How Should Man Be Just With God?

"I know it is so of a truth: but how should man be just with God?" (Job 9:2) Job's question is perhaps the most important question a man can ask, and one most commonly misunderstood by God's people. The bible speaks of justification in three distinct ways: (1) Justification by the blood of Christ in the courtroom of divine justice (Romans 5:9), (2) Justification by faith in the courtroom of the believer's conscience and personal experience (Genesis 15:6), and (3) Justification by works in the courtroom of the observing world (James 2:24). Through right division we can understand the various ways that God's people are declared to be righteous in the scriptures.