The London Baptist Confession of Faith | Exposition of Chapter 11

Mark Sarver

Chapter 11: Of Justification

As Protestants we must not forget that Protestantism was born out of an agonizing struggle over the doctrine of justification by faith alone. For Luther this doctrine was not merely one among many, but “the article by which the church stands or falls” and on which its entire doctrine depends. This truth is the unique possession of Christianity: it “distinguishes our religion from all others” (Althaus, The Theology of Martin Luther, p. 224). With this assessment Calvin agreed, calling it “the main hinge on which religion turns” (Institutes, 3.11.2). Lose this doctrine and Christ, the church and Christianity itself are lost. For this reason, in the Smalcald Articles (1537) Luther expresses himself in the strongest terms, almost as if he were under oath:

Nothing in this article can be given up or compromised, even if heaven and earth and things temporal should be destroyed . . . on this article rests all that we teach and practice against the pope, the devil, and the world. Therefore we must be quite certain and have no doubts about it. Otherwise all is lost, and the pope, the devil, and all our adversaries will gain the victory.

Another reason why we must diligently study and zealously defend this doctrine is to be found in the opposition that it continues to receive from its enemies and in the compromise by which it has recently suffered at the hands of its professed friends. The doctrine of justification by faith alone as laid out in the 1689 Confession is still anathema to the Vatican. By insisting that justification has to do with an infusion of God’s grace into the hearts of the faithful, Rome continues to confuse justification with sanctification. And by continuing to insist that all who would be released from the burden of their sins must continue to receive new infusions of God’s grace by means of the sacraments, Rome still teaches its adherents that something is necessary to a right standing before God beside the imputed righteousness of Christ received by faith.

A far greater threat, however, than this open frontal attack is the push now underway for ecumenical union between evangelicals and Roman Catholics, as expressed in a document published on March 29, 1994 titled, “Evangelicals and Catholics Together: The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium,” and accompanied with a list of more than thirty signatories, including several well-known evangelicals. The section, “We Affirm Together,” asserts that “we are justified by grace through faith because of Christ.” Although this declaration has been celebrated as a surprising concession by its Catholic participants, it actually says nothing that is out of keeping with what Catholics have been saying for centuries. The real issue that has always been at the heart of the division between Catholics and Protestants, justification by faith alone, is carefully avoided throughout the document. Nothing is said about the imputed righteousness of Christ or of forensic justification. The accord was made possible, not because the Romanists moved closer to evangelicalism, but because the evangelical participants capitulated at the very places where the Reformers stood firm.

Having looked at some of the reasons why we must give ourselves whole-heartedly to the study of this doctrine, we now come to what the Confession has to say concerning it.

I. The distinct nature of justification (¶ 1).

Those whom God effectually calleth, he also freely justifieth, not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous; not for anything wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ’s sake alone; not by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them, as their righteousness; but by imputing Christ’s active obedience unto the whole law, and passive obedience in his death for their whole and sole righteousness they receiving and resting on Him and His righteousness by faith, which faith they have not of themselves; it is the gift of God.

In this opening paragraph, which gives us the biblical doctrine of justification in a nutshell, we have a statement concerning the subjects, essence, basis, method and instrument of justification.

A. The subjects of justification: those effectually called.

Those whom God effectually calleth, he also freely justifieth,

By these words the truth is enunciated that God justifies all those and only those whom He has effectually called by His grace. This is proven, first, by the express teaching of Scripture: “Whom he foreordained, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified” (Rom. 8:30). Second, this is established by the fact that only those who truly come to Christ by faith are justified (Rom. 3:21-22, 28; 5:1; Gal. 2:16), and only those who have been effectually called or regenerated can truly believe (I Cor. 1:9; John 1:12-13; Acts 18:27; 26:18; Eph. 2:8).

B. The essence of justification: pardon and acceptance.

not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous;

1. Negatively: it is not ethical infusion.

One of the most common ways by which the doctrine of justification has been and is still perverted is by redefining the term. Justification does not mean that one is to be, become or be made inherently good or upright. Justification does not involve a change of nature but a change of the sinner’s legal standing before the law of God. God “justifies the ungodly” (Rom. 4:5). At that very moment ─ when he is declared just by God ─ the believer remains inherently sinful. This does not mean that at the moment of conversion God does nothing to make His people holy. True believers are sanctified as well as justified. Nevertheless, though inseparable, justification and sanctification are not the same. While sanctification has to do with one’s internal conformity to the character of God, justification has to do with one’s legal standing before the law of God.

It is one of the primary errors of Rome that it regards justification as the gracious infusion of a principle of holiness into our hearts and as a sanctifying process by which we are made holy. According to the decrees and canons of the Council of Trent (1545-1563), Rome’s answer to the Reformation, justification is “not only a remission of sins but also the sanctification and renewal of the inward man through the voluntary reception of the grace and of the gifts whereby an unjust man becomes just and from being an enemy becomes a friend” (session 6, chapter 7). When justification is thus mingled with sanctification, the ground of justification includes the sinner’s own imperfect righteousness rather than the perfect righteousness of Christ alone. The Council of Trent explicitly anathematizes those who assert that men are justified solely by the “imputation of the justice of Christ” to the exclusion of the love poured forth in their hearts by the Holy Spirit (session 6, canon 11). By this justification the graces of faith, hope and love are “infused” into the hearts of those who co-operate with God’s grace (session 6, chapters 5 & 7). Against this teaching the 1689 Confession unambiguously denies that justification takes place “by infusing righteousness into them.”

2. Positively: it is a judicial transaction.

God justifies those whom He effectually calls, the Confession states, “by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous.” These are forensic terms, that is, having to do with one’s legal standing before God. As Berkhof defines it, “Justification is a judicial act of God, in which He declares, on the basis of the righteousness of Jesus Christ, that all the claims of the law are satisfied with respect to the sinner” (Systematic Theology, p. 513). Justification takes place in the courtroom of God, not in the soul of the sinner. It changes the sinner’s legal status, not his inner nature. Martin Luther’s rediscovery of the biblical doctrine of justification as a judicial declaration involved a radical break with the teaching of the Catholic scholastic theologians of the medieval church. In the thinking of these theologians one is declared righteous only when he has been made righteous by a supernatural infusion of divine grace. Hence, according to the medieval theologians, the verdict of justification is not the Judge’s pronouncement of innocence but the Physician’s attestation of recovery, a “clean bill of health.” But when Luther rediscovered the biblical doctrine of justification, he abandoned the medical imagery of infusion for the forensic concept of judicial declaration. Justification was returned from its medieval setting of a hospital bed to the biblical setting of a courtroom. The medieval concept confused regeneration with justification. In regeneration God does the work of a physician, surgically removing the cancer of our sin and supernaturally imparting a new principle of life and holiness. All of this He does within us. But as the Judge who “justifies the ungodly,” He renders a favorable judicial verdict. This He does without us: in the courtroom of heaven.

Even common usage of the word “justify” shows that justification does not mean to make holy but rather to pronounce upright. When a judge justifies the accused he doesn’t make that person upright. Rather, he simply declares that the man is not guilty of the crime of which he is accused. For several reasons we believe that the Bible uses “justify” and related terms in the same way:

1) Again and again the Scriptures set justification forth as the opposite of condemnation. In several places this contrast is used with reference to judicial pronouncements made by men: “If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, and the judges judge them, then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked” (Deut. 25:1; cp. Prov. 17:15; Isa. 5:23). What is it to condemn the wicked? It is certainly not making someone wicked by infusing wickedness into him. Rather, it is to judicially declare or pronounce him guilty because of his transgression of the law. Turning from the proceedings of human judges to those of God, we again observe that the terms “condemnation” and “justification” denote contrasting judicial pronouncements: “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifies; who is he that condemns?” (Rom. 8:33-34a; cp. 5:16, 18; Isa. 50:8-9; Matt. 12:37). In each of these passages the justification and condemnation in view are equally forensic in nature.

2) In many places “justify” cannot mean anything other than to declare righteous; to substitute sanctification (making holy) for justification (declaring legally upright) would produce nonsense. In Deut. 25:1 we are told that it is the obligation of judges to “justify the righteous and condemn the wicked.” If “justify” means “to actually make righteous,” why does the Lord insist that judges condemn the wicked? Why would He not rather require that judges make the wicked righteous? Because judges have no ability to effect this change. The judge can do no more than make a declaration with respect to the guilt or innocence of the one charged. If the defendant is innocent, he is to be “justified” ─ declared innocent. Again we read, “He that justifies the wicked, and he that condemns the righteous, both of them alike are an abomination to Jehovah” (Prov. 17:15). Would it be an abomination to the Lord to make a criminal a righteous man? Surely not! On the contrary, it would be highly commendable. That which is condemned by this text is declaring the wicked to be righteous when he is not. Cp. Isa. 5:23; Luke 7:29; 16:15.

