From Stephen E. Robinson (deceased) regarding ‘Justification’:
Justification
When human beings keep their covenants, when they abide by the conditions of their agreements with God, they are said to be justified. To be justified means to be declared innocent, to be acquitted of all charges of misconduct, to stand guiltless before the law. Justified has a strong courtroom or judgment nuance to it and emphasizes the “not guilty” verdict. To be justified, then, is to be declared by God to be not guilty, to be free from any taint of sin and to be acquitted of all our obligations toward him. Thus, being justified is logically equivalent to being declared worthy of the kingdom and presence of God.
Justification is a noble aspiration and a necessary condition of exaltation in the kingdom of God. Both the old covenant of the law of Moses and the new covenant of the gospel were designed to justify the individual who entered into and kept his or her covenant. However, the covenant of Moses used the law of justice as its basis for accomplishing this (justification by law), while the gospel covenant uses the law of mercy (justification by faith).
Justification by Law
Theoretically, one way of being justified, of receiving a “not guilty” verdict from God, is to keep the commandments all the time—never to commit a sin and therefore never to be guilty. This is called justification by (keeping) the law, or justification by works. Any system that defines righteousness exclusively as a status gained and deserved by personally keeping a specific set of rules is a system of justification by works or by law. In such a system an individual is thought to earn his or her own way into the kingdom of God by not sinning in the first place. This happy solution to the problem of sin eliminates the need for forgiveness, repentance, or atonement. Consequently, however, there is no need for a savior. The Apostle Paul in his New Testament writings characterized the old covenant of Moses as a system of justification by law or by works.
The terms of the old contract, the law of Moses, were essentially that if the children of Israel “Kept the commandments,” that is observed all 613 commands and prohibitions of the law of Moses, God would save them form their enemies and grant them the promised land and posterity. If both sides kept their part of the bargain, Israel would be God’s chosen people, and He would be their God. This covenant was based on strict obedience and on the law of justice.
In practice the rabbis knew that no one keeps all the rules all the time, but they trusted in the mercy of God to somehow atone for mistakes. However, technically there was no scriptural basis for such an expectation. As Deuteronomy 27:26 makes very clear, if you keep the law one hundred percent, you are righteous, but if you break just one of its provisions, you are a sinner, a cursed transgressor of the law. (see also James 2:10.) Still, under the old covenant of the law of Moses, individuals theoretically could by their own efforts and merits make themselves worthy by keeping all the rules all the time.
Technically, there was nothing wrong with the old covenant and its law. It was the word of God. It was just and fair. If the people had just kept their end of the agreement, they would have been justified by the law. After all, anyone who does absolutely everything God commands is, by even the strictest definition, just.
Unfortunately, it turned out that nobody could do it. . . . Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith [in] Jesus Christ, . . . . that we might be justified by the faith [in] Christ, and not by the works of the law: shall no flesh be justified. (Gal. 2:16.)
And men are instructed sufficiently that they know good from evil. And the law is given to men. And by the law no flesh is justified: or, by the law men are cut off. . . . there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah. (2 Nephi 2:5-8.)
Stephen E. Robinson, (Believing Christ, Deseret Book, Salt Lake City, 1992) 70-73 (Dwarsligger edition p.613) Continued, see Justification II.
