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| A popular fable of justification by faith alone. |
I shared the post
below on a "reformed" page; one Jessy responded.
#justificationbyfaith
On Faith and
Justification
Dr John Gill:
1697-1771, was an early particular-baptist theologian, universally esteemed by
his Calvinistic contemporaries of various denominations, and ALSO by Dr Robert L Reymond
(1932-2013, was a renowned reformed theologian) too.
Dr Reymond said of
John Gill:
"Gill
(1697-1771), a Baptist puritan pastor, writes a thorough defence of Calvinistic
theology."
- the above is
listed under "Selected General Theological Bibliography" on page 1137
of Dr. Robert L Reymond's "A New Systematic Theology of the Christian
Faith" Nelson, 1998.
Dr John Gill on
faith and justification:
"Faith is not
the cause, but an effect of justification; it is not the cause of it in any
sense; it is not the moving cause, that is the free grace of God... nor even
the instrumental cause... it is not in any class of causes whatever; but it is
the effect of justification... Now if faith is not the cause, but the effect of
justification; then as every cause is before its effect, and every effect
follows its cause, justification must be before faith, and faith must follow
justification."
- A Body of
Doctrinal Divinity Book II, Chapter V, section II. (1769)
Dr Robert L Reymond
on faith and justification:
"The New
Testament everywhere makes it plain that faith in Jesus Christ is the
instrumental 'precondition' [in italic] of justification before God...
Therefore, faith in Jesus Christ... must precede justification as its logical
(not chronological) prius... Thus we have the order: effectual calling... and
faith in Jesus Christ, justification, and glorification."
- A New Systematic
Theology of the Christian Faith, page 707. (1998, Nelson)
How vast is the
difference between the old-school and the new-school theology - it is a gulf
unbridgeable!
If the words of Mr
Luther - "the doctrine of justification is the article of a standing or
falling church" - were true, then how of the many reformed churches are
standing churches today? Is your church standing?
The above post here:
https://www.facebook.com/sing.f.lau/posts/pfbid0qjZoTPMw6Qy9Fn14JK4uBwgWmmUdMBSn9HHcFuZt3EwHBJh4yPM9aY6pYVXiosPzl
=============
Jessy
The Bible everywhere
makes it clear that faith is the cause of justification. Faith is the effect of
regeneration, but faith is never the effect of justification. I am a staunch
5-pointer, but I'll never put the cart before the horse, especially when the
Bible is so clear that we don't need to concoct things.
sing
Let me show you what
your WCF.11.1 says:
"Those whom God
effectually calleth, He also freely justifieth: 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."
=========
i. "...NOT for
any thing wrought in them":
- Faith is a saving
grace wrought in them. (WCF 14.1).
- Gal 5:22 "But
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith..."
ii. "... or
[anything] done by them...":
- Faith/believing is
a work done by the justified.
- It's "the
just shall live by faith," it's NOT "by faith the condemned
(unjustified) is justified." But that's how many read the words. The
latter is a popular fable.
- John 6:29
"Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye
believe on him whom he hath sent."
iii. "... not
by imputing faith itself, the act of believing...":
- No, Gen 15:1-6 is
NOT about justification of a condemned man.
- It is about how a
justified man experienced the blessedness of his justified state, i.e. by faith
only, WITHOUT observing any ceremonial law as the stiffnecked Judaizers
insisted.
iv. "... or any
other evangelical obedience to them..."
- 1 John 3:23:
"And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his
Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, even as he gave us commandment."
- Faith is an
evangelical obedience to a commandment.
- Faith "is
ever accompanied with all other saving graces" worked in a child of God.
Only a child of God (an elect already effectually called out of his native
state of sin and death to that state of grace and salvation in Jesus Christ)
can exercise the grace of faith already worked in him by the indwelling Holy
Spirit.
Conclusion:
Justification by faith alone is a fiction clearly REPUDIATED by your own WCF.
What about the next
paragraph, I can hear you scream!
Let's take a look
then.
WCF.11.2 -
"Faith, thus receiving and resting on Christ and His righteousness, is the
alone instrument of justification; yet is it not alone in the person justified,
but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces, and is no dead faith, but
worketh by love."
Faith... is the
alone instrument of justification.
Faith in Christ
(i.e. receiving and resting on Christ and His righteousness) is the alone
instrument to MANIFEST, EVIDENCE one's justified state.
WHY?
Because the BASIS of
his justification is the righteousness of Christ.
The MANNER of his justification
is FREELY by the grace of God.
A voltmeter is the
alone instrument to manifest the voltage in the circuit; the voltmeter as an
instrument DOES NOT produce voltage in the circuit.
Rom 3:24
"Being
justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus."
- the BASIS of
justification: "through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."
- the MANNER of
justification: "freely by his [God's] grace."
"Receiving and
resting on Christ and His righteousness" is the only instrument to
experience the BLESSEDNESS of that FREE GRACE justification based on the
righteousness of Christ.
May the Lord grant
you understanding.
Jessy
Not one thing
negated what I said. Faith is the effect of regeneration, and justification is
then the effect of faith.
sing
Jessy: Faith is
indeed AN effect of regeneration.
But do you know that
spiritual life (regeneration) is the effect of righteousness applied, i.e.
justification by grace?
Sin is the
transgression of the law, and brings death.
Righteousness is
obedience to the law and secures life.
Rom 5:18
"Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to
condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all
men unto justification of life."
"He also freely
justifieth... by imputing the obedience and satisfaction of Christ unto
them..." WCF 11.1
With the imputation
of righteousness, there is justification of life.
With life, there is
faith worked within the justified, which is drawn out by the ministry of the
word.
There are different
and distinct aspects of justification
Justification was
PURPOSED by God in eternity,
Justification was
ACCOMPLISHED by Christ at the cross,
Justification was
APPLIED to each elect at his effectual calling,
Justification is
EXPERIENCED by faith at initial conversion and throughout life. and
Justification shall
be CONSUMMATED at Christ's second coming.
WCF 11.4
"God did, from
all eternity, decree to justify the elect; and Christ did, in the fullness of
time, die for their sins and rise again for their justification; nevertheless
they are not justified until the Holy Spirit doth, in due time, actually apply
Christ unto them."
This paragraph
declares THREE distinct aspects of justification:
- God decreed to
justify
- Christ
accomplished their justification
- the Holy Spirit
applied it
The APPLIED aspect
is stated in 11.1
The EXPERIENTIAL
aspect is stated in 11.2
May the Lord give
you understanding.
Jessy
Whenever the Bible
mentions justification by faith, the emphasis is on the experiential aspect.
And I am emphasising that as well. We don't evangelise saying you will be saved
and then you believe. In that aspect, I wholeheartedly agree with Dr Reymond. We
should not muddy what the Bible is explicitly clear about.
[But Dr Reymond and
Dr Gill WERE NOT speaking of the experiential aspect, they are talking of the
legal/vital aspect.]
Sing
Jessy, these are
your words:
"Bible
everywhere makes it clear that faith is the cause of justification. Faith is
the effect of regeneration, but faith is never the effect of justification. I
am a staunch 5-pointer, but I'll never put the cart before the horse,
especially when the Bible is so clear that we don't need to concoct things.
=======
Your words,
"... faith is the cause of justification... but faith is never the effect
of justification..."
Faith is the effect
of justification:
"The just shall
live by faith" - this is biblical. This is a DESCRIPTIVE statement about
the justified.
"By faith, the
condemned shall be justified" - this is the popular sola fidei. This is a
PRESCRIPTIVE statement on how the condemned (the unjustified) is to be
justified.
