{"id":18654,"date":"2025-02-20T04:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-20T09:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/?p=18654"},"modified":"2025-02-20T20:51:08","modified_gmt":"2025-02-21T01:51:08","slug":"the-gospel-announces-gods-last-day-verdict-for-all-who-believe-in-jesus-christ-justified-and-sins-forgiven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/article\/concise\/the-gospel-announces-gods-last-day-verdict-for-all-who-believe-in-jesus-christ-justified-and-sins-forgiven\/","title":{"rendered":"The Gospel Announces God\u2019s Last Day Verdict for All Who Believe in Jesus Christ: Justified and Sins Forgiven"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

All month, Christ Over All<\/em> has focused on the question, \u201cWhatever Happened to the Doctrine of Sin?\u201d. Crucial as this is, it would be pointless and cruel if we did not address God\u2019s glorious remedy for sin with its universal and individual consequences. Today, we redirect our focus to God\u2019s merciful and gracious provision of his Son, to whom he imputed his wrath and punishment as our substitute, that he might acquit us sinners and remit our crimes against him. The Bible\u2019s terms for these conjoined acts are \u201cjustification\u201d and \u201cforgiveness of sins,\u201d featured in this article. The good news announces God\u2019s Last Day verdict for everyone who believes in his Son\u2014justified and sins forgiven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God Promised the Savior at the Beginning in the Garden of Eden<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the Garden, God announced in advance his verdict of the Last Day on humans concerning sin: condemned to eternal death (Gen. 2:15\u201317). Thus, when the Serpent induced Adam (through Eve) to disobey God by eating fruit from the forbidden tree, sin\u2019s indictment condemned the man and woman, with their progeny, to the punishment of death. Since then, every human born by the union of earthly parents has been subjected to the Creator\u2019s same condemning verdict for sin, punishable by death in both the temporal and the eternal dimensions. Likewise, the Creator subjected the entire creation to futility in the hope of one day being liberated from its slavery to corruption\u2014when God would redeem the bodies of his children by raising them from the dust (Gen. 3:19; Rom. 8:20\u201323). Thus, from the beginning, God revealed by way of prophetic prefiguring the ensuing cosmic war between the \u201cSerpent\u2019s seed\u201d and the \u201cwoman\u2019s seed,\u201d the Coming One conceived not by the union of earthly parents but born of a woman nonetheless, who would crush the Serpent\u2019s head\u2014but not without the Serpent striking a wound to the Coming One\u2019s heel (Gen. 3:15).[1]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. The remarkable expression, \u201cthe woman\u2019s seed,\u201d should give pause to every reader to contemplate how noteworthy it is. Everyone knows that when conception occurs, the man, not the woman, contributes the \u201cseed.\u201d Hence, this is an early prophecy that a virgin would conceive the Coming Redeemer. Of course, the \u201cwoman\u2019s seed\u201d also gives rise to a people born not of flesh and blood but of the Spirit, a people who will participate in the trampling of the Serpent underfoot (Rom. 16:20).<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Only the Coming One, born of a woman but uncreated, could remediate mankind\u2019s and creation\u2019s common plights\u2014corruption and death. He entered his creation from heaven as the Second Man, the Last Adam, \u201ca life-giving spirit\u201d (1 Cor. 15:45\u201349). As the head of a new humanity, he would sweep forward into time the judgment of the Last Day by his obedience unto death, even death on a cross (Rom. 5:19; Phil. 2:8). Thus, the visitation of God\u2019s Last-Day-wrath upon Christ in his death on the cross effected both (1) that \u201cwe shall be saved\u201d from the coming \u201cwrath of God\u201d (Rom. 5:9) and (2) the dawn of the New Creation \u201cby which the world has been crucified\u201d to Christ\u2019s people and they \u201cto the world\u201d (Gal. 6:14\u201315). Likewise, he brought forward the resurrection of the Last Day into the midst of history when he arose from the dead, which was his \u201cjustification\u201d before God (1 Tim. 3:16; Rom. 1:4), thus grounding our justification (Rom. 4:25).  Because Christ lives, we who are in him shall be saved by his resurrection life (Rom. 5:10). Hence, he makes all his progeny righteous (Rom. 5:19), fulfilling the prophet Isaiah (53:11) by creating a people born not from flesh and blood but from the Spirit (John 1:12\u201313).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christ Jesus Brought Forward the Last Day Judgment and Resurrection<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The vast glory of God\u2019s gift of salvation in Christ obligates Christians to ponder the multifaceted imageries Scripture uses to portray its grace and beauty. God\u2019s Word reveals salvation, eternal life, adoption, justification, sanctification, reconciliation, redemption, regeneration, remission of sins, resurrection, and other imageries as isolated doctrines <\/a>or primarily past referring.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. The remarkable expression, \u201cthe woman\u2019s seed,\u201d should give pause to every reader to contemplate how noteworthy it is. Everyone knows that when conception occurs, the man, not the woman, contributes the \u201cseed.\u201d Hence, this is an early prophecy that a virgin would conceive the Coming Redeemer. Of course, the \u201cwoman\u2019s seed\u201d also gives rise to a people born not of flesh and blood but of the Spirit, a people who will participate in the trampling of the Serpent underfoot (Rom. 16:20).<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