3) A third proof of the judicial sense of the phrase “to justify” is found in the fact that the terms with which it is associated consistently designate one or another aspect of the process of judgment. The context of the doctrine is always judicial. In the book of Romans, where this doctrine is most thoroughly expounded, we have the following: a Judge (2:2), a judgement (2:16; 3:19), a tribunal (14:10), an indictment (3:9-10), an accuser (8:33), a witness (2:15), a conviction (3:19-20), an Advocate (8:34) and a pardon (4:7-8). If God makes the context of justification the courtroom, it is wrong for us to make it the hospital room.

4) That justification is a judicial declaration rather than an ethical infusion is confirmed by the way the Scriptures consistently represent it as an instantaneous act as opposed to a gradual process. Whenever the Bible speaks of the justification of those who are already believers, it refers to it as an event that took place in the past, not as an ongoing process still taking place in the present (Rom. 5:1, 9; 4:3, 9; Luke 18:4).

For these five reasons we are convinced that when the Bible speaks of justification it is not speaking of an infusion of a principle of holiness into the heart of a man, but of a judicial declaration concerning the believer’s standing before God. The 1689 Confession, along with Scripture, informs us that this judicial declaration includes two aspects: pardon and acceptance.

a. Pardon.

The negative aspect of justification is the pardon, i.e., non-imputation of sin. This pardon greatly transcends that of human judges or governors. Among men pardon is an act that proceeds from the simple prerogative of a merciful sovereign who relaxes the claims of the law in a given case. But divine pardon is never an arbitrary absolution that dispenses with the claims of God’s law. It is always based on the premise that the penalties due for every violation must be endured by either the sinner or a substitute. See Rom. 3:23-26; 4:5-8; 5:8-9; II Cor. 5:18-21; Gal. 3:10-13; Ex. 34:6-7.

The pardon which God bestows is full and free (Isa. 55:7; 44:22; Eph. 1:7). It extends to all sins ─ no matter how great, aggravated and numerous: (Psa. 103:3; cp. 130:3-4; Jer. 33:8; Isa. 1:18). God’s pardon is irrevocable. He blots out our transgressions, refusing to call them to mind again, and treating them as if they are now non-existent (Isa. 43:25; cp. Psa. 103:12; Jer. 31:34; Micah 7:18-19). The pardon granted in justification applies to all sins, past, present and future (Rom. 8:1, 32-34; Heb. 10:10-18; Psa. 32:1-2).

b. Acceptance.

God justifies those whom He has called, the 1689 Confession declares, not only by pardoning their sins but also “by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous.” By means of the former our sins are not reckoned unto us. By means of the latter we are treated as if we had fully performed all that the law of God requires of us. Suppose the owner of a large estate, before leaving for a trip, gave his servants ten prohibitions and assigned them ten tasks, threatening certain punishments for the violation of the prohibitions and promising rich rewards for the accomplishment of the assigned tasks. When the master returned, the obedient and faithful servant both avoided the threatened punishments and received the promised rewards. But the other servant had violated the prohibitions and failed to perform his assigned duties. Because he pled with tears for clemency, the master pardoned all of his offences. But, due to his neglect, the servant could not be rewarded as if he had faithfully carried out all of his appointed duties. God does better than this. Not only does He treat us as if we had never violated His law, but He also accepts and rewards us as if we had perfectly accomplished every one of our assigned tasks. That justification not only includes pardon but also acceptance is shown by the following evidence:

1) The Bible repeatedly declares that our justification rests, not only on Christ’s satisfaction of the justice of God (by which we are pardoned), but also on the ground of Christ’s perfect obedience to the law of God (by which we are accepted). In order that we might be pardoned, our sins were put to His account. In order that we might be accepted as righteous, His righteousness has been put to our account. Not only does the Lord “not reckon sin;” He also reckons the righteousness worked out by Another to our account (Rom. 4:6-8; 5:19; 10:3-9; II Cor. 5:21; I Cor. 1:30).

2) The effects of justification are greater than the release from punishment that comes with pardon. As J.I. Packer puts it, [Justification] means the bestowal of a righteous man’s status and a title to all the blessings promised to the just” (in Baker’s Dictionary of Theology, en loc.). These blessings include peace with God, access to God, communion with Him, adoption, being joint-heirs with Christ, the sealing of the Holy Spirit, eternal life and the hope of the glory of God (Rom. 5:1-2, 17-18, 21; 8:14-23, 30; Gal. 4:4-7; Eph. 1:13-14).

C. The basis of justification: Christ alone.

not for anything wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ’s sake alone;

1. Negatively: it is not based on us.

The Church of Rome sets forth that which Christ merited, not as an objective righteousness worked out in behalf of the believer, but as an infused righteousness that must be improved upon by the cooperative efforts of the believer before he is meritoriously entitled to eternal life (Trent, session 6, chapter 16). The teaching of Rome boils down to this: we are not justified by grace, pure and simple, but by the works that come from it. Over against this teaching our Confession asserts that believers are justified, “not for anything wrought in them, or done by them.”

a. Its basis not anything wrought in us.

The Bible clearly rejects the notion that our justification is based on an inner transformation:

1) We can only be justified on the basis of a perfect righteousness, and the inherent sanctity of even the best of us is imperfect. Herein is our dilemma: not one of us is inherently perfect. “Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?” (Prov. 20:9; cp. Job 9:20; 14:4; 15:14-15; 25:4-6; Eccl. 7:20; Isa. 6:5; 64:6; Rom. 3:10, 23; I Jn. 1:8).

2) A righteousness wrought in us, even if it were absolutely perfect and even if it guaranteed perseverance in sinless perfection forever, could not measure up to the righteousness demanded by the law. Why? It would do nothing to obliterate the multitude of our past transgressions. We need a righteousness that will remedy past as well as future sins (Psa. 130:3-4; Micah 6:6-7).

3) If the righteousness by which men are justified is an inherent righteousness wrought in them, it could not be said that God “justifies the ungodly” (Rom. 4:5; cp. 5:6-9).

4) Our justification cannot be based on anything wrought in us, because the Bible explicitly declares that the righteousness by which we are justified is not our own (Phil. 3:3-9; Rom. 10:3).
When God reckons the righteousness of Christ to the sinner’s account, He also inscribes the likeness of Christ on his soul. But the object of saving faith is Christ Himself, not the image of Christ within. As William Gurnall points out, when you trust the image of Christ within, you set Christ against Christ. “The bride doth well highly to esteem her husband’s picture, . . . but it were ridiculous if she should dote on that so far as to slight her husband, and, when she wants money, clothes or the like, to go, not to her husband, but to the picture he gave her for all” (The Christian in Complete Armour, 1:516). Yet this is what you do when you trust in Christ’s image within more than Christ Himself. As long as you do this, you will be plagued with subjectivism and doubt. The basis of our justification is not anything wrought in us, even the likeness of Christ Himself.

b. Its basis not anything done by us.

Whereas Trent mixed grace and works in justification, our Confession denies that sinners are justified “for anything done by them.” Biblical support for this denial includes the following:

1) Even the obedience rendered by the holiest saint falls far short of the perfection required by God [cp. 1) above]. If a man is to be justified on the basis of his obedience, it must not in the least particular fall short of the requirements of the law. With the utmost solemnity the Bible insists upon such obedience and declares that there is no such perfect obedience among men (James 2:10-11; 3:2; Gal. 3:10, 21; Rom. 3:9-10, 19-20, 23).

2) Even if at some point the sinner were to begin to obey God perfectly, his new obedience could do nothing to satisfy the penalty due for past transgressions. Suppose a man convicted of a brutal murder is on death row. In this case the governor does something no other earthly governor can do: he so thoroughly changes the man’s heart that his old hatred is replaced by love. While in jail he leads Bible studies which have a transforming effect on the whole prison, persuades his fellow inmates to expression their sorrow to those they have hurt, and organizes a national movement to help families who have been victimized by violent crimes. The story of this prison revival spreads across the nation. At length a great cry is raised, pleading with the governor to grant the man a pardon. The governor is perplexed: shall he uphold the demands of the law or extend clemency? Herein is his dilemma: he cannot do both. At last he pardons the man, but reluctantly so, because he knows that the demands of the law have not been satisfied. But God cannot do this. His law must be upheld. If we were to render perfect service for a million years, we could not pay for our past sins (Micah 6:6-7). The law requires not only the fulfillment of its precepts but also the endurance of its penalties: “apart from the shedding of blood there is no remission” (Heb. 9:22). Calvary is God’s answer to the strictness of His law.

