Greek word - (dikaioo G1344)
Quiz - Choose the answer that is closest to what you think JUSTIFY is.
A - just as if I never sinned
B - make right
C - straighten
D - make sinless
Problem - Outdated, Misused
KJV Example - "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth" (Romans 8:33).
Explanation
This word is still in use today in a limited sense. Sometimes we say that a person is justifying his actions.
What does that mean? What is he doing if he is justifying his actions? He is explaining how his actions are right. He is making them right. This is what justify means in the Bible too: to make right.
The meaning of justify is right there in the word itself. Let's take the word apart.
Just is an old English word for right (a just man is a righteous man), the ending -ify means to make. We see this in other words, like beautify that means to make beautiful, and certify that means to make certain. So from the English word itself, it is clear that justify means to make right. The Greek word has a similar structure and meaning.
Have you ever done something right that your peers thought was wrong? When the person in authority steps in and tells your peers that you were right, that is being justified.
Christian tradition has taken this word far from its true meaning. The outdated words in most Bible versions are responsible for this.
Today's theology says that justification is an event that happens at the moment of salvation. A person is declared righteous even though he is not righteous. It is magic. It is unconnected to anything he does. It is undeserved.
This idea may sound plausible, but try to plug it in with the times "justify" occurs in the Bible and it does not fit.
Let me explain the justification that is in the Bible.
The Bible says over and over again that a person must trust Jesus and trust the Father (unfortunately most Bible versions hide this with the words, believe and faith).
When a person trusts Jesus and His Father, he is doing the right thing (this is what the old word, righteous, means, doing the right thing). It is right for him to trust the invisible God (someone a million times smarter and bigger than him) and not himself or someone else.
People may say that this is wrong, that he must do something else to be saved, but the Bible makes the trusting person right. It justifies him. God sees trust as the right action and God will make him right in heaven, He will justify him. This is justification.
The person is a sinner, but he is right. Why is he right? Because he did the right thing: he trusted the One who is bigger than him, the One who says, "Trust Me."
There is also a progressive sense to justification. As a person trusts Jesus, Jesus goes further than just making his trust right, He makes him right by changing him.
In the Bible, justify is make right.
Modern Synonym - make right
Bible Version Tally (how other versions translate this word) - show right (1 of 50), make right (4 of 50), justify (30 of 50)
Breakthrough Version - "Who will bring a charge against God's select people? God is the One making them right" (Romans 8:33).