All biblical imageries of salvation in Christ Jesus entail two phases<\/em> or aspects<\/em>: what Scripture presents as already occurring<\/em> but not yet exhausted<\/em> as God\u2019s triumphant salvation entering the present age ahead of the Last Day with the advent of his Son. Jesus vividly dramatizes the presence of the Last-Day-resurrection at Lazarus\u2019s tomb. He enhances and develops Martha\u2019s correct belief in \u201cthe resurrection on the Last Day\u201d by announcing, \u201cI am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?\u201d (John 11:24\u201326). Jesus\u2019s raising Lazarus from death\u2019s grip signified that he brought forward into the present time \u201cthe powers of the coming age\u201d (Heb. 6:5). This prefigured his resurrection. Likewise, Jesus preached that the not-yet resurrection<\/em> of the Last Day already begins<\/em> in this present age through the proclamation of the gospel: \u201cTruly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live\u201d (John 5:25). The Son\u2019s rising from the dead was the dawn of the last days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the same way, Scripture portrays salvation as already<\/em> ours in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:5, 8; Titus 3:5), but we have not yet<\/em> received it exhaustively (Rom. 8:24; 13:11). Thus, Jesus instructs us that everyone who comes to faith in him to receive salvation must persevere to the end to be saved (Matt. 10:22). Hence, the frequent biblical imagery of the athlete sprinting forward from faith\u2019s starting blocks endeavoring to lay hold of the prize who is Christ Jesus, to be found in him, to attain unto the resurrection from the dead (Phil. 3:8\u201311). As we ponder these imageries of God\u2019s salvation in Christ Jesus, we need to believe and speak even-handedly, avoiding errors by exaggerating either the already<\/em> or the not yet<\/em> aspect to the suppression or exclusion of the other.[3]<\/a> Among Christians, the error regularly occurs, overstating the already<\/em> to the neglect of the not yet<\/em>, portraying salvation as already possessed exhaustively. Hence, most Christians think of salvation as exclusively taking place in the past, testifying, \u201cI am saved,\u201d or asking, \u201cAre you saved?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Exaggerating the already<\/em> while suppressing the not-yet <\/em>aspect inclines one toward antinomianism. Exaggerating the not-yet<\/em> while suppressing the already<\/em> aspect inclines one toward a system of works-righteousness.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Likewise, caution is necessary because of another mistake. Scripture does not present any of its multiple imageries of salvation in Christ Jesus as standalone doctrines to be detached from the many other portrayals. The Bible presents the revelation of God\u2019s salvation through multiple variegated imageries, each like a single facet of a finely cut multifaceted diamond, together reflecting the glorious light shining forth from our Savior, Jesus Christ. No solitary imagery adequately displays the richness or fullness of Christ as our redeemer. Hence, when pondering Scripture\u2019s theology, inevitably, we discern theological categories and thus do some level of systematic theology. For this reason, Christian theology is the activity of every believer, not just pastors, teachers, and academic theologians. Yet, we must never separate the many distinguishable imageries as isolated doctrines. For example, we must distinguish two imageries from the legal realm\u2014justification and forgiveness of sins\u2014but not isolate them. To emphasize this point, the remainder of this article will show how the Apostle Paul\u2019s teaching obligates us to hold these two together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two Correlated Imageries\u2014Forgiveness of Sins & Justification<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Paul contends that Jesus has already brought resurrection and divine judgment forward from the Last Day because God has already poured out his wrath on his Son on the cross. The Righteous One from heaven bore God\u2019s wrath in the place of unrighteous people (Rom. 3:21\u201331). With his first advent, God\u2019s Son brought forward two correlated acts of God\u2014resurrection and judgment\u2014that belong to the Last Day, which consummates the present age and ushers in the coming age. The gospel orients everyone to Christ\u2019s cross as the public display of God\u2019s wrathful judgment against sin, for Christ, who knew no sin yet was made sin for us, being condemned as our substitute (Rom. 3:21\u201331; 1 Cor. 1:18; 2 Cor. 5:21). Likewise, the gospel orients us to Christ\u2019s resurrection as God\u2019s vindication of his Son; Christ, the Righteous One, was acquitted by being raised from the dead for our acquittal (Rom. 1:4; 4:25; 1 Tim. 3:16). These two acts stand together as the advance visitation of God\u2019s Last Day courtroom. All those in Christ Jesus are assured that Christ\u2019s acquittal will be ours on that day. Thus, Paul preaches already<\/em> \u201ceveryone who believes is justified\u201d (Acts 13:39).