Heidelberg 60: Only By True Faith

Open Quote 5 lines60. How are you righteous before God?

Only by true faith in Jesus Christ; that is, although my conscience accuse me, that I have grievously sinned against all the commandments of God, and have never kept any of them, and am still prone always to all evil; yet God without any merit of mine, of mere grace, grants and imputes to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ, as if I had never committed nor had any sin, and had myself accomplished all the obedience which Christ has fulfilled for me; if only I accept such benefit with a believing heart.

Heidelberg Catechism 60

It is symbolic that this question is so near the center of the catechism since this doctrine is at the heart of the Reformed confession of the Christian faith. Calvin called the doctrine of justification by faith alone (sola fide) the “principal axis” of the Christian religion. As sola Scriptura (according to Scripture alone) was the formal cause of the Reformation, the material cause was justification sola fide. The Roman communion confesses

If any one says, that by faith alone (sola fide) the impious is justified; in such wise as to mean, that nothing else is required to co-operate in order to the obtaining the grace of Justification, and that it is not in any way necessary, that he be prepared and disposed by the movement of his own will; let him be anathema. (Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent, Canon 9).

The dividing line between Rome and the Reformation is clear. Where Rome confesses that faith is the “beginning of human salvation, the foundation, and the root of all Justification” (Council of Trent, Session 6, ch. 8) the Reformed confess that we are justified by grace alone (sola gratia), through faith alone. Rome and the Reformed have two distinct definitions of faith in the doctrine of justification. According to Rome, faith is necessary but not sufficient for acceptance with God. Thomas Aquinas taught, in his commentary on Romans and in his Summa, that faith is that which is formed by love (fides formata caritate), that “charity is the form of faith.” In this definition he subtly changed Paul’s teaching that faith “working by love” (Galatians 5:6), whereby he was teaching that true faith gives evidence of its existence by manifesting itself in acts of charity. This was exactly what James teaches in (James) chapter 2. By turning “working by love” into “formed by love” Thomas turned a fruit into that which makes faith what it is. In other words, Thomas turned faith, in justification, from the empty hand that receives what Christ has done, into the part of the ground of justification—remember, for Rome, justification is progressive sanctification. Thus, ordinarily, according to Rome, no one is ever actually justified in this life because no one is ever perfected in this life. For Rome, grace is “exciting” (excitantem) and “helping” (adjuvantem) but not definitive. Rome speaks of “converting one’s self unto his justification” (convertendum se ad suam ipso rum justiftcationem). Rome confesses:

If any one says, that justifying faith is nothing else but confidence (fiduciam) in the divine mercy which remits sins for Christ’s sake; or, that this confidence alone (fiduciam solam) is that whereby we are justified; let him be anathema (Trent, Session 6, canon 12).

We confess that, by faith alone, resting in, trusting in, leaning upon Christ and his finished work, we have the entirety of our justification and it is through faith alone that we are saved. Good works are necessary as a fruit and evidence of justification and salvation, Rome confesses:

If any one says, that the justice received is not preserved and also increased before God through good works; but that the said works are merely the fruits and signs of Justification obtained, but not a cause of the increase thereof; let him be anathema (Session 6, Canon 24.

The Reformed understanding of Scripture is that believers are as justified and saved now as we shall be at the judgment. There are not two stages of justification, initial and final. Rather, we distinguish between justification and vindication. At the judgment it shall be declared to all that those to whom Christ freely imputed his righteousness, who received that righteousness with true faith, really were justified and saved.

For the Reformed justification is a once-for-all act, it is definitive. Sanctification is progressive and the consequence of justification. Rome does not distinguish justification and progressive sanctification. They are the same thing. According to Rome, we are only as justified now as we are sanctified and we are only as sanctified by grace and cooperation with grace. There is nothing new about the Federal Vision scheme of “in by baptism, stay in by cooperation with grace” (faithfulness) or the New Perspective doctrine of “in by grace, stay in by works.”

Rome knows a priori  before she ever gets to Scripture that it could not teach justification as a definitive, once-for-all declaration that sinners are declared righteous by God for the sake of the righteousness of Christ earned for us and imputed to us and received through resting, leaning, trusting in Christ alone. She knows a priori that God can only recognize as righteous those who are intrinsically, inherently, actually righteous in themselves and that can only happen by the infusion of the substance of medicinal grace and the cooperation of the free will with that grace unto sufficient sanctification.

Of Cursedness and Righteousness

Above we considered briefly the significance of beginning the answer with the words, “only by true faith.” This expression intentionally evokes Heidelberg Catechism 21, which we have already considered extensively. Rome has us saved by grace and cooperation with grace, through the formation of saving virtue formed in us by grace and cooperation with grace. The gospel message is that we are justified and saved not by anything done by us or in us but by grace alone, through faith alone and that faith is an outward-looking knowledge, assent, and confidence in Christ and his finished work. These are two very different conceptions of justification and salvation.

