The Gospel
According to Galatians
Scripture Text: Galatians
Chapter 2
Justification by Faith
Alone in Christ Alone
Part II
Rev.
Happy 489th Anniversary of the Protestant Reformation!
Remember:
“Christ will do all for you, or nothing for you.”
–J.
In our last study we celebrated the 489th
anniversary of the Reformation by considering exegetically and biblically the
Apostle Paul’s doctrine of justification by faith alone in Galatians chapter
2.
Today’s study is the second part of a study on justification
by faith alone, and why it is vitally and eternally important for us to
understand this important doctrine, just
because this is the truth of the gospel (Gal. 2:5, 14). As a reminder, twice in Galatians, the
Apostle Paul calls the doctrine of justification by faith alone “the truth of
the gospel”:
ESV Galatians
2:5 …[To the false brothers] we did not
yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be
preserved for you.
ESV Galatians 2:14 But when I
saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the
gospel…
Throughout Church history there has been a tendency to
recover by God’s grace a focus on Christ alone and his righteousness received
by faith alone, only to find that within a few years we lose our focus, and the
same old problem of false teaching and error with regard to the gospel arises again
from within Christ’s Church to turn our attention from Christ and what he has
done, to turn to a righteousness found in Christ and man’s cooperation.
Remember as we learned in our
first study on Galatians 1, the Galatian Churches were “quickly” turning from
the truth of the gospel which was “grace alone in Christ alone” to “another gospel” which was “grace plus
Christ,” that was no gospel at all.
The preserving of the truth of this doctrine
is a constant battle in the Church- -this is part of the “fighting the good
fight”! Paul writes to sober us all up,
especially teachers and preachers in Christ’s Church by writing:
ESV Galatians 1:6-8: I am
astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of
Christ and are turning to a different gospel- 7 not that
there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort
the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven
should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him
be accursed.
ESV 2 Timothy 4:1-5: I charge
you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and
the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word;
be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete
patience and teaching. 3 For the time is coming when people will not
endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for
themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away
from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. 5 As
for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an
evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
It is imperative for Christians today, when learning the
biblical teaching of justification by faith alone in Christ alone, that we are
reminded of “beating this doctrine into our heads daily” (Luther’s language
from his Commentary on Galatians) and fixing our eyes of faith upon Jesus
Christ and his righteousness alone.
Jesus is the only Author and Perfecter of our faith (Heb. 12:1-3).
We must learn again in our time to turn from what man is
doing with God, or for God, or in cooperation with God’s grace, and back to
Christ alone again! There is no
righteousness found within us according to the Apostle Paul in Galatians, and
this is the clear teaching of Scripture (Rom. 3:1-4:25).
The only righteousness that God
has revealed is in Christ alone
(Romans 1:16-17)!
God’s verdict of “guilty” or condemnation abides upon all
mankind outside of Christ- -apart from faith. God’s vindication-justification or
pronouncement of “not guilty” is found only in Christ alone- -and not in
us. Even as we obey God by faith as a
Christian, none of our works are meritorious in any way; rather, the works we
perform by loving obedience (Gal. 5:6: “faith working through love”) are
evidence of the fact that God has justified us and declared us “not guilty” by
faith in Christ alone.
“Christ will do all for you, or nothing for you.”
–J.
As Dr. Machen put it so bluntly and eloquently: “Christ will
do all for you, or nothing for you.” Is Christ your righteousness alone? Or, have
you attempted or tried to add some of your own cooperative works to Christ’s
works? How are you individually made
“right” or “righteous” before a holy God?
Justification by faith alone in Christ alone is our only hope! But do you know and understand the meaning of
the biblical teaching of justification by faith alone?
Do you allow Christ do all for you with regard to your right
standing before God, or do you nullify or make void the gospel by trying to add
to it? Remember the words of Paul in
Galatians 2:19-21:
ESV Galatians 2:19-21: For
through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. 20 I
have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who
lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I
live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21
I do not nullify the grace of God, for if justification were through the law,
then Christ died for no purpose.
In Galatians 2:19-21, Paul outlines for us two mutually
exclusive ways of salvation. You either
live to the law, or you live to God. You trust in Christ’s righteousness alone,
or you trust in Christ’s righteousness plus your own. If you live to law, or live to cooperate with
God’s grace and Christ’s righteousness, you nullify, or make void the work and
death of Christ for sinners.
