In justification, God pronounces a judicial verdict upon the sinner. But God’s verdict and the divine word pronounced in it are not at all that of a human judge. The human judge can only describe what he hopes to be the real state of affairs. The human judge’s judgment is in no sense effective; it does not create the reality it depicts. . . . God’s verdict differs in that it creates the reality it declares. . . . A judicial act for God is never merely judicial; it is itself transformative.