The question is how are right with God. Righteousness is necessary a legal category. It is fashionable in some circles to dismiss the question as if it were irrelevant to our age or as if we have matured beyond it or as if it were a parochial question (e.g., Western as distinct from Eastern). Let me ask you a question. Let’s say you go on vacation only to find upon your return that some folks have moved into your house, changed the locks, and claimed your house as their new home. What do you think about justice now? You paid the mortgage. You fixed the plumbing. You mowed the lawn but now it’s their house? “That’s not right!” That’s not what, you say? We might like to tell ourselves that righteousness is passé or parochial, in truth, it is unavoidable. In the nature of human existence the question of righteousness is unavoidable. We shall always have laws and where there are laws there is either righteousness (conformity to the law) or unrighteousness (transgression of the law). Laws are for sinners:

understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners (1 Tim 1:9; ESV)

Adam was created in righteousness and true holiness with the intent that he would know God rightly, love, and, after passing the probation, enter into eternal blessedness with him (Heidelberg Catechism 6). After the fall we are all under the law (Rom 7) for righteousness and the law is good and holy (Rom 7:7–12). The law promises life to all who obey but because our fall, we are unable to obey. In Adam we are all, by nature, sinners (Rom 5:12–21). As Paul says, after the fall, the law remains good, holy, and righteous but we do not. The demands of the law do not end simply because we are now, by nature, unable and unwilling to fulfill them perfectly. It says:

Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the book of the law. Deut 27:26; Gal 3:10)

God’s law does not say to lawbreakers, “Good try but not quite. Try again.” It says “cursed.” That’s not a good state in which to be. According to Deuteronomy 28:20, cursedness manifests in frustration. It leads to destruction. Deuteronomy 29:20 says that one who is under a curse is not forgiven. He is under Yahweh’s anger, as it were, i.e., his holy wrath. Yahweh’s zeal for his own holiness “will smoke against that man” and his cursedness will result in his name being blotted out from under heaven. Our Lord Jesus said that to be cursed is to be eternally condemned:

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt 25:41; ESV)

When he cursed the fig tree (Mark 11:21) it withered and died. Clearly being cursed or accursed is a truly miserable state. A reasonable person would do all he could to avoid it. Tragically, the effects of sin are that we are, by nature, blind to own state. Paul says that we’re “dead in sins and trespasses” (Eph 2:1–4) and we don’t even realize it.

So we need righteousness. Because of our own condition we can only get this righteousness by faith. We cannot undo what we, in Adam, did. We cannot undo what we have each down individually, actually. You and I cannot make expiation (make payment for sin) or propitiation (to turn away God’s wrath) because whatever we do, we do as sinners. All our affections, our thinking, and our willing is corrupted by sin. Everything we touch is corrupted by sin. To paraphrase Cornelius Van Til, we are like man of sin, in a sea of sin, trying to climb a ladder of sin. It’s utterly futile. We’re toast.

This is why the gospel is such good news. The gospel is that Christ “became a curse” for us who believe:

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”(Gal 3:13; ESV)

This brings us back to part 1 of this series. This is why faith is the “sole instrument” of our justification (Belgic Confession art. 22). This is why we confess in Belgic Confession art. 24 against all moralists (e.g., Rome, the Federal Vision, Norman Shepherd, the New Perspective and all their minions) that we are justified “even before we do good works.”

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Eph 2:8–9)

It’s not by medicinal, substantial grace and our free cooperation with that grace we are justified and saved but it is by God’s favor merited for us by Christ, who was born without sin, who obeyed God’s holy, righteous law for us, and who, by his powerful Holy Spirit raises dead sinners to life, gives them true faith, and through that true faith unites them to Christ.

There is no question whether there is cursedness and righteousness. There is no question whether we are, by nature, under a curse or whether we need Christ’s righteousness. Praise God that his righteousness earned for us is given to us freely, by God’s free favor.

Why We Must Say Simul Iustus et Peccator

In order to understand the teaching of the catechism on justification we must remember that it is explaining to believers how justification works and what it means for our assurance and our spiritual life. This is why it turns almost immediately to a highly realistic account of the believer’s struggle with sin. The background to this way of thinking and speaking is the Pauline, Augustine’s, and Reformed doctrine of man (anthropology). Calvin’s reading of Roman’s 7 is echoing in the background.

“For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate (Rom 7:15; ESV)

For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (Rom 7:22–24; ESV)

We are not perfectionists. Believers continue to struggle with sin. Why bring up this reality under justification? First, because it is the experience of every Christian. It’s important to put that experience into its biblical framework lest believers despair and give up. We have always had strains of perfectionism (i.e., the doctrine that believers can, if they will, attain to entire sanctification or perfect sanctification in this life) in the church but it’s been particularly strong since the 18th century and so much so that it has affected the way Reformed people talk and think about sanctification. The Heidelberg Catechism is not perfectionist. The Reformed faith is not perfectionist. We confess that my conscience accuses me

that I have grievously sinned against all the commandments of God, and have never kept any of them, and am still prone always to all evil

and the assumption of the catechism is that accusation is essentially accurate. Our conscience does not lie when it says that believers remain, in themselves, terrible sinners. We captured this reality, this truth in our slogan “simul iustus et peccator(simultaneously just and sinner). The perfectionist wants to say simultaneously just and completely sanctified.

Second, because the moralist (Romanist, Federal Visionist, et al) cannot say “simul iustus et peccator.” For the moralist may only justify us when we are intrinsically, actually righteous. That means, of course, either that the moralist must lie about his sins or lower the bar of justice. The Christian need do neither. That truth is an acid test as to whether one is secretly a moralist. When you sin (not if but when) do you say to yourself, “Uh oh, I’m out of favor with God now”? If so, you are a moralist and you need to repent of your unbelief. Jesus did not die to make it possible for you to be right with God so long as you are sufficiently sanctified. I don’t care what the Top Men are telling you about how sanctified you must be in order to be “finally justified“—as if there was such a thing as being provisionally justified. The gospel tops the top men. The gospel is that by God’s free favor alone (sola gratia), Christ’s perfect righteousness (his condign merit) has been imputed to us and we receive and rest in and lean upon Christ for our righteousness. Our standing with God is not like the stock market. It does not rise and fall with our actual, gradual sanctification, which itself is a gospel mystery. The Spirit is at work in us, sanctifying us but you don’t know where he comes from nor where he goes. You cannot measure his work and when you do you will not estimate it correctly. Ours is, by his grace and Spirit, to continue to die to sin and live to Christ. Ours is to trust that his promises are true: “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 5:1). Scripture does not say, “Since we have begun to be justified” nor does it say “since your justification has been inaugurated.” It says “we have been justified….”

