What does it mean that a person is justified by faith?

Les explains that justification by faith is God's declaration that a believer is just as if he had never sinned. Even though the old body remains corrupt and can be ravaged by sin, salvation is justified. God sees us as Adam was before he ever fell, and the whole theme of the book from cover to cover is that God wants to reconcile the human being back to what he was in Adam before sin entered. This happens when we believe the gospel. Les stresses that few professing believers realize they are to reckon themselves just as if they had never sinned, because that is what God has declared them to be. He illustrates with psychology: telling a young person he will never amount to anything tends to produce that outcome, while encouraging him that he can be the glory of God can lead to that reality.