The acquittal, or declaration of being righteous, before God as judge.

It is a declarative act of God by which he establishes persons as righteous; that is, in right and true relationship to himself.

justification refers to the divine act whereby God makes humans, who are sinful and therefore worthy of condemnation, acceptable before a God who is holy and righteous.

God’s act whereby He declares that a person has met all His standards for holiness

As regards its nature, it is the judicial act of God, by which he pardons all the sins of those who believe in Christ, and accounts, accepts, and treats them as righteous in the eye of the law, i.e., as conformed to all its demands. In addition to the pardon (q.v.) of sin, justification declares that all the claims of the law are satisfied in respect of the justified. It is the act of a judge and not of a sovereign. The law is not relaxed or set aside, but is declared to be fulfilled in the strictest sense; and so the person justified is declared to be entitled to all the advantages and rewards arising from perfect obedience to the law

The Greek noun for “justification,” dikaiōsis, is derived from the Greek verb dikaioō, meaning “to acquit” or “to declare righteous”