Our defense is Paul’s “but God:”

  • “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8).
  • “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise…” (1 Cor 1:27).
  • “For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.” (Gal 3:18).
  • “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us…” (Eph 2:4).

So your conscience will continue to testify against you all your life. That’s just the way it is. If your conscience does not so testify then you are an unbeliever or confused. The believer says to himself, “Yes, conscience that is all very true but something else is true. God the Son has accomplished all righteousness for me and that is enough, so be quiet.”

The Real Basis of Our Standing Before God

The answer to our conscience is not found in our subjective experience. It lies only in the objective truth of the gospel, the Good News, that Christ has accomplished something for me, outside of me. This is so because our problem, though intimately related to what is within us (sin and death) is ultimately outside of us: God’s holy justice and wrath. In other words, our greatest problem is not the misery and suffering that sin brings but rather our greatest problem is the judgment that sin brings.

In the garden God said: “the day you eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall surely die” (Gen 2:17). The Hebrew text says literally “to die [the] death” (‏מ֥וֹת תָּמֽוּת). It is the same language used by the serpent in Genesis 3:4 when he contradicted our Lord: “You shall not surely die [the] death.” This and similar expressions (Gen 20:7; 26:11; Exodus 19:12; 21:12, 15  occur elsewhere to signal the certainty of punishment. This penalty was not a mere or hypothetical possibility but an inevitability.

In Galatians 3:10, the Apostle Paul quotes Deuteronomy 27:26:

Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

This is why it is so important that the gospel says to us: “of mere grace, grants and imputes to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ …”  When, in Ephesians 2:8, Scripture says “For by grace you have been saved through faith” grace signifies divine favor toward sinners merited for us by Christ. It’s important that we do not think that grace is a substance or a medicine with which we are infused toward sanctification/justification. That’s the medieval and Romanist scheme but it is not taught by Scripture, which consistently speaks of grace not as an uncreated (God) or created (grace) substance.

Rome teaches that we are justified because and to the degree we are sanctified and we are sanctified (and therefore justified) by the infusion of medicinal grace of “charity poured forth into our hearts.” It was premised on a misinterpretation of Romans 5:5 “because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” It is a misinterpretation because God’s Word says in Romans 5:1 “Therefore, since we have been justified (Δικαιωθέντες) by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” The word that we translate as “having been justified” is a passive participle signaling something that has been done for us. In contrast, the medieval/Romanist view says that justification is sanctification which is something being presently wrought in us by grace and cooperation with grace. The tense of the participle, in this context, signals that justification is something that has already been completed. We are justified now. Rome says that we were initially justified in our baptism, we lost that and we may be justified in future, if we are sufficiently sanctified. There is no way to reconcile the medieval/Romanist view with Paul’s view. The medieval/Romanist view rests on assumptions that Paul did not share, namely that God can only say of us “justified” if we are intrinsically, actually, personally righteous (i.e., fully sanctified). Scripture does not teach this. We know that believers are already justified by faith (ἐκ πίστεως) because we have peace with God. As they say, “no justice, no peace.” That’s true. God is not at peace with those who are not righteous. We have peace because, by God’s favor alone merited for us by Christ, through faith alone, we are righteous. The Spirit has been poured on us, charity has been poured forth into us believers, because we are just before God not in order to be just.

It’s not as if the “poured” metaphor is unimportant. Our Lord Jesus said, “for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matt 26:28). God the Son did not become incarnate in order to make it possible for us to cooperate sufficiently with grace unto justification but in order to fulfill all righteousness for us. This is why the Protestant Reformers insisted so vigorously on the expression “for us.”

Where the medieval/Romanist doctrine says that we are finally justified because and only to the degree we finally sanctified, Scripture says that the basis of our justification before God is the righteousness Christ accomplished for us, which is credited to us. Paul uses this verb in Romans 5:13: “sin is not counted (ἐλλογεῖται) where there is no law” (ESV). Paul says to Philemon (v. 18) “charge (ἐλλόγα) that to my account.” In Romans 4:7–8 Paul quotes Psalm 32:1–2 (31:1–2 in the LXX)

Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count (λογίσηται) his sin (ESV).

Sinners whose sins (lawless deeds) are forgiven, whose sins are covered are blessed. The second clause explains the first. Forgiveness and covering of sins are logically related. Those who sins are not covered, are not forgiven. It’s not that the sins are not actually present but that they are covered. The next sentence explains the first: the basis of forgiveness is reckoning, counting, or imputing. The verb Paul uses, following the Greek translation of Psalm 32 is in the same family as the other verb we’ve already noticed.1

Paul was explaining Genesis 15:6: “Abraham believed God and it was imputed (חָשַׁב) to him for righteousness.” He says,

Now to the one who works, his wages are not imputed (λογίζεται) as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is imputed (λογίζεται) as righteousness.

Abraham was not justified because he was sanctified nor because he cooperated sufficiently with grace. He was justified through faith alone, by which gift he trusted in the Savior to come, Jesus. Abraham is the pattern for New Covenant believers because, in the words of Jesus, “Abraham saw my day and rejoiced” (John 8:56). Abraham had true faith. Christ’s righteousness for him was imputed to him and that righteousness was received through faith. Christ’s righteousness was imputed to him (Rom 4:9) before he was circumcised, before even had opportunity to cooperate with grace. His sanctification was a grace that was a consequence of the grace of justification whereby God declared him to be righteous even before he had done good works (Belgic Confession art. 24; Westminster Shorter Catechism 33). In his explanation of Genesis 15:6, this same verse, in Galatians 3:7, Paul adds it is those who are “of faith” (in contrast to works) who are Abraham’s sons. His circumcision was a seal of the righteousness that had already been imputed to him (Rom 4:11). Paul says that the story of Abraham’s justification sola gratia, sola fide is recorded for our sakes, so that we will have confidence that we too, who have believed in Christ, are also now already justified, that Christ’s perfect, whole obedience has been credited to us (Rom 4:22). Because we are now justified on the basis of Christ’s righteousness imputed our sins, with which we struggle all through this life, are not being imputed (λογιζόμενος) to us (2 Cor 5:19).