3) That we are not justified by the works of the law is the uniform testimony of Scripture (Rom. 3:20, 28; 4:4-8; 9:30-32; 10:3-5; Gal. 2:16; 3:10-12, 21; 5:4; Eph. 2:8-10; Phil. 3:9).

4) Biblical affirmations that we are justified by grace are utterly contrary to the notion that justification is a reward for anything we do. Grace is the bestowal of favor on those who deserve the opposite. This unmerited favor is shown when God justifies those who bring no works for their justification, but believe on Him who justifies the ungodly (Rom. 3:24-28; 4:4-5, 16; 5:15-21; 11:6).

5) Those who in any way seek to be justified by their works render the death of Christ needless and ineffectual. In defending his thesis that “a man is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ” Paul declares, “I do not make void the grace of God: for if righteousness is through the law, then Christ died in vain” (Gal. 2:21; cp. v. 16). Something is done “in vain” when it is done either needlessly or ineffectually. a) If either a part or a whole of the payment due for our sins can be made by us, it was a needless thing for an infinite sacrifice (Acts 20:28) to be rendered on our behalf. If even part of the payment for our sins can be made by us, it was an act of terrible cruelty for God the Father to deliver up His Son to the infinite agonies of Golgotha. b) When we seek either to replace or supplement Christ’s death by means of our own works, we treat His death as if it were ineffectual. According to the Scriptures, Christ’s death was effectual for remission of all of our sins (Matt. 26:28; Heb. 10:11-18; I Jn. 1:9) and working out an everlasting righteousness by which we are acceptable to God (Dan. 9:24; II Cor. 5:21). But the Bible makes it plain that Christ’s death didn’t just make it possible for God to replace a hard standard (full payment from us) with an easier standard (partial payment from us). As Robert Traill says in one of his sermons on Galatians 5:21, “Our Lord Jesus Christ did not die to make hard things easy, to make a hard way to heaven easy; but Christ died to make impossible things certain” (Works, 4:218). See Rom. 8:3; Gal. 3:21.

6) The righteousness by which we are justified is the righteousness of God (Rom. 1:17; 3:21-24). A righteousness worked out by us (whether acts of penance or evangelical obedience), even if prompted by God, is not a God-righteousness, for it is actually accomplished by us. But the God-righteousness by which we are justified is not our own (Phil. 3:9; Rom. 10:3; cp. 3:20-21).
These six arguments against justification by works are a warning to those who have a damning confidence in their own performances. If in any way you have been seeking to establish your own righteousness (Rom. 10:3), you need to take your works and place them in the burning light of God’s holiness. You may boast in them all you want, “but not before God” (Rom. 4:2; cp. Heb. 4:13, 12). To really be “good” in the eyes of God a work must fully conform to the spiritual and practical demands of His law, be a conscious expression of obedience to His will, spring from absolutely pure motives, be done out of supreme love to God, and aim at God’s glory. Not one thing you or I have ever done has fully measured up to this standard (Isa. 64:6).
These six considerations also have something to say to those of you who once repudiated all of your works and trusted in the righteousness of Christ alone, but since that time have been plagued with a crippling preoccupation with your sins. You are torn between the testimony of two contradictory witnesses: the testimony of your conscience concerning your sins (all of which deserve eternal condemnation) and the testimony of God concerning your justification. You may respond in one of three ways. 1) Due to unbelief, you may listen to the testimony of each of these witnesses as if they were of equal weight. As long as you do this, you will remain in agony of soul. 2) You may seek to remove the tension by silencing one of the witnesses. You may seek to stifle the voice of your conscience, thereby giving yourself up to increasing hardness of heart. Or you may virtually silence God’s testimony by giving greater heed to the voice of your conscience, thereby descending deeper and deeper into unbelief and despair. 3) You may react to your sin biblically. On one hand, refusing to deny the testimony of your conscience, you make a full and open confession of your sin. On the other hand, you lay hold of God’s testimony that there is “no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus” and conquer by means of the believing affirmations of Romans eight (see vv. 1, 31-39; cp. I John 1:8-9).

2. Positively: it is based on Christ.

Having denied that our justification is based on anything wrought in us or done by us, the Confession of Faith affirms that we are justified “for Christ’s sake alone.” It is that righteousness which Christ fully worked out on our behalf during His days on earth and especially while He hung upon the tree (Rom. 3:21-26; 5:6-9; Isa. 53:11), that and that alone, which is the fulfillment of the perfect righteousness God requires. Christ is said to be “made unto us righteousness” and we are said to be made “the righteousness of God in him” (I Cor. 1:30; II Cor. 5:21; cp. Jer. 23:5-6). Similar language is used when the righteousness of our justification is said to be “by Him” (Acts 13:38-39), “in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1), “in Christ” (Gal. 2:17), “in Him” (Phil. 3:9) and “in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ” (I Cor. 6:11).

In order to stress the fact that the righteousness granted in justification is in no way produced by us but entirely the work of Christ, Luther called it an “alien” righteousness (iustitia alienum). At the time of its accomplishment, it was entirely “outside of us.” (“Disputation Concerning Justification,” Thesis 27). This righteousness is “nothing whatever in us but is entirely outside of us in Christ and yet becomes truly ours by reason of His grace and gift . . . as though we ourselves had achieved and earned it (Sermons on the Gospel of John, in Works, 24:347). Luther stated this principle even more boldly when he coined what that famous formula which describes the Christian as “at one and the same time a righteous man and a sinner.” Before he came to a mature understanding of this doctrine, he had thought of the believer as “partly” a sinner and “partly” righteous. But during the winter of 1515-1516, while lecturing on the book of Romans, he spoke of the Christian as “at one and the same time a righteous man and a sinner: a sinner in fact but a righteous man through faith in the promise” (Library of Christian Classics, 15:127).

You who are believers must never forget that you are “at one and the same time a righteous man and a sinner” ─ just as much now as when you first believed. As Luther goes on to emphasize, the Christian is not only “at one and the same time a righteous man and a sinner” (simul iustus et peccator), but “always a righteous man and a sinner” (semper iustus et peccator). Paul’s ‘faithful saying” that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief” (I Tim. 1:15) is in the present tense. All of his faithfulness and self-denial does not change the fact that, considered in himself, he is still a sinner. His one and only hope of justification is still the same: Christ. There is nothing more fundamental to Christian assurance than this. It is a defense that is impervious to the prosecutions of all who would lay charges against us (Rom. 8:33-34). “Whenever the devil and hell itself come to claim you, show them Christ, and you will be able to silence them” (Luther’s Works, Erlangen edition, 15:60).

D. The method of justification: imputation.

not by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them, as their righteousness; but by imputing Christ’s active obedience unto the whole law, and passive obedience in his death for their whole and sole righteousness,

In common usage “impute” means “reckon” or “regard.” Sometimes such reckoning agrees with what is really the case, as with those “counted faithful” in Neh. 13:13. But such reckoning may contradict reality, as when an innocent man is thought to be guilty. The Scriptures, however, frequently use the word in a stronger sense, of judicially reckoning either sin or righteousness to one’s account as the basis of his condemnation or justification. This may take place in two ways:

1) Merit or demerit that was inherently a man’s own prior to its imputation may be imputed to him (Psa. 106:31). If he is guilty of a crime, it is reckoned a crime of which he is guilty and he is to be treated accordingly (Lev. 17:4; II Sam. 19:19). One of the chief blessings of justification is the non-imputation of sin. “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom Jehovah does not impute iniquity” (Psa. 32:1-2; cp. Rom. 4:7-8).

2) That which did not personally belong to a man prior to its imputation may be imputed to him. It may take place when a man is falsely accused (I Kings 1:21). But this sort of imputation may be perfectly just in its basis. Based upon the representative relationship that exists between Adam and all of his posterity, his first sin has been imputed to all those whom he represented (Rom. 5:12-14, 16, 18-19). In similar fashion, because Christ was constituted the head of all those who believe in Him, a double imputation was possible: the sins of believers were put to His account and His righteousness was put to their account (II Cor. 5:21; Rom. 5:19). As Paul wrote in behalf of Onesimus, “If he . . . owes you anything, put that on my account” (Philemon 18), so our Lord said with respect to all of our sins, “If they owe anything, charge it to my account.” The imputation involved in our justification is of this second type. Stating the matter in different words, that which is imputed is done so by way of transfer. a) On one hand, our guilt was debited to Christ’s account by way of transfer: “Jehovah has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:6, 12; cp. Gal. 3:13; I Pet. 2:24). God “made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us” (II Cor. 5:21). In what sense? It could not be by way of participation because our Lord “knew no sin.” Therefore, it could only be by way of transfer, by laying on Him all of the guilt of His people. b) On the other hand, Christ’s righteousness is credited to our account by way of transfer and we are declared righteous (II Cor. 5:19-21).

