The Doctrine of Justification (IV)
Its Enjoyment
Cornelis P. Venema
October 2001
In my
previous articles on the doctrine of justification, I dealt with two issues:
first, the nature of justification, what it is; and second, the ground or basis
of our justification. Justification is God’s declaration or pronouncement that
we are righteous and acceptable to Him. When God declares us righteous and no
longer under condemnation, He does so upon the basis of the righteousness of
Christ. By fulfilling the law’s demands and suffering the law’s liability in
our place, Christ has become our righteousness before God (compare 1
Corinthians
Having considered the nature and ground of justification, however, we must
still take up the important question as to how we may enjoy or receive the
grace of free justification.
Q. Why do you say that you are righteous only by faith?
A. Not that I am acceptable to God on account of the worthiness of my faith,
but because only the satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ is my
righteousness before God, and I can receive the same and make it my own in no
other way than by faith only. (
Through Faith
Alone
The question of the enjoyment of the grace of free
justification can be expressed in different ways. One way to express it is to
ask, how does the righteousness of Christ become mine? How do I come to benefit
from Christ’s work on my behalf? If justification is God’s gracious gift, how
am I able to receive or appropriate this gift as my own?
The answer of the Reformation to this question is commonly expressed in the
phrase, sola fide, “through faith alone.”
Justification, as the free gift of God’s grace in Christ, is received through
the exclusive instrumentality of faith. This does not mean that the faith which
embraces Christ, as we shall see in subsequent articles, is ever a lonely or
unproductive faith. It is a faith that works through love, as Paul says in
Galatians 5:16. A “dead faith”—that is, one that is not fruitful in a life of
good works — does not bring salvation (James
This is the consistent testimony of the Word of God. For example, in Romans
The whole argument of chapter four of the book of Romans emphasizes this
contrast between “by faith” and “by works.” The
apostle Paul opens the chapter by citing the example of Abraham, the father of
all believers. It was by faith, a faith which was “reckoned to him for
righteousness,” that Abraham was justified. Before he was circumcised, before
he did anything in obedience to the law—when he was, before God, merely a
sinner—he was reckoned, apart from works, righteous.
Thus, our justification comes through faith (per fidem).
It is important to notice that the Scriptural language is not that we are
justified on account of faith (propter fidem), as if faith itself were virtuous or the basis for
our justification. No, our justification is on account of Christ (propter Christum) whom we can
receive as our own in no other way than by faith only. John Murray, for this
reason, argued that we shouldn’t speak of faith as the “instrumental cause” of justification;
this tends to suggest incorrectly that faith somehow is a partial basis for our
justification. Rather, we should speak of the “instrumentality” of faith,
recognizing that faith only serves as an instrument to receive the grace of God
in Christ. Now perhaps you are tempted to say, “That’s a distinction without a
difference.” However,
But one of the questions that is pressing at this
juncture is, why is it the peculiar office of faith, and not of works or any
other virtue, to lay hold of God’s grace in justification? What is it about
faith that makes it such a fitting instrument? Now we have to be careful in
answering this question, because the answer cannot be simply and solely because
faith is worked in us by the Spirit through the gospel. Faith is not the sole
instrument of justification simply because it is a gift of God’s grace. For we
know that our good works are also gifts of God’s grace (Ephesians
The Reformers groped for the right words to give expression to this. Calvin, as
we noted above, spoke of faith as a “passive” thing, as a “vessel” that finds
its filling in Christ. Faith is the sinner’s acknowledgment before God that
Christ alone is our righteousness. We have nothing of our own to commend us to
God. Horatius Bonar put it nicely when he wrote:
“Faith is not work; faith is not merit; faith is not effort. It is the
cessation of all of these. And the acceptance in place of them of what another
has done, done completely and forever.” Faith understands what the great
theologian Warfield emphasized when he remarked, “We are justified, not so much
by faith, but by Christ, and faith is our acknowledgment of this.”
This is the uniform testimony of the Word of God. Believers enjoy the grace of
free justification when they embrace through faith alone the righteousness of
Christ. Justification is by faith alone (sola fide)
for the same reason that it is on account of Christ alone (solo Christo). For faith is content to
discover in Christ alone the righteousness that makes us acceptable to God and
worthy of His divine favor. Faith desires to boast only in Christ.
Three Concluding Observations
But now I would like to draw our consideration of the doctrine of justification
to a close. I will do so in the form of three concluding observations. These
observations are in the form of suggestive remarks. They are by no means
intended to be exhaustive. They are offered to prompt your thinking about these
things.
First, so far as the subject of “evangelicals and catholics
together” is concerned, it may well be possible in this terrible time in which
we live — with its “culture wars,” its governmentally-sanctioned policy of
abortion on demand, its abandonment of biblical morality — that we can be “co-
belligerents” with Roman Catholics. And it may well be that we have fallen
short of the example set for us by the Reformers in our readiness to speak,
meet, and talk with those who represent the Roman Catholic Church. To
paraphrase a remark of John Calvin, we should be ready to cross the seven seas,
if necessary, to speak with representatives of the Catholic church,
if it would serve the cause of Christ and testify to the truth of the gospel.
