I was actually listening to a Tim Keller sermon on this just the other day. To justify something isn't to change the thing, it's to change the perspective on it. If I tell Rachel that I'm going to be home for dinner, and I'm three hours late, she'd be unhappy. But if I tell her that I was late because I was in a terrible car crash and I was lucky to walk away unharmed, she'd probably change from being upset to being grateful I was home. I'd have justified my tardiness.
Similarly, if the kids knew that I was saving some leftover brisket in the fridge for lunch and I found out it was gone, I'd be frustrated, but if they then told me that there was a basket of puppies that was starving and they'd fed the puppies, I'd change my view on that -- they would have justified getting rid of the steak.
So when we are justified, the reality of our sinfulness doesn't change. But the way God looks at us has changed -- God doesn't view us as sinful anymore. Instead, when we're covered in Christ, God looks at us as though we are fully worthy of the glory of God. You are justified in Christ, and so because of Christ, you appear differently to God.
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