Justification by faith alone is a
immensely practical and comforting doctrine for the Christian! As we live the Christian life, we constantly
sin and fall short of the glory of God, although we make some progress in
sanctification by His grace. Yet the
Christian’s comfort of assurance of right standing before God, and of who we
are in Christ is not found in what we are doing for him (or what we have done
for him, piling up all our good works), but what Christ has already done for us
in his life, death, resurrection, and ascension.
Now—beat that into your head one
more time!
Dr. Francis Turretin, Italian Reformer (1623-1687) writes
concerning the importance of knowing the doctrine of justification as Christ’s
people:
“[Justification] is called by
Luther, the article of a standing and falling church; by other
Christians it is termed the characteristic and basis of Christianity not
without reason, the principle rampart [bulwark] of the Christian religion, and,
it
being adulterated or subverted, it is impossible to retain purity of doctrine
in other places. Whence Satan in every way has endeavored to corrupt
this doctrine in all ages; as has been done especially in the Papacy: for
which reason it is deservedly placed among the primary causes of our Secession
from the Roman Church and of the Reformation.”
“Watch
Your Life and Doctrine Closely” (KJV)
Sadly today, many evangelicals have all but forgotten the
importance of the Reformation, and particularly the doctrine of Justification
by faith alone which was the article upon which the Church stands are falls
(Luther’s Latin phrase for this was: Articulus stantis et cadentis Ecclesiae). Now why would I pick on evangelical Christians
particularly?
We must remember that evangelical Christians are those who
still confess that the Bible is God’s Word and believe it to be true. Evangelical Christians desire to make Christ
and his gospel known to the world.
Evangelical Christians trace their origins to the Reformation of the 16th
century, and to the recovery of the doctrine of
justification by faith alone.
The doctrine of justification by
faith alone is the doctrine upon which the Church in any age is judged as to
whether it is standing faithfully, or falling from grace. How are most evangelical churches doing
according to this measurement today?
Unfortunately, many evangelicals today are not even aware of
the Reformation, and some if they are aware, are not particularly
interested. “Doctrine divides” they say,
and so let us just join together and talk about the things we do agree
upon. “There is no need for controversy
or discussion, let’s just choose to agree to disagree on certain things, this
is an in house debate anyway.”
These are the same comments made by liberals in the early 20th
century who also had forgotten their Reformation roots, and doctrine had become
something that was to them an unnecessary evil.
What truly mattered was unity, even if this meant denying the doctrines
that were recovered in the Reformation (Read Machen’s
‘Christianity and Liberalism’).
We must lovingly, patiently, carefully, yet boldly call
evangelical Christians back to the truth of the gospel. Evangelicals today are greatly interested in
getting the gospel out (and that is commendable), but they are not as
interested in ‘getting the gospel right’ (and that is dangerous!).
We must get the gospel right by understanding the doctrine
of justification by faith alone, so that by God’s grace, we can get the gospel
right for ourselves and our children- -and then get the gospel out to a world
perishing! Remember the sobering words
of the Apostle Paul to his son Timothy (and these words apply for every generation
of teacher-pastor, or parent!):
“Keep a
close watch on yourself and on the teaching.
Persist in this, for by so doing
you will save both yourself and your hearers.” -1 Timothy
4:16.
Paul commands us to watch our life and our teaching. We are to do this so as to know salvation as
individuals before God, and for those we teach to know the truth, and this
includes the people of God if we are pastor-teachers and our children if we are
parents. The fact that Paul says
“persist in this” is to underline the tendency for us all so quickly to forget
the sound teachings and doctrines of Holy Scripture! I think a lack of persistence in life and
doctrine, specifically with regard to the gospel of justification by faith alone,
is precisely what has happened broadly in the majority of evangelical churches.
Dr. Michael Horton wrote concerning the problem with
evangelical Christians who desire to be evangelistic, but who have all but lost
and misunderstood the gospel, recovered by God’s grace in the Reformation:
“The evangelistic energy of evangelical Protestants has
added to the tendency to bury concern over the actual content of the evangel
(“good news”). One might say that in all
of the activity, evangelism is too busy to be troubled with the evangel.
In his broadly representative crusades, the Reverend Billy Graham was simply
following in the footsteps of an earlier generation of evangelicals whose
missionary and evangelistic zeal encouraged them to play down doctrinal issues
when founding the World Council of Churches. Reverend Graham recently
reasserted his view of Roman Catholicism:
‘I have found that my beliefs are essentially the same as those of
orthodox Roman Catholics’.”- Quoted in ‘Faith Alone’ by R. C. Sproul, pg. 11 (Graham quote from
magazine ‘Berean Call’, Sept. 1994).