The English verbs impute, credit, and charge are, of course, a commercial terms. It’s a banking term. We use “credit cards” in which merchants treat us as if we have money that we may or may not have. It’s also a legal term. When we are declared righteous in court it is not because there is no sin in us but that our sins are not imputed to us before the law. We are regarded as if we have fulfilled the law and as if we have not transgressed it.

Remember, this is not as the Romanist critics and apologists say, a legal fiction. It is not our half-hearted, broken, decrepit “righteousness” (e.g., cooperation with grace) that is being credited to us. That would be a “fictive” doctrine of justification or a legal fiction as they say. No, that is the Roman doctrine of congruent merit. Rather, we say that Christ’s perfect, whole, complete, active and suffering (passive) righteousness is credit to us. The righteousness that is credited to us is intrinsically worthy. It has condign merit. So we reject the medieval/Roman doctrine that believers have, by grace and cooperation with grace, condign merit and we reject the doctrine of congruent merit in justification (Heidelberg Catechism 60) but we do not reject every notion of merit altogether. The idea that the Reformed reject every doctrine of merit is contrary to what we confess where we repeatedly contrast our lack of condign or congruent merit with the reality and presence of Christ’s condign merit for us. Herman Witsius wrote,

But if this righteousness had not been sacred and inviolable, Christ would have been under no necessity to submit to the covenant of the law, in order to merit eternal life for his people. This therefore is evident, that there ought to be a merit of perfect obedience on which a right to eternal life may be founded. Nor is it material whether that perfect obedience be performed by man himself, or by his surety.

The basis of our standing with God is not within us but it is real and it is outside of us, it is objective. It is Christ’s. He has satisfied God’s righteous law and endured his holy and just wrath for us. In justification, when God looks at us, he does not see our sins. He sees only Christ’s perfect righteousness for us. That is why believers are not under a covenant of works but under a covenant of grace.

Christ’s Real and Perfect Righteousness Does Not Belong Properly To Us Yet We Lay Hold Of It

Christ’s righteousness. It is proper to him, it belongs by nature to him. He earned it. He condignly merited it. He deserved it. He was inherently, intrinsically righteous. By nature, all that Christ is and did is alien to us. This is why the Protestants in the 16th century spoke of Christ’s “alien righteousness” (iustitia aliena).  Nevertheless, only by God’s free grace, by his favor, all that Christ did, all of his righteousness, all of his condign merit, all of his perfect, whole, active and suffering (passive) obedience is credited or imputed or reckoned to us. Thus, when God looks at us, with respect to justification, he does not see our sin. He sees only Christ’s perfect righteousness. Sometimes it is said that justification means that it is as if I had never sinned but that is only half the story. Not only are all our sins forgiven but we are made positively righteous before God. It is as if we ourselves had done all that Christ has done for us.

How do we lay hold of Christ’s righteousness? How does it become ours? How do we come into possession of that righteousness by which we can stand before God not only forgiven but actively righteous as perfect law keepers?

…yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified (Gal 2:16; ESV)

Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” 12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” (Gal 3:11–12; ESV)

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith,as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Rom 1:17; ESV)

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. (Rom 3:21–27; ESV)

And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness (Rom 4:5; ESV)

That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all….(Rom 4:16; ESV)

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Rom 5;1; ESV)

Did you notice a theme emerging in these verses? In every case what was the instrumentby which we are said to lay hold of Christ’s righteousness or by which we are justified? Faith. That’s the significance of the Latin phrase sola fide. It’s an instrumental phrase. That’s why we should not speak of “faith alone” (sola fides) “by faith alone” or “through faith alone.” Faith is the sole instrument of our justification. It’s the sole means by which we lay hold of what Christ has done. Paul repeatedly and explicitly excluded anything done by us (works) or even anything wrought in us by God’s grace (sanctification). Rome agrees that we are justified by grace and faith but she omits the “alone.” This is why Luther added “allein” (alone) to his German translation of Galatians 3:28. This is why Calvin insisted that when we’re discussing our justification that we do not mention works at all and that we adhere resolutely to the “exclusive particle.” By grace alone God grants and imputes to us Christ’s righteousness. There is nothing in us, not even that which is worked by grace, that is a cause for his grace. The cause is in himself. Faith is the unique and only instrument by which we apprehend Christ and his righteousness, the only instrument through which we receive what Christ has done for us (pro nobis).

Look at those passages closely in their context. In none of them is faith considered to be, in itself, a powerful, Spirit-wrought virtue that sanctifies us unto justification. Rome sees and teaches that because she knows before she ever gets to Scripture that God can only say what he does (“justified”) if, in fact, inherently, we are already righteous by grace and cooperation with grace. This is why she re-defines “works” to mean obedience to the ceremonial laws. Does that sound familiar? It should. That’s also the view of many ostensibly “evangelical” and even some ostensibly “Reformed” folk. That’s not what the evangelical and Reformed faith confesses however. Scripture teaches repeatedly, clearly, unequivocally that all our works, all our doing, all our obedience is excluded from the ground and the instrument of our justification. That is why we confess in Belgic Confession art. 24 that we are justified “even before we do good works.”