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, with the advent of God\u2019s Son (cf. John 3:16\u201321), the gospel already announces God\u2019s Last Day verdict ahead of time<\/em>: (1) \u201cguilty and condemned\u201d to all who disbelieve; (2) \u201csins forgiven and justified\u201d to all who believe. Paul presents the forgiveness of sins and justification as correlated because to be justified is<\/em> to have one\u2019s sins forgiven, as Paul indicates concerning Abraham and David (Gen. 15:6; Ps. 32:1\u20132; Rom. 4:3\u20138). Accordingly, \u201csins forgiven\u201d means \u201cno condemnation\u201d (Rom. 8:1). When Paul states, \u201cThere is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,\u201d he uses a figure of speech called litotes which uses a negated understatement to express an emphatic affirmative.[4]<\/a>  Rom. 5:16, 18 supports this; the opposite of condemnation is justification. Thus, Christ Jesus does not simply expunge our criminal record against our Creator, wiping out the past charges against us and giving us a fresh start. The litotes mean, \u201cEveryone in Christ Jesus is most assuredly justified<\/em> already\u201d\u2014that is, we\u2019ve been declared righteous on account of Christ\u2019s resurrection (Rom. 4:25).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Litotes<\/em> is a much more common figure of speech than many might suppose. For example, to say, \u201cThis is no small matter,\u201d means, \u201cThis is a very important matter.\u201d<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

It is crucial to recognize that when the gospel announces the forgiveness of our sins and our acquittal (justification) to all who believe in Jesus Christ, the proper reference point is the Last Day, the Day of Judgment, and not the moment we first believe the gospel message. God\u2019s pronouncement of justification and forgiveness does not concern only our present or past sins but all our sins reaching forward to the Last Day (Rom. 4:4\u20138; Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:14; 2:13).[5]<\/a> This does not nullify our need to confess our sins to receive God\u2019s forgiveness or our need for deeds commensurate with justification (1 John 1:9; James 2:14\u201326).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. See Geerhardus Vos, The Pauline Eschatology<\/em> (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1938; Grand Rapids: Baker, 1979), 55.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Here is the precise point where, while affirming the already<\/em> aspect of forgiveness of sins and justification, we must not relinquish affirming equally firmly our need to heed the gospel\u2019s perpetual call to persevere in Christ Jesus. This is why, though Paul\u2019s emphasis is on the gift of justification already received<\/em> by belief in God who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead (Rom. 4:24; 5:1, 9; 8:30; Gal. 3:6; Tit. 3:7), he also presents justification as the future hope not yet<\/em> exhaustively received, for which believers yearn. \u201cFor through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness<\/em>\u201d (Gal. 5:5). Justification is a gift \u201cwe eagerly await\u201d because it is what we \u201chope for.\u201d Paul affirms, \u201cWe have now been justified\u201d by the death of Christ (Rom. 5:9), yet, he locates the gift of justification as coming to us in the gospel from the final day, when he confidently exclaims, \u201c<\/sup><\/strong>Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness<\/em>, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing\u201d (2 Tim. 4:8).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Believers are already<\/em> justified, yet believers await<\/em> the crown of justification not yet<\/em> awarded to us until the Day of Redemption. To be justified already<\/em> provides no basis to behave as though the crown of righteous<\/em> were already<\/em> in hand so that our behavior is irrelevant to our justification, for \u201cwe walk by faith, not by sight\u201d (2 Cor. 5:7). The gift of justification is not yet<\/em> exhaustively ours as if our speech doesn\u2019t matter, for Jesus affirms, \u201cI tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified<\/em>, and by your words you will be condemned\u201d (Matt. 12:36\u201337). With its even-handed presentation of the gift of justification as both already<\/em> ours but not yet<\/em> exhaustively possessed, the gospel constrains us to obey the Lord Jesus Christ so that the good work God has begun in us may be brought to completion until the day of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:6).