Now please understand that I have no pleasure in
unnecessarily criticizing evangelical Christians in general, and Billy Graham
in particular. However, criticism of
certain people within the Church, especially those who teach the Bible, with
the purpose of making the gospel clear has biblical precedence in the Apostle
Paul (in Galatians against the Judaizers, 1 and 2 Timothy, Paul writes against
several teachers who are corrupting the truth).
Many evangelicals are merely ignorant of the
truth of the gospel, which is justification by faith alone, but we should seek
“productive conflict” over harmony, in order to make known, as well as preserve
the gospel of truth at all costs! My
question then is: How can Billy Graham (I am using him as a sort of
spokesperson for evangelicalism, especially his quote from the 1990s), and
other evangelicals today seek to join with Roman Catholics who still today deny
the gospel of grace?
My question is aimed at getting at how
evangelical Christians could not perceive theologically that there is a big
difference between them and
The
Roman Catholic Doctrine of Justification by Faith
What does the
CANON IX. (Note: Canons are ecclesiastical laws or decrees according to Roman
Catholic theology pronounced by the Magisterium that must govern all individual
parishes and churches of the RCC).
“If any one saith, that by faith
alone the impious is justified; in such wise as to mean, that
nothing else is required to co-operate in order to the obtaining the grace of
Justification, and that it is not in any way necessary, that he be prepared and
disposed by the movement of his own will; let him be anathema.”
This is obvious Semi-Pelagianism of the worst sort, and this
is what the Apostle Paul was confronting in the Epistle to the Galatians!
CANON XI.- “If any
one saith, that men are justified, either by the
sole imputation of the justice of Christ, or by the sole remission
of sins, to the exclusion of the grace and the charity which is poured forth in
their hearts by the Holy Ghost, and is inherent in them (remains in them); or
even that the grace, whereby we are justified, is only the favour
(good will) of God; let him be anathema.”
This is a confusion of justification as forensic as we
learned in our last study, and sanctification which is
transformative, where grace is infused.
Roman Catholicism still confuses justification and
sanctification by calling God’s anathema, curse, or wrath on those who would
say that justification is forensic, and an imputation
of Christ’s righteousness, not a righteousness that is created through
faith and works in the believer!
In other words, to use the terms we learned in our previous studies,
And do not kid yourself. No one is free to disagree with
CANON XXXIII: “If
anyone says that the Catholic doctrine of justification as set forth by the
Holy Council and the present decree, derogates in some respect form the glory
of God or the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ,…let him
be anathema.”
You must understand, according to official Roman Catholic
doctrine pronounced as canon law at the Council of Trent, what I am
articulating in this study, and what I believe the Apostle Paul is teaching in
Galatians 1-2 is under the curse-anathema of God according to
How could evangelicals and Roman Catholics then agree
essentially in their beliefs? It is not
merely Billy Graham who has articulated this, but other important people in the
Evangelical Movement have affirmed it officially, or unofficially made it their
practice to unite with Roman Catholics without considering the official
doctrinal Distinctives.
[Note: To be fair, I am aware that in the official “ECT:
Evangelicals and Catholics Together”, the evangelicals who signed the document affirm
the doctrine of justification by faith alone (“sola
fide”), but do they believe the doctrine is worth fighting for and
preserving? How could we have a “common
mission” culturally and for evangelism when the evangel or “good news” is
justification by faith alone, and signers of the document will not “sheep
steal” from Rome (meaning they will not try to convert a Roman Catholic to the
Reformed faith), or biblically argue over the doctrinal differences and real distinctives! I just
cannot imagine Martin Luther and John Calvin signing such a document as this,
because even though the evangelicals may articulate that they are joining Roman
Catholics for a cultural mission, they are implicitly undermining the Great
Commission. Can you imagine the Apostle
Paul compromising and signing a joint document with the Judaizers? For more
criticism on the dangers theologically of ECT, read ‘Faith Alone’ by R. C. Sproul, ‘Ashamed of the Gospel’ and ‘Reckless Faith’ by
John MacArthur, ‘Roman Catholicism: Evangelical
Protestants Analyze What Divides and Unites Us’, ed. John Armstrong, and read
‘Modern Reformation’ magazine. There are
also excellent resources for better understanding this at www.monergism.com].
