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| A subtle slant, but a serious subversion |
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In the former, your justification is completed by God freely by His grace, and prior to your faith. Your faith manifests your justified state.
In the latter, your faith is prior and instrumental to your justification before God.
See the VAST difference! The former is the truth, but the latter is a LIE.
And multitudes of deformed and reformed folks embrace and defend the latter.
Here it is. How could so many elitist Calvinists get it so wrong?
1689.11.1 - all stated here so plainly
1. 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)
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1. Who are the object of God's free grace justification?
- "Those whom God effectually calleth" See what is effectual calling here.
2. What is justification?
- "He also FREELY justifieth... by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous...
3. What is the basis of this FREE GRACE justification?
a. Negatively
- "not by infusing righteousness into them"
- "not for anything wrought in them, or done by them"
- "not by imputing faith itself, the act of believing." (Faith is excluded!)
- Not by imputing "any other evangelical obedience to them, as their righteousness."
b. Affirmatively:
- "but for Christ's sake alone"
- "but by imputing Christ's active obedience unto the whole law, and passive obedience in His death for their WHOLE and SOLE righteousness.
So, justification is a DONE and ACCOMPLISHED act of God, FREELY, i.e. apart from any thing in, or done, by the justified. In the nature of the case, that is obvious - a man under the condemnation of death can't possibly do any spiritual activity toward his justification before God!)
4. How is this DONE and ACCOMPLISHED free grace justification manifested by and evidenced in the justified?
- "they receiving and resting on Him and His righteousness by faith.
- "which faith they have not of themselves; it is the gift of God." A gift of God in the sense that it is worked within their heart by the indwelling Spirit.
That is why the Old School Baptists declared this:
"The reason why any are justified IS NOT because they have faith; but the reason why they have faith IS because they are justified." PBA.
Supposing
a Benefactor FREELY credited a $1b into your personal account, in addition to
clearing ALL your debts, all while you were condemned and declared a bankrupt.
He then
sent someone to bring the good news to you. (Good news is news of what has
happened; the good news is not a conditional offer that if you meet the condition,
something good will happen to you!).
And you
believed the good news of the benefactor's FREE and gracious act, and
believing, i.e. by faith, you went to the bank to draw on the money.
Wouldn't
it be SCANDALOUS and TREACHEROUS and CRIMINAL of you to claim and insist that
it was your accepting the offer and going to the bank THAT CAUSED the gift to
be credited to your account and all your debts settled? (That would, of course,
have perverted the good news of what has been done FREELY into a conditional
offer, that if you believe and go to the bank, the gift would be credited into
your account.)
Even so,
sola fidei, the popular Protestant doctrine that a man's justification before
God is by faith alone is the same - SCANDALOUS and TREACHEROUS and CRIMINAL.
Yet so many insist that they are justified before God by or through their faith! Their act of believing is the instrument to secure that justification before God!
Do you begin to understand the great issue involved?
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Page
Yes, yes, yes
McCool
AMEN, Brother! As my precious pastor has so plainly put it, "Faith doesn't put away a single sin - Christ's sacrifice did that. Faith is given to us through the Spirit so that we might KNOW what Christ did to put away our sins." We don't believe our redemption into existence; Christ redeemed us at the cross, finally and forever. And for that, I am eternally grateful! If it were up to me, I would be saved one day and lost the next, unfortunately.
Dyess
Faith is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians).. if it is a fruit of the Spirit..That implys that faith is secondary to the Spirit and the Spirit was there first. If you want a piece of fruit.. the fruit does not magically materialize in your waiting hand... It came from a tree
Jim Deal
Amen
Constanzia
In order to have faith you must believe in God. John 6:9- Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. Phil 1:29- For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake
Dyess
"Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and [that] no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." 1 Corinthians 12:3. You have to have the Spirit to believe too :...)
Hart
For most seminarians, the subtle subversion is the familiar way to go.
Lanier
The Bible doesn't say you are justified by faith. It says you are saved by grace through faith, all a gift from God.
Andrews @David. No? "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." (Rom. 5:1) KJV :-|
Sing F Lau
22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
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David, there is a justification by your faith: your faith declares something about you.
There is a justification by God's free grace, wherein God makes a declaration concerning one who is under the condemnation of death.
Nicholas, there is a justification by the free grace of God through the redemption of Christ - WITHOUT FAITH WHATSOEVER - "being justified FREELY by His grace" - 'freely means WITHOUT ANY CONDITION.
Please don't confuse the practical/experiential justification by faith, and legal justification by free grace based on the righteousness of Jesus Christ ALONE... plus nothing.
Andrews
Sorry Sing. You're way off on this one! Nowhere in scripture is grace the avenue to salvation apart from faith. Again, Romans 5:1...
Grace as example is what Noah received in Gen. 6:8; and preceded faith. But he was granted... grace not wit...hout the condition of trusting in God. Which he demonstrated in verse 9: "Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God."
You say; freely means without conditions. No, it means that you cannot earn the grace it is not a self- generated virtue or attribute. You cannot deny the scriptures and use them to extract your own pathetic theological agenda; whatever that may be?
The word used in Romans 3:24 is Dorean. (Gr.) Def. it does NOT mean without conditions as I said. Rather; without a cause, in vain, for naught. Strong's Number: 1432
Maybe your intention is more honorable than that which I stated, but in any case I hope this settles your incorrect assumption of grace being without the need of faith? :0
Sing F Lau
Nicholas, may I inquire?
What does God do when He justify you freely by His grace?
And how does your faith, i.e. your act of believing, justify you?
......
Please tell us.
Is the justification by God's free grace, and the justification by your faith one and the same justification?
I suggest if you can't give simple answers to these simple question, please hold your peace.
'Without a cause' - yes, without any cause in the justified, is it not? You would insist that it is with a cause, your act of believing! You would insist that it is NOT for naught, but for something, even your act of believing. Not impressed with your Greek at all!
Sir, your own pathetic delusion that justification before God is by your faith, first of all, EXCLUDES all of God's children who are incapable of exercising faith... second, excludes all those of God's children who have no opportunity to be called out by the gospel ministry.
Now, of course, you will object that there are no such people. Just how do you know?
But what if there are such people... since they can't exercise faith, they will remain unjustified and continue in their state of condemnation of death and end up in eternal hell? Don't bury your head in the sand! Deal with the issue. How many way of justification are there? One by faith, and one without faith?
Sing F Lau
"Grace as example is what Noah received in Gen. 6:8; and preceded faith. But he was granted grace not without the condition of trusting in God. Which he demonstrated in verse 9: "Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God." "
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Do you intend to say that Noah's experience is the experience of EVERY child of God?
If you do, you have only proven that faith is an EFFECT of salvation by God's free grace in the life of Noah.
You have NOT disproved that eternal salvation, of which justification of life (i.e. the removal of the condemnation of death, and the application of righteousness) is the chief and foremost element, is WITHOUT FAITH.
Faith, a product of that eternal salvation CAN POSSIBLY be an instrument to secure that salvation. If you understand this statement, then start disagreeing and disputing.
Please get the point of what I am saying. Don't be so quick to disagree. Know what I am saying first before you start disagreeing and disputing.
