“Justification stands at the beginning of the Christian life, at the moment we truly believe in Christ. At that instant, God reckons to us the righteousness of Christ, and we are declared just. Martin Luther expressed this concept with the phrase simil justus et peccator. Those four Latin words mean that we are, at the same time, both righteous and sinful. How can that be? On the surface, it sounds like a contradiction, doesn’t it? But we are indeed just by virtue of the justness or the righteousness of Christ, which is given to us. God imputes the righteousness of Jesus to you. That’s the basis of your justification. But, in and of yourself, you remain a sinner. That’s the whole point of the Protestant doctrine of justification. God doesn’t wait for us to be worthy of salvation. He doesn’t wait for us to become holy before we’re counted as righteous. ‘While we were still sinners, Christ died for us’ (Rom. 5:8).” (Sproul, Growing in Holiness: Understanding God’s Role and Yours, 76-77)