The Rationale Of Justification by Pastor Dolapo Lawal: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

The Greek word is dikaiosis (DIKAIOSIS) — meaning acquittal for Christ's sake. An acquittal is a judgment that a person is not guilty of the crime they have been charged with.

In simpler terms, justification means:

• To defend, to explain, to clear away by reasoning
• To declare righteous — a pronounced legal verdict
• A legal term: to justify is to pronounce innocent

This doctrine is central to Protestant Christianity, rooted in the five Reformation solas, and has been the subject of serious theological debate for centuries. The goal here is to trace Paul's argument for justification as it unfolds across Romans 1–5.

From Faith to Faith — Romans 1:16–17

Romans 1:16–17: For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."

The phrase from faith to faith does not mean progressing from one level of faith to a higher level. Jesus said faith as small as a mustard seed is sufficient — the size of the seed refers to how little faith is needed for how large a result.

What Paul means by from faith to faith becomes clear from the opening of Romans 1:

• First faith — verse 2: the gospel was promised before through His prophets in the holy scriptures. This is the faith of the Old Testament saints who trusted in the coming Messiah.
• Second faith — verse 3: the gospel concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God. This is faith that the promise has now been fulfilled.

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From faith to faith means from the faith that the Messiah would come, to the faith that He has come. This is what Hebrews 11 is really about: every person listed there put their faith in a type or shadow of the coming Christ.

• Abel's sacrifice — blood offered in faith, typifying the blood of Christ
• Noah's ark — made of wood, sealed shut, entered by grace — typifying Christ
• Abraham believing for Isaac — a son born from the deadness of Sarah's womb — typifying the resurrection
• Rahab — a Gentile who heard what God did to Pharaoh and believed in the power of God, which is what the gospel is

So Rahab — a prostitute — became part of God's genealogy because she believed a type and shadow of the gospel. That is faith for salvation.

The quotation the just shall live by faith comes from Habakkuk 2:4. Habakkuk was told: write the vision and make it plain, for it is yet for an appointed time — it will surely come. That vision was not a personal development plan. It was the Christ, coming at the appointed time. Galatians 4:4 confirms: But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son. The vision Habakkuk was told to wait for was salvific — the Messiah at the fullness of time.

The Argument of Romans 1–4

Paul builds his case for justification methodically:

1. Romans 1:18–23 — The condemnation of the Gentiles.

   The Gentiles had no written law, yet they are without excuse. God revealed Himself through creation — His eternal power and Godhead are clearly seen in the things that are made. Yet they suppressed the truth, chose idolatry, and their hearts were darkened. God gave them over to their own minds as an act of judgment. Paul identifies their sinful deeds: idolatry, pride, sexual immorality, ingratitude. The Gentiles are condemned.

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Pastor Dolapo Lawal
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2. Romans 2 — The condemnation of the Jews.

   The Jews are not exempt because they have the law. In verses 5–9, judgment comes to every soul that does evil — to the Jew first and also to the Gentile. In verses 14–15, even Gentiles who do not have the written law have the work of the law written in their conscience. They sin without the law; their conscience judges them.

   In verses 17–24, Paul turns directly to the Jew: You teach another — do you teach yourself? You preach that a man should not steal — do you steal? The Jews sin with the law before them, knowing clearly what is right, and still failing. The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.

   Both groups stand condemned — the Gentiles without the law, judged by conscience; the Jews with the law, judged by their failure to keep it.

3. Romans 3:9–20 — All need Jesus.

   Paul concludes that all — Jews and Gentiles alike — are under sin. Verses 10–18 quote from the law itself to describe the universal condition: There is none righteous, no, not one. Since even the law speaks this way, and the law was written for those who had it, no one is exempt. Both groups cannot be right with God by their deeds — whether with or without the law.

4. Romans 3:21–26 — Righteousness apart from the law is revealed.

   But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets — even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 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.

   Verse 25 introduces Christ as propitiation — a word meaning the full satisfaction of God's justice through the shedding of blood. God passed over sins previously committed. This is the rationale: Christ absorbs the judgment of sins committed under both covenants, so that God is shown to be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

   Note: it says from sins previously committed. This is important — it points to the sin nature received through Adam, not merely individual sinful acts.