Having established the meaning of imputation, we ask, “When a man is justified, what is it that is imputed to his account?” The Confession answers this question negatively and positively.

1. Negatively: not by imputing faith itself or evangelical obedience.

Sinners are justified, the Confession states, “not by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them, as their righteousness.” Our justification is:

a. Not by imputing faith itself.

There are some who repudiate justification by works but represent faith as a gospel substitute for works as the ground of our acceptance. Support for this position is sought in the New Testament citations of Genesis 15:6: “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness” (Rom. 4:3; Gal. 3:6; James 2:23). In this way a doctrine of justification based on an inherent personal righteousness (consisting in faith), is covertly introduced. The reason why faith is accepted by God is not because of its object (Christ) but because it is a virtue that contains seeds of every other grace. This notion is overthrown by the following considerations:

1) If faith is reckoned to our account as the basis of our justification, then we are justified on the basis of a meritorious disposition or work. Justification by faith looked upon as a meritorious work is diametrically opposed to justification by grace and is categorically rejected by the Bible (Rom. 4:4-5; Gal. 2:16, 21). The righteousness by which we are justified is completely outside of us; it is not the righteousness of our faith but the “righteousness of God” (Rom. 3:21-22).

2) The idea that faith is reckoned as righteousness is exceedingly derogatory to the character of God expressed in His law. “That law, which is the transcript of His own unchangeable nature, can acknowledge nothing as its fulfillment but perfect conformity to all its requirements. Nor did the Gospel come to pour dishonor upon it by modifying its demands, or to substitute another law for it, making faith meritorious” (Haldane, Romans, p. 164; cp. Isa. 42:21; Rom. 3:31).

3) Upon careful inspection, the statement in question, “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness” (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:3, 9, 22; James 2:23), will be seen as consistent with the teaching of the rest of the Bible, that it is Christ’s righteousness, not our faith, that is imputed to us for our justification. Both in Romans 4 and Galatians 3 Paul cites Genesis 15:6 in order to prove that Abraham was not justified by works but by faith. But if his faith was meritorious unto salvation, it was in effect a meritorious work and he was justified on the basis of that work. This is entirely contrary to Paul’s thesis that our justification is a gift of God’s grace, not a reward earned by our works (Rom. 3:24; 4:4-5). For Paul to say that Abraham’s faith was meritoriously imputed to him as his righteousness (4:3) and then to say that we are not justified by works but by grace (vv. 4-5) would be to contradict himself almost in one breath.

What, then, do the Scriptures mean when they say that Abraham’s faith was “reckoned unto him for righteousness”? In answering this question let us remember the two senses in which the Scriptures use the word “reckon” or “impute.” Sometimes it is used of something that previously did not personally belong to a person but is reckoned to his account. But in other cases “reckon” simply means to recognize something that is already in existence (cp. Rom. 6:7-11). We believe that it is in this second sense that the word is used in the passages under consideration. God “reckoned” or recognized Abraham to have exercised genuine faith. Paul’s great emphasis in citing Genesis 15:6 is that it was faith that was recognized in Abraham, not some good work.

The passages under consideration state that the faith that was reckoned to be faith was reckoned “unto” (eis) righteousness. In these verses the Greek preposition eis does not properly signify “for” or “in the stead of,” but always means “unto” or “in order to.” Even so we find this same preposition in Romans 10:10, where we read, “With the heart man believes unto righteousness.” All who are justified, including Abraham, “believe unto righteousness,” that is, believe with a view to being justified. The teaching of Romans 4:3 and parallel texts is that 1) Abraham believed God,

2) God reckoned his faith as genuine, and 3) reckoning him to be a believer, God justified him. Thus, his faith was “unto” or “with a view to” his justification.

4) The notion that our faith is imputed to us as our justifying righteousness is inconsistent with the office ascribed to faith. The New Testament writers commonly use three expressions to describe the relationship of faith to justification. The Christian is said to be justified a) pistei—“by faith” (Rom. 3:28), b) ek pisteos—“from,” “out of” or “by faith” (Rom. 3:30; 5:1; Gal. 2:16; 3:24), or c) dia pisteos “through” or “by means of faith” (Rom. 3:22, 25, 30; Gal. 2:16; Eph. 2:8; Phil. 3:9). But the Scriptures never say that we are justified dia ten pistin—“on the ground of” or “on account of faith,” thereby making faith the meritorious basis of our acceptance with God.

These arguments expose the error of those who assert that our faith (or our faith with the works it produces) is our justifying righteousness. Romanists assert that justification rests upon “faith co-operating with good works” (Trent, session 6, chapters 8 and 10). By this faith we are justified, not because it rests upon the righteousness of Christ, but because of its powerful, fruit-bearing capacity. But error on this point has not been confined to Romanists. Some Arminians hold that for Christ’s sake God has graciously replaced the demands of the law with an easier requirement, faith, and that this faith is now accepted in the place of perfect obedience as the ground of justification. Inevitably this leads the anxious inquirer to ask, “Do I have enough faith?” Whereas the trembling Catholic asks, “Have I done enough works?” the sincere Arminian has his own agonizing “enough” questions: “Is my faith strong enough?” “Are the fruits of my faith plentiful enough?” All of these questions are the result of a subtle shift: moving from trust in the imputed righteousness of Christ to the faith of the believer as the ground of justification.
It is not necessary, however, for us to consciously embrace either the Romanist or Arminian position to be confused. With pastoral insight Robert Traill observed, “There is not a minister that deals seriously with the souls of men, but he finds an Arminian scheme of justification in every unrenewed heart” (Works, 1:186). Even among professing believers it is far too common to find a tendency to place one’s faith in his faith. Consequently, every detected inadequacy in his faith makes him tremble. Why? Remaining sin continues to stain, not only his works, but also his faith. Dear doubting believer, if you have begun to trust in your faith rather than Christ, look away from yourself to Him. Listen to the godly counsel of an experienced pastor/theologian: “Too many Christians live in constant despondency because they cannot distinguish between the rock on which they stand and the faith by which they stand upon the rock. Faith is not our rock; Christ is our rock. We do not get faith by having faith in our faith or by looking to faith, but by looking to Christ.” (Joel Beeke, in Justification by Faith Alone, ed. Don Kistler, p. 93).

This leads us to emphasize that God has chosen to justify us by faith, not because of any inherent virtue in our faith, but because faith looks outside of itself to the righteousness of Another. We must never treat our faith as if it were our savior. With this danger in mind, B.B. Warfield writes, “It is not, strictly speaking, even faith in Christ that saves but Christ that saves through faith” (Biblical and Theological Studies, p. 425). Christ has not chosen to save us through faith because it is morally superior to other virtues and therefore worthy of an eternal reward, but because the very nature of faith is simple receptivity. We put a gift into a man’s hand rather than his ear, not because the hand is better than the ear, but because the hand is the member most adapted to reception. Even so, God has chosen faith to be the instrument of our justification, not because of its moral superiority but because of its humble receptivity.
b. Not by imputing evangelical obedience.

Rome teaches that works done by the assistance of divine grace and prompted by the gospel are essential to the justifying process (Trent, session 6, chapter 10). Many Arminians assert that moral lapses on the part of the believer require the renewal of his justification and that continuation in a justified state is contingent on continued obedience. Much of what we have already said in order to refute the notion that our justification is based on anything wrought in us or done by us also refutes this error. At this juncture we merely wish to advert to the fact that it is the testimony of Scripture that the post-conversion works of saints renowned for their godliness were not the righteousness imputed to them for their justification. The obedience of Abraham and Paul formed no part of the righteousness imputed to them by God (Rom. 4:1-16; Phil. 3:4-9).

The root cause of our tendency to look to evangelical obedience as if it were at least part of the righteousness put to our account is pride. Thinking that grace could not be proud, we forget that a man may be proud of his grace. As Gurnall points out, “There is nothing the Christian hath or doth, but this worm of pride will breed in it” (Christian in Complete Armour, 1:200). Sometimes this pride makes its appearance dressed in its own garb: the sinner’s heart applauds itself over duties performed. But often it puts on the guise of humility. This is done in two ways:

1) When poor sinners shrink back from embracing the righteousness of Christ offered in the gospel due to a sense of their own unworthiness, their apparent humility is often a cover for their pride. Tell such a one of the sufferings of Christ, assure him of the promises of the gospel to all who believe, and he still refuses to be comforted. Why? He cannot bring himself to cease from his vain search for something within that will commend him to God. Christ sends His messengers to you, telling you “all things are ready” (Matt. 22:4). Pride says, “It is not so, for I am not quite ready.” Humility leads you to come to Jesus just as you are.

