Salvation is one of the most
important doctrines of the Bible. Although Salvation seems simple, there is
more to it than meets the eye. Salvation is a gift from God given through Jesus
Christ’s death and resurrection. Salvation is a process that requires a
beginning, middle, and end to it. The beginning of Salvation is called
justification. Justification is man being justified by God in order to be
declared righteous. The middle or on-going position of Salvation is called sanctification.
Sanctification is how God works in the believer who has been justified to make
him or her more like Christ. After sanctification is finished there is
glorification. Glorification is the reward after this life and is the
resurrection of the believer into heaven. All three of these doctrines are what
makes Salvation. The doctrine of Justification is the first and possibly the
most important aspect of Salvation. It is the key to the other two doctrines
that continue after it. Justification is an act of God and not of man.
Salvation could not be possible without all three of these aspects, yet even
the concept of Salvation is not possible without Justification.
In
the beginning God created everything. He created man and He had a deep
relationship with man. However, it was short-lived as man committed sin in what
is known as the Fall. Since the Fall of man there has been a strain in the
relationship between God and man. The strain is known as sin and man is full of
it. Man’s sin has kept him apart from God and unable to reach Him until God
decided to send His Son Jesus Christ to take the sin on Himself and restore the
relationship between God and man. God accepted Jesus’ sacrifice and accepts any
person who believes in Jesus to be saved. However, there is still sin in the
world and how does man deal with the sin and guilt? Men surely deserves
punishment for their sins and do not deserve to be with God. Justification is
the answer to man’s problem of punishment and sin. “Justification is God’s
action pronouncing sinners righteous in his sight. It is a matter of our being
forgiven and declared to have fulfilled all that God’s law requires of us.”[1]
Man did not recognize there was a problem and was able to fix it, but rather
God knew the problem from the beginning and decided He wanted to fix it. God
understands that man was sinful, but He still loved humanity enough to offer a
solution to the problem.
One
of the prerequisites to understanding Justification is understanding what
righteousness means. In the Old Testament “a righteous man is one who has been
declared by a judge to be free from guilt.”[2]
This applies to humanity because God is the ultimate judge of man. The New
Testament defines justification as
“The
declarative act of God by which, on the basis of the sufficiency of Christ’s atoning death, he pronounces believers to have
fulfilled all of the requirements of the
law which pertain to them. Justification is a forensic act imputing the righteousness of Christ to the believer; it is
not an actual infusing of holiness into the
individual… It is not a matter of making the person righteous or altering his
or her actual spiritual
condition.”[3]
The Theology book defends this
position by stating that “the concept of righteousness as a matter of formal
standing before the law or covenant, and of a judge as someone who determines
and declares our status in that respect.”[4]
Paul writes in Romans 4 that “But to the one who does not work, but believes in
Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness, just as
David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness
apart from works” (4:5-6). Justification comes from the faith of the believer
and not the works. Paul ends chapter 4 with a verse that helps Christians
understand that their faith in Christ has given them righteousness. “But for
our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in Him who
raised Jesus our Lord from the dead” (4:24). This verse explains that Jesus’
righteousness is credited to Christians as well as Him. Therefore, it is
understood that Justification is an act of God not an act of man.
A
prerequisite to Salvation is an aspect of God and an aspect of the believer.
Judgment is God judging mankind and their sin. Repentance is the act of the
believer that leads to Justification and Salvation. “Repentance is the shocking
awareness of a radical failing which cannot be undone and the admission that
God is just in his judgment. Repentance thus means our awakening to sin.”[5]
Christians are to repent to God that they have sinned and because of the grace
of God they are forgiven. Repentance comes before Justification. “In our
repentance we receive the courage not to take flight from ourselves, but to
identify ourselves with our guilty past. In our justification we may say
farewell to what we are in ourselves and our deeds.”[6]
Although Justification is entirely an act of God, Christians still have to do
their part and repent of their sins. Repentance leads to God’s Justification
and ultimately leads to Salvation.
The
theme of Justification is found often in Paul’s letters. Paul goes by the
phrase “Justification by Faith.” It is important and clear to Paul that
Christians are justified by their faith in Jesus Christ and not by their works.
