Ephesians 2:8-9 “by grace your have been saved through faith…” Ephesians 2:10 shows us the purpose of this justification is that we would walk in the good works that God has prepared for us. Romans 4:1-4 points out that even from the time of Abraham justification has always been by faith. Not meaning that before Abraham justification was by works but that at Abraham is the beginning of God’s covenant family and intentional work of redemption through an elect person or group, therefore Paul cites Abraham as by grace through faith to demonstrate that this has always been God’s means of justification and salvation.

See also: Romans 3:20-22, Galatians 3:6-9, cf. Romans 4, Ephesians 1.

Inspecting Romans 3, this “court scene” presentation of the declaration of the sinner is not made at the moment of salvation but at the future judgment seat of Christ: in this case both the declaration made by God of “righteous” which includes the imputing of the righteousness of Christ and the actual righteousness of the individual due to God’s grace through sanctification and glorification come together in one moment at the judgment seat of Christ. God’s statement “righteous” then is true of the believer at the moment of salvation when Christ’s righteousness is imputed but also in the future, eschatological judgment of the individual when he is actually righteous. God is just therefore in his declaration. This does not mean that our justification is dependent on our sanctification in that we must work to earn our declaration, because sanctification progresses by the grace of God also. Justification, sanctification and glorification are all integral parts of salvation each one dependent on the other and each one accomplished by the grace of God.