2) Others of you, having believed some time ago, now are despondent. Why? All of your joy has run out through the cracks of your imperfect performances. Your soul is so dry, your walk is so uneven, and you fall so short of God’s law. There you sit at the gospel feast Christ provided, yet you do not know whether you dare eat. Why? Beneath your professed humility lurks pride. If you could pray without wandering, walk without limping and believe without wavering, then you would be happy. Because of that subtle desire to derive comfort from your own performances, you hold back from receiving it purely from Christ. Don’t do this! Cease from your efforts to find solace in your mortifications and performances; enfold yourself in the righteousness of Christ alone. “This is a garment for which ─ as Christ saith of the lily ─ we neither spin nor toil” (Gurnall, 1:205). Do not rob Christ of the glory due only to Him (I Cor. 1:30-31).

2. Positively: by imputing Christ’s active and passive obedience.

Having repudiated the notion that God justifies sinners by imputing either their faith or their evangelical obedience to them, the Confession affirms that it is “by imputing Christ’s active obedience unto the whole law, and passive obedience in his death for their whole and sole righteousness.” This distinction between the active and passive obedience of Christ, if correctly understood, is useful. But the idea that Christ’s passive obedience consisted in mere suffering and His active obedience was confined to His years prior to the cross overlooks the biblical teaching that both in His life and in His death He was actively engaged in obeying His Father (Phil. 2:8; Jn. 10:17-18; 18:11; 19:30; Lk. 23:46; Heb. 5:8-9; 10:5-10; Psa. 40:6-8). Nevertheless, rightly understood, these two terms may be used to describe the one work of Christ viewed in two ways. By this work, namely, His obedience, Christ met two conditions necessary for our justification:

a. Our first need was the removal of our guilt. God’s law inflexibly demands that a full penalty be inflicted for every infraction, and only when this penalty has been endured can our guilt be removed. By His “passive” obedience Christ suffered the fullness of the curse and penalty due unto us and thereby provided the basis for the removal of our guilt (Gal. 3:10, 13; II Cor. 5:21; Isa. 53:5-6). On the basis of this satisfaction of the penal demands of God’s law, that part of justification involving our pardon rests. Because He rendered this penal satisfaction as our substitute, it may rightly be said that His passive obedience has been imputed to us. For this reason our justification is explicitly linked to His redemption (Rom. 3:24), propitiatory sacrifice (3:25-26), blood (5:9), obedience (5:18-19) and becoming sin for us (II Cor. 5:21).

b. Because of the requirements of the law, we were also in need of a positive righteousness. God’s law not only has penal sanctions but also positive demands. Because all of us have fallen far short of its demands, if any of us were ever to be accepted by God, our Substitute must not only endure the penalty due to us but also fulfill all the demands required of us. Not only did we need a passive but also an active obedience. Christ accomplished this by His perfect obedience both to all the precepts of the law and to all the particular requirements of the will of the Father for Him (Gal. 4:4-5; Jn. 6:38). This obedience was rendered during the entirety of His life and culminated in that great act of obedience when He was obedient “even unto death” (Phil. 2:8). Through His death He did more than deliver us from hell; He also purchased heaven. He worked out a righteousness by which we might not only have acceptance with God now, but also receive the gift of eternal life (Rom. 5:15-21; 6:23) and “rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (5:1-2).

Closely connected to the twofold imputation of Christ’s active and passive obedience to us is another “double imputation” in which the sins of believers were imputed to Christ at the cross (Isa. 53:6; II Cor. 5:21; Gal. 3:13; I Pet. 2:24) in order that the righteousness and obedience of Christ might be imputed to all believers (Rom. 5:19; II Cor. 5:21). What solid ground for assurance is provided by the biblical teaching concerning this mutual transfer! On April 8, 1516, Martin Luther wrote to George Spenlein concerning the object of his faith. “I should like to know,” he said, “whether your soul, tired of its own righteousness, is learning to be revived by and to trust in the righteousness of Christ.” After speaking to him of the impossibility of attaining a good standing with God in the clothing of his own merits, Luther pointed his friend to this “sweet exchange”: “My dear Friar, learn Christ and him crucified. Learn to praise him and, despairing of yourself, say, ‘Lord Jesus, you are my righteousness, just as I am your sin. You have taken upon yourself what is mine and have given to me what is yours.’” (Luther’s Works, 48:12). Whether in life or death, what greater comfort could there be?

E. The instrument of justification: faith.

they receiving and resting on him and his righteousness by faith, which faith they have not of themselves; it is the gift of God.

1. Its essence.

In this statement the faith by which we are justified is described with respect to its essential activities, “receiving and resting,” and its essential object, “[Christ] and his righteousness.”

a. Its essential activities.

1) Saving faith involves “receiving” Christ (Jn. 1:12; 12:48) and His righteousness (12:48). For this reason it has been aptly called the “hand” that receives Christ. Faith is called a “hand,” not because it works for or earns justification, but because it receives and appropriates Christ as He is freely offered to sinners in the gospel. It is not a full, working hand but an empty, receptive hand. Yet it is not so diffident as to assume that the gift offered is not free for the taking. Faith hears of the pardoning blood and, reaching out, says, “I receive that pardon for myself.” It says, “I receive and take Jesus to be mine.” “Faith, with arms outstretched joyfully embraces the Son of God given for it and says, ‘He is my beloved and I am his’” (Luther’s Works, 34:110).

2) This faith also involves “resting on” Christ. It is not enough that a man knows the truth of the gospel and even assents unto the truthfulness of it. His faith must also include the element of trust. In true saving faith the sinner abandons all human resources and rests in Christ alone for his salvation. For this reason the Scriptures frequently speak of saving faith in terms of “believing on” Christ. Sometimes this phrase is derived from the Greek words pisteuein epi. When this phrase is used with the dative it expresses a steady, resting repose or reliance upon the object of faith (Rom. 9:33, 10:11; I Pet. 2:6; I Tim. 1:16). Even more frequently (some 49 times) “believe on” translates the Greek phrase pisteuein eis. By this construction faith is depicted as being reliantly directed away from one’s self to Christ (e.g., Jn. 3:16, 18, 36; 6:29, 35, 40; 7:38-39; 11:25-26; 14:1; Gal. 2:16). Trusting in Christ is leaning with all our weight upon Him.

b. Its essential object.

We are justified, the Confession states, by receiving and resting on “him [i.e., Christ] and his righteousness by faith.” The object of justifying faith is the person and work of Christ.

1) Justifying faith looks to the person of Christ. Sometimes this is represented as believing on Him as the One sent from God (Jn. 5:38; 6:29) or as believing in Him as God the Son (Jn. 11:27; 20:28-31). But faith characteristically goes directly to Christ Himself. This act is described as “coming” to Christ (Jn. 6:35, 37, 44) or “receiving” Him (Jn. 1:12; 12:48), but most often as “believing on” Him (see the texts cited above). It goes to Christ alone for pardon and acceptance. True faith is preoccupied with the object of its gaze: Christ. This Christ-centeredness is the hallmark of saving faith. Faith does not look to itself. It is always an outgoing trust, not a trust in the strength of one’s faith to save him. Far too many are introspectively preoccupied with examining the character of their faith rather than gazing on the all-sufficiency of the Redeemer. Faith is absorbed in that which is outside the sinner, the glory of Christ and His redemption.

2) Saving faith looks not only to Christ Himself but also to “his righteousness,” not only to His person but also to His work. As we have already seen, the righteousness by which sinners are justified is a God-righteousness, a righteousness worked out by God (Rom. 1:17; 3:21-22) through the obedience of Christ (5:17-19), culminating in His death (Phil. 2:8). Because the object of this faith is not only Christ but also Christ’s propitiatory work, justifying faith is also described as “faith in his blood” (Rom. 3:24-25; cp. 5:9). Faith in Christ’s propitiatory blood letting leads the sinner under the wrath of God to run to the propitiatory covering found in the blood-righteousness of Christ. Faith wraps the soul of the believing sinner in the righteousness of Christ. It dares not cover itself in any other garment (Isa. 64:6; Phil. 3:9; Matt. 22:10-13).

2. Its source.

which faith they have not of themselves; it is the gift of God.

Negatively, this faith is “not of themselves.” Faith involves “seeing” the truth of the gospel, which is utterly impossible to those who are blind to spiritual reality (Jn. 12:37-40; I Cor. 2:14; II Cor. 4:3-6). The “hearing” of faith is also beyond the capabilities of deaf sinners (Jn. 9:26-28; 8:43). Saving faith is also “coming” to Christ, something sinners are entirely averse to doing (Jn. 5:40). Furthermore, those who are “dead” in their sins (Eph. 2:1-3) are powerless to believe. The Scriptures make it abundantly clear that it is impossible for saving faith to originate in ourselves.