In Paul’s letter to the Romans he writes, “for all have sinned and fall short
of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the
redemption which is in Christ Jesus” (3:23-24). Paul recognized that he was a
sinner and that his redemption was found in Christ Jesus. Paul continues in
chapter 5 saying, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our
introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope
of the glory of God” (5:1-2). Paul is saying that faith and only faith leads to
Justification by God. Chapter 5 also speaks of the consequences of
Justification. The first being
“‘Peace
with God.’ It (peace) speaks of the new relationship that exists between God and those who turn to him in faith (cf.
Eph 2:14-15; Col 1:21-22)… To have ‘peace
with God’ means to be in a relationship with God in which all the hostility caused by sin has been removed.”[7]
Salvation leads to “Peace with God”
because of the work of Jesus Christ. Paul deals with the issue of Justification
often in the churches he started and he addresses the issues in his letters. The
three other consequences of Justification are joy, love, and hope.[8]
“Love, joy, peace and hope, then, the true fruit of the Spirit, mark the lives
of those who have been justified by faith in God.”[9]
Paul’s letter to the Galatians deals with an issue regarding Justification by
faith or by works. Galatians 3:11 says, “Now that no one is justified by the
Law before God is evident; for, ‘the righteous man shall live by faith.’” Paul
repeats himself again and again stressing this importance. The most important
prerequisite to Salvation and Justification, for the believer, is faith in
Jesus Christ.
Salvation
has two aspects for the believer: subjective and objective. The subjective
aspect deals with the inside of the believer known as his or her conversion.
The inward or subjective aspect coincides with repentance and faith mentioned
earlier. The believer must repent of their sins and have faith in Jesus. Once
this is accomplished God will justify the believer and transform him or her.
The objective aspect does not deal with what the believer does, but rather what
God does for the believer. This is where Justification comes in; God unites the
believer with Christ and then justifies the believer to be righteous and
finally, God adopts the believer as His or Her child. This process is the
beginning of Salvation for Christians.
The
doctrine of Justification has had many different views in history and its
importance has varied in certain centuries. Justification by faith, for the
Reformers of the sixteenth century, was “the center of the Christian faith, the
foundation of their program of reform and renewal.”[10]
They held a strong position in Paul’s beliefs and they believed that the church
had, not necessarily lost this view, but were not stressing the importance.
There was a big debate disagreement between the definitions of Justification.
The disagreement was between the Reformers and the Church of Rome. The Church
of Rome taught that “‘justification is not only the remission of sins, but also
the sanctification and renewal of the interior man.’ Justification is therefore
regarded as a process of becoming actually and intrinsically righteous.”[11]
This belief says that God’s grace initially justifies the believer, but it is
the work of the believer that God accepts. The Reformers were against this view
of Justification. They taught,
“Justification
is distinct from sanctification. Although all of Christ’s gifts are given in our union with him through
faith, justification is a verdict that declares sinners to be righteous even while they are inherently unrighteous,
simply on the basis of Christ’s
righteousness imputed on them. Whereas Rome teaches that one is finally justified by being
sanctified, the evangelical conviction is that one is being sanctified because one has already been justified.”[12]
This created a lot of controversy
between the Church. However, Protestantism was “born out of the struggle for
the doctrine of justification by faith.”[13]
The controversy came down to justification by faith and justification by good
works.
Martin
Luther and John Calvin were two leading Reformers who had different views
regarding Justification. Luther studied the Scriptures intently to try and
discover what Paul said about Salvation and Justification. Luther “develops the
idea that faith unites the believer to Christ, in much the same way as marriage
unites a bride and bridegroom. The soul is thus made ‘single and free’ from its
sin on account of being married to Christ.”[14]
Luther understood Paul’s teaching that faith is more important than works. The
text goes on saying, “Luther emphasizes the critical role of faith in
establishing an intimate relationship between Christ and the believer.”[15]
Calvin “regarded justification as ‘the primary article of the Christian
religion,’ ‘the main hinge on which religion turns,’ ‘the principal article of
the whole doctrine of salvation and the foundation of all religion.’”[16]
Calvin did not see eye-to-eye with Luther on the definition of Justification.
