Justification by faith is, as the Rev. Dr. Roland Ziegler points out in the October issue of The Lutheran Witness (LW), the chief article of Christian doctrine and the central article of the Lutheran Confessions, as Lutherans will celebrate once again on Reformation Day this Oct. 31.
But what does it actually mean to be justified? Authors including Ziegler, the Rev. Dr. Cameron Mackenzie and the Rev. James Preus explore answers to this crucial question from historical and theological perspectives in the latest LW.
“How can God both remain holy (righteous and fair according to His Law) and forgive sins?” asks Mackenzie. “How is He just when justifying sinners? Because of Jesus Christ. This is the heart of Christianity. It is the center of what we preach. Because of Jesus Christ, God forgives.”
This is, as Preus points out, no new teaching. Rather, it runs not only throughout Scripture but also through the writings of the Early Church Fathers: “When confronted with the reality of sin, guilt, death and damnation, the Fathers were wont to abandon philosophical ponderings, which drew them away from Scripture, and dive deeper into the promises of Christ in the Bible. There they found the comforting doctrine of justification by grace through faith in Christ alone.”
Then and now, justification is at the heart of Lutheran doctrine, and the comfort this teaching gives sets Lutheranism apart from other Christian traditions, including mainstream evangelicalism, as the Rev. Matt Doebler relates in his article “Lutheranism Has It All.”
“Lutherans trust that God’s promised forgiveness on account of Christ is actually theirs,” Doebler writes, “not because they believe sincerely enough but because God is faithful to deliver what He promises by His Word and Sacraments.”
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Posted Oct. 9, 2026
