John Calvin on justification - God's gracious pardon for sin and acceptance of our persons
and works as righteous through faith alone in Christ alone... both now and
at that Day:
Justification, moreover, we thus define: The sinner being admitted into communion with Christ is, for his sake, reconciled to God; when purged by his blood he obtains the remission of sins, and clothed with righteousness, just as if it were his own, stands secure before the judgment-seat of heaven. Forgiveness of sins being previously given, the good works which follow have a value different from their merit, because whatever is imperfect in them is covered by the perfection of Christ, and all their blemishes and pollutions are wiped away by his purity, so as never to come under the cognizance of the divine tribunal. The guilt of all transgressions, by which men are prevented from offering God an acceptable service, being thus effaced, and the imperfection which is wont to sully even good works being buried, the good works which are done by believers are deemed righteous, or; which is the same thing, are imputed for righteousness. (Institutes 3.17.8)
Accordingly, when the Scripture speaks of "a crown of righteousness which God the righteous Judge shall give" "at that day," (2 Timothy 4:8) I not only say with Augustine, "To whom could the righteous Judge give the crown if the merciful Father had not given grace, and how could there have been righteousness but for the precedence of grace which justified the ungodly? how could these be paid as things due were not things not due previously given?" (Angust. ad Valent. de Grat. et Lib. Art.;) but I also add, how could he impute righteousness to our works, did not his indulgence hide the unrighteousness that is in them? How could he deem them worthy of reward, did he not with boundless goodness destroy what is unworthy in them? Augustine is wont to give the name of grace to eternal life, because, while it is the recompense of works, it is bestowed by the gratuitous gifts of God. But Scripture humbles us more, and at the same time elevates us. For besides forbidding us to glory in works, because they are the gratuitous gifts of God, it tells us that they are always defiled by some degrees of impurity, so that they cannot satisfy God when they are tested by the standard of his justice; but that lest our activity should be destroyed, they please merely by pardon. But though Augustine speaks somewhat differently from us, it is plain from his words that the difference is more apparent than real. After drawing a contrast between two individuals the one with a life holy and perfect almost to a miracle; the other honest indeed, and of pure morals, yet not so perfect as not to leave much room for desiring better, he at length infers, "He who seems inferior in conduct, yet on account of the true faith in God by which he lives, (Habakkuk 2:4) and in conformity to which he accuses himself in all his faults, praises God in all his good works, takes shame to himself, and ascribes glory to God, from whom he receives both forgiveness for his sins, and the love of well-doing, the moment he is set free from this life is translated into the society of Christ. Why, but just on account of his faith? For though it saves no man without works, (such faith being reprobate and not working by love,) yet by means of it sins are forgiven; for the just lives by faith: without it works which seem good are converted into sins," (August. ad Bonifac., Lib. 3, c. 5.) Here he not obscurely acknowledges what we so strongly maintains that the righteousness of good works depends on their being approved by God in the way of pardon. (Institutes 3.18.5)
Great quote, Jack. If only Leithart & co. would have stuck with Calvin's faithful exposition of Scripture on this, instead of killing JBFA with formulations like, "Covenant faithfulness is the way of salvation,for the 'doers of the law' will be justified at the final judgment." Wise in their own eyes, I guess.
ReplyDeleteIt also sounds like the Westminster divines had their finger on this passage of the Institutes when they confessed in WCF 16:
"5. We cannot by our best works merit pardon of sin, or eternal life at the hand of God, by reason of the great disproportion that is between them and the glory to come; and the infinite distance that is between us and God, whom, by them, we can neither profit, nor satisfy for the debt of our former sins, but when we have done all we can, we have done but our duty, and are unprofitable servants: and because, as they are good, they proceed from his Spirit; and as they are wrought by us, they are defiled, and mixed with so much weakness and imperfection, that they cannot endure the severity of God's judgment.
"6. Notwithstanding, the persons of believers being accepted through Christ, their good works also are accepted in him; not as though they were in this life wholly unblamable and unreprovable in God's sight; but that he, looking upon them in his Son, is pleased to accept and reward that which is sincere, although accompanied with many weaknesses and imperfections."
Tony, yes I agree. I think 16.7 also informs:
ReplyDelete7. Works done by unregenerate men, although for the matter of them they may be things which God commands; and of good use both to themselves and others: yet, because they proceed not from an heart purified by faith; nor are done in a right manner, according to the Word; nor to a right end, the glory of God, they are therefore sinful, and cannot please God, or make a man meet to receive grace from God: and yet, their neglect of them is more sinful and displeasing unto God.
me: What is missing from the unregenerate's good works is a lively faith. Without faith is is impossible to please Him, even when those good works are "better" than those of a believer. Why? Because they are stained with the corruption of sin. The believer's faith looks to Christ who not only cleanses past sins, but present sins. So, his works are looked upon as in Christ, i.e. sanctified (made just or holy) by the blood of the Lamb they are acceptable to God.
Jack, if after we are justified, God then also justifies our works, is this true also of faith? Does God justify our faith?
ReplyDeleteFor what reason would our works or our faith need to be justified, after we are justified?
1. our works are not perfect, which is another way of saying, even our works are sins. Our faith is not perfect, which is another way of saying that sinners believe, and sin even in our believng.
2. We do not need our works or our faith to be justified because we a. are already justified and b. justification of sinners is not by works
3. so what makes our works and our faith acceptable? Acceptable for what? Acceptable but not necessary?
Institutes 3.17.8---Forgiveness of sins being previously given, the good works which follow have a value different from their merit, because whatever is imperfect in them is covered by the perfection of