Calvin “taught too strictly a justification by imputation, but instead of
sharply delineating this from repentance to the one side and sanctification to
the other, he endeavored to see these moments as a unity.”[17] The doctrine of Salvation and the doctrine of
Justification had many different views even inside the split views of the Reformers
and the Church of Rome.
Contemporary
theologians have different views on the importance of the doctrine of
Justification. Instead of arguing on the definition, they “generally tend to
treat the doctrine of justification as some sort of theological dinosaur –
something that was of great importance in its own day and age but has now
become extinct as a burning theological issue.”[18]
Today’s Christians are failing to understand what the doctrine of Justification
means and it is because they are not being taught. C.S. Lewis wrote,
“We must
learn the language of our audience… You must translate every bit of your theology into the vernacular. This is
very troublesome… but it is essential. It is
also of the greatest service to your own thoughts into uneducated language,
then your thoughts are
confused. Power to translate is the test of having really understood your own meaning.”[19]
What Lewis is trying to say is that
it is the theologian’s responsibility to teach the importance of theology and
what it truly means for the believer. The issue in the sixteenth hundreds was
what the doctrine meant for the believer and what view was correct. The issue
today is that it is not being taught. “One of the reasons why the doctrine of
justification by faith has lost its impact is the tendency of preachers to
discuss the doctrine in general terms in terms appropriate to a bygone age.”[20]
Thus the answer is simple: there is a need and importance is the specificity of
the doctrine of Justification by faith that needs to be addressed more
frequently in the church. That means that instead of being generic when
discussing the doctrine of Salvation, pastors need to devote more time and
effort in discussing not just the doctrine of Justification, but also all three
doctrines that coincide in the doctrine of Salvation. Believers need to know
why they are saved and how they are saved. The church in today’s society
stresses evangelism and spreading of the Gospel, but the church needs to stress
what the doctrines of their salvation mean for them personally. There is a
great opportunity for the church to teach these doctrines that will greatly
influence the spread of the whole Gospel. Salvation is a very important
doctrine for a Christian. The importance of Justification by faith is as important
today as it was for the Apostolic Fathers. Justification by faith means that
good works do not grant salvation, but rather that faith in Christ is what is
necessary. Justification is not something that man possesses, but rather it is
a gift and grace of God.
Bibliography
Berkhof, Hendrikus, Christian Faith: An Introduction to the
Study of the Faith, Grand Rapids,
Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1983.
Bruce, F. F., The Letter of Paul to the Romans An Introduction and Commentary,
Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B.
Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1997.
Erickson, Millard J., Christian Theology, Grand Rapids,
Michigan: Baker Book House, 1985.
Horton, Michael, The Christian Faith, Grand Rapids,
Michigan: Zondervan Publishing, 2011.
McGrath, Alister E., Studies in Doctrine, Grand Rapids,
Michigan: ZondervanPublishingHouse,
1988.
McGrath, Alister E., The Christian Theology Reader,
Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell
Publication, 2011.
Mounce, Robert H., The New American Commentary Vol. 27 Romans,
Grand Rapids, Michigan: Broadman
& Holman Publishers, 1995.
[1]
Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology,
(Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1985), 954.
[2]
Ibid., 955.
[3]
Ibid., 956.
[4]
Ibid.
[5]
Hendrikus Berkhof, Christian Faith: An
Introduction to the Study of the Faith, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B.
Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1983), 428.
[6]
Ibid., 433.
[7]
Robert H. Mounce, The New American
Commentary Vol. 27 Romans, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Broadman & Holman
Publishers, 1995), 133.
[8]
F. F. Bruce, The Letter of Paul to the
Romans An Introduction and Commentary, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B.
Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1997), 115.
[9]
Ibid.
[10]
Alister E. McGrath, Studies in Doctrine,
(Grand Rapids, Michigan: ZondervanPublishingHouse, 1988), 355.
[11]
Michael Horton, The Christian Faith,
(Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing, 2011), 622.
[12]
Ibid.
[13]
McGrath, 357.
[14]
Alister E. McGrath, The Christian
Theology Reader, (Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell Publication,
2011), 371.
[15]
Ibid.
[16]
Horton, 623.
[17]
Berkhof, 436.
[18]
McGrath, Studies in Doctrine, 357.
[19]
Ibid.
[20]
Ibid., 358.
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