Evangelicals and Catholics are joining together and unifying
in our time officially and unofficially as if the Protestant Reformation never
happened. Why? Perhaps it is because they are (1) Ignorant
of the differences (perhaps the majority); (2) Careless of the differences;
they do not think the differences amount to that much at all; Or perhaps (3) They
are both Semi-Pelagian in their belief systems and are closer to one another
than one would like to imagine!
I believe the third point is well worth
noting! Roman Catholics are not
Pelagian; they have condemned any kind of “works salvation” which is
Pelagianism. Roman Catholics uphold the
decisions of the Synod of Carthage (418) that condemned Pelagianism (works
righteousness), the Council of Orange (529) that condemned Semi-Pelagianism,
and the Council of Trent upheld these condemnations.
The
Catholic Encyclopedia defines justification in this way:
“Primarily and simply justification is the possession of sanctifying grace….We
are justified by Christ…and by good works,….”
The most recent and officially authorized Roman
Catholic Catechism of the Catholic Church
defines justification this way (Article 2: Justification and Grace, section
1992, pg. 482, Linguori Publications):
“Justification has been merited for us by the Passion of Christ who offered himself on the
cross as a living victim, holy and pleasing to God, and whose blood has become
the instrument of atonement for the sins of all men…”
So far, so good (except that last part
that denies the biblical doctrine of definite atonement)…but so far, so good
with regard to justification and an agreement that we have with
However, it continues…
“…Justification is conferred in Baptism, the
sacrament of faith. It conforms us to the righteousness of God,
who makes us inwardly just by the power of his mercy. Its purpose is the glory of God and of Christ,
and the gift of eternal life” (Council of Trent, 1547: DS 1529).
This is blatant and deadly error. Imputation to us rather than infusion in us was
one of the most important points of the Reformation doctrinally. We are justified by the imputation of
Christ’s righteousness outside of us, not through an inherent righteousness
through the sacramental infusion of grace.
Pastor John MacArthur
reminds us: “All claims that salvation is through belief in Jesus Christ
plus something else are blasphemous, satanic lies. There can be no effective or
acceptable human addition to Christ’s work.” -John MacArthur, The MacArthur New
Testament Commentary: Galations, Moody Press,
1987, page 57.
In contrast to this
error, the biblical teaching is that we are not made righteous, but that the
righteousness of Christ is imputed to us while we are yet sinners and
ungodly.
This is why Martin Luther taught in the
Reformation that we are “simultaneously righteous and sinful” (Latin: simul Justus et peccator) in opposition to this erroneous teaching of
“How
Can a Person be Righteous Before God?”:
What is the Hope of Our Justification?
Italian Reformer, Francis Turretin (1623-1687) articulated
justification by faith alone against Roman Catholic error in this way: "The
gospel teaches that what could not be found in us and was to be sought in
another, could be found nowhere else than in Christ, the God-man ( theanthropos, Gk.); who taking upon himself the
office of surety most fully satisfied the justice of God by his
perfect obedience and thus brought to us an everlasting righteousness by which
alone we can be justified before God; in order that covered and
clothed with that garment as though it were of our first-born (like Jacob), we
may obtain under it the eternal blessing of our heavenly Father." -Francis
Turretin, 'Institutes of Elenctic Theology'
Heidelberg
Catechism Question 60: On Justification, asks the
catechetical question: How are thou righteous before God?
Answer. “Only by a true faith in Jesus Christ; so that
though my conscience accuse me, that I have grossly
transgressed all the commandments of God, and kept none of them, and am still
inclined to all evil; notwithstanding…
…God, without any merit of mine,
but only of mere grace, grants and imputes to me, the perfect satisfaction,
righteousness and holiness of Christ; even so, as if I never had had, nor
committed any sin: yea, as if I had fully accomplished all that obedience which
Christ has accomplished for me; inasmuch as I embrace such benefit with a
believing heart.”
If that will not make your day, I do not know what
will! Justification by faith,
cooperating with God’s grace is not good news!
Justification by faith alone in Christ alone- -is very good news! “Beat
into your head” the last part of the Heidelberg Catechism, Question 60 again:
“…God, without any merit of mine,
but only of mere grace, grants and imputes to me, the perfect satisfaction,
righteousness and holiness of Christ; even so, as if I never had had, nor
committed any sin: yea, as if I had fully accomplished all that obedience which
Christ has accomplished for me; inasmuch as I embrace such benefit with a
believing heart.”
In all of these definitions of the gospel truth of
justification by faith alone, the word “imputation” is used in contrast with
the Roman Catholic doctrine of “infusion”.
