The believers’ being justified by God is also evidenced by the ascension of Christ. In John 16:10 the Lord Jesus said that the Spirit will convince the world “concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father.” This indicates that the Father has been fully satisfied with the Lord’s redemptive death and has accepted Him in His resurrection. The proof that the Father is satisfied with Christ’s redemption is that the Father resurrected Him from among the dead and exalted Him to His right hand. Hence, the resurrection and ascension of Christ are the evidences proving that His redemption has satisfied God and has met all the demands and requirements of God for our justification. Therefore, the Lord Jesus was released from death to he exalted to the heavens at the right hand of God. One of our hymns speaks of this:
“Father God, Thou hast accepted
Jesus as our Substitute;
Judged the Just One for the unjust,
Couldst Thou change Thy attitude?
As a proof of perfect justice,
At Thine own right hand He sits;
He, as Thy full satisfaction,
Righteously Thy need befits.”
(Hymns, 20)
Thus, the ascended Christ, who sits at the right hand of God, is an evidence that we, the believers in Christ, have been justified by God.
We have seen that the believers have been justified objectively, that is, outwardly and positionally. Now we need to see another aspect of God’s justification, and this is the subjective aspect. To be justified by God subjectively is to be justified by Him inwardly and dispositionally.
The believers are justified subjectively by receiving the divine life through the positional justification. Being justified objectively gives us the position to receive the divine life. This is the reason Romans 5:18 speaks of “justification of life.” Because we have been justified objectively, we have been brought up to the standard of God’s righteousness and now we correspond to it. Hence, we are justified unto life spontaneously. In Adam we were condemned unto death, but in Christ we are justified unto life. Justification is for life. Justification changes our outward position and life changes our inward disposition. Now we have both justification for our position and life for our disposition.
Justification issues in, results in, life. We have received the divine life, and this life is now working in us to make us righteous in many things. This is an inward, subjective justification. Through such a subjective justification, our being and living are justified by the divine life within us. Therefore, God justifies us not only objectively from without but also subjectively from within.
We are also justified subjectively by Christ in His resurrection (Rom. 4:25b). As the resurrected One, Christ is in us to live for us a life that can be justified by God and is always acceptable to God. The resurrected Christ is now living in us a life that is absolutely righteous, a life that can be justified by God. This is not outward justification through Christ’s redemption; rather, this is inward justification by Christ’s life. Christ’s redemption gives us objective justification by faith, but His resurrection life within us gives us the subjective justification by God. Now God is positioned by Christ’s blood to justify us outwardly, and He is also positioned by the resurrected Christ to justify us inwardly.