Here is another question, just for clarification:

Which of these definitions of justification do you agree with?

1. “On the negative side it [justification] is a true eradication of sin; on the positive side it is a supernatural sanctifying and renewal of the inner man.”

2. “Justification is a true removal of sin, and not merely having one’s sins ignored or no longer held against the sinner by God . . .

3. “That initial act of God by which . . . he declares that sinner to be no longer exposed to the penalty of the law . . .

Justification, as thus defined, is therefore a declarative act, as distinguished from an efficient act; an act of God external to the sinner, as distinguished from an act within the sinner’s nature and changing that nature; a judicial act, as distinguished from a sovereign act; . . .”

4. “It [justification] does not produce any subjective change in the person justified. It does not effect a change of character, making those good who were bad, those holy who were unholy. . . . It is a forensic or judicial act . . . It is a declarative act in which God pronounces the sinner just or righteous . . .”