- All Muddled about Justification

All Muddled about Justification

RBF: 4. What is justification? Now that regeneration has removed the pollution of sin in man, but the guilt of sin still remains. By regeneration, man’s attitude towards God has been renewed but not God’s attitude towards man. God’s wrath and condemnation is still against man even though he has been born anew. The application of redemption must involve a change in God’s judicial relation to us. God must deliver us from condemnation, and accepting us as righteous in His sight receives us into his favour and fellowship (Is.12.1-2). It is the actual justification we are referring to. The Confession says “From all eternity God decreed to justify all the elect, and Christ, in the fullness of time, died for their sins, and rose again for their justification. Nevertheless, they are not personally justified until the Holy Spirit, in due time, actually applies Christ to them” (13.4). Justification, in other words, is not the eternal decree of God with respect to us, nor is it the finished work of Christ for us, when once-for-all he reconciled us to God by his death; nor is it the regenerative work of God in us, nor is it any activity on our part in response to and embrace of the gospel, but it is an act of God, accomplished in time wherein God passes judgment with respect to us as individuals. (Murray: Collected Works; vol.2, p.203) By this act, God has credited His righteousness to the sinner, has removed guilt and condemnation from him, and has declared him righteous!

SF: Dear Elder Lam, and all those who have knowingly approved the theological paper, you have said some of the most disturbing things. Let me try to help you to see what you have said above.

1. You said, “Now that regeneration has removed the pollution of sin in man, but the guilt of sin still remains.” No, regeneration does not remove pollution. Regeneration is quickening a spiritually dead person to eternal life by the Spirit of God. “Regeneration is a creative, a hyper-physical operation of the Holy Spirit, by which man is brought from a condition of spiritual death into a condition of spiritual life” (Berkhof). The pollution of sins is dealt with in the lifelong process of further sanctification after an elect is definitively sanctified at effectual calling. The pollution of sins remains with us till we return to dust and enter our glory. The guilt of sin, which is eternal condemnation, is dealt with once-for-all in the justification applied at effectual calling – when we were dead and children of wrath.

What needs removing when God deals with an elect who is a condemned dead child of wrath is the condemnation of sin. Removal of the condemnation of sin requires the justification through the righteousness of Christ; a justified dead child of wrath is regenerated; and a justified regenerated child is then adopted – in that logical order. It is a very common mistake to equate effectual call as regeneration. It is clear from the Confession that ‘effectual call’ to life is a term that embraces justification, regeneration and adoption. All these gracious acts are necessary because in the effectual call God’s efficacious grace turns a condemned dead child of wrath into a justified living child of God.

The effectual call unto eternal life (definitive sanctification) prepares an elect for further sanctification. It enables a child of God to respond to the gospel call to faith in Christ and begin a life of faith - further sanctification.

Natural state>>Effectual Call to Life>>Spiritual state
Condemned >> Justification >>Righteous in Christ
Dead >>Regeneration >>Alive in Christ
Child of wrath >> Adoption >>Child of God in Christ

Unconverted >> Gospel Call to Faith >>Converted state
Ignorant >>repentance & faith >>Lives by faith in Christ

The effectual call definitively sanctifies an elect from a natural state to a spiritual state, from being a condemned dead child of wrath into a justified living child of God. Effectual call is a once-for-all unrepeatable divine and efficacious call unto eternal life. The saving graces of faith and repentance are worked in the adopted children by the Spirit of God; they may be brought out of unbelief and ignorance to faith in Christ through the gospel call, that they may be instructed in the truth of their redemption by the free grace of God. The gospel call must necessarily be repeated to call and exhort the regenerated child of God to live by faith in Christ Jesus. The just shall live by faith; justification precedes faith! And this faith comes through the ministry of the word, which is described as ‘from faith to faith,’ Rom 1:17. Amen.

