Justification by faith alone and the righteousness controversy simplified

"We are either justified by a righteousness that inheres within us or by someone else's righteousness attributed or given to us. Does faith enable us to become actively righteous so that God will declare us righteous? Or does God declare us righteous before we actually become righteous by imputing to us the righteousness of Christ?"

"The conflict over justification by faith alone boils down to this: Is the grounds of our justification the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, or the righteousness of Christ working within us?"

(R. C. Sproul - "Faith Alone - The Evangelical Doctrine of Justification" - copyright 1995)

Well put-
And (for me) the scriptures are clear on this one from beginning to end yet there is controversy....
It’s as if the body of Christ has an autoimmune disorder.

When a Christian is counting upon the 'right now' working of righteousness through them so they see a quantity of good works a quantity of spiritual fruit and a quantity of heartfelt actions...these Christians are at a loss when the difficulties of life separate them from their good works or their good feelings about themselves or their fruits seem to be absent.

The point is, the inverted pyramid of salvation now rests upon just how well we are doing and how well we judge ourselves to be in God's good graces. This whole thing topples over in time. The Christian either relegates Christianity to a 'modern legal way of living' or he scours the idea of sinfulness away from himself and lives as an anti-nomian.

When so many long decades of 'making sure I am obeying God' have come and gone, God has a way of revealing just what kind of heart we have in offering our obedience.
For some, they bury their coin and give it back to Jesus at the last judgment and say "I know what kind of man you were, a man who reaps where he didn't sow" so take your money you suffer no loss from me.
But Jesus called the man wicked and he lost that which he seemed to have.

A Christian who has no confidence in the love and grace of God freely given to him, is a man that will not do exploits, he wont sacrifice himself he wont even obey for the right motives. That man will simply use Jesus book as a means to an end to save his own skin.
righteous works that are not based on the grace given righteousness of faith lead a man to justify himself by himself.

What if a believer just cannot get the clear picture of these two doctrines, is he saved or not.

To be clear, I believe it’s a "both-and” not an "either-or”....
The righteousness of God is imparted or credited to us when we first come to saving faith in Christ,... while we grow in Christlikenss being conformed into His image in ever increasing measure by abiding in Him by faith working in us till Christ be fully formed.
Much like a marriage where when the two become one they cannot technically ever be "more married” than they already are, however IF they continue to wholeheartedly give themselves to their union they will certainly exhibit an increased intimacy. This is readily discernible in any relationship where the hearts of the respective parties are working towards the same objective,...

This is not to say there might be ups and downs, often there are seasons where one or the other are (for a host of reasons) going through a refining process where they are not as effective - tho this is precisely where the love and grace of the more stable partner effectually works "in” the other to help stabilize, encourage and support the less capable party.
This being a functional union is entirely based on the heart position of the respective parties. Here we find wether we truly believe into salvation as IF we believe Christ is sufficient and faithful it will again be readily discernible, whereas if our heart isn’t wholly in it, this too will be apparent over time,... think the parable of the seeds finding different ground.

If it were a one and done, as many believe, there would be no need to abide... and Christ knowing fully His supply to us commands us to do it- think the letters to the 7 Churches, in the cases where a rebuke was necessary, He says "you go”- "you do” and never a hint of "don’t worry about it you believed once and now you have my eternal righteousness imputed to you so just relax”ðŸ˜³ but instead He commands them all to do the works prescribed knowing full well He has already given them everything needed for life and godliness.
So IF we continue with Him, He will continue with us and we will be conformed into His image, producing much fruit as a byproduct not as a point of focus. And what is the fruit that glorifies God? Faithful Obedience from a loving heart full of grace:) that IS the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
It’s not obedience because we have got to or else.... that’s legalism 101
It’s the desire to obey coupled with the acute awareness that we own our own cannot, yet still we desire to... so to address this God in His mercy imparts righteousness thru faith and grace, demonstrating His love, and continues to, so long as we desire it, until Christ is fully formed in us.
For some this takes longer than others it’s true, but praise be to God our Father for He is faithful to complete the work which He began in us😇

/What if a believer just cannot get the clear picture of these two doctrines, is he saved or not./

If they are indeed a believer then they are saved although they might not have been taught well in this area. I did not know the difference between imputed and infused righteousness for a long while after I was actually and really saved. Knowing the difference between the imputed and the infused helps immensely though. In my opinion, the anti-charismatic Reformed stream of Christianity knows more about justification and righteousness than most of the other streams. When I studied Reformed teaching on this it took mew a while to sort it all out but as I said before knowing the difference between imputed and infused is SORELY needed among Pentecostals.

I appreciate your thoughts JFW. Very good. And others who have commented also. From my view I see justification as a once and done event. When you get justified and have the righteousness of Christ imputed to you you get the whole deal - 100%. You can't get less than 100% and out of this imputed righteousness and the power of the new birth with the Spirit indwelling within to enable, a new person wanting to follow and please God is brought forth. Good works then result not as a means to maintain or increase righteousness but as a natural outwork of the true salvation experience.

