Setting the wheels in motion - 17 August 2009 |
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Paraphrase of Edwards, Justification by Faith Alone, p. 149ff.
We are justified only by faith in Christ, and not by any manner of virtue of goodness of our own.
In the following pages we’ll explore this statement in five steps:
1. Explain what this statement means.
2. Prove that this statement is true.
3. Show what place ‘evangelical obedience’ (p. 149) has in justification.
4. Answer objections.
5. Reflect on why this issue matters.
Let’s begin with what justification is. ‘A person is said to be justified when he is approved of God as free from the guilt of sin, and its deserved punishment, and as having that righteousness belonging to him that entitles to the rewards of life’ (p. 150).
Justification has both positive and negative aspects. Negatively, it means that a person is regarded as being not guilty of sin. Positively, it means that a person is righteous in God’s sight, and is therefore ‘entitled to a positive reward’ (p. 150).
Justification therefore includes the forgiveness of sins, but it’s more than this. After all, Scripture says that a person can be ‘either justified or condemned’ (p. 150) – there’s no middle ground. Justification leaves us in the right with God, not in some kind of neutral moral ground.
For an illustration, consider Adam. In order to be justified, he would have needed to ‘[finish] his course of perfect obedience’ (p. 150). Only then would he have ‘fulfilled the righteousness of the law’ (p. 150). He wasn’t justified when he was first created, and it would not have been enough for him to hang around doing nothing!
Or, for another illustration, consider Christ. He ‘was not justified until he had done the work the Father had appointed him, and kept the Father’s commandments, through all trials’ (p. 150-151). He was finally justified ‘in his resurrection’ (p. 151).
Let’s think a bit more about the resurrection as Jesus’ justification. 1 Peter 3:18 says that Jesus was ‘quickened by the Spirit’; 1 Timothy 3:16 says he was ‘justified in the Spirit’ (p. 151). This was the moment when Jesus’ suffering and humiliation ended, when his exaltation began, when God granted his ‘reward’ (p. 151).
Now, what happens when a believer is justified? Simply this: we share in the justification of Jesus. We are ‘admitted to communion’ (p. 151) with him, and so we share in his reward. For Jesus did not die and rise merely as a private individual; he is the head and representative of all who believe in him. So he was raised to life not merely for his justification, but also ‘for our justification’ (p. 151; Romans 4:25).
Posted by Steve Jeffery · Topics: Books, Justification by Faith Alone, Minister's Blog