On Justification:
"Justification is a legal or forensic term belonging to the law courts. It's opposite is condemnation. Both are the pronouncements of a judge. In a Christian context they are the alternative eschatological verdicts which God the Judge may pass on Judgement Day. So when God justifies sinners today, He anticipates His own final judgement by bringing into the present what properly belongs to the last day".
"Some scholars maintain that 'justification' and 'pardon' are synonymous ... But surely this cannot be so. Pardon is negative, the remission of a penalty or debt; justification is positive, the bestowal of a righteous status, the sinner's reinstatement in the favour and fellowship of God".
"Pardon and justification are therefore essentially distinct. The one is the remission of punishment. The other is a declaration that no ground for the infliction of punishment exists".
Sir Marcus Loane has written; "The voice that spells forgiveness will say; "You may go, you have been let off the penalty which your sin deserves". But the verdict which means acceptance (sc. justification) will say; "You may come; you are welcome to all My love and My Presence".
On Grace:
"Grace is God loving, God stooping, God coming to the rescue, God giving Himself generously in and through Jesus Christ".
"If God justifies sinners freely by His grace, on what grounds does He do so? How is it possible for the righteous God to declare the unrighteous to be righteous without either compromising His righteousness or condoning their unrighteousness? This is our question. God's answer is the Cross".
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