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| Actual Justification Declarative Justification Do you know the difference? Do you even care? |
October
5, 2010
https://www.facebook.com/sing.f.lau/posts/113805928680763
Actual Justification
Declarative Justification
James
Buchanan in his classic magnum opus "Justification" emphasized the sharp
distinction between 'Actual Justification' and 'Declarative Justification'- see
Lecture VIII.
This
crucial distinction maintained by the old school Calvinists has been ignored
and rejected by the new school Calvinists.
Though
so plainly stated in the historic confessions of faith, they have confused, and
fused them together, leading to serious errors.
The
doctrine of justification is said to be the article of the standing or falling
of the church; by that standard, even MANY reformed churches are FALLEN. They
have believed a lie. but are cocksure that they are right.
Read
on. Let two great theologians - James Buchanan and John Gill, and they were no
mean theologians - show you the popular errors of the new school Calvinists.
(Read the comments.)
Judge for yourself (I assume that you are capable!)
sing
By
'actual justification', Buchanan refers to the APPLICATION of Christ's
righteousness (ALREADY IMPUTED at the cross) to an individual elect personally
at effectual calling out of the state of sin and death to that of grace and
salvation, such that an elect individual is personally and actually and vitally
justified.
ACTUAL
justification is distinct and differs from the LEGAL justification that has
taken place at the cross when the righteousness of Christ was LEGALLY IMPUTED
to all the elect.
Justification
becomes ACTUAL or VITAL or PERSONAL to an individual elect at his effectual
calling when the righteousness of Christ is APPLIED PERSONALLY to each elect.
This is the justification by God's free grace spoken of in Romans 3:24.
What
was LEGALLY IMPUTED is APPLIED PERSONALLY leading to ACTUAL justification. What
was legal was made personal and actual.
Legal
IMPUTATION of Christ's righteousness to the elect took place at the cross.
The
APPLICATION of the righteousness of Christ to each elect personally takes place
at his effectual calling out of the state of sin and death to that of grace and
salvation.
Actual
justification makes believing in Christ possible. Faith, receiving and resting
in Christ and His righteousness for salvation, declares the justified state of
a man be the free grace of God; i.e. it is Declarative Justification.
Actual
justification makes believing in Christ possible.
This
is why the old-school baptists declared thus: "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
Therefore
there are these three distinct ASPECTS of justification.
LEGAL justification at the cross > ACTUAL Justification at effectual calling > DECLARATIVE justification by faith.
sing
New
school Calvinists confuse, and fuse these two distinct aspects of justification
INTO ONE by teaching: "you are justified by God's free grace when you
believe."
Instead
of faith being the instrument to declare or manifest your justification by the
free grace of God, faith is now the instrument to obtain your justification
before God!
O
damnable heresy! Preaching another gospel... and they still shout and scream
'salvation by God's free grace alone..." and they still dare quote Rom
3:24 "Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that
is in Christ Jesus."
So,
from the left side of their mouth, they spout, "justified by God through my
faith", and from the right side they foam, "justified freely by his
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."
Have they become so deceived and hardened that they don't realize that what comes out from the right side of their mouth is diametrically opposed and contradicted by what comes out from the left side of the SAME mouth?
Michael
The
verb "to justify" means "to DECLARE righteous". It has to
do with the issuance of the VERDICT in a court proceeding. God issued the
verdict declaring the elect "righteous" at the cross. That
declaration is reported in the gospel, bringing peace in the conscience to the
person who believes. So, the publican went down to his house
"justified", with peace in his previously convicted conscience.
sing
Abraham
was ACTUALLY justified by God's grace FREELY when God effectually called him
while still in Ur of the Chaldean.
Abraham's
justified state was DECLARED by his faith in Gen 15:1-6.
There
was a considerable time-lapse between Abraham's ACTUAL justification, and his
DECLARATIVE justification.