The Roman paradigm is that after salvation perhaps you sin a bit then you have to "do" some things to restore your former level of justification. And when you "do" these things you earn back the lost righteousness and justification. Meritology disguised in very spiritual terms. If you perform works and certain prayers etc. you are said to be cooperating with God so as to help enable Him to restore you.

I didn't mean to go on this long. Hope I don't sound preachy.

Brother David,
Thanks for being candid :)
So regarding the one and done justification... do you see justification as salvation unto eternal life?

'So regarding the one and done justification... do you see justification as salvation unto eternal life?'

Romans 6:1-2
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

Justification works with our perseverance to abide in the Lord. This is effectuated by impartation. Righteousness is not imparted though, but the spiritual aptitude towards sanctification.

As we cycle in our life as a mortal, sinning, repenting, goodworks, our salvation rests alone in the context of imputed righteousness (Jeremiah 3:5-6, Romans chapters 3&4, Philippians 3, Ephesians 2:8-10).

Righteousness refers to the perfect satisfaction to God's holy law. In that sense, no one will be righteous through our own doings, we can only be declared righteous through Christ.

The Gospel is not a message of performance-oriented acceptance with God. We are saved by the grace of the Crown, and we obey because we love the King. If we do not love the King, whatever begrudged obedience we may render is a sham. It is not salvation.

/Brother David,
Thanks for being candid :)
So regarding the one and done justification... do you see justification as salvation unto eternal life?/

Yes. I don't believe it is possible to be justified and not be truly saved. Justification is a clearing of our record before God and rendering us in His eyes jus as if we had never sinned. We are acquitted on the basis of the merits of Christ's perfect obedience. The only way to acquire this is by faith alone and this does not leave a person unchanged. The sinner then becomes indwelt by the Holy Spirit which gives Him the inward moral desire and empowerment to walk after God's ways and commandments.

Quoting from the same book I have already referenced,

"Those who possess saving faith necessarily, inevitably, and immediately begin to manifest fruits of faith, which are works of obedience. The grounds of the person's justification, however, remains solely and exclusively the imputed righteousness of Christ. It is by His righteousness and His righteousness alone that the sinner is declared to be just and is really just in Him." (R. C. Sproul)

It's as fascinating a study that one can perhaps possibly do in my opinion. It provides real insight into the details of one's salvation and what really occurred.

Bother David,
Again thank you for responding and helping to clarify.... I suppose it’s here where there’s a difference in our understanding-

Brother Todd,
As usual you are more succinct that I, as your post well summerizes my long winded post.

I simply do not find a scriptural basis for a "gospel of forgiveness” where forgiveness itself equals eternal life in Christ....
while I’m not advocating a performance gospel, I am advocating a participation gospel as I believe the scriptures clearly teach from beginning to end-

/Bother David,
Again thank you for responding and helping to clarify.... I suppose it’s here where there’s a difference in our understanding-/

Out of curiosity and not trying to stir anything, what exactly do you see as our difference of understanding?

Blessings.

Brother David,
Per your question-
Here is where we have a different understanding, you wrote;
"Yes. I don't believe it is possible to be justified and not be truly saved.”
This is tantamount to OSAS and I cannot confess that I find this in the scriptures,... but quite the opposite.

For me the "if” in the new covenant preclude this...

The new Covenant is the PERSON of Christ Living and abiding within us now. He is our Surety of a Better Covenant. His LIFE removes all the "if's" and replaces them with since or because. So as a result of His life the "if's" are fulfilled by HIS active LIFE within us.

Here is what Andrew Murray wrote in his book - The Two Covenants.

"A SURETY is one who stands good for another, that a certain engagement will be faithfully performed. Jesus is the Surety of the New Covenant. He stands surety with us for God--- that God's part in the Covenant will faithfully be performed. And He stands surety with God for us, that our part will be faithfully performed too. If we are to live in covenant with God, everything depends upon our knowing aright what Jesus secures to us. The more we know and trust Him, the more assured will our faith be that its every promise and every demand will be fulfilled, that a life of faithful keeping of God's Covenant is indeed possible, because Jesus is the Surety of the Covenant. He makes God's faithfulness and ours equally sure."

I pay this often, "Lord Jesus, no matter what I do, say, think, or feel, I know that You are ALWAYS dwelling right here, inside my heart."

I would ask if one is justified how does it at that very moment depend on what one will do in the future? I would propose that if you have been moved to repentance and have been given the gift of true faith that when you call upon the Lord for salvation you are 100% justified at that moment.

The New Covenant

31 "Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,

32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord.

33 "But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, "I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

34 They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the Lord, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

35 Thus says the Lord,
Who gives the sun for light by day
And the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar;
The Lord of hosts is His name:

36 "If this fixed order departs
From before Me,” declares the Lord,
"Then the offspring of Israel also will cease
From being a nation before Me forever.”

