The law defines God’s standard of righteousness but also exposes humanity’s inability to keep it, revealing universal sin and the need for a Savior. God restores people to right standing not by works, but by faith in Christ, whose sacrificial death satisfied the law’s demand for justice as a substitute for sinners. Through justification, God remains just while declaring believers righteous by imputing their sin to Christ and crediting Christ’s righteousness to them. This gift of righteousness places believers “in Christ,” securing acceptance with God and beginning an ongoing transformation through sanctification by the Holy Spirit.