Quotes: Justification

1. c. AD 56 — Paul the Apostle

“Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Significance: Justification is a declared status of peace granted through faith.

2. c. AD 57 — Paul the Apostle

“It is God who justifies.”

Significance: Justification is God’s act, not man’s achievement.

3. c. AD 96 — Clement of Rome

“We are not justified by ourselves, nor by our own wisdom or works, but by faith.”

Significance: Justification excludes human merit entirely.

4. AD 150 — Justin Martyr

“By faith alone God justifies the ungodly.”

Significance: Justification is God’s gracious act toward sinners, not the righteous.

5. AD 185 — Irenaeus of Lyons

“Through His blood we are justified, being made righteous by His grace.”

Significance: Justification is grounded in Christ’s atoning work.

6. AD 325 — Athanasius of Alexandria

“He became what we are, that He might justify us by His righteousness.”

Significance: Justification rests on Christ’s righteousness, not ours.

7. AD 386 — Augustine of Hippo

“We are justified freely, not by our merits but by His grace.”

Significance: Justification is a free gift, not a reward.

8. AD 418 — Augustine of Hippo

“The righteousness by which we are justified is not our own, but God’s.”

Significance: Justification depends on an alien righteousness.

9. AD 529 — Council of Orange

“If anyone says that we are justified by our own works, he contradicts the apostle.”

Significance: Justification is incompatible with works‑based righteousness.

10. AD 1095 — Anselm of Canterbury

“No one is justified by himself, but only by the satisfaction of Christ.”

Significance: Justification is grounded in Christ’s satisfaction for sin.

11. AD 1274 — Thomas Aquinas

“Justification is the passing from the state of sin to the state of justice by God’s movement.”

Significance: God alone initiates and accomplishes justification.

12. AD 1517 — Martin Luther

“The doctrine of justification is the article by which the church stands or falls.”

Significance: Justification is the central doctrine of the Christian faith.

13. AD 1520 — Martin Luther

“We are justified by faith alone, but the faith that justifies is never alone.”

Significance: Justification is by faith, yet true faith produces fruit.

14. AD 1536 — John Calvin

“Justification consists in the remission of sins and the imputation of Christ’s righteousness.”

Significance: Justification is both forgiveness and credited righteousness.

15. AD 1647 — Westminster Confession

“Justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein He pardons all our sins and accepts us as righteous in His sight.”

Significance: Justification is a legal declaration, not a process.

16. AD 1678 — John Bunyan

“Christ’s righteousness is put upon us, and so we stand justified before God.”

Significance: Justification depends entirely on Christ’s righteousness imputed to believers.

17. AD 1741 — Jonathan Edwards

“We are justified only by faith in Christ, and not by any manner of virtue or goodness of our own.”

Significance: Justification excludes all human virtue as a basis.

18. AD 1765 — John Wesley

“Justification is another word for pardon—the forgiveness of all our sins.”

Significance: Wesley emphasizes justification as God’s act of forgiving sin.

19. AD 1857 — Charles Spurgeon

“To be justified is to be declared righteous, not to be made righteous.”

Significance: Justification is a declaration, not an internal transformation.

20. AD 1957 — Martyn Lloyd‑Jones

“Justification is God’s pronouncement that we are righteous in His sight because of Christ.”

Significance: Justification is God’s verdict based solely on Christ’s work.

See also: Bible Verses