"And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the
ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. Genesis 7:1
This is the first mention of the great doctrine of justification in the
Bible—that is, being seen as “righteous” by God. The same Hebrew word is
translated “just” in Genesis 6:9:
“Noah was a just man.” The reason why Noah was seen as righteous and
therefore as just, or justified before God, was that “Noah found grace
in the eyes of the LORD” (Genesis 6:8).
This is the first mention of “grace” in the Bible.
Thus, justification is by grace through faith in the Old Testament and
certainly in the New. “Being justified freely by his grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus."
Justification—that is, being seen and proclaimed as perfectly righteous,
even in spite of past sins—must of course be authorized by God the
Creator. “It is God that justifieth” (Romans 8:33). That God can indeed be both “just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Romans 3:26)
is based entirely on the substitutionary death and bodily resurrection
of Christ, who conquered death. “Being now justified by his blood,” the
Lord Jesus Christ “was delivered for our offences, and was raised again
for our justification” (Romans 5:9; 4:25).
Now, although we are freely justified by grace through faith, such
justification inevitably generates good works also, for “by works a man
is justified, and not by faith only” (James 2:24)."
HMM