So was the case with Cornelius. He was ACTUALLY justified when effectually called out of the state of sin and death to grace and salvation. His DECLARATIVE justification took place when he believed the gospel preached to him by the Apostle Peter.
sing
James
Buchanan "While Justification is a forensic or judicial term, it is used
in Scripture to denote, SOMETIMES the acceptance of a sinner as righteous in
the sight of God, - SOMETIMES the manifestation or proof of his acceptance, by
which it is attested or made sure: and this variety in the application of IT IS
THE GROUND OF AN IMPORTANT THEOLOGICAL DISTINCTION, - the distinction between
ACTUAL and DECLARATIVE Justification." - Justification, p233, Banner of
Truth.
I
was taught and drilled into my tiny head, "A biblical distinction is the essence of
sound theology."
The important theological distinction Buchanan indicated has been ignored and rejected by the new school Calvinists, and they have ended up with their justification before God by their faith!
sing
James
Buchanan - "Actual Justification comes first, and is necessarily
presupposed in that which is declarative; and hence, if any one is declared to
have been justified, we conclude that he was actually justified, or accepted as
righteous in the sight of God."
It
is likely that the new school Calvinists, because of their mindset, may not
even understand what Buchanan is saying.
Let
me put it more simply:
Actual
Justification by God's free grace LOGICALLY as well as CHRONOLOGICALLY precedes
Declarative Justification by faith, man's believing. Actual justification by God's free grace
makes Declarative justification by man's act of believing possible; therefore
Declarative justification by man's act of believing presupposes the Actual
justification that has taken place by God's free grace.
The
great old school baptists put the same truth this way: ""The reason
why any are justified IS NOT because they have faith; but the reason why they
have faith IS because they are justified." John Gill
Why do the new school Calvinists among the Reformed Baptists refuse to be converted to the truth? Why don't they give up the lie?
sing
When
God justifies a condemned sinner, He declares him not guilty but righteous by
forgiving him all his sins and imputing/applying the righteousness of Christ to him personally. This
is the ACTUAL justification spoken of by Buchanan. The condemned man is
actually justified by God's free grace.
When faith justifies a believing man, faith declares that the believing man is a man ALREADY justified by the free grace of God. This is the DECLARATIVE justification spoken of by Buchanan. Faith declares the justified state of the believing man, [EVEN AS breath declares the quickened state of a dead man. Who but the mad believe that breath is the instrument the dead used to be quickened!]
sing
The
old school baptists (representing over 100 baptized congregations, declared
this in the 1689LBCF, ch 11, para 4:
"4.
God did from all eternity decree to justify all the elect, (11) and Christ did
in the fullness of time die for their sins, and rise again for their
justification;(12) nevertheless, they are not justified personally, until the
Holy Spirit doth in time due actually apply Christ unto them.(13)" 11. Gal
3:8; 1Pe 1:2; 1Ti 2:6. 12. Ro 4:25. 13. Col 1:21-22; Tit 3:4-7
Three
distinct ASPECTS of justification are stated in this condensed paragraph:
1.
DECRETAL justification: God did decree to justify... therefore all the elect
are justified by God's decree.
2.
LEGAL justification: Christ did die for their justification. His righteousness
was LEGALLY IMPUTED to all the elect. Though they were LEGALLY justified... BUT
they were not PERSONALLY justified.
3.
PERSONAL / ACTUAL justification when the Holy Spirit actually applies the
righteousness of Christ to each individual PERSONALLY. This is justification by
the free grace of God through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
Believing
becomes possible when PERSONAL / ACTUAL justification has taken place by the
free grace of God.
The declarative or experiential justification by faith is stated in the SECOND paragraph of the same chapter - i.e. 1689.11.2.
sing
Buchanan's
use of the word "ACTUAL" to designate the PERSONAL/VITAL aspect of
justification by God's free grace is not helpful. It has led to much confusion
with those who can't differentiate SOUND from SENSE.
Benjamin
Keach used the similar term 'ACTUALLY' with reference to experiential
justification, saying to the effect, "no one is actually justified until
he believes..." However, he is using the word 'actually' in the context of
evidential and declarative justification... just like John Gill had done.
