1) “...so also through one righteous act unto justification of life to all men” (Rom. 5:18).
We have obtained the objective and positional justification by God’s grace, through the redemption of Christ Jesus, and through our faith. This affords us the position to receive God’s life, as stated in this verse, “...unto justification of life.”
1) “Having been filled with the fruit of righteousness, which is through Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:11).
When we live by God’s life, which we received in our positional justification, we bear the fruit of righteousness through the Lord Jesus. This fruit is Christ as our righteousness, whom we live out by God’s life, that we may be subjectively justified. This justification, which is of life, is not obtained outwardly but is lived out from within. Hence, it is subjective.
1) “Who [Jesus]...was raised because of our justification” (Rom. 4:25).
We are subjectively justified also through the resurrected Christ. The resurrection of Christ mentioned in this verse is not only an outward proof of our objective justification; it is also for Christ to enter into us to be our life (Col. 1:27; 3:4), that we may live Him out as our subjective righteousness and thus be subjectively justified. We obtain objective justification because we believe into Christ and gain Him as our objective righteousness; we obtain subjective justification because we live by Christ and live Him out as our subjective righteousness. Objective justification causes us to have life; subjective justification enables us to grow in life and be transformed unto maturity.
1) “...you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 6:11).
To be in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ is to be in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, that is, to be in the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. This speaks of our organic union with the Lord, our partaking of His divine life and nature, and our becoming subjectively righteous. That is, it speaks of our being joined to Christ in Christ to become the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21b).
1) “You were justified...in the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor. 6:11).
We experience subjective justification also in the Spirit of God. When we were saved, the Spirit of God entered into us to bring to us the life of God, that we may be justified subjectively by God in life. Therefore, we obtain subjective justification in life by God’s life, through the resurrected Christ, in His person, and in the Spirit of God.
The six steps of experience from forgiveness to justification are all in the redemptive aspect of God’s full salvation. These six steps constitute a perpetual cycle in the believers’ experience of the spiritual life, until the redemption of their bodies, that is, until their glorification. At the same time, repentance, which is the way to enjoy salvation, also accompanies this cycle according to the need of these six steps of experience. Before the redemption of our body, it is inevitable that we fail or become defiled. Whenever we fail or are defiled, we need to repent that we may again be forgiven, cleansed, propitiated, reconciled, sanctified, and justified, in order to thus maintain our fellowship with God and to continue to live before God. Whenever we trespass and are again defiled, we must repent once more in order to again be forgiven, cleansed, propitiated, reconciled, sanctified, and justified. This then becomes a cycle of experience repeated again and again in our spiritual life, that we may continue in the enjoyment of God’s full salvation.