Many modern
evangelicals make no distinction between the various aspects of salvation
revealed and expounded in Scripture. Regeneration, justification,
sanctification (both positional and progressive), and glorification are all
summarized in modern Churchianity by the imprecise but not untrue declaration,
“I got saved.” But there is a difference between these elements, though they
are all part of the experience of salvation in Christ.
Justification is
the legal declaration of a believer’s pardon by God. God justifies sinners when
he declares their sins to be forgiven on the basis of the sacrifice of His Son
(Rom. 3:21-26). Justification is possible because of the Great Exchange in
which Christ became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God
in Him (2Cor. 5:21). Justification is accomplished on the basis of God’s grace
and received through faith alone (Rom. 3:28; 4:1-8). There is no work of
obedience or personal merit man can contribute to his justification. We are
justified by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, not by works, or we are not
justified at all (Eph. 2:8-9).
John Calvin
wrote, “The doctrine of Justification…is the principal ground on which religion
must be supported.” (Institutes III.11.1)
The Reformers understood the church could never be right if it got the doctrine
of justification wrong. This is because everything in our faith and ministry
flows from our understanding of justification. Do we obey in order to be saved,
or because we are saved? Can man innovate in the design and function of God’s
Church, or must we accept the design and function assigned by our Savior? Must
there be complete uniformity of thought even on secondary issues, or can
liberty of conscience be allowed to fellow believers? These are questions the
doctrine of justification helps us answer correctly.
There continues
to be much confusion and abuse of the doctrine of justification by faith alone
today. There are those who use it as a license for sin (cf. Rom. 6:1, 15), and
others who deny it because they assume it must inevitably lead to such. But the
doctrine remains a crucial truth for Christ’s Church. It is a doctrine we must
carefully study in order to consistently and biblically affirm. -JME