Let’s consider these two words at this point in our study. The one word “imputation” is very important
to know for yourself, and pass along to others you teach!
Imputation
vs. Infusion: A Confusion of
Justification and Sanctification?
Let us learn two important theological terms that Christians
should know with regard to justification by faith alone. The two terms are imputed and infused.
Definition:
What is Imputation? - Simply put: “A declaration, or reckoning of
righteousness”.
Imputation is the biblical
truth that God clothes the ungodly, spiritually dead, sinful person with
the righteousness of Christ, by faith alone.
We are in a right standing before God based on Christ’s
works for us. Paul says Abraham was
reckoned/declared/considered (logizomai- Greek),
justified based on faith alone. Paul
uses the term “logizomai” 12 times in this passage in Romans 4
to make the point crystal clear.
As believers, we are clothed in Christ’s righteousness, and
we are reckoned/declared/considered righteous as was Abraham. We receive an “alien righteousness” from God,
the righteousness that was earned by Jesus Christ and is imputed to us.
Justification by faith alone is a monergistic work of grace
(meaning “no cooperation” between God and sinners), where God clothes us in
Christ’s righteousness and this is received by faith alone! Monergism (from two words in Greek: mono-
one, and ergo- work) simply means “one working”, and the only one who works in
our salvation is God alone! Monergism is
the opposite of synergism (from two words in Greek: syn-
more than one and ergo- work), which simply means two or more working, as in a
cooperation with God’s grace in order to achieve salvation.
Definition:
What is Infusion? - Simply put: “To become righteous”. Infusion is the opposite of imputation. This is a synergistic work, or cooperation
between God and sinful man! What the
first century Israelite, the Medieval, as well as the modern Roman Catholic,
and many today claim is that we become righteous- - then we are justified. And this truly makes the eternal difference
between heaven and hell.
It is true that once a person is united to Jesus Christ by
faith alone in their justification, then that person does become righteous or
Christ-like; this is called “sanctification”.
But we must make sure that justification by faith alone because of God’s
grace alone must precede our sanctification.
In our doctrinal understanding, this is why it is so
important to make a distinction (but never separation!) between justification
and sanctification. Justification and
sanctification are both the benefits we receive in Christ alone, and you cannot
have one without the other (cf. Rom. 8:28-31).
Justification and sanctification are both grounded in the grace of God
alone.
However, in justification a sinner is declared righteous
before God because Christ’s righteousness is imputed to him by faith alone
apart from works. Justification is an
act of God alone and is therefore monergistic.
In distinction, sanctification is a work of God’s grace
where the sinner gradually becomes righteous by God’s grace. Sanctification is the work of God, but the
sinner saved by grace cooperates with God’s grace (albeit imperfectly), and is
therefore synergistic. The right standing
before God is based on the justification by faith alone in Christ alone!
Notice how carefully the Westminster Divines articulate the
two important distinctions between justification and sanctification in the
Westminster Shorter Catechism:
WSC 33 What is justification? A. Justification
is an act of God's free grace, wherein he pardoneth
all our sins,(1) and accepteth us as righteous in his
sight,(2) only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us,(3) and received
by faith alone.(4) (1)Rom. 3:24,25;
(4)Gal.
2:16; Phil. 3:9
WSC 35 What is sanctification? A. Sanctification
is the work of God's free grace,(1) whereby we
are renewed in the whole man after the image of God,(2) and are enabled more
and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.(3)
(1)2 Thess. 2:13 (2)Eph. 4:23,24 (3)
God justifies the ungodly sinner
by faith alone. He does not justify or
declare righteous those who are already righteous by virtue of having “tried
hard” to be good, or those who merely have gone through the motions in the
visible church, going to church, listening to the Word, and participating in
the sacraments, or those who have tried to work hard in any way cooperating
with God’s grace in order to be justified!
Those who have worked hard have
not worked hard enough (and never will!)- -in fact they are condemned before
God’s Holy Tribunal! Why? Because they
fall short of God’s glory and can never match the perfect and complete work of
Jesus Christ!
Only in Christ are we
justified! When we believe and rest in
Christ’s righteous work for us, God imputes to us the righteous works achieved
by Christ!
The Reformed Pastor John Calvin in
his Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans wrote concerning the good news of
justification by faith alone:
“When…we come to Christ, we first find in Him the exact righteousness of
the law, and this also becomes ours
by imputation.”
