Our sins are cast into the sea of His forgetfulnessIn Christian theology, justification is God's act of declaring or making a sinner righteous before God. Justification, from the Greek (dikaio?), "to declare/make righteous", is a Scriptural term, occurring in the books of Romans, Galatians, Titus, and James; the root noun and the concept of justification occurs throughout both Old and New Testaments.
Justification is a singular act in which God declares an unrighteous individual to be righteous because of the work of Jesus. Justification is granted to all who have faith and is a gift from God. (compare Ephesians 2:8)
The Old Testament stressed the need for righteousness and opened up the possibility of cleansing from sin. The early church saw the Mosaic Law as creating an impossibly high standard of righteousness which left the individual in need of cleansing. The prophets spoke of the need for cleansing from sin. The sacrifices required in Leviticus also spoke to the need for cleansing from sin. However, the prophets were clear that the sacrifices of themselves did not accomplish cleansing. Hence, the early church understood the sacrifices to be figurative of the sacrifice of Jesus.
THE GOSPELS
The Gospels do not give any extended discourse of Jesus on justification. Jesus did use the concept of justification, but never related it to his death. For instance, ‘you are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts.’ ‘I tell you that this man (the tax collector) rather than the other (the Pharisee) went home justified before God.’ ‘for by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned. Jesus used the idea of ransom, or redemption when referring to his work – specifically pointing to his death. Concerning the need for righteousness, Jesus says "I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." Concerning his own death and speaking at the Last Supper, he says, ". . .this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." He also speaks often of forgiveness of sins.
PAUL
It was Paul who developed the term justification in the theology of the church. Justification is a major theme of the epistles to the Romans and to the Galatians in the New Testament, and is also given treatment in many other epistles. In Romans, Paul develops justification by first speaking of God's just wrath at sin (Romans 1:18 - 3:20). Justification is then presented as the solution for God's wrath. One is said to be 'justified by faith apart from works of the Law.' Further, Paul writes of sin and justification in terms of two men, Adam and Christ. Through Adam, sin came into the world; through Jesus, righteousness came into the world, bringing justification. In this connection, Paul speaks of Adam's sin being 'imputed' or 'accounted' and speaks of justification as acting in analogy to sin. He further states that those who are justified cannot be separated from the love of Christ. In Galatians, Paul emphatically rejects justification by works of the Law, a rejection sparked apparently by a controversy concerning the necessity of circumcision for salvation.
OTHER NEW TESTAMENT WRITERS
The epistle to the Hebrews also takes up the theme of justification, declaring that Jesus' death is superior to the Old Testament sacrifices in that it takes away sin once for all (Heb. 10). In Hebrews, faith in Jesus' sacrifice includes steadfast perseverance. James discusses justification briefly but significantly, declaring that a faith that is apart from works cannot be a justifying faith, because faith is made perfect or completed by works. Indeed, works are required for justification because "man is justified by works, and not by faith alone."
THE EARLY CHURCH AND JUSTIFICATION
Augustine taught that we are justified by God, as a work of His grace. Hence, in the early church, justification was a work of God leading to righteousness that saves us from God's wrath and requires the work of God in us.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justification_%28theology%29