37 Thus says the Lord,

"If the heavens above can be measured
And the foundations of the earth searched out below,
Then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel
For all that they have done,” declares the Lord.

docs: These verses include, "I will never cast Israel off for what they have done" etc. is presented in the context of the arrival of a new and better covenant (the law written in their minds and hearts. If God promises never to forsake or cast off Israel even when they sin then why isn't the same true for us believers who have been justified by the blood of Israel's Messiah? The weakness of men and their flesh cannot nullify the promises of the new covenant. If God will be this faithful to Israel then why not His church? If you are truly justified you are going to make it. It does not seem to depend on "if" but rather God's faithfulness to you such as He has always expressed to the believing remnant of Israel. If that is true for them then why not us? Being honest, I've never known many truly born again people who have turned away. A very few here and there. Perhaps their fate remains a mystery to a degree but is there such a thing as being "unjustified?" Our understanding of the new covenant and the power of justification should maybe be based not so much on avoiding the conditional "if" but concentrating on God's faithfulness best typified by His dealings with Israel and the lasting power of justification seen in New Testament saints who believe.

I'm eating a snack and sitting here. I don't have all the answers and talk too much. But I love talking about these things because there is much to learn from every angle even if we disagree a bit. Justification from God is the real deal. I know you know this.

Blessings.

Hi Fletcher: you said...

This is tantamount to OSAS and I cannot confess that I find this in the scriptures,... but quite the opposite.

I believe the scripture teaches us that God works in us, that our perseverance and endurance to endure unto the end is due to his indwelling Spirit. OSAS is a caricature of the doctrine of perseverance and scriptural assurance.
I suppose it's intent was to simplify the doctrine of assurance...but instead over time created more debate than it answered questions.

It appears this caricature is now associated with the actual truth of biblical perseverance and assurance. So debate ensues based upon an inadequate study of perseverance and assurance as the scripture declare.

As was well stated earlier, the "if" conditions of scripture are answered with the "you-are" conditions of being a new-creation of Christ, that Christ dwelling in us does the works and brings us safely to the end of our faith and the reward of that faith.

I believe this is where Paul Washer and others like him have attacked the easy-believism of our day and unmasked the falsehoods surrounding the confessions of so many with the marked lack of sanctification and general spiritual condition.

There is no such thing as a genuine conversion that does not result in a new creation that works righteousness by faith and increases in holiness and grows in conformity to Christ.

Part of the problem we have faced over the decades has been terrible teaching and false conversions/confessions whereby compromises were made to bring assurance to those whom God has not given his Spirit.

David you said:

When I studied Reformed teaching on this it took mew a while to sort it all out but as I said before knowing the difference between imputed and infused is SORELY needed among Pentecostals.

I attended a Pentecostal fellowship for almost a year where the doctrine of justification was just then being preached to the congregants, oh my, it was as if they had found an unknown and buried truth from the days of the apostles.

To a degree, there prayers, their worship, their desire for empowering lay upon that general lacking...namely they didn't understand they were justified by faith, so in order to accomplish sanctification their need for rededication, re-filling of the Holy Spirit and recommitting themselves to Christ all stemmed from their lack of assurance that Jesus saved them with an actual salvation, not a potential one dependent upon their spiritual fruit and good works.

Remember brothers/sisters we are discussing this in terms of open Christian preaching available everywhere.

There are Christians who cannot read, don't own a bible, have no idea about our doctrines and do not have Christian books that they can even read let alone decide upon if they are orthodox or not.

God's indwelling Spirit settles the matter regardless of knowledge, doctrine, works, or affiliations with orthodox Churches.

Jesus saves people based upon his grace, not because our place in the world has secured better "means" by which we may add them to "why we got saved".

Jesus gives real grace to real sinners that they may obtain a real true salvation in this life, so that they with that earnest of their inheritance declare the glory of God by obedience and good works.

Brother David,
The "if” to which I refer has nothing to do with God but with man.... the scriptures are clear that God IS faithful- full stop.
However man is not as a general rule, as such we get the "if you abide”, "if you preserve”, "if you obey”, etc...
I see justification and the initial giving of Holy Spirit as a down payment, per Eph 1 and that is God initiating His good will towards us tho we are repeatedly charged in every book of the new covenant to utilize and make use of the faith and grace given us and not fail it and fall short, which it clearly states. If it were not possible to fail/fall short why even mention it to believers whom had already received down payment, justification, Holy Spirit as they wouldn’t need to hear such and would inevitably lead to confusion?
What interests me is how with the same data points we come to totally different conclusions,... so we must be working with different narratives. When I came to this impasse personally I decided to reread the new covenant, laying down preconceived notions (as best I could) and view it objectively as possible allowing the intended narrative to develop itself-
This was an eye opener as Jesus became more beautiful and far more real than ever before along with clarifying many issues I had previously had.