“Therefore, we explain justification simply as the acceptance with which
God receives us into his favor as righteous men. And
we say that it consists in the remission of sins and the imputation of Christ’s
righteousness.”- Institutes in the Christian Religion, Calvin, 3.11.2.
Professor John Murray wrote
concerning justification by faith alone (he focuses on Jesus’ active and
passive obedience for us!):
“It is our Lord’s whole work of obedience in every phase and period that
is described as active and passive, and we must avoid the mistake of thinking
that the active obedience applies to the obedience of his life and the passive
to the obedience of his final sufferings and death. The real use and purpose of the formula is to
emphasize the two distinct aspects of our Lord’s vicarious obedience. The truth
expressed rests upon the recognition that the law of God has both penal
sanctions and positive demands….Christ’s
obedience was vicarious in the bearing of full judgment of God upon sin, and it
was vicarious in the full discharge of the demands of righteousness. [Christ’s] obedience becomes the ground
of the remission of sin and of actual justification.”- Redemption
Accomplished and Applied, pgs. 21-22.
Westminster
Confession of Faith, Chapter 11: "Those
whom, God effectually calls he also freely justifies, 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 the obedience and satisfaction of Christ unto them, they
receiving and resting on him and his righteousness by faith, which faith they
have not of themselves, it is the gift of God" – WCF Ch 11
Notice how the Westminster Divines define
justification with the rejection of the infusing of righteousness against Roman
Catholic doctrine, then articulate the biblical doctrine of the imputation of
Christ’s righteousness by faith “receiving and resting on him and his
righteousness by faith…”
“Is
Christ a minister of sin?” Does Paul’s doctrine of free grace in Justification by faith alone
encourage sin and sinful behavior? (Gal. 1:17)
When the doctrine of justification by faith
alone is rightly taught, many fear that it will produce Christians with no
fruit in the Christian life (“Antinomians”).
In fact, this was one reason why Rome officially denounced the doctrine
of justification by faith alone because they thought that it would lead to
ungodly living where God’s Law was disregarded (For this good intention, we can
commend Rome for their legitimate concern- -but legalism is no better than
antinomianism).
When the truth of the gospel is declared and
proclaimed in all its sweetness and greatness, some will naturally (sinfully!?)
say: “Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?!” Meaning, if this grace is so good and abounds
where my sin is, then what is preventing me from living like hell- -although I
have been saved for heaven?
Paul in Romans 6:1-16 responds to this by
saying: “God forbid!” “May it never be that we think like this!” Why? Because in our justification by faith
alone Christ’s righteousness has been imputed to us
and we have died to sin. We now live in
Christ. We are united to Jesus Christ by
faith and share in all of the benefits that he is heir to as the Son of God!
You see, the legitimate
concern of those who think justification by faith alone will encourage sin and
sinful behavior is exactly what the Judaizers were suggesting would happen with
Christians in opposition to the Apostle Paul’s pure gospel in Galatians. The Judaizers were trying to undermine Paul’s
gospel by saying it would make Christ a “minister of sin”. Some today are also concerned with a doctrine
that teaches that salvation is all of grace and rejects man’s contribution or
works.
If you have ever been
accused and criticized of preaching ‘antinomianism’ or if you have been accused
and criticized of the sinful conclusions some are reaching because you are
preaching grace alone in Christ alone, then you’re in good company- -it
happened to the Apostle Paul as well.
Man by nature hates a
gospel that is all of grace and all of God’s doing, but that is the gospel, and
nothing else can be good news apart from what God has revealed and provided in
Christ alone!
However, the problem is not with justification
by faith alone. The problem is when some
would separated justification from sanctification, as if one can be justified
or declared righteous before God and not become righteous or bear fruit that
will last in sanctification. The answer
to this problem is the solution that the Apostle Paul teaches in Galatians
1:19-21:
Paul says enthusiastically:
“I have been crucified with
Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of
God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not nullify the
grace of God, for if justification were through the law, then Christ died for
no purpose.” –Galatians 1:20-21
Paul says: “I have been crucified with Christ.” He wants the
believer to know that it is all of grace that one is saved in union with Jesus
Christ. “We were there being crucified
with Christ” when Christ was crucified just as truly as the two other thieves
crucified “with Christ” on the hill of Golgotha. In Romans 6, the Apostle Paul states the same
reality and truth:
ESV Romans 6:5-11: For if we
have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united
with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that
our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be
brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For
one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died
with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know
that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer
has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once
for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So
you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
The Apostle Paul wants the believer to know that
in their union with Christ, they have died to sin. They live not unto law, but unto God by
faith. As Jesus says similarly in John
15: “I am the Vine, you are the branches…you will bear fruit, fruit that will
last.”