Positively, faith is “the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8). “To you it has been granted . . . to believe on him” (Phil. 1:29). Faith is enumerated among the “fruits of the Spirit” (Gal. 5:19). Apollos is said to have “helped them much that had believed through grace” (Acts 18:27). Faith is the gift of God. If you have received it as a gift, you have no reason to boast (I Cor 4:7).

II. The exclusive instrument of justification (¶ 2).

Faith thus receiving and resting on Christ and his righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification; yet it is not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces, and is no dead faith, but worketh by love.

In these words we find assertions concerning 1) the exclusive instrumentality of faith, and 2) the inseparable accompaniments of faith.

A. The exclusive instrumentality of faith.

Faith thus receiving and resting on Christ and his righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification;

One of the great battle cries of the Reformers was sola fide (faith alone). They saw in this slogan one of the great and irreconcilable differences between the teaching of the Word of God and that of the Church of Rome. Likewise, when the learned doctors of Rome were gathered together at Trent in order to construct a definitive answer to the Protestant Reformation, they too saw that this issue was pivotal. Knowing that they could not ignore the many declarations of Scripture that sinners are justified by faith, the men who presided at Trent had to say something concerning the role of faith in justification. This they did by identifying it with baptism, which they called “the sacrament of faith” (session 6, chapter 7). Thus, by a subtle shift, the instrument of justification is made to be the “sacrament of faith” (baptism), not faith, pure and simple. For those who through sin have “forfeited” their justification there is a second plank of justification: penance (session 6, chapter 14). Furthermore, because justification is not conceived of as a once-for-all judicial declaration but as an ongoing process, it must also be “increased” by good works (session 6, canon 24). The teaching of the Catholic Church is the same today.

This being the consistent position of Rome, it is extremely disturbing to find the recently signed Colson-Neuhaus accord, “Evangelicals and Catholics Together,” listing justification by faith as one of the points of agreement between Evangelicals and Catholics: “We affirm together that we are justified by grace through faith because of Christ” (p. 5). By saying we are “justified by grace through faith” without adding the word alone, the document affirms no more than the Catholic Church has taught for centuries. For almost 500 years the question of whether sinners are justified by faith alone has been the main theological divide between Catholics and Protestants. This is a call to Christ’s faithful soldiers to lift up a banner for the truth and cry “Here we stand!” As we plant our flag, we will seek to demonstrate the exclusive instrumentality of faith in justification, and then explain why faith must be the sole instrument in justification.

1. The exclusive instrumentality of faith demonstrated. 1) As we have already seen (I.C above), the only ground of our acceptance is the vicarious righteousness of Christ, and the only instrument by which this righteousness is appropriated is faith (Rom. 3:21-26; Phil. 3:4-9). 2) The Bible repeatedly declares that we are justified by faith, not works (Rom. 3:19-30; 4:4-8; Gal. 2:16; 5:2-6; Phil. 3:3-9). These passages assert that trust in works of any kind, whether of the moral or ceremonial law, contradicts simple faith in Christ. Not only the self-righteousness of do-gooders who think they keep the decalogue quite well, but also the sacramentalism of those who rely upon dietary taboos, sacraments, rosaries and masses is condemned. 3) While the voice of Scripture is loud and clear in declaring faith as the instrumental means of justification, we never hear that we are justified by love, meekness or any other grace. 4) Abraham obtained the blessing of justification by faith alone, prior to his circumcision or the giving of the law (Rom. 4:1-3, 9-18, 22-25). God so ordered the circumstances of his justification that no other factor that could be construed as an instrument of his justification was present at the time of his justification. It is the fact that his faith was entirely alone as the instrument of his justification that God singles out as qualifying Abraham to be the paradigm for all believers in every age.

2. The exclusive instrumentality of faith explained. Why has God selected faith and not some other grace as the instrumental means of justification? The reason is not that faith possesses some peculiar virtue not found in any other grace. Of faith, hope and love, Paul says, “the greatest of these is love” (I Cor. 13:13). If superior virtue was the criterion of God’s selection, why do we never read in Scripture of being justified by love? We must look elsewhere for the explanation of God’s choice of faith to be the instrumental means of justification. 1) We are justified by faith alone because this is the only method that is consistent with justification being by grace. We are “justified freely by his grace”(Rom. 3:23-24; cp. 4:16). Receiving God’s righteousness by faith is opposed to earning it by works (Rom. 4:3-5; Gal. 2:16; Eph. 2:8-9). God has chosen faith to be the instrumental means because faith is a self-emptying grace. The very act of faith by which the sinner receives Christ is an act of entire renunciation of his own performances and character as the basis of his acceptance with God. It offers no righteousness of its own and receives the righteousness of Christ as a gift for which it can pay nothing. Faith is the empty hand that receives the unspeakably precious gift of God’s Son. 2) God has chosen faith because the principle of justification by faith alone agrees with the fact that there is but one ground of justification, the righteousness of Christ. It is the very nature of faith to trust in and rest upon another. No other grace has this as its distinguishing quality. “Faith is emptiness filled with Christ’s fullness; impotency lying down upon Christ’s strength” (John Girardeau, Calvinism and Evangelical Arminianism, pp. 522-66). 3) Justification by faith alone gives all the glory to God. When it is seen that the Giver shows kindness to those whose persons and actions have nothing in them to attract and everything to repel His benevolence, it magnifies the freeness and munificence of the grace of God. The doctrine of sola fide (faith alone) is the best preparation for the praise of soli deo gloria (to God alone be glory).

B. The inseparable accompaniments of faith.

yet it is not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces, and is no dead faith, but worketh by love.

Can a man go on living in wickedness, be utterly bereft of the fruits of holiness and yet, due to his justification, go to heaven at last? The Reformer, Melanchthon, answered this question with this well-known epigram: “Faith alone justifies, but not the faith that is alone.” We must not trust in our godliness for our justification, but we must question a faith that does not lead to godliness. Modern antinomians treat justification as if it were the only essential aspect of salvation, eviscerate the biblical call to repentance of its true meaning and downplay the observable effects of regeneration. Who can number the multitudes deceived into thinking that their “decision for Jesus” has secured an eternal place in glory despite evidences to the contrary?
Antinomian “easy-believism” fails to grasp the nexus of justification. Considered as an isolated entity, justification is a judicial declaration that has nothing to do with one’s moral state. But justification does not take place in isolation. Rather, it is interconnected with the other blessings of salvation (Rom. 8:29-30; I Cor. 6:11; Gal. 3:24-4:7; Tit. 3:5-7). Recognizing this principle, our Confession explicitly represents predestination, effectual calling, justification, adoption, sanctification and perseverance as inextricably linked together in one chain (10.1; 11.1; 12; 13.1; 17.1). Justification is part of a whole complex of saving blessings, and justifying faith is always accompanied every other saving grace. It is a living and active thing.

1. Faith’s accompaniments.

Though faith is alone as an instrument of justification, it is not alone as a saving grace. Rather, it “is ever accompanied with all other saving graces,” including repentance (Acts 11:17-18; 20:21), humility (Phil. 3:3-9; Rom. 3:27), obedience (Rom. 1:5; 16:26), love (I Tim. 1:14; I Pet. 1:7-8), patience (II Thess. 1:3), hope (I Thess. 1:3), peace and joy (Rom. 5:1-2; 15:13). Faith is never given apart from its sister graces and is the handmaiden that strengthens each of them.

2. Faith’s operations.

The faith by which we are justified, the Confession asserts, “is no dead faith, but worketh by love.” While Romanism teaches justification based on the merits of good works, easy-believism teaches justification apart from the existence of works. But “as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also” (James 2:26). True faith is a gift of God’s regenerating and quickening grace (Eph. 2:1-9). This gift is not given as a reward for good works but as a new principle that will issue forth in good works (v.10). With overflowing joy Luther proclaims the energetic activity of faith: “It is a living, busy, active, mighty thing, this faith.” Therefore “it is impossible to separate works from faith, quite as impossible as to separate heat and light from fire” (Luther’s Works, 35:370-71). But faith does not justify because it bears fruit. “Works,” Luther insists, “are not taken into consideration when the question respects justification. But true faith will no more fail to produce them, than the sun can cease to give light.”

All of this leads us to say that though we are justified by faith, our faith must be justified (validated) by our works. Stated otherwise, there are two sorts of “justification.” Usually this word is used in Scripture to denote the judicial declaration of a sinner as righteous in God’s sight. But sometimes it is used of the external proof of his acceptance. Hence, theologians have made the distinction between actual and declarative justification. (See James Buchanan, The Doctrine of Justification, pp. 233-39). This does not mean that there is more than one way to be justified before God. Only the term “actual justification” refers to one’s judicial standing in the presence of God. The other term, “declarative justification,” refers to the fact that a man who has actually been justified in the God’s sight is also justified declaratively in his own conscience and/or before his fellow-men. His acceptance is attested and declared to himself and/or others.

