In respect of the first of these statements, it is true that justification, and every other spiritual blessing, was included in that purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began; but as the actual bestowment of other blessings supposes the existence of the party, so does justification. Christ was “raised again for our justification,” in the same sense as he died for the pardon of our sins. Pardon and justification were virtually obtained by his death and resurrection; and to this may be added, our glorification was obtained by his ascension; for we were not only “quickened together with him,” and “raised up together,” but “made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” But as this does not prove that we were, thenceforth, actually glorified, neither does the other prove that we were actually pardoned or justified.

Whatever justification be, the Scriptures represent it as taking place on our believing in Christ. It is not any thing that belongs to predestination, but something that intervenes between that and glorification. “Whom he did predestinate, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” That which the Scriptures call justification is by faith in Jesus Christ; and is sometimes spoken of as future, which it could not be if it were before our actual existence. For example: “Seeing it is one God who shall justify the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith.—Now it was not written for Abraham’s sake alone, that it was imputed to him; but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead.—The Scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith,” &c. If justification were God’s decree finally to acquit, condemnation must be his decree finally to condemn. But every unbeliever, whether elect or non-elect, is under condemnation, as the Scriptures abundantly teach; condemnation, therefore, cannot be God’s decree finally to condemn. Saul of Tarsus, while an unbeliever, was under condemnation, yet God had “not appointed him to wrath, but to obtain salvation by Jesus Christ.” The sum is, that neither condemnation nor justification consists in the secret purpose of God, but in his will as revealed, or declared, as by a sentence in open court.

And as justification is not a purpose in the Divine mind, neither is it a manifestation to, an impression on, or a persuasion of, the human mind. That there are manifestations to believers is admitted. God manifests himself unto them as he does not unto the world. The things of God, which are hidden from the wise and prudent, are revealed to them. But these are not things which were previously locked up in the Divine purposes, but things which were already revealed in the Scriptures, and which were previously hidden from them, as they still are from unbelievers, by their own criminal blindness. God does not reveal his secret counsels to men, otherwise than fulfilling them. To pretend to a revelation, or manifestation, of that which is not contained in the Scriptures, is pretending to be inspired in the same extraordinary manner as were the prophets and apostles.

If justification consist in a manifestation, impression, or persuasion that we are justified, condemnation must be a like impression, or persuasion, that we are condemned; but this is not true. The Jews who opposed Christ were under condemnation; yet so far from being impressed, or persuaded, of any such thing, they had no doubt but God was their Father. Believers in Jesus, on the other hand, may, at times, be impressed with strong apprehensions of Divine wrath, while yet they are not exposed to it. Neither justification, therefore, nor condemnation, consists in a persuasion of the mind that we are under the one or the other. Besides, to make a thing consist in a persuasion of the truth of that thing is a palpable absurdity. There can be no well-grounded persuasion of the truth of any thing, unless it be true and evident antecedently to our being persuaded of it.

Justification is a relative change, not in, or upon, but concerning us. It relates to our standing with respect to God, the Lawgiver and Judge of all. It is “passing from death to life,” in respect of the law; as when the sentence against a malefactor is not only remitted, but he is, withal, raised to honour and dignity. It is our standing acquitted by the revealed will of God declared in the gospel. As “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven” in the curses of his law, so “the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith,” in the declarations of the gospel. It is in this revelation of the mind of God in his word, I conceive, that the sentence both of condemnation and justification consists. He whom the Scriptures bless is blessed; and he whom they curse is cursed.

As transgressors of the holy, just, and good law of God, we are all, by nature, children of wrath. All the threatenings of God are in full force against us, and, were we to die in that condition, we must perish everlastingly. This is to be under condemnation. But condemnation, awful as it is, is not damnation. The sentence is not executed, nor is it irrevocable: “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Hence, the sinner stands in a new relation to God as a Lawgiver. He is no longer “under the law, with respect to its condemning power, but “under grace.” As the manslayer, on having entered the city of refuge, was, by a special constitution of mercy, secure from the avenger of blood; so the sinner, having “fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before him,” is, by the gracious constitution of the gospel, secured from the curse. All those threatenings which belonged to him heretofore no longer stand against him; but are reckoned, by the Judge of all, as having been executed on Jesus his substitute, who was “made a curse for us.” On the other hand, all the blessings and promises in the book of God belong to him, and, die when he may, eternal life is his portion. This is that state into which every believer is translated, on his becoming a believer; and herein, I conceive, consists the blessing of justification.

Fuller, A. G. (1988). “Justification,” Sermon XVII. The Complete Works of Andrew Fuller: Memoirs, Sermons, Etc. (J. Belcher, Ed.; Vol. 1, pp. 278–280). Sprinkle Publications.