Roman Catholicism confuses justification and
sanctification by placing sanctification and becoming righteous before our
justification- -and this is a great error.
But there is another perhaps more subtle error and this is a separation
of justification and sanctification.
This is the error where one thinks he can be declared righteous before
God and in right standing, and never bears any fruit.
Paul
and James on Justification by Faith Alone
To summarize briefly a long exegetical
controversy in the history of the Church, the Apostle Paul was focusing our
attention of justification by faith alone in Christ alone, and desired for
Christians to know both justification and sanctification are part of the
benefits of our union with Jesus Christ.
James in chapter 2 of his letter however, wants the focus to be on a
faith that works.
Paul and James both
agree in their doctrine of union with Christ, and so you might say for Paul,
his main emphasis is:
“Justification is by
faith alone in Christ alone…”
While James’ main
emphasis is:
“Justification is by
faith alone in Christ alone….but not a faith that is alone.”
Both Paul and James teach that our faith is
alone in receiving Christ’s righteousness; faith is a gift of God, but it is a
working faith. As Paul says, it is faith
working through love (Gal. 5:6). When
James speaks in chapter two of his epistle of faith not being alone, he is not
saying “faith alone” in justification; he is saying faith is not alone in
sanctification; or faith is accompanied by works in our sanctification (but
never in our justification!). This is
the reason why we must never separate justification from sanctification.
The Westminster Larger Catechism summarizes the
benefits of believers in our union with Jesus Christ:
WLC 69 What is the
communion in grace which the members of the invisible church have with Christ? A. The
communion in grace which the members of the invisible church have with Christ,
is their partaking of the virtue of his mediation, in their justification,(1)
adoption,(2) sanctification, and whatever else, in this life, manifests their union with him.(3)
(1)Rom. 8:30 (2)Eph. 1:5 (3)1 Cor. 1:30
“By
Faith Alone”
We now want to consider why it is so important
to be justified “By faith”, and not on “account of faith!” Big difference! Some will look at Galatians 2, and notice
there is no word “alone” there. So why
do the Reformers want the faith to be “alone”?
Why can we not just be happy with merely “justification by faith”? Let’s read Galatians 2:15-21:
Galatians 2:15-21: We ourselves are Jews by birth
and not Gentile sinners; 16 yet we know that a person is not justified
by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed
in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works
of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. 17
But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be
sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! 18 For if I
rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. 19
For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. 20
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who
lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I
live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21
I
do not nullify the grace of God, for if justification were through the law,
then Christ died for no purpose.
The “alone” is implicit and extremely important
in Galatians 2. As we have learned in
previous studies, Paul is laying out two ways of salvation: (1) Judaizers:
“justification by faith in Christ (and works of the law)” or (2) Paul:
“justification by faith alone in Christ (apart from works of the law)”.
To summarize our brief discussion of Paul and James:
“We are saved by faith alone, but
not a faith that is alone; it is a working faith.”
The word “alone” is vitally important because
both ways of salvation that is laid out in the Epistle to the Galatians has faith
as an instrument whereby a person becomes righteous before God. In the Judaizing
way of salvation faith is coupled with our cooperation with God’s grace, or our
works of the law. In Paul’s way of
salvation, faith is alone.
Faith is the instrument whereby we receive the
righteousness of God in Christ. Faith is
alone in that it is a gift of God, and it is how we receive the righteousness
of God in Christ. Faith is not something
that cooperates with God’s grace in order to be justified.
Martin Luther wrote about faith: “Wherefore
Christ apprehended by faith, and dwelling in the heart, it the true Christian
righteousness, for the which God counts us righteous
and gives us eternal life.” (Commentary on Galatians, pg.
135).
“What
Faith is…What Faith is NOT!”
Faith is NOT a
work, or any kind of cooperation with God that achieves merit! This
separates the “men from the boys theologically”- - not only that, this makes
the difference of heaven and hell, so it is not theological nit-picking!
Faith is a fruit
of regeneration- - a gift as Ephesians 2 teaches.
Faith is an “empty hand” humbly held out to receive what God
has provided for us in a right relational standing before God, found only in
the righteousness of Christ that is revealed in the gospel!
Paul believes in faith “working through love” as Galatians
5:6 teaches:
ESV Galatians 5:6 For in
Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but
only faith working through love.