But you have reversed the order and bring chaos; making the Holy Spirit acting ahead of the Father in the application of salvation. The guilt of sin, which is eternal condemnation, must first be removed, and the justification of life imputed before the Holy Spirit bestows life. Without the removal of the guilt of sin, there can be no giving of life that enables the process of further sanctification to happen. The removal of pollution happens throughout life, 1689.13. God justifies the ungodly, removes the guilt of sin (condemnation), before life is given to deal with the pollution of sin. God is the God of order. Justification deals with the guilt of sin. Ongoing sanctification deals with the pollution of sin, 1689.13.

2. You said, “God’s wrath and condemnation is still against a man even though he has now been born anew.”
This is like saying, “The sentence of condemnation of the Supreme Court Judge remains upon a criminal even though he has been set to freedom.” See what contradiction and inconsistency when we reject the “order [that] has been established by divine appointment, wisdom, and grace”? You plainly contradict Scriptures as summarized in the Confession, and sanctified common sense too. The Confession declares that God justifies before the Holy Spirit regenerates. The just condemnation of death is pardoned and the justification of life imputed before the Holy Spirit has divine warrant to impart life. The effectual call brings an elect out of that state of sin and death to that state of righteousness (through justification) and life (through regeneration) and sonship (through adoption) – i.e. to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ. 1689.10.1.

Your ‘standard reformed position’ impugns upon the moral character of God, that the Holy Spirit would regenerate a person upon whom God’s wrath and condemnation remains. Such idea denies the harmonious working among the three Person of the Trinity in redeeming His elect. In this fallen world, where any semblance of justice still prevails, no condemned criminal goes free before the Court rescinds the deserved sentence of condemnation and declares him innocent! The Judge of all the earth shall do right… and does better than the best of fallen creatures. It is strange that ‘standard reformed position’ people who believe God to be infinite, eternal and unchangeable in justice and truth could also believe a situation where an elect is regenerated to life while the just condemnation of sin and death still hangs round his neck. Whatever has happened to justice and truth? Whatever has happen to sanctified common sense? No, freedom is only for the pardoned criminal. Spiritual life is only for the justified and pardoned elect. Justification by God logically precedes regeneration by the Holy Spirit. Adoption follows regeneration; the elect are born to be sons.

3. You said, ‘It is the actual justification we are referring to.’
May I ask, “Is the justification at effectual calling actual justification or fictitious justification?” I get the impression that the justification that accompanies the effectual calling is not actual enough, so you want to invent an actual justification to suit your theological scheme! The legal justification secured by Christ at the cross is very actual justification by Christ’s blood for all the elect of God. The justification applied by God in the effectual call at His appointed and accepted time when the elect were ungodly and enemies is very actual justification too. They are personally justified. The justification evidenced and experienced by faith is no less actual though, subjective and experiential. The blessedness of the righteousness and forgiveness experienced is no less real and actual.

The legal justification secured by Christ is actual justification, yet not personal. Why? The legal transaction of the imputations of sins to Him and of His righteousness to all His elect did actually and really occur at the cross. All the sins of all God’s elect were legally imputed to Christ at the cross. And all His righteousness was legally imputed to all His elect. All these were legal and actual, but not yet personal. The legal justification already secured is then applied to each individual elect personally when God effectually calls him at His appointed and approved time. This justification is then actual as well as personal (1689.11.4) What has been applied personally at effectual call is then experienced through faith in Christ.

Justification by God at effectual calling is actual justification by God. Justification by God at effectual calling is actual and personal justification by God. Justification by faith at conversion (gospel call to faith) is also actual and personal, but experiential and subjective justification by faith, Gen 15:1-6, Romans 4:1-8. Justification by God is actual personal justification, and justification by faith is just as actual and personal and experiential. I hope the difference between actual on the one hand, and legal, personal, and experiential, on the other is appreciated.

The justification decreed by God for His elect before time is actual justification, but the decretive/eternal justification.
The justification secured by Christ for all of God’s elect at the cross is actual justification, but the legal justification.
The justification applied by God to each elect personally in time at effectual call is actual justification, but the vital/personal justification.
The justification experienced by the believer through faith in Christ is actual justification, but the experiential/practical justification.
The justification publicly vindicated in the resurrection to glory is actual justification too.