But we may not craft joint statements that leave unaddressed, or misleadingly
stated, the crux of the dispute between Protestant and Catholic. We may not
agree to a statement that does not evangelically bear testimony to the gospel
of free justification by grace alone, on account of Christ alone, through faith
alone. Unless the statement represents a true consensus of doctrine, we should
be wary of statements that compromise the truth that Christ alone is our
righteousness before God. Our testimony to the gospel of Jesus Christ, as those
who profess to be members of true churches, must include an unyielding
testimony against the false church that crowds Christ out; that covers Him over
with all kinds of human inventions; that compromises at the most crucial point
by affirming merit and a righteousness which is our own, which is in part,
though not exclusively, the ground upon which we can stand before God.
What I am arguing for is this: though we may talk to and work with Roman
Catholics in various ways as co-belligerents, we may not sign joint statements
that generate confusion, that unnecessarily divide the evangelical church and
compromise her testimony. The price paid for such compromising statements is
too high. Second, we need to examine whether our own preaching bears clear and
eloquent testimony to the doctrine of free justification. To be sure, I can’t
speak from any first-hand acquaintance with your preaching. But I sometimes wonder, why is the doctrine of justification so
misunderstood, so often neglected, so little preached in our day? Perhaps you
remember the quip of Martin Luther who, when asked, “Why do you preach on
justification again for the twentieth time?” replied, “Well, they have
forgotten it after the nineteenth!” Something like that same spirit ought to
grip us as preachers of the gospel. This is our solemn duty: to preach Christ
and Him crucified, and then to preach Him again! Remember, you are a friend of
the Bridegroom. You have a duty before God to bring before the people of God
the indictment that is set forth in His Word; to remind them that in themselves
they are guilty and lost sinners; to point to Christ alone as our righteousness
from God; to summon those who hear the gospel to believe and trust in Christ
alone for salvation.
I rue the fact, for example, that in many Reformed churches the liturgical act
of “reading the law” has fallen on such hard times. Admittedly, this act can be
carried out more effectively and meaningfully than is often the case. This is
not a liturgical observation so much as it is a theological one. But I fear for
the church and the minister that will not read the law of God. Why? Because such a church or minister is in
danger of losing the doctrine of justification. For this is a doctrine that has everything to do with what
Christ has done for us, in fulfilling the law’s obligation and suffering its
curse on our behalf. How then could you be a friend of the Bridegroom, if you
should neglect to tell the bride how the law serves as a “pedagogue” to bring
her to Christ? Of course, you are not to preach the law simply as a hammer that
crushes (Luther). But you may (and must) preach it as an overture to God’s
mercy in Christ, as a prelude to the gospel that restores the soul.
That’s
the question we must ask ourselves as preachers: if I take the measure of my
preaching, have I been a true friend of the Bridegroom, who not only preaches
the law but brings the glory of Christ in all of His sufficiency as the One who
answers to our need as sinners? Have I preached in such a way as to summon
believers to boast only in the Lord and His righteousness?
And third, we need to remember what Calvin in his Institutes so wonderfully
sets forth as the double benefit of this doctrine. According to Calvin, the
doctrine of free justification has two great benefits:
One benefit of this doctrine is the peace and comfort that it alone
can give otherwise troubled sinners. If you are once gripped by the prospect of
having to stand some day before God to be judged, you will want to be sure that
every half-penny of your sins’ wages has already been paid. You will want to be
confident that Christ fell short in nothing with respect to the law’s
obligation on your behalf. You will want to be absolutely sure of this. Now, I
am not denying for a moment that Christians experience times of doubt and
seasons of despair. But the only solid peace we shall ever obtain with regard
to our standing before God must be based upon this doctrine. Deny the doctrine
of free justification, argues Calvin, and you will be like a leaf blown and
tossed about by the wind before God. For the wonderful consolation of this
doctrine is that it gives us what the apostle Paul speaks of in Romans 5:1 —
peace with God.
But the other benefit of this doctrine is that it gives
credit where credit is due. God’s honor is not divided between Himself and us.
Christ is not presented as half a Savior, whose work we need to complete by our
satisfactions, by our stay in purgatory, by our climbing and running and
working. A true friend of the Bridegroom, Christ, understands this if he
understands anything: what it is to be jealous for the glory and praise of the
Bridegroom in the church. That’s what drives you to preach: to declare Christ’s
praise, the praise of His righteousness, in the assembly of His people!
Incidentally, this observation brings us back to my first concluding
observation. Why should we be so anxious to avoid “half” formulations of the
truth, to make a premature peace with the Roman Catholic Church? Because we are
recalcitrant people who are spoiling for a fight? Not at all.
Rather, it is because we want to follow in the pathway of Luther and Calvin,
and all the others who have gone before us, by guarding jealously the glory of
Christ. It is because we can think of nothing more repugnant to our Christian
testimony and calling, than to compromise with a “gospel” that short-changes
the work of Christ. We are not willing, in other words, to be party to any
statement of the gospel that falls short in giving exclusive praise to Christ.
That’s what the doctrine of justification is all about: let him who boasts,
boast in the Lord!
Footnotes
However, cf. R.C. Sproul, who in his Faith Alone. The
Evangelical Doctrine of Justification (Grand Rapids:Baker, 1995), p. 168, points out that Charles Hodge
identifies instances of the insertion of “only” in the translation of this
verse in translations prior to the Reformation of the sixteenth century.
Dr.
Cornelis Venema, a
contributing editor of The Outlook magazine, teaches
Doctrinal Studies at Mid-America Reformed Seminary in Dyer,