Justification

A courtroom word: to justify is to declare in the right. The stunning claim of the gospel is that God "justifies the ungodly" — not by pretending they are good, nor by making them good first, but by crediting them with Christ''s righteousness received through faith. Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness." Justification is a verdict, full and final, rendered now — the ground of a Christian''s peace with God.