4. You said, “It [justification] is an act of God, accomplished in time wherein God passes judgment with respect to us as individuals.”
When God effectually calls and justifies an elect at ‘His appointed and approved time,’ that justification is surely an act of God accomplished in time wherein God passes judgment with respect to us as individuals. Indeed, justification is an act of God, accomplished in time when God makes declaration with respect to us as individuals at effectual call when we were UNGODLY, when we were still ENEMIES – not when we are godly and believing. To say otherwise is preaching a false gospel! The good news is that God justifies the ungodly, when they were still enemies, and as a result they were regenerated and adopted. Whoever believes has eternal life. That is the good news – news of what God has done… not news of what will happen by man’s response. ‘Believe and you will have life’ is NOT good news. ‘Whoever believes has life’ is good news.

Now consider how Mr. Murray has rejected the plain statement of the Confession of Faith, and tried to replace it with something else. Please remember that Mr. Murray was mistaken in the simple matter of water baptism. What make one thinks that he cannot be wrong in as simple a matter as justification?

The Confession declares, “From all eternity God decreed to justify all the elect, and Christ, in the fullness of time, died for their sins, and rose again for their justification. Nevertheless, they are not personally justified until the Holy Spirit, in due time, actually applies Christ to them.” Nevertheless they are not personally justified is an acknowledgment that all the elect are legally justified when Christ secured the justification for all His elect at the cross. It is at God’s appointed and accepted time that His Spirit applies that justification to God’s elect in the effectual calling of God. They become and are personally justified when the Holy Spirit at God’s appointed and accepted time actually applies Christ to them. Mr Murray rejected this as the point in time when an elect become personally justified. Rejecting God’s appointed and accepted time, he replaced it with “an act of God, accomplished in time wherein God passes judgment with respect to us as individuals, i.e. the time when we believe.

But when does the Holy Spirit actually apply Christ to them – when they are dead in sin or when they have faith? How does the Confession summarize the teaching of Scriptures? The Confession says that the Holy Spirit applies Christ to the elect when they were in the state of sin and death. The Spirit applies Christ to them and brings them of out of that state of sin and death which they are in by nature, to grace and salvation by Christ Jesus. They are personally justified when the Holy Spirit applies Christ to them while they were in the state of sin and death. Therefore the Confession declares, ‘Those whom God effectually calls He also freely justifies.’ Those whom He effectually calls are personally justified. They were personally justified when they were incapable of exercising faith. It is when they are justified, regenerated and adopted and received the gift of faith that they are able to exercise faith. It is ‘the just shall live by faith.’ It is not, ‘by faith a condemned man is justified and receive life to live.’ It is ‘faith is not alone in the person justified,’ i.e. faith is a fruit of justification. Faith is an evidence of personally justified. Faith is not the instrumental means to secure personal justification. Faith evidences personal justification by grace through the righteousness of Christ Jesus.
Justification is indeed, as Mr. Murray asserted, an act of God, accomplished in time wherein God passes judgment with respect to us as individuals. BUT - BUT – BUT it is an act of God, accomplished in time wherein God passes judgment with respect to us as individuals when we were dead in sin, when we were ungodly, while we were enemies.

This divine acts of God happens when the “the Holy Spirit, in due time, actually applies Christ” to each elect, NOT - NOT – NOT when the elect believes BUT – BUT – BUT when he was in a state of sin and death. Faith is most necessary not because faith is the sole instrument to secure personal justification but because faith in Christ is the sole instrument to evidence, to demonstrate the justification by God through grace. When the elect believes, his faith is proof and demonstration that he has been personally justified by the work of grace of the Holy Spirit when He applied Christ to them. Faith is the spiritual activity of an elect already personally justified when the Holy Spirit applied Christ to him at effectually calling to life, NOT – NOT – NOT – at gospel call to faith.

Your whole scheme is built on confusion, not on the Scriptural order or the Confessional foundation. It may satisfy the RB Fraternal. It may be the ‘standard reformed position.’ To me it is, to put it very mildly, ‘inconsistent and deficient’, and at best, openly contradicts the Scriptures as summarized by the Particular Baptists forefathers. The ‘standard’ of the RBF is way off the ‘Standard’ – the Scriptures.