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Doing theology responsibly requires our capability to distinguish concepts without separating them. Severing the already<\/em> and not yet<\/em> aspects or phases from one another, as if justification and forgiveness of sins consisted of two separate proclamations by God, is to flirt with (if not fall into) serious error. Scripture holds the two aspects together harmoniously. This obligates us to distinguish<\/em> the two phases of justification and forgiveness of sins without separating<\/em> them. Thus, to claim that any attempt to account for the not-yet aspect<\/em> of justification and forgiveness of sins is tantamount to embracing a Roman Catholic doctrine of works-righteousness is to dismiss a vital truth to which Scripture testifies. It is also necessary to distinguish<\/em> the basis<\/em> of our justification\u2014Christ\u2019s bearing the Father\u2019s wrath on our behalf and being raised from the dead\u2014and the means<\/em> of our justification\u2014belief in Christ Jesus, who alone bore our deserved wrath and rose from death on our behalf. We are wrong to isolate the gospel\u2019s proclamation of justification and condemnation from God\u2019s verdict on the Last Day. We must learn how to affirm that the announcement of God\u2019s justifying verdict in the gospel\u2019s proclamation to everyone who believes is also the individually assured advanced declaration of God\u2019s published verdict of acquittal on the Last Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. \u201cBy faith\u201d and \u201cby sight\u201d derives from Paul\u2019s rule, \u201cfor we walk by faith, not by sight\u201d (2 Cor. 5:7), with which John agrees, \u201cBeloved, we are God\u2019s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared\u201d (1 John 3:2). See also Richard B. Gaffin, Jr., By Faith, Not By Sight: Paul and the Order of Salvation<\/em> (Milton Keynes, UK: Paternoster), 93.<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is a present and future dimension to salvation in Christ\u2014it is already ours, but we have not yet received it exhaustively.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18655,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"There is a present and future dimension to salvation in Christ\u2014it is already ours, but we have not yet received it exhaustively.","_seopress_robots_index":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[32,12,1968,38],"tags":[766,600,956,823,57,102,864,235,1280,1309,669,493,2011,661,2031,677,474,122,100],"scripture-reference":[],"post_folder":[],"ppma_author":[25],"class_list":["post-18654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","category-concise","category-february-2025","category-theme","tag-adam","tag-adam-eve","tag-anthropology","tag-christ","tag-christ-as-center","tag-gospel","tag-holiness","tag-human-nature","tag-humanity","tag-judgement","tag-justification","tag-morality","tag-responsibility","tag-resurrection","tag-return-of-christ","tag-scripture","tag-sin","tag-theology","tag-worldview"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Caneday-Sin-Article-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-01-13 11:45:09","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"authors":[{"term_id":25,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"ardel-caneday","display_name":"Ardel Caneday","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/ardel-caneday.jpg","url2x":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/ardel-caneday.jpg"},"author_category":"","job_title":"","church_city_state":"","last_name":"Caneday","first_name":"Ardel","church_site":"","user_url":"https:\/\/abcaneday.com","description":"Ardel Caneday<\/b> continues as an adjunct faculty member at University of Northwestern<\/a> after recently retiring from his role as Professor of New Testament & Greek. Ardel completed the MDiv and ThM at Grace Theological Seminary and the PhD in New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He is a founding teaching elder of Christ Bible Church (Roseville, MN). He co-edited with Matthew Barrett Four Views on the Historical Adam<\/i>, co-authored with Thomas R. Schreiner The Race Set Before Us<\/i>, and has published many articles in Christian magazines, journals, books, and online."}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18654"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18671,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18654\/revisions\/18671"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18654"},{"taxonomy":"scripture-reference","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/scripture-reference?post=18654"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=18654"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christoverall.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=18654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

Justification and forgiveness of sins are singular with discernible but inextricable aspects, both now<\/em> and not yet<\/em>. The already<\/em> and not yet<\/em> aspects of justification and forgiveness of sins are no more divisible than the moon\u2019s first crescent and full phase. The same and singular moon reflects light with discernible and distinguishable phases, the crescent as the promise of the full. There are not two moons. Likewise, there are not<\/strong> two justifications or two remissions of sin, one when we believe in Christ and a second on the Last Day. Whether Scripture speaks of justification and forgiveness of sins now<\/em> or not yet<\/em>, it is the singular Last-Day-verdict with distinguishable aspects, the advance announcement testified to by the Holy Spirit as the promise of the public pronouncement on the Last Day. God already<\/em> assures us, his children, by Spirit-bequeathed-faith<\/em> that we stand justified before him with our sins forgiven, but not yet<\/em> do we have the published verdict of justification and forgiveness of sins when we will be publicly revealed as God\u2019s sons (Rom. 8:19).[6]<\/a> At that time, the Creator will at last liberate creation from its bondage to corruption due to Adam\u2019s disobedience, then set right by the Last Adam who obeyed for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n