“Faith entails constant motion…”: Professor Mark Seifrid
writes: “By virtue of its inseparability from hope and love, faith entails
constant motion, a ‘forgetting what lies behind, and reaching forward
to what lies ahead’ (Phil. 3:13-14). It
is this ‘certitude’
of hope and not a present ‘security’ which belongs to the believer, according
to Paul [because of our union with Jesus Christ] (emphasis mine). Christ, Our Righteousness: Paul’s Theology
of Justification, pg. 150.
The one word “alone” in the phrase
“saved by grace alone” (Eph. 2:8-10) separates us not only from our Roman
Catholic friends today, but any other person who believes in a
“cooperative” or "synergistic" way of God and man working
together to achieve salvation.
The Reformed teaching that needs
to be continually emphasized in our day and handed down to the next generation,
is that we are justified or saved by faith alone in Christ alone through the
imputation of Christ’s righteousness to us received by faith alone.
Justification is a monergistic
work of God.
This means that we not only
confess, but truly believe that God alone works in us to achieve our salvation
and we are saved not by cooperating with God (even with our faith!), but by
believing that God has fully accomplished in the Person and Work of Christ our
salvation- - and this is believed by faith alone - -which is not our work, but
a gift of God!
Faith receives God’s grace held
out in Christ, but faith is not a work in any way that is meritorious before
God!
Professor J. Gresham Machen wrote
of men who believe that their faith is something they add to God’s grace in
order to cooperate: “…If a man has faith in Jesus to help the works of the law
out, he can be justified by the works of the law after all; it would mean that,
while a man is not justified by works alone, he is justified by works and faith
together. Thus faith would become merely the means by which a man’s works
become effective for salvation.” (emphasis
mine, pg. 147).
Faith is a gift- -not a work, lest
faith itself becomes a ‘work of the law’.
Faith as
a “small work” or something we contribute to our salvation by cooperating with
God’s grace was rejected in the Reformation and later formally condemned at the
Synod of Dort (1618-1619) that convened to confirm or condemn the teachings of
the followers of Jacob Arminius (later known as “Arminians”).
Canons of
In this passage from the Canons of
the Synod of Dort, the pastor-theologians are emphasizing that although
justification is by faith alone, faith is not in any way meritorious,
or something we cooperate with God in order to achieve our salvation. This theological articulation is against
anyone who would say that “I am saved because I cooperated with God’s grace by
faith.” This is the error of works of
the law that Paul condemns in Galatians 1-2.
You see, this is the Apostle
Paul’s point in Ephesians 2:1-10: Dead men, separated from God and following
the prince of the power of the air will not and cannot have faith or believe,
unless God in his mercy makes us alive and gives us the gift of faith. That is why Paul contrasts the gift of faith
with our works! He says:
Ephesians 2:1-10: And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in
which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of
disobedience- 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our
flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature
children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich
in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even
when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ- by
grace you have been saved- 6 and raised us up with him and seated us
with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the
coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness
toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For
by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it
is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may
boast. 10 For we are his
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand, that we should walk in them.
One teacher reminds us of what Ephesians 2 is teaching about
faith and being saved by grace: “Where boasting is present, faith is absent”-
Mark A. Seifrid, Christ,
Our Righteousness: Paul’s Theology of Justification,
pg. 133.
In the Westminster Confession of Faith, the principal acts
of saving faith are: accepting, receiving and resting upon Christ alone for
justification, sanctification, and eternal life…” Saving faith is in no way
meritorious of our salvation!
WCF 14.2 By this faith, a
Christian believeth to be true whatsoever is revealed in the Word, for the
authority of God Himself speaking therein;(1) and acteth
differently upon that which each particular passage thereof containeth;
yielding obedience to the commands,(2) trembling at the threatenings,(3)
and embracing the promises of God for this life and that which is to come.(4) But
the principal acts of saving faith are accepting, receiving, and resting upon
Christ alone for justification, sanctification, and eternal life, by virtue of
the covenant of grace.(5) (1)John 4:42; 1 Thess.
2:13; John 5:10; Acts 24:14. (2)Rom. 16:26. (3)Isa.
66:2.
(4)Heb.
11:13; 1 Tim. 4:8. (5)John 1:12; Acts 16:31; Gal. 2:20; Acts 15:11.
Quotations
and Theological Reflections on Scripture from other faithful teachers in Church
History concerning “by Faith Alone”
Robert Traill on “by faith”: "Faith in Jesus Christ...in the office of justification, is neither condition nor qualification...but in its very act a renouncing of all su