Therefore, whoever is justified is still a sinner; and yet he is considered fully and perfectly righteous by God who pardons and is merciful. Martin Luther | The Disputation Concerning Justification (1536) | Luther’s Works, 34:152–53 (HT: Inwoo Lee) Resources How To . . . Continue reading →
Justification
Luther: Before The Fall We Had No Need Of Christ
Before the Fall, Adam did not need Christ, for he was righteous by his own nature, through the law of perfect nature he loved the law. But after the Fall all need Christ. Martin Luther | The Disputation Concerning Justification (October, 1536) . . . Continue reading →
Yes, A Pope Will Occasionally Speak About Justification By Grace And Faith
The Bishop of Rome apparently made noises about justification by grace through faith and some evangelicals are excited as if this marks a change in Roman doctrine or in the bishop’s thinking. It does not. Continue reading
In By Grace, Stay In By Works Is Not Good News
God’s verdict of not guilty and his imputing of his own righteousness to us at the beginning of the Christian life is by faith alone… that’s how we get started. James is answering the question ‘does the ongoing and final reckoning of . . . Continue reading →
Olevianus: Good Works Contribute Nothing To Our Justification But They Do Have Three Purposes
170 Q. You are not saying, then, that good works are useless? Continue reading →
Romans 6:14, 7:14, And 8:14 Are All True Of The Christian At The Same Time: Simul Iustus, Et Peccator
Bob Godfrey preached from Romans 6 recently and his message inspired me to look again at the relationship between chapters 6, 7, and 8.
Perkins: The Remedy For Our Need Is To Be Clothed With Christ
For the King of heaven has long invited us to the marriage of His Son. We have yielded ourselves to be His guests. And there is a time when the King will take a survey of all His guests, whether they have . . . Continue reading →
Sproul: A Justified Person Is Always A Changed Person But That Change Is No Part Of The Ground Of Justification
A justified person is always a changed person. A justified person differs from an unjustified person in critical ways. A justified person is a believing person; an unjustified person is an unbelieving person. A justified person is a regenerated person; an unjustified . . . Continue reading →
Federal Theology Is Good News For Sinners
Paul calls Christ the “last” Adam (1 Cor 15:45). So, we know that there was a definite link between the two. In Romans 5:12–21 Paul intentionally wants us to think of Adam and Christ as fulfilling similar roles. Adam was the first . . . Continue reading →
Sproul: Christ Does Not Wait For Us To Become Holy Before He Declares Us Righteous
Justification stands at the beginning of the Christian life, at the moment we truly believe in Christ. At that instant, God reckons to us the righteousness of Christ, and we are declared just. Martin Luther expressed this concept with the phrase simul . . . Continue reading →
Christ Is The Firm Foundation For Your Assurance
I would fain leave every one of you upon a good bottom, built upon the rock, that ‘sure foundation,’ Isa. xxviii. 16, which will stand firm and steady in all winds and weather, having that anchor-hold which will abide under all storms. . . . Continue reading →
Culture Is Important But It Is Not The Most Important Thing
Culture is important but it is not the most important thing. Continue reading
Perkins: We Are Not Justified By Our Works Either Before Or After Our Justification
"Cooperation Is Not In The Act Of Justification, Nor In The Work Of Our Salvation"
“[I] answer, that not only works done before faith are excluded, but also works that follow faith and are done in the estate of grace. For Paul here reasons thus: If no flesh be justified by works, then not we believers; but . . . Continue reading →
Gouge: In The Order Of The Application Of Redemption Justification Precedes Sanctification
Justification in order goeth before sanctification…Sanctification presupposeth justification: they who are sanctified may rest upon it, that they are cleansed and justified. For sanctification is a fruit of justification…Admirable is the comfort, which the Saints in this world reap hereby. For their . . . Continue reading →
In The Law-Court Of God The Christian Is Accounted Righteous Only On The Ground Of Christ’s Righteousness Imputed
In the law-court of God, then, the justification of man as sinner is the judgment of God whereby He pronounces righteous the person who is unholy and of himself a sinner subject to God’s wrath. He does so out of his own . . . Continue reading →
Perkins: Your Good Works Are All Imperfect And Mixed With Corruption
The child of God is like a lame man that goes the right way, but yet halts at every step. Abraham and Sarah desire issue, that is from the Spirit; but they desire issue by Hagar their handmaid, that is from the . . . Continue reading →
William Perkins On Nicodemism
“First, among the Gentiles at Antioch, he uses Christian liberty in eating things forbidden by the ceremonial law. Yet after the coming of certain Jews from Jerusalem, he separates himself from the Gentiles and plays the Jew among the Jews. Like to . . . Continue reading →
Marshall: The Moralists Try To Put Us Back Under The Covenant Of Works Because They Do Not Understand The Gospel Mystery Of Sanctification
“[T]hat we must be reconciled to God, and justified by the remission of our sins, and imputation of righteousness, before any sincere obedience to the law; that we may be enabled for the practice of it. They account, that this doctrine tends . . . Continue reading →
Owen: In Order To Appreciate The Glory Of Christ’s Righteousness Imputed We Must First Know Our Sin
The deformity of soul which came upon us in the loss of the image of God, wherein beauty and harmony of all our faculties, in all their actings in order unto their utmost end, did consist; that enmity unto God, even in . . . Continue reading →
Cultural Transformation Is Not The Article Of The Standing Or Falling Of The Church (But Justification Is)
Within the last two weeks or so it has been asserted by some, in a letter to a congregation, that the doctrine of cultural transformation is a matter of Reformed orthodoxy and that anyone who dissents from what this letter describes as the “Kuyperian” tradition, which is a little over a century old, is “outside” of Reformed orthodoxy. Continue reading