Justification and the Bible

Over the years, I've seen many Christians suffer from self-condemnation and guilt. Having suffered myself, I know very well what it means to feel self-condemned and guilty. But I don't need to share my experiences. The Bible makes it clear in (1 John 3:21-22) that if our heart doesn't condemn us, we should trust God. If our heart condemns us, it means we're living in guilt and not trusting in him.

The antidote to every illness is medicine, healing. The opposite of condemnation and guilt is justification. Justification and condemnation are opposite terms. If you are just, then you are not guilty, and if you are guilty, then you are not just. One is opposed to the other.
Moreover, the way in which someone becomes righteous also shows the way in which he could stop being righteous. For example, if someone had to do such-and-such a work in order to be righteous before God, it's obvious that failing to do these works would mean that he was no longer righteous, which in turn means that he was unjust, guilty, worthy of condemnation.
What does the Bible tell us about justification? How can someone become righteous before God? I know we've probably told you "by doing good works". But is that really what the Bible says? The answer is NO! Gospel means good news, and what we're going to read below is good news:

(Romans 3:20-28)
"For no one will be justified before Him by the works of the law, since it is through the law that the knowledge of sin comes. But now without the law is manifested the righteousness of God, to which the law and the prophets bear witness; the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, for all who believe: there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; and they are justified FREE OF CHARGE by His grace, through the redemption which is in Jesus Christ: It is he whom God destined, by his blood, to be, for those who would believe, a propitiatory victim, in order to show his justice, because he had left unpunished the sins committed before, in the time of his patience, in order, I say, to show his justice in the present time, so as to be just while justifying those who have faith in Jesus. Where, then, is the cause for glory? It is excluded. By what law? By the law of works? No, but by the law of faith. FOR WE BELIEVE THAT MAN IS JUSTIFIED BY FAITH, WITHOUT THE WORKS OF THE LAW."

This passage, along with many others in the New Testament, is truly revolutionary. Gospel means good news, and what we've just read really is! As the passage makes clear, there is no way for a person to be justified, or even become righteous, by the works of the Mosaic Law (including the 10 Commandments, since they too are part of the Law).
As the Bible makes clear, doing good works - even obeying the 10 Commandments, for example, though the law says much more than that - doesn't make you right in God's sight. It's not that doing good works is bad, but because good works have never been enough and have never been intended to make us right before Him. We cannot be righteous before God by works.
If your righteousness, then, is based on works, it's no longer righteousness at all. On the contrary, it's something done by oneself that calms your conscience for a time, but has no value before God. So if you feel guilty and condemned it's because you believe your works aren't enough and you think this has affected the way God sees you.
You may feel that He's angry with you because of what you did or didn't do, and you may feel that He looks at you and says, "How could you do that? You've hurt me. You're guilty. That's not God's voice, dear brother, dear sister.
God never expected you to be righteous before Him by works. On the contrary, He made you righteous right away, as a gift, ("being justified by His grace as a gift" (Romans 3:24)) when you believe in His Son. You are righteous NOW!
Justification, then, is not something we achieve bit by bit. On the contrary, we become righteous the moment we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and His resurrection from the dead. It's a GIFT, not something we've earned in exchange for our deeds ("a man is justified by faith without works of the law" (Romans 3:28)).

We see the same thing in 2 Corinthians 5:21 where we read:

(2 Corinthians 5:21)
"He [Christ] who knew no sin, He [God] made Him to be sin for us SO THAT WE MAY BECOME IN HIM THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD."

The first part of this passage speaks of an act and the one who did it, while the second part shows us the result of that act and the recipients of that result.
What was this act? That God gave His Son for us. He made Him, who knew no sin, become sin for us.
What was the result of this act? Why did God do this? The answer is so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God!
Our righteousness, then, has nothing to do with our works and everything to do with the fulfillment of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He did all that was necessary, He gave Himself for us so that we might be justified. And as His work is finished and complete, our justification is also finished and complete. It really is a done deal!

As again (Romans 8:29-30) tells us:

(Romans 8:29-30)
"For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be like the image of his Son, that his Son might be the firstborn among many brethren. And those whom he predestined, he also called; and those whom he called, he also justified; and those whom he justified, he also glorified."

Who justified us? Who made us righteous? Not us, with our good works, but God! Notice also the use of the past tense: "and those whom he justified", says the Word. Our justification is something that has already been done. It's not something that's completed little by little, day by day, according to our behavior, nor is it something that's re-evaluated every day, based on our works.
On the contrary, it's a gift made available to us through Jesus' sacrifice, and given freely to anyone who believes in Him as the Son of God. Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the Messiah? If so, you are born of God, you are children of God; you are saved and righteous before God, without any work; and you are all this NOW!

(1 John 5:1)
"Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God".

(Romans 10:9-10)
"If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing with the heart that we attain to righteousness, and it is by confessing with the mouth that we attain to salvation."

(John 1:12-13)
"But to all who received her, to those who believe in her name, she gave power to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

(Galatians 3:26)
"For you are all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ."

In a nutshell:

we become righteous before God automatically, the moment we believe, and without works. If, therefore, we feel condemnation and guilt, it is NOT God who condemns us. He has made us righteous! As we read: we are God's righteousness! So condemnation has no place in our lives. That doesn't mean we don't make mistakes. What it does mean is that condemnation should never be the answer to those mistakes. The answer should simply be to confess them to the Lord, renew our minds and move on.