Justification

CRITICAL FALSE-FRIEND DRIFT: in everyday English, ‘to justify’ overwhelmingly means to give a reason or defense for an action (‘justify your answer,’ ‘how do you justify that expense’), a rational self-defense completely different from Paul’s forensic sense of God declaring a sinner righteous. This is arguably the single most confidently misread theological term in English Bible study, precisely because every reader already has a strong, wrong, ready-made definition.