What thinkest thou of thy father Abraham?
Was Abraham a justified man before Gen 15:1-6?
Was he still an unjustified, condemned, and ungodly man before Gen 15:1-6?
Very many - both from the reformed camp and the non-reformed camp - insist that Abraham remained an unjustified (and if unjustified, necessarily still under the just condemnation) and an ungodly man until Gen 15:1-6.
(Sin brings condemnation and death. Righteousness secures justification and life. Justification necessitates the imputation of Christ's righteousness.
Some while ago, I ask some RBs on various continents of this small world a simple question about two passages of the Holy Scriptures in light of the 1689 CoF... but no one is willing to reply yet. Read it and pass it on to your RB friends and their pastors and teachers.
Let us look at two passages of Scriptures, and a paragraph from an ancient Confession of Faith of the Old School Baptists (in distinction from the New School Baptists who claim themselves 'reformed', but have departed from what the Old School Baptists have believed!)
1. Genesis 15:1-6 read thus:
1 ¶ After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
2 ¶ And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?
3 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.
4 And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.
5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
6 And he believed in the LORD; and he [the LORD] counted it [Abraham's act of believing] to him [Abraham] for righteousness.
A question:
Did God speak to Abram as an ungodly condemned man, or did God speak to Abram whom He has justified by His free grace before He called him out of the Ur of the Chaldeans?
Some observation:
This passage speaks of the LORD imputing/accounting Abraham's faith to Abraham. This passage speaks of the IMPUTATION OF FAITH, man's act of believing. This passage speaks NOT - NOT - NOT of the imputation of Christ’s righteousness to Abraham for his justification. It speaks of God accounting Abraham's faith unto Abraham for righteousness.
These are quite obvious. But would you admit their truthfulness?
2. Romans 4:3-5 read thus:
3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.
5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith [act of believing] is counted for righteousness.
Some questions: God justifies the ungodly. Was Abraham in Gen 15 still an ungodly man?
- When did God justify ungodly Abraham - while he was still an ungodly man in the Ur of the Chaldeans or here in Gen 15? Is God's act of justifying the ungodly prior to the believing act of unjustified or does it follow after the believing act of?
- If it follows after the act of believing, then it must be concluded that an ungodly man in an unjustified condemned state has the ability to believe?
- (An unjustified man is still in his native state of condemnation and death.)
Some observation: This passage speaks of the LORD - who justifies the ungodly - imputing/accounting the believer's faith to the believer. This passage speaks NOT - NOT - NOT of God imputing Christ's righteousness to an ungodly man.
- This passage speaks of the IMPUTATION OF FAITH, the act of believing of a believer, to the believer. This passage DOES NOT speak of God imputing the righteousness of Christ to an ungodly man. There is a vast distinction between God imputing Christ's righteousness to an ungodly condemned sinner for his justification, and Him imputing the believing act of a godly justified believer to him for him to experience the blessedness of his justified state.
God imputing the righteousness of Christ to a condemned unjustifed man, and God imputing the faith of a believer to him are two very different matters.
Distinction is the essence of sound theology. But so many reformed folks fail to make the simple and obvious distinction between the two. They glibly equate the two, and end up with a massive contradiction, necessarily concluding that Abraham was still a condemned unjustified man before God in Gen 12-14, and was only justified by God in Gen 15:1-6. Father Abraham should whack them properly for such impudence!
These are quite obvious. But would you admit their truthfulness?
3. 1689 Chapter 11.1 on Justification reads thus:
Those whom God effectually calleth, He also freely justifieth,(1) not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous;(2) not for anything wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ's sake alone;(3) 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,(4) they receiving and resting on Him and His righteousness by faith, which faith they have not of themselves; it is the gift of God.(5)
The Framers emphatically and specifically state that the Justification at effectual calling DOES NOT INVOLVE the imputation of faith, the act of believing. They anticipated the carelessness and the foolishness of many woolly minded New School Baptists (the 'reformed' folks) who would pervert the truth of justification by grace.
THE IMPUTATION OF A BELIEVER'S BELIEVING ACT to the believer is very remotely related to the justification of the ungodly by God through "imputing Christ's active obedience unto the whole law, and passive obedience in His death for their whole and sole righteousness."
THE IMPUTATION OF CHRIST'S RIGHTEOUSNESS to a condemned guilty ungodly man - by virtue of Christ's active and passive obedience - IS THE JUSTIFICATION of the ungodly by God.
The essence of Justification is declaring a guilty condemned criminal not guilty but righteous through the imputation of the righteousness of Jesus Christ to him.
4. Concluding remarks:
Genesis 15 and Romans 4 passages speak of the imputation of the believer's act of believing to the believer. They say nothing of the imputation of Christ's righteousness to the ungodly.
My question:
Why do the Reformed folks (and the Arminian as well!) ALWAYS read those two passages as speaking of the justification of the guilty condemned ungodly sinner before God?
If Gen 15 is speaking of Abraham's justification before God, then Abraham would necessarily be still a UN-justified UNGODLY man in Gen 12-14. But was Abraham still an unjustified ungodly man in Gen 12-14? Was he still a man under the condemnation of death?
Is Gen 15 speaking of God justifying a condemned ungodly man by imputing the righteousness of Christ?
Or is Gen 15 speaking of how a man by faith experiences the blessedness of his PRIOR justified state by God's free and sovereign grace?
God justifies the UNGODLY. How does God justify the UNGODLY?
Faith justifies the BELIEVER. How does faith justify the BELIEVER?
Tell me what your consider judgment.
Just no reformed shibboleth please!
Read A one-fingered hand is a monstrous deformity
