The notion of ‘being justified’ is an inherently Christian notion, at least in the West (but I’d argue, globally). Our grammars for thinking life, the secular/sacred divide is no matter, come to all of us through a Christian lens. But even prior to that, in a chronological (and logical) sense, the desire to be ‘justified,’ one way or the other, presupposes someone we are seeking to be justified before, even if that someone reduces to ourselves. Nonetheless, I find this ethos, this pathos even, to be rather stunning when paused upon for reflection. Eberhard Juengal writes:
Wanting to justify yourself is one thing; having to justify yourself is quite another. The fact that people want to justify their conduct, their behaviour, their past life and their claim to a future life is linked with the fact that people require recognition. It is essential for people to be recognized. Their personhood depends on it. As human beings we demand recognition of ourselves. The wish for justification has its source in this basic human need for recognition.[1]
The thirst for recognition abstracted from its proper taxis or order vis-à-vis God results in what we see all around us in the world, in an increasing manner. People will reach to all manner of heights and depths in an attempt to rationalize and thus justify their actions before others; but in particular people are really attempting to justify themselves to themselves. This is the ultimate turn-to-the-subject of Edenic orientation. Humanity is awash in concupiscence, to the point that self-love terminates in all mechanisms of unimaginable self-destruction and its institutionalization as the fabric of the societies.
I simply wanted to register this rather obvious, but often overlooked fact that humans, by nature—as that nature has ultimately been given telos in the humanity of Jesus Christ (who is the imago Dei for us)—are driven to find justification or recognition by someone else; typically, someone outside of them, in order to find solace and validation in their own sense of self-justification. Human beings have taken their own Edenic self-theosis to its logical conclusion. We see ourselves, outwith Jesus Christ’s intervention by the Holy Spirit, as the terminus, as the end of all that is and will be (for us). As such, we end up inhabiting these vicious circles of self-manipulation, convincing ourselves that no matter what our own particular tastes and dastardly proclivities might be, that we are “okay,” in fact we are justified!
The only antidote to the turn to self-justification is to repent!; to recognize this one eternal and everlasting reality: viz. God is God.
[1] Eberhard Jüngel, Justification: The Heart of the Christian Faith (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2001), 6-7.