Sometimes the term “justified” is used in a declarative sense with reference to God (Luke 7:29), Christ (I Tim. 3:16) or wisdom (Matt. 11:19). In other places the Scriptures depict the declarative justification of sinners. In Luke’s account of the woman who was a “sinner” (7:37-50) we have a beautiful instance of one whose many outward tokens of love were taken by our Lord as proofs of her forgiveness and justification (vv. 44, 47). Hebrews 11 contains several instances of declarative justification testifying to the reality of actual justification (vv. 2, 4, 5, 39).

The distinction between actual and declarative justification provides us with an explanation of the apparent discrepancy between the teaching of Paul and James, the former asserting justification apart from works (Rom. 3:28), and the latter insisting, “by works a man is justified, and not only by faith”(Jas. 2:24; cp. v. 21). Careful investigation reveals that there is no real contradiction between the two, since they are addressing different issues. In Paul’s argument against the works-based justification of the Judaizers, his universe of discourse has to do with actual justification. But when we read James, we do not find him opening up the nature and grounds of justification itself, but examining the practical evidences by which the genuineness of one’s professed faith is attested (2:18). James is addressing a first-century easy-believism which had lulled many into thinking that a faith which is no more than a notional assent to orthodoxy is all that one needs for a place in heaven (2:19). For the actual justification Paul has in view, faith, not works, is the prerequisite; for the declarative justification James has in mind, one’s professed faith must be proven genuine by works. The issues Paul and James confronted concern each one of us. We must not rest until we are assured that we are truly justified ─ by faith alone and by a faith that is not alone.

III. The divine glory of justification (¶ 3).

A. Its basis: the full satisfaction of God’s justice.

Christ, by his obedience and death, did fully discharge the debt of all those that are justified; and did, by the sacrifice of himself in the blood of his cross, undergoing in their stead the penalty due unto them, make a proper, real, and full satisfaction to God’s justice in their behalf;

Here reference is made to the discharge of the “debt of all those that are justified.” This debt is twofold: indebtedness to keep the whole moral law of God (Rom. 13:8-9; James 2:8-11) and indebtedness to make full payment for every violation of God’s law. This ever-mounting debt is utterly staggering (Matt. 18:27, 32, 34) and we have nothing by which we can pay off or even reduce this debt (v. 25). It is no easy thing for this debt to be removed. God’s law is immutable. It is a revelation of His essential character as a God of holiness and righteousness. It is not merely an arbitrary expression of His will. Because God is “holy, and righteous, and good,” His moral law is “holy, and the commandment holy, and righteous, and good” (Rom. 7:12; cp. I Pet. 1:15-16). Violations of His law may not be dismissed at the wave of a hand ─ even if it is His hand.

Our Confession puts its finger on the only way the terrible load of our debt can be removed ─ by the “obedience and death” of Christ, which “did fully discharge the debt of all those that are justified.” By the obedience of His life He “fulfilled all righteousness”(Matt. 3:15), and by His death He paid the price we owed for our sins (Gal. 3:10, 13; Rom. 3:24). Only by the physical and spiritual agonies of the death of deaths could He do what the Confession says He did: “make a proper, real, and full satisfaction to God’s justice in [our] behalf” (Isa. 42:21; Dan. 9:24; Rom. 3:21-26). Nothing has ever so magnified the justice of God as the substitutionary curse-bearing of Christ upon the cross. The payment our Substitute made was more than the sinner could ever make by an eternity of suffering in hell, because the blood shed at Calvary was that of the God/man (Acts 20:28). Only the death of Christ can satisfy the demands of the God whose justice is absolute, whose holiness is ineffable and whose majesty is infinite.

B. Its motive: the free grace of God’s benevolence.

yet, inasmuch as he was given by the Father for them, and his obedience and satisfaction accepted in their stead, and both freely, not for anything in them, their justification is only of free grace, that both the exact justice and rich grace of God might be glorified in the justification of sinners.

“It is evident that God must either sacrifice his law, his elect, or his Son”(A.A. Hodge, The Confession of Faith, p. 186). Some maintain that the highest expression of God’s grace would be a simple forgiveness apart from any satisfaction being made to His justice. They argue that the requirement of such expiation transforms justification into a legal transaction, thereby excluding grace. But the plan these men propose requires that God sacrifice the requirements of His law, which would involve the surrender of His eternal rectitude. His law cannot be sacrificed. What about the elect? They might justly be sacrificed, but what would happen to grace? God chose the third alternative, the sacrifice of His Son. In so doing He not only manifested His justice in an unparalleled fashion but also gave the greatest possible expression of His love and grace. Never is an act of benevolence more conspicuous than when it is seen to be costly. Nothing was more costly to God than our justification. Everything else is easy to God. When He created the world, He spoke and it was done. But for our justification the Father must pay a dear price: deliver His Son up to the exaction of infinite justice. Likewise it cost the Son dearly: the excruciations of crucifixion and the wrath of God (cf. Traill, Works, 4:166-67). But that which was so costly to God costs us absolutely nothing (Isa. 55:1; Rev. 22:17). The Lord will not take anything for it and we have nothing to give. We are “justified freely by his grace”(Rom. 3:24). And that which is a free gift to us is no mere trinket: it is abounding grace (Rom. 5:16-17, 20; I Tim. 1:14), rich grace (Eph. 1:7). For all eternity He will be showing us “the exceeding riches of his grace”(Eph. 2:7). Throughout eternity we will never cease to be amazed over the way the same plan that displays the riches of His grace most also magnifies the glory of His justice most. The most intense rays of God’s grace and justice find their focal point at the cross. There “mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other” (Psa. 85:10).

This truth is of great help to sinners inquiring after salvation and to believers longing for assurance. Some go through great struggles when it comes to appropriating the grace of God. When the Holy Spirit begins to work upon their consciences, they are awakened as never before to see the depth, aggravations and multitude of their sins. In anguish of soul such ones cry out:

Depth of mercy! can there be
Mercy still reserved for me?
Can my God His wrath forbear?
Me, the chief of sinners, spare? (Charles Wesley)

In one sense such questions are right. But often they are the expression of a sinful question: “Is not my sin greater than the grace of God?” If such thinking is keeping you from casting yourself on the grace of God for forgiveness and acceptance, let me plead with you to act on what you have just read. You have read that God’s grace shines gloriously in the justification of sinners. In all of your dealings with God, fix your eye on His grace. When you plead for justification, plead for it as something offered in grace. When you receive it, receive it as something given by grace. It is a free gift. Why won’t you receive it? In the bottom of your heart you do not want to accept something that will force you to confess that nothing you have done can ever deserve or even help deserve such a gift. O give up your proud self-righteousness! Glorify God by casting yourself on His grace.

Others struggle in coming to terms with the justice of God. Two apparently contradictory desires grip such a person’s heart: on one hand, he longs for salvation; on the other, having had a glimpse of the God’s glory, he wants God to be glorified. But there seems to be an inconsistency between the two. His desire that God be glorified seems to be a desire that he himself be damned. But he cannot bring himself to desire his own damnation. Of this heartfelt struggle John Owen writes:

Which of these desires shall the sinner cleave unto? . . . Shall he cast off all hopes and desires of his own salvation, and be content to perish for ever? This he cannot do; . . . Shall he, then, desire that God may part with and lose his glory, so that . . . he may be saved? . . . This can be no more in an enlightened mind than it can cease to desire its own salvation. But how to reconcile these things in himself a sinner finds not (5:416).

At last, however, God enables faith to harmonize the two. The believing sinner then begins to understand that God is highly glorified when He is seen to be “just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus”(Rom. 3:26; cp. Isa. 45:21). James Buchanan describes the experience of the one in whom the glorious light of this truth first dawns:

What unspeakable peace may dawn upon the soul, when it first discerns ‘the light of this knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,’ ─ when it is enabled to see that the same justice, which might have been glorified in the punishment of the sinner, may now be still more glorified in His pardon, ─ that the same love which prompted the gift of His Son will be glorified in the salvation of every one of His people, ─ and that all the attributes of God, which were formerly arrayed against us, are now in Christ, the firmest grounds of our confidence and hope, ─ that the flaming sword of justice itself, which once menaced us, has been converted into a shield and buckler for our protection and defense! (The Doctrine of Justification, pp. 312-13)

IV. The temporal execution of justification (¶ 4).

God did from all eternity decree to justify all the elect, and Christ did in the fulness of time die for their sins, and rise again for their justification; nevertheless, they are not justified personally, until the Holy Spirit doth in due time actually apply Christ unto them.