5. Romans 4 — Abraham as the argument.

   When God gave Abraham the promise of righteousness in Genesis 15:6, was Abraham a Jew? No — he was uncircumcised. He was, at that moment, a Gentile. The circumcision came later in Genesis 17, as a sign and seal of the righteousness he had already received by faith.

   This is Paul's powerful argument: Abraham is the father of the uncircumcised who believe, and also the father of the circumcised who walk in the faith he had before his circumcision. Faith is the transition point. Circumcision means nothing apart from what it represents — which is dependence on God, not confidence in the flesh.

   Philippians 3:3: We are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.

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   Jeremiah 4:4: Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your hearts.

   True circumcision is the removal of self-reliance. One can be physically circumcised and spiritually uncircumcised — trusting credentials, background, achievement, spiritual pedigree — while never truly surrendering to God.

Romans 5 — Sin Came by One Man

Romans 5:12–18:

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned... For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.

The logic Paul has built now reaches its conclusion:

We did not sin to become sinners. We became sinners and then sinned.

Adam's sin is the source. The sin nature was received, not earned. Every person born with the Adamic nature is born in sin — this is why a child can display anger, selfishness, and defiance before they can speak. The behavior flows from the nature.

This is the rationale for justification: if we did not sin to become sinners, then we should not have to produce righteousness to become righteous. Just as we were made sinners through one man's act, we are made righteous through one Man's act. We receive righteousness the same way we received sin — not by our own works, but by our union with another.

Justification Is More Than Forgiveness

Justification is often assumed to mean forgiveness, but it is far more than that.

Forgiveness is essentially negative — the liability for punishment is removed. The charge no longer stands. But justification is positive. It is the bestowing of a status, along with all the rights, privileges, and benefits that belong to that status.

Tim Keller framed it this way: forgiveness says you may go — you have been released from your penalty. Justification says you may come — you are welcome into my love and presence. Forgiveness removes fear of condemnation. Justification gives access to favor.

A forgiven person can still live with guilt, still feel the weight of what they did. Justification declares that the person who did those things is dead. The life now lived is a brand new life. That is why Paul could write to the Corinthians, we have wronged no man — after having been the one who stood watching Stephen be stoned. The person who did that has died. The new person bears no guilt for it.

Justification is not merely pardon. It is a changed status — from sinner to saint, from condemned to welcomed.

The Application of Justification

Justification is access for fixing. It is not a destination to arrive at and settle into — it is the doorway through which God's transforming work begins.

Romans 5:17: those who receive the gift of righteousness reign in life. The reign is over sin. Not just forgiven of sin, but reigning over it. The same grace that declared righteousness now empowers righteous living.

Martin Luther expressed it this way: justification is by faith alone — but faith that is not alone. Genuine faith produces change. Not works that earn justification, but works that prove it.

Ephesians 5:18–22 describes what being filled with the Spirit produces: speaking to one another in psalms and hymns, giving thanks always, submitting to one another in the fear of God — followed immediately by instructions for marriage. The test of how full one truly is shows in the home. It is not measured in spiritual gifts alone. A person can speak in tongues and still fail in character. Spiritual growth is, at its core, character development. Looking like Jesus.

The fire of God's presence, when it comes, does not destroy — it reveals. What it brings to the surface — impatience, pride, selfishness, the need for validation — is not condemnation. It is grace. It is God showing what needs to be brought to Him so He can teach, correct, and heal. The wrong response is to externalize: they did this to me, they caused this in me. The right response is to carry it to God and ask what He is working on.

Justification is access. Access to be fixed, shaped, and conformed to the image of Christ — not as a performance for people, but as the natural outcome of living in the presence of the One who declared us righteous.

Father, we yield ourselves. We yield our members. Show us our impurities. Let justification produce what it is meant to produce — not just a status enjoyed, but a life transformed. Restore the innocence of first encounter — the simple desire to worship, to live for You, to be a blessing. Let us look like what we have received. In Jesus' name. Amen.