Forensic Justification
Via The Righteousness of Faith According to Luther
Jan van Eyck, "Crucifixion & Last Judgment" (1426)
Luther presents the appropriation of faith in a twofold manner and the background for this appropriation is always the last judgment of God. The challenge that the very first words of forgiveness pose to men is not something of a psychological phenomenon, but rather it is the soul’s nudging on the final historical judgment. The anxious conscience is the knowledge of the dies ille! (day of wrath, that very day) Thus, the righteousness of men before God always has a “forensic” character, i.e., it plays itself out in the arena of a God who judges justly! The righteousness of God is not something that a person can save up and account like money. God alone gives righteousness, which is both our and His at the very same time. But in this kind of judgment it is, paradoxically, not a matter of defining God as merciful. Quite the contrary, it is a matter of believing that God is merciful and of understanding Him from the perspective of the person of Christ. [Luther writes] For the heart of a believer, when he is blamed and accused and when proof is filed against him of evil deeds, turns away from all of this and looks to Christ and says: He (Christ) has already done enough, He is righteous, He is my defense, He died for me, He has made His righteousness my own and taken my sins as His own. If He has taken my sins upon Himself, then I don’t have them anymore and I am free. If He has made his righteousness my own, then I am righteous with the same righteousness that He is. My sins cannot devour Him, but are devoured in the abyss of his eternal righteousness because He is God, praised in eternity. And so God is even greater than our own hearts! The defender is greater than the accuser; much, much greater. What kind of relationship is this? And yet, it is true, very true. Who can accuse God’s elect? No one. Why? Because God, the One who makes righteous, is here. Who will condemn? No one. Why? Because Christ Jesus, the One who died for us, is here. If God is for us, then no one is against us (LW 25:188-189).
Against this background all expressions concerning God’s righteousness gain form and substance. They are not an object of speculation, but unfold first in their joyful power as the place where the accused person finds salvation and life. They are not true “in themselves,” but they are always first true “for me” before they are anything “for themselves.” The scene that Luther sketches is so clear: the person stands accused, but the roles are reversed. The judge takes on the defense and the accused becomes the accuser. This is what God’s righteousness means! The verdict that God pronounces is valid – even valid against one’s own heart and conscience. God stands on the side of man, right next to him and in front of him, and lays His Righteousness between sin and the person like a chasm. We are raised up, buried, protected, and guarded in Jesus Christ in whom we die in order to live and in whom we find ourselves created new: true, righteous, pure, free, good and holy.
