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When Man Justifies God
Psalm 51:4 is an interesting passage. Interesting because in it, God is said to be justified by man. It has a parallel passage in Romans 3:4 which does the same thing.
Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what isevil in Your sight, So thatYou are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge. – Psalm 51:4
May it never be! Rather, let God be found true, though every man be founda liar, as it is written,
“THAT YOU MAY BE JUSTIFIED IN YOUR WORDS, AND PREVAIL WHEN YOU ARE JUDGED.” – Romans 3:4
Yet, how is it that man may justify God?
Man can justify God because the phrase ‘to justify’, whether in Scripture or in the (so-called) secular world, always means the exact same thing – 100% of the time – to declare righteous.
To declare someone righteous, of course, means that person is declared to be in conformity to the law.
So then, in the above passages as well as today, whenever we as believers declare God to be faithful and trustworthy to His own Word in Scripture, we justify God by declaring Him to be just that, righteous.
In the same way, when we are born again, or regenerated, by the new birth, we are then justified by God. He declares us to be righteous, in conformity with His Law, because of His gift to us of faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Beautiful, isn’t it?
Luke 7: 28 I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”
29 (When all the people heard this, and the tax collectors too, they declared God just, having been baptized with the baptism of John,
30 but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.) ESV;
The KJV says “justified God”
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So then, in the above passages as well as today, whenever we as believers declare God to be faithful and trustworthy to His own Word in Scripture, we justify God by declaring Him to be just that, righteous.
In the same way………………………..
In the same way?
We might with a few words justify God when it crosses our mind to do so. however , this pales into the realm of insignificance when we consider that our justification came at an enormous cost , and one that was conceived from long ago. I think that to equate our justification through Christ , with mans justification of God , is a disservice to the former.
Ray, that wasn’t done at all. The point is, that in both cases, the term justify, or justification, means (as a term) the exact same thing: to declare righteous. No disservice done.