Gill
said, "... no man is evidentially and declaratively justified until he
believes."
But
many new school baptists because they are addicted to sound-byte, didn't get
the SENSE of what he said... and so concluded that "no one is justified by
God until he believes."!
It was also Gill who declared, and quoted by subsequent generations of old school baptists, "The reason why any are justified IS NOT because they have faith; but the reason why they have faith IS because they are justified."
sing
Yoel,
thank you for pointing out that passage that illustrates the declarative
justification by the acts of the repentant publican. His repentance declares
his justified state.
The
passage does not say that Jesus declaring the publican justified.
Jesus
made the observation that the repentant act of the publican justified him, i.e.
the repentant act of the publican declares something about him.
"Actual
Justification comes first, and is necessarily presupposed in that which is
declarative; and hence, if any one is declared to have been justified, we
conclude that he was actually justified, or accepted as righteous in the sight
of God."
The
repentance of the publican towards God declares that he was already justified
by God's free grace.
Brother,
exert some effort to understand the doctrine of justification... a
multi-faceted jewel. It is not a cheap glass marble - the way many see it.
[Yoel has deleted his several comments]
sing
How?
Christ always insists on knowing and believing the EXACT truth that has been
revealed to His people. So striving to know and believe the truth precisely is
Christ-like! It is very un-Christlike to believe or tolerate falsehood. He
censures His people sternly for their ignorance and wooliness, and indifference
to sound doctrines.
Many
despise sound doctrines... slandering that doctrines divide. Of course, doctrines divide - those who want to honor the truth of their Saviour and those
who don't really care!
You can be more Christ-like by insisting that exact truth be preached... you can be more like Christ by converting those in error to the truth... you can be more Christlike by praising God for His free and sovereign grace...
sing
This
is how:
1.
First they are ignorant of the various distinct aspects of justification.
This
ignorance causes them to combine/confound two different and distinct aspects into one,
ending up with a very serious error.
2.
They are ignorant of the justification decreed before the foundation of the
world. They stupidly accused those who believe this teaching of scriptures as
believing in eternal justification, i.e. an elect is actually and personally justified in
eternity, before time. This is just plain misrepresentation.
3.
Then they are also ignorant of the LEGAL justification that was accomplished
for every elect when Jesus Christ died on the cross. By His death on the cross,
Christ DID LEGALLY justify all the elect. Christ's righteousness was IMPUTED to
all His people and ALL their sins to Him at the cross.
4.
Then they are ALSO ignorant of the vital/personal justification that took place
when God effectually calls each elect out of the state of sins and death to
that of grace and salvation. At effectual calling, the righteousness of Christ
is APPLIED personally to each elect, thus justifying each PERSONALLY. What was
LEGAL is now made PERSONAL/ACTUAL
This
is what is spoken of in Romans 3:24 "being justified freely by His grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
5.
They are also ignorant of the EVIDENTIAL/EXPERIENTIAL justification that is by
faith. Believing justifies a man evidentially before others, and experientially within himself- it
does not justify a man BEFORE God.
A
man is justified BEFORE God by His free grace alone. It is this aspect of
justification, applied by the free and sovereign grace of God that ENABLES a man's act of
believing in Christ.
In
their ignorance of the distinct aspect of justification, they say that their
justification before God is by their faith, i.e their faith is the instrument
to secure their justification before God!!!
Faith
as an instrument to EVIDENCE the justification by God's free grace is PERVERTED
and TWISTED to become the MEANS to obtain justification before God! That's a
terrible perversion of the truth!
In
case you don't get the point, let me put it this way: breath as a means to evidence the
presence of life is PERVERTED and TWISTED into a horrible lie that 'breath is
the necessary means for a dead person to obtain life.'
The
thing that OBSESSED the neo-Calvinists is their justification by their faith...
they shout the mantra 'sola fide' from the rooftop. They believe that their
justification before God is through their act of believing.
