A Christian's Pocket Guide to Being Made Right With God

Justification is not a relic of the past - it has direct relevance to us as Christians today. We often struggle with the thought of justification because of human pride; "I can't be that bad" and so justification is often undermined, wrongly presented or just plain ignored. Scripture though, is brutally clear: we have a real problem - the prospect of our lives marred by wrong-doing being laid out before an almighty God who is pure and will not forever let wrong go unpunished. We can't earn our way out of our predicament - as this is just "rubbish" according to the apostle Paul. We need something else, someone who can take the hit we so richly deserve - leaving us to be declared innocent instead.

Dr Guy Waters is the Professor of New Testament at the Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson, Mississippi who has a particular interest in the letters and the theology of Paul. He is a teaching elder in the Mississippi presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of America.