A. Its eternal decree: God’s decree to justify the elect.

God did from all eternity decree to justify all the elect,

Paul connects God’s decree with our justification: “Whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified” (Rom. 8:30). Several theologians (e.g., Kuyper, Gill, Gadsby, Philpot) have advocated the doctrine of justification from eternity. This view fails to distinguish between God’s eternal decree and its execution in time. In eternity past God determined to create. But this does not mean that creation is an eternal act. We read of the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8). But Christ was not crucified in eternity (cp. I Pet. 1:20). In Romans 8:29-30, among the steps of the ordo salutis (order of salvation) justification stands between two steps that take place in time, calling and glorification. One could just as well say that the elect were called or glorified in eternity past as he could say they were justified in eternity. In this text the first two steps (foreknowledge and foreordination) took place in eternity past, and the next three (calling, justification and glorification) take place in time.

B. Its redemptive purchase: Christ’s death and resurrection for their justification.

and Christ did in the fulness of time die for their sins, and rise again for their justification;

Christ “was delivered up for our trespasses and was raised for our justification” (Rom. 4:25). On the basis of such texts some have argued that the elect must have been justified the moment their debt was paid. But in Paul’s assertion that Christ was “raised for [dia] our justification,” his use of the preposition dia need not be interpreted as indicating a retrospective cause and effect, but can be taken in a prospective sense: “with a view to our justification,” i.e., “in order that we may be justified.” The context also favors a prospective rather than a retrospective interpretation. Paul is not thinking of the justification of the elect en masse but of the justification of individual sinners. They are justified, not at the moment of Christ’s resurrection but at the moment when, like Abraham, they believe. The underlying mistake of the justification-at-the-cross view is its failure to distinguish between the accomplishment of redemption and its application. In the former, Christ has provided a basis for our justification; in the latter, the Holy Spirit joins sinners to Christ by faith, and they are actually given the justifying righteousness procured by Christ.

C. Its temporal execution: the Holy Spirit’s application of Christ for their justification.

nevertheless, they are not justified personally, until the Holy Spirit doth in due time actually apply Christ unto them.

That sinners are not personally justified until they believe on Christ and are savingly joined to Him by the Spirit may be proven by the following arguments: 1) The Scriptures make it plain that as long as one continues in unbelief he is charged with guilt and exposed to wrath (Jn. 3:18; Gal. 3:10; Eph. 2:3). It cannot be said of those who are “condemned,” under the wrath of God, under the curse and “by nature children of wrath” that they possess the pardon and acceptance bestowed in justification. 2) According to the Word of God, faith is antecedent to justification (Gal. 2:16; Rom. 4:3-10; Phil. 3:9). Imputation is also said to be contingent upon faith (Rom. 4:24). The faith by which sinners are justified is a believing on Christ that they might be justified, not a believing that they are justified already. 3) While it was necessary that Christ do something for us, working out a righteousness in our behalf, it was also necessary that the Holy Spirit do a work in us, imparting faith to us and uniting us to Christ in order that we might be justified. Paul tells the Corinthians that they were washed, sanctified and justified “in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God” (I Cor. 6:11). These words imply that both sanctification and justification are connected (though in different ways) with the work of the Spirit as well as that of Christ (cp. Tit. 3:4-7). Christ laid the foundation for our justification. But it was equally necessary that the Holy Spirit regenerate our hearts (John 3:5-8, 18), create faith in us (Eph. 2:8) and impart to us a saving knowledge of Christ (I Cor. 2:7-14; II Thess. 2:13f). All of this is rendered meaningless if we are not justified at the moment of our conversion.

V. The subsequent sins of the justified (¶ 5).

God doth continue to forgive the sins of those that are justified, and although they can never fall from the state of justification, yet they may, by their sins, fall under God’s fatherly displeasure; and in that condition they have not usually the light of his countenance restored unto them, until they humble themselves, confess their sins, beg pardon, and renew their faith and repentance.

A. The continued forgiveness of their sins.

God doth continue to forgive the sins of those that are justified,

Because the justified still sin (I Jn. 1:8; Jas. 3:2), their prayers are replete with pleas for pardon, and the Bible is filled with assurances that such requests are granted (e.g., Psa. 32:1-5; 51:2-5; Matt. 6:11-12; I Jn. 1:7-2:2). But confusion has arisen concerning this precious blessing. Luther once spoke of the need for repeated justification (Works, 34:167). On the other hand, some Antinomians assert that because the sins of a believer are not chargeable to the new man but only to the old, it is unnecessary for them to pray for forgiveness. God doesn’t take account of their sins, because He sees, not the sins, but the believer in Christ. But most Reformed theologians have charted a course between these two extremes by maintaining that in justification God removes the guilt but not the culpability of sin. Though He removes the believer’s liability to judgment, God does not treat his sins as if they did not deserve His reproof. In the conscience sensitized by the Scriptures this remaining culpability produces feelings of self-loathing and sorrow over sins committed and sometimes confessed and forgiven long ago (II Sam. 24:10; Psa. 25:7; 51:3; Ezek. 16:60-63; II Cor. 7:9-11; I Tim. 1:13-15). Hence, they are driven to confess their sins and seek the comfort and assurance of forgiveness (Psa. 51:1-2, 7-9).

This remaining culpability is not merely a subjective matter. In the Bible saints always view their transgressions as real (Psa. 51:1-5; Rom. 7:15-25; I John 1:6-10). Because their sins are real, they provoke God to withdraw the sense of His favor and sometimes to inflict them with severe chastisements (II Sam. 12:9-15; Psa. 32:3-5; 51:8-12; I John 1:6-7). When they truly confess their sins, the forgiveness they receive is real, as is the corresponding sense of it in their hearts.

B. The impossibility of defection due to their sins.

and although they can never fall from the state of justification,

According to the Council of Trent, justification may be lost through infidelity or the commission of mortal sin. Once forfeited it may be regained through the sacrament of penance (session 6, chapters 13-15). Likewise, thoroughgoing Arminians insist that only by persevering obedience may believers continue in a justified state. When a man first embraces Christ, he is only conditionally justified ─ upon the condition that he will persevere to the end. Over against the doctrines of temporary (Rome) and conditional (Arminianism) justification, the Scriptures assert that no one will ever be able to lay anything to the charge of those whom God has justified (Rom. 8:33). Nothing can separate them from the love of God in Christ (Rom. 8:35-39). True believers shall never come into condemnation or perish (John 3:16; 5:24; 10:28; Rom. 8:1).

C. The fatherly displeasure due to their sins.

yet they may, by their sins, fall under God’s fatherly displeasure; and in that condition they have not usually the light of his countenance restored unto them, until they humble themselves, confess their sins, beg pardon, and renew their faith and repentance.

The fact that the justified shall never come into condemnation does not mean that God views their sins lightly (Deut. 1:37; II Sam. 11:27). Although He no longer punishes them as an angry Judge, He does chasten them as a loving and grieving Father (Heb. 12:5-8; Amos 3:2). When believers become careless, they are deprived of the light of His countenance (Psa. 30:5-7; 51:8-12; 89:46; Isa. 54:6-10; Hos. 5:15) and sometimes experience “grievous” chastisements (Heb. 12:11; Psa. 32:3-4; 89:31f). While they are in this condition, the saints do not usually have God’s favor restored to them, the Confession states, “until they humble themselves, confess their sins, beg pardon, and renew their faith and repentance”(Psa. 32:5; 51; Matt. 26:75; I Cor. 11:30-32).
Two exhortations grow out of this paragraph. 1) Do not use the security of your position to lead you to treat sin lightly. If you don’t penitently seek forgiveness, you will incur the hiding of God’s face and the wielding of His rod. Don’t imagine that when you sin true repentance will be easy, for it is not (Psa. 51; II Cor. 7:9-11). 2) If you have come to Christ, it is a contradiction of the gospel for you to be overcome with terror and experience an aversion to God who is only thought of as an angry Judge. No matter how miserable your conscience, remember that there is “no condemnation to those who are in Christ” (Rom. 8:1; cp. 7:15-15). Your sins can never remove the divine Justifier from His throne, the merciful Intercessor from God’s courtroom or the righteous Advocate from your side (Rom. 8:33-34; Heb. 4:14-16; 10:19-23; I John 2:1-2).

VI. The epochal unity of justification (¶ 6).

The justification of believers under the Old Testament was, in all these respects, one and the same with the justification of believers under the New Testament.

Some Dispensationalists have taught that though believers under the new economy are justified by faith, the Mosaic dispensation taught justification by keeping the law. According to Lewis Sperry Chafer, “According to the Old Testament men were just because they were true and faithful in keeping the Mosaic Law” (Systematic Theology, 7:219; cf. Scofield Reference Bible, 1917, p. 20). But the Bible clearly teaches that the law was given to lead men to Christ (Gal. 3:21-24) and that the saints in every age are justified by faith alone (Rom. 3:25-26; 4:1-24).