That is why we confess, “if only I accept such benefit with a believing heart.” We cannot earn God’s favor. Stop trying. Christ has earned God’s favor for all his people. Confess your sins and sinfulness and put your trust in Christ and his finished work. That’s why Jesus said, “It is finished,” because it is. Every time you try to earn favor with God and refuse to put your trust solely in Christ and in his finished work you insult him by suggesting that Christ’s work for us is not sufficient. It is. How are sinners justified before God? Only by true faith. Our conscience may say what it will. The law of God convicts us. Satan may whisper that we have not done enough but we have a short reply: it is finished. To that we may only add “It is mine by faith alone. Go away.”

Above we considered briefly the significance of beginning the answer with the words, “only by true faith.” This expression intentionally evokes Heidelberg Catechism 21, which we have already considered extensively. Rome has us saved by grace and cooperation with grace, through the formation of saving virtue formed in us by grace and cooperation with grace. The gospel message is that we are justified and saved not by anything done by us or in us but by grace alone, through faith alone and that faith is an outward-looking knowledge, assent, and confidence in Christ and his finished work. These are two very different conceptions of justification and salvation.

The question is how are right with God. Righteousness is necessary a legal category. It is fashionable in some circles to dismiss the question as if it were irrelevant to our age or as if we have matured beyond it or as if it were a parochial question (e.g., Western as distinct from Eastern). Let me ask you a question. Let’s say you go on vacation only to find upon your return that some folks have moved into your house, changed the locks, and claimed your house as their new home. What do you think about justice now? You paid the mortgage. You fixed the plumbing. You mowed the lawn but now it’s their house? “That’s not right!” That’s not what, you say? We might like to tell ourselves that righteousness is passé or parochial, in truth, it is unavoidable. In the nature of human existence the question of righteousness is unavoidable. We shall always have laws and where there are laws there is either righteousness (conformity to the law) or unrighteousness (transgression of the law). Laws are for sinners:

understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners (1 Tim 1:9; ESV)

Adam was created in righteousness and true holiness with the intent that he would know God rightly, love, and, after passing the probation, enter into eternal blessedness with him (Heidelberg Catechism 6). After the fall we are all under the law (Rom 7) for righteousness and the law is good and holy (Rom 7:7–12). The law promises life to all who obey but because our fall, we are unable to obey. In Adam we are all, by nature, sinners (Rom 5:12–21). As Paul says, after the fall, the law remains good, holy, and righteous but we do not. The demands of the law do not end simply because we are now, by nature, unable and unwilling to fulfill them perfectly. It says:

Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the book of the law. Deut 27:26; Gal 3:10)

God’s law does not say to lawbreakers, “Good try but not quite. Try again.” It says “cursed.” That’s not a good state in which to be. According to Deuteronomy 28:20, cursedness manifests in frustration. It leads to destruction. Deuteronomy 29:20 says that one who is under a curse is not forgiven. He is under Yahweh’s anger, as it were, i.e., his holy wrath. Yahweh’s zeal for his own holiness “will smoke against that man” and his cursedness will result in his name being blotted out from under heaven. Our Lord Jesus said that to be cursed is to be eternally condemned:

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt 25:41; ESV)

When he cursed the fig tree (Mark 11:21) it withered and died. Clearly being cursed or accursed is a truly miserable state. A reasonable person would do all he could to avoid it. Tragically, the effects of sin are that we are, by nature, blind to own state. Paul says that we’re “dead in sins and trespasses” (Eph 2:1–4) and we don’t even realize it.

So we need righteousness. Because of our own condition we can only get this righteousness by faith. We cannot undo what we, in Adam, did. We cannot undo what we have each down individually, actually. You and I cannot make expiation (make payment for sin) or propitiation (to turn away God’s wrath) because whatever we do, we do as sinners. All our affections, our thinking, and our willing is corrupted by sin. Everything we touch is corrupted by sin. To paraphrase Cornelius Van Til, we are like man of sin, in a sea of sin, trying to climb a ladder of sin. It’s utterly futile. We’re toast.

This is why the gospel is such good news. The gospel is that Christ “became a curse” for us who believe:

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”(Gal 3:13; ESV)

This brings us back to part 1 of this series. This is why faith is the “sole instrument” of our justification (Belgic Confession art. 22). This is why we confess in Belgic Confession art. 24 against all moralists (e.g., Rome, the Federal Vision, Norman Shepherd, the New Perspective and all their minions) that we are justified “even before we do good works.”

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Eph 2:8–9)

It’s not by medicinal, substantial grace and our free cooperation with that grace we are justified and saved but it is by God’s favor merited for us by Christ, who was born without sin, who obeyed God’s holy, righteous law for us, and who, by his powerful Holy Spirit raises dead sinners to life, gives them true faith, and through that true faith unites them to Christ.

There is no question whether there is cursedness and righteousness. There is no question whether we are, by nature, under a curse or whether we need Christ’s righteousness. Praise God that his righteousness earned for us is given to us freely, by God’s free favor.

Why We Must Say “Simul Iustus Et Peccator.”

Above we considered what it means to ask the question “how are you right before God?” In order to understand the teaching of the catechism on justification we must remember that it is explaining to believers how justification works and what it means for our assurance and our spiritual life. This is why it turns almost immediately to a highly realistic account of the believer’s struggle with sin. The background to this way of thinking and speaking is the Pauline, Augustine’s, and Reformed doctrine of man (anthropology). Calvin’s reading of Roman’s 7 is echoing in the background.

