Word of the Week

Third Sunday in Lent

Justified: Dikaioo (Gk.): meaning “to acquit; vindicate”, or “pronounce righteous”  

Justification is the gratuity of God, which liberates us from sin and communicates the holiness of God through the faith of Jesus Christ. “ Justification consists in both victory over the death caused by sin and a new participation in grace” (CCC 654). It brings about a filial relationship, which spawns a new life shared in Jesus Christ (CCC 654). The Council of Trent states, “Justification is not only the remission of sins but also the sanctification and renewal of the interior man” (DS 1528) (CCC 1989). With Justification, the theological virtues of faith, hope and love are “poured into our hearts” so that the fruits of obedience may spring forth blessings of living water (CCC 1990).

Justified is used 39 times in the New Testament. Luke notes a duality to the meaning of justification in his Gospel as he employs the term to describe how “men make themselves out to be more righteous than their neighbor (Lk.16:15) and verbally acknowledge the righteousness of God (Lk.7:29)” (Hahn and Minch , 20). There is a particular emphasis of this term for Paul in his letter to Romans as he utilizes justification to explain the free gift of grace received in divine sonship (Rom.3:24) and how God establishes man in a right covenant relationship with himself in Baptism (1 Cor.6:11) (Hahn and Minch, 20). This grace received unmerited (Rom.5:9), calls us out to cooperate in obedience in our pilgrimage towards ‘sanctification'. When we receive the gift of justification in Baptism, we are heirs to the gift of eternal life and sharers in the glory of God (Rom.8:17; Tit.3:7).

St. James, the first bishop of Jerusalem, asks the prevailing question, “What does it profit a man if he has faith but no works?” (James 2:14). In this inquiry, James calls out the deepest truth concerning the gift of faith…that “faith without works is dead” (James 2:17). We are justified so that we might glorify the goodness of the One who is ‘acquitting, vindicating, or pronouncing righteous.'

“Certainly God justifies the impious man not only by remitting the evil deeds which that man does, but also by granting love, so that the man may turn away from evil and may do good through the Holy Spirit.”

-- St. Augustine

Primary Texts Consulted

• Catholic Bible. Suggested trans. Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition.
• Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd Edition, 1997.
• Hahn, Scott and Minch , Curtis. Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: The Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans, RSV 2nd ed. San Francisco : Ignatius Press, 2003.

 

 

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