What does it mean to be justified by faith?

Of all the passages in Paul's writings, no single passage is packed with more theologically significant terms than Romans 3:21-31: Justification, redemption, propitiation, grace, justification by faith, and the list goes on an on. Commenting on this, Leon Morris suggests that this passage is "possibly the most important single paragraph ever written" (Morris, Epistle to the Romans, 1988, p. 173). While each of these terms play a significant role in Paul's description of the gospel, unfortunately many of these terms have simply become clichés today—special church terminology that we hear sung ...