wrong, never failed his heavenly Father in the slightest way, to be counted as sin, so that we who have nothing to offer God but our sin might be counted as righteous as Christ.
The gifts conveyed in justification are both negative and positive. Negatively, justification is the declaration that our sins have been forgiven and our guilt removed. This divine acquittal is not a process, but a once for all judicial verdict of innocence (Rom. 5:1; 8:30). The declaration is based on the substitutionary work of Christ (Gal. 3:13–14) and is grounded in an alien righteousness, that is, not in our righteousness but in Christ our righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30). Positively, justification entails our adoption as children of God (Eph. 1:5–6; 1 John 3:1) and our legal right to eternal life (Titus 3:7). We are no longer slaves but heirs (Gal. 4:7). Eternal life is now our present possession (John 3:36) and that for which we are kept (John 12:25).
As we can see, justification is a forensic term. That’s why it is used in the context of judgment or used as the opposite of condemnation (Deut. 25:1; Rom. 4:5; 8:33). The Greek word for “to justify” (dikaioo) speaks of something declarative, not transformative. Justification refers to a judicial pronouncement that one is righteous or that one is in right standing with the requirements of God’s law. We took the test of obedience and got an F. Christ took the test and got an A+. God is a fair teacher. He can’t give us an A+ just because he likes our smile. We have to get what we deserve. And an F deserves his wrath.
But that’s not the end of the story, because by faith we are joined to Christ. Consequently, instead of giving us the wrath we deserve for our F, God determined that Christ’s A+ would be credited to us, and our F would be credited to Christ. He got what we deserved, so that we can get what he deserves. And in that way, God and sinners are reconciled. We are justified before God, and God’s justice is satisfied.
Kevin DeYoung is the senior pastor at Christ Covenant Church (PCA) in Matthews, North Carolina and associate professor of systematic theology at Reformed Theological Seminary.
