John MacArthur on Justification
Forensic — righteousness imputed, not infused
"The righteousness of justification is not infused into the believer, nor is it attained by any virtue or work of man... it is the legal declaration of right standing with God... justification consists in the imputation of our sins to Christ and the imputation of Christ's righteousness to us... through faith alone apart from works."
THE POSITION
Forensic imputation, stated with a direct, explicit denial of the infused-righteousness alternative: not a virtue infused into the believer, but a legal declaration built on the double imputation of the believer's sin to Christ and Christ's righteousness to the believer.
28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
18 OTHERS HOLD THIS
ABOUT THIS FIGURE
Pastor of Grace Community Church, Sun Valley, from 1969 until his death in July 2025. Expositional preaching, hard cessationism, dispensational premillennialism. Researched from the church's own Doctrinal Statement, covering all 15 loci in one document.
Cite this page
"John MacArthur on Justification", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/macarthur/justification (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/macarthur/justification).