“For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate (Rom 7:15; ESV)

For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (Rom 7:22–24; ESV)

We are not perfectionists. Believers continue to struggle with sin. Why bring up this reality under justification? First, because it is the experience of every Christian. It’s important to put that experience into its biblical framework lest believers despair and give up. We have always had strains of perfectionism (i.e., the doctrine that believers can, if they will, attain to entire sanctification or perfect sanctification in this life) in the church but it’s been particularly strong since the 18th century and so much so that it has affected the way Reformed people talk and think about sanctification. The Heidelberg Catechism is not perfectionist. The Reformed faith is not perfectionist. We confess that my conscience accuses me

that I have grievously sinned against all the commandments of God, and have never kept any of them, and am still prone always to all evil

and the assumption of the catechism is that accusation is essentially accurate. Our conscience does not lie when it says that believers remain, in themselves, terrible sinners. We captured this reality, this truth in our slogan “simul iustus et peccator(simultaneously just and sinner). The perfectionist wants to say simultaneously just and completely sanctified.

Second, because the moralist (Romanist, Federal Visionist, et al) cannot say “simul iustus et peccator.” For the moralist may only justify us when we are intrinsically, actually righteous. That means, of course, either that the moralist must lie about his sins or lower the bar of justice. The Christian need do neither. That truth is an acid test as to whether one is secretly a moralist. When you sin (not if but when) do you say to yourself, “Uh oh, I’m out of favor with God now”? If so, you are a moralist and you need to repent of your unbelief. Jesus did not die to make it possible for you to be right with God so long as you are sufficiently sanctified. I don’t care what the Top Men are telling you about how sanctified you must be in order to be “finally justified“—as if there was such a thing as being provisionally justified. The gospel tops the top men. The gospel is that by God’s free favor alone (sola gratia), Christ’s perfect righteousness (his condign merit) has been imputed to us and we receive and rest in and lean upon Christ for our righteousness. Our standing with God is not like the stock market. It does not rise and fall with our actual, gradual sanctification, which itself is a gospel mystery. The Spirit is at work in us, sanctifying us but you don’t know where he comes from nor where he goes. You cannot measure his work and when you do you will not estimate it correctly. Ours is, by his grace and Spirit, to continue to die to sin and live to Christ. Ours is to trust that his promises are true: “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 5:1). Scripture does not say, “Since we have begun to be justified” nor does it say “since your justification has been inaugurated.” It says “we have been justified….”

Our defense is Paul’s “but God:”

  • “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8).
  • “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise…” (1 Cor 1:27).
  • “For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.” (Gal 3:18).
  • “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us…” (Eph 2:4).

So your conscience will continue to testify against you all your life. That’s just the way it is. If your conscience does not so testify then you are an unbeliever or confused. The believer says to himself, “Yes, conscience that is all very true but something else is true. God the Son has accomplished all righteousness for me and that is enough, so be quiet.”

Perfect Righteousness Imputed

The answer to our conscience is not found in our subjective experience. It lies only in the objective truth of the gospel, the Good News, that Christ has accomplished something for me, outside of me. This is so because our problem, though intimately related to what is within us (sin and death) is ultimately outside of us: God’s holy justice and wrath. In other words, our greatest problem is not the misery and suffering that sin brings but rather our greatest problem is the judgment that sin brings.

In the garden God said: “the day you eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall surely die” (Gen 2:17). The Hebrew text says literally “to die [the] death” (‏מ֥וֹת תָּמֽוּת). It is the same language used by the serpent in Genesis 3:4 when he contradicted our Lord: “You shall not surely die [the] death.” This and similar expressions (Gen 20:7; 26:11; Exodus 19:12; 21:12, 15  occur elsewhere to signal the certainty of punishment. This penalty was not a mere or hypothetical possibility but an inevitability.

In Galatians 3:10, the Apostle Paul quotes Deuteronomy 27:26:

Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

This is why it is so important that the gospel says to us: “of mere grace, grants and imputes to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ …”  When, in Ephesians 2:8, Scripture says “For by grace you have been saved through faith” grace signifies divine favor toward sinners merited for us by Christ. It’s important that we do not think that grace is a substance or a medicine with which we are infused toward sanctification/justification. That’s the medieval and Romanist scheme but it is not taught by Scripture, which consistently speaks of grace not as an uncreated (God) or created (grace) substance.

Rome teaches that we are justified because and to the degree we are sanctified and we are sanctified (and therefore justified) by the infusion of medicinal grace of “charity poured forth into our hearts.” It was premised on a misinterpretation of Romans 5:5“because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” It is a misinterpretation because God’s Word says in Romans 5:1“Therefore, since we have been justified (Δικαιωθέντες) by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” The word that we translate as “having been justified” is a passive participle signaling something that has been done for us. In contrast, the medieval/Romanist view says that justification is sanctification which is something being presently wrought in us by grace and cooperation with grace. The tense of the participle, in this context, signals that justification is something that has already been completed. We are justified now. Rome says that we were initially justified in our baptism, we lost that and we may be justified in future, if we are sufficiently sanctified. There is no way to reconcile the medieval/Romanist view with Paul’s view. The medieval/Romanist view rests on assumptions that Paul did not share, namely that God can only say of us “justified” if we are intrinsically, actually, personally righteous (i.e., fully sanctified). Scripture does not teach this. We know that believers are already justified by faith (ἐκ πίστεως) because we have peace with God. As they say, “no justice, no peace.” That’s true. God is not at peace with those who are not righteous. We have peace because, by God’s favor alone merited for us by Christ, through faith alone, we are righteous. The Spirit has been poured on us, charity has been poured forth into us believers, because we are just before God not in order to be just.

It’s not as if the “poured” metaphor is unimportant. Our Lord Jesus said, “for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matt 26:28). God the Son did not become incarnate in order to make it possible for us to cooperate sufficiently with grace unto justification but in order to fulfill all righteousness for us. This is why the Protestant Reformers insisted so vigorously on the expression “for us.”

Where the medieval/Romanist doctrine says that we are finally justified because and only to the degree we finally sanctified, Scripture says that the basis of our justification before God is the righteousness Christ accomplished for us, which is credited to us. Paul uses this verb in Romans 5:13: “sin is not counted (ἐλλογεῖται) where there is no law” (ESV). Paul says to Philemon (v. 18) “charge (ἐλλόγα) that to my account.” In Romans 4:7–8 Paul quotes Psalm 32:1–2 (31:1–2 in the LXX)

Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count (λογίσηται) his sin (ESV).

Sinners whose sins (lawless deeds) are forgiven, whose sins are covered are blessed. The second clause explains the first. Forgiveness and covering of sins are logically related. Those who sins are not covered, are not forgiven. It’s not that the sins are not actually present but that they are covered. The next sentence explains the first: the basis of forgiveness is reckoning, counting, or imputing. The verb Paul uses, following the Greek translation of Psalm 32 is in the same family as the other verb we’ve already noticed.2

Paul was explaining Genesis 15:6: “Abraham believed God and it was imputed (חָשַׁב) to him for righteousness.” He says,

Now to the one who works, his wages are not imputed (λογίζεται) as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is imputed (λογίζεται) as righteousness.

Abraham was not justified because he was sanctified nor because he cooperated sufficiently with grace. He was justified through faith alone, by which gift he trusted in the Savior to come, Jesus. Abraham is the pattern for New Covenant believers because, in the words of Jesus, “Abraham saw my day and rejoiced” (John 8:56). Abraham had true faith. Christ’s righteousness for him was imputed to him and that righteousness was received through faith. Christ’s righteousness was imputed to him (Rom 4:9) before he was circumcised, before even had opportunity to cooperate with grace. His sanctification was a grace that was a consequence of the grace of justification whereby God declared him to be righteous even before he had done good works (Belgic Confession art. 24; Westminster Shorter Catechism 33). In his explanation of Genesis 15:6, this same verse, in Galatians 3:7, Paul adds it is those who are “of faith” (in contrast to works) who are Abraham’s sons. His circumcision was a seal of the righteousness that had already been imputed to him (Rom 4:11). Paul says that the story of Abraham’s justification sola gratia, sola fide is recorded for our sakes, so that we will have confidence that we too, who have believed in Christ, are also now already justified, that Christ’s perfect, whole obedience has been credited to us (Rom 4:22). Because we are now justified on the basis of Christ’s righteousness imputed our sins, with which we struggle all through this life, are not being imputed (λογιζόμενος) to us (2 Cor 5:19).

The English verbs impute, credit, and charge are, of course, a commercial terms. It’s a banking term. We use “credit cards” in which merchants treat us as if we have money that we may or may not have. It’s also a legal term. When we are declared righteous in court it is not because there is no sin in us but that our sins are not imputed to us before the law. We are regarded as if we have fulfilled the law and as if we have not transgressed it.

Remember, this is not as the Romanist critics and apologists say, a legal fiction. It is not our half-hearted, broken, decrepit “righteousness” (e.g., cooperation with grace) that is being credited to us. That would be a “fictive” doctrine of justification or a legal fiction as they say. No, that is the Roman doctrine of congruent merit. Rather, we say that Christ’s perfect, whole, complete, active and suffering (passive) righteousness is credit to us. The righteousness that is credited to us is intrinsically worthy. It has condign merit. So we reject the medieval/Roman doctrine that believers have, by grace and cooperation with grace, condign merit and we reject the doctrine of congruent merit in justification (Heidelberg Catechism 60) but we do not reject every notion of merit altogether. The idea that the Reformed reject every doctrine of merit is contrary to what we confess where we repeatedly contrast our lack of condign or congruent merit with the reality and presence of Christ’s condign merit for us. Herman Witsius wrote,

But if this righteousness had not been sacred and inviolable, Christ would have been under no necessity to submit to the covenant of the law, in order to merit eternal life for his people. This therefore is evident, that there ought to be a merit of perfect obedience on which a right to eternal life may be founded. Nor is it material whether that perfect obedience be performed by man himself, or by his surety.

The basis of our standing with God is not within us but it is real and it is outside of us, it is objective. It is Christ’s. He has satisfied God’s righteous law and endured his holy and just wrath for us. In justification, when God looks at us, he does not see our sins. He sees only Christ’s perfect righteousness for us. That is why believers are not under a covenant of works but under a covenant of grace. Christ’s real and perfect righteousness does not belong properly to us and yet we must lay hold of it.

By Faith Alone

Scripture teaches and thus what we confess that our justification relies upon the imputation of Christ’s righteousness. It is proper to him, it belongs by nature to him. He earned it. He condignly merited it. He deserved it. He was inherently, intrinsically righteous. By nature, all that Christ is and did is alien to us. This is why the Protestants in the 16th century spoke of Christ’s “alien righteousness” (iustitia aliena).  Nevertheless, only by God’s free grace, by his favor, all that Christ did, all of his righteousness, all of his condign merit, all of his perfect, whole, active and suffering (passive) obedience is credited or imputed or reckoned to us. Thus, when God looks at us, with respect to justification, he does not see our sin. He sees only Christ’s perfect righteousness. Sometimes it is said that justification means that it is as if I had never sinned but that is only half the story. Not only are all our sins forgiven but we are made positively righteous before God. It is as if we ourselves had done all that Christ has done for us.

How do we lay hold of Christ’s righteousness? How does it become ours? How do we come into possession of that righteousness by which we can stand before God not only forgiven but actively righteous as perfect law keepers?

…yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified (Gal 2:16; ESV)

Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” 12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” (Gal 3:11–12; ESV)

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith,as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Rom 1:17; ESV)

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. (Rom 3:21–27; ESV)

And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness (Rom 4:5; ESV)

That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all….(Rom 4:16; ESV)

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Rom 5;1; ESV)

Did you notice a theme emerging in these verses? In every case what was the instrumentby which we are said to lay hold of Christ’s righteousness or by which we are justified? Faith. That’s the significance of the Latin phrase sola fide. It’s an instrumental phrase. That’s why we should not speak of “faith alone” (sola fides) “by faith alone” or “through faith alone.” Faith is the sole instrument of our justification. It’s the sole means by which we lay hold of what Christ has done. Paul repeatedly and explicitly excluded anything done by us (works) or even anything wrought in us by God’s grace (sanctification). Rome agrees that we are justified by grace and faith but she omits the “alone.” This is why Luther added “allein” (alone) to his German translation of Galatians 3:28. This is why Calvin insisted that when we’re discussing our justification that we do not mention works at all and that we adhere resolutely to the “exclusive particle.” By grace alone God grants and imputes to us Christ’s righteousness. There is nothing in us, not even that which is worked by grace, that is a cause for his grace. The cause is in himself. Faith is the unique and only instrument by which we apprehend Christ and his righteousness, the only instrument through which we receive what Christ has done for us (pro nobis).

Look at those passages closely in their context. In none of them is faith considered to be, in itself, a powerful, Spirit-wrought virtue that sanctifies us unto justification. Rome sees and teaches that because she knows before she ever gets to Scripture that God can only say what he does (“justified”) if, in fact, inherently, we are already righteous by grace and cooperation with grace. This is why she re-defines “works” to mean obedience to the ceremonial laws. Does that sound familiar? It should. That’s also the view of many ostensibly “evangelical” and even some ostensibly “Reformed” folk. That’s not what the evangelical and Reformed faith confesses however. Scripture teaches repeatedly, clearly, unequivocally that all our works, all our doing, all our obedience is excluded from the ground and the instrument of our justification. That is why we confess in Belgic Confession art. 24 that we are justified “even before we do good works.”

That is why we confess, “if only I accept such benefit with a believing heart.” We cannot earn God’s favor. Stop trying. Christ has earned God’s favor for all his people. Confess your sins and sinfulness and put your trust in Christ and his finished work. That’s why Jesus said, “It is finished,” because it is. Every time you try to earn favor with God and refuse to put your trust solely in Christ and in his finished work you insult him by suggesting that Christ’s work for us is not sufficient. It is. How are sinners justified before God? Only by true faith. Our conscience may say what it will. The law of God convicts us. Satan may whisper that we have not done enough but we have a short reply: it is finished. To that we may only add “It is mine by faith alone. Go away.”

NOTES

1. Paul omits the last sentence of Ps 32:2, “and in whose spirit there is no deceit.”

2. Paul omits the last sentence of Ps 32:2, “and in whose spirit there is no deceit.”

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2 comments

  1. Richard Gaffin, p 102, By Faith Not by Sight,–“This expression obedience of faith is best taken as intentionally multivalent…In other words, faith itself is an obedience, as well as other acts of obedience that stem from faith.”

    Gaffin: “Typically in the Reformation tradition the hope of salvation is expressed in terms of Christ’s righteousness, especially as imputed to the believer…however, I have to wonder if ‘Christ in you’ is not more prominent as an expression of evangelical hope…” p 110

    Gaffin—When the prepositional phrase “without works” is taken adverbially, that is, as modifying the verb “justifies,” then the statement “faith without works justifies,” is true. When “without works” is taken adjectivally, that is, with the noun “faith,” that is, “without-works faith,” then the same statement is false.

  2. To shift from faith alone is to shift to “ongoing not yet justification”. We can see this in Doug Moo’s recent shift in theology.

    “Justification in Galatians”, p 172, Moo’s essay in the Carson f (Understanding the Times)—Nor is there any need to set Paul’s “juridicial” and “participationist” categories in opposition to one another (see Gaffin, By Faith Not By Sight, p 35-41). The problem of positing a union with Christ that precedes the erasure of our legal condemnation before God ( making justification the product of union with Christ) CAN BE ANSWERED IF WE POSIT, WITHIN THE SINGLE WORK OF CHRIST, TWO STAGES OF “JUSTIFICATION”, one involving Christ’s payment of our legal debt–the basis for our regeneration–and second our actual justification-stemming from our union with Christ.”

    my comment on Moo’s solution, which I very much disapprove—-: Confessionals folks don’t have to deny election or legal atonement or legal imputation, and yet in the end the “unionists” make “actual justification” the result of “faith-union”. And when they still put faith first (and not God’s imputation of Christ’s death) in the “real justification”, more and more attention shifts to the nature of our faith as being “active” and virtuous” and etc. They start by saying there is no order of application and then turn around and make faith first in the order of application and then end up agreeing with Osiander that the indwelling work of the Holy Spirit is the righteousness by which we are justified.

    “Luther does not think of alien righteousness as received all at once. He says that the righteousness of Christ is given in baptism as well as anytime a person is truly repentant Luther– “Christ daily drives out the old Adam more and more in accordance with the extent to which faith and knowledge of Christ grow. For alien righteousness is not instilled all at once, but it begins, makes progress, and is finally perfected at the end through death “Two Kinds of Righteousness,” (LW 31: 299)

    http://www.phc.edu/UserFiles/File/_Other%20Projects/Global%20Journal/9-3/%27Kelley%20Luther%20rev%20justification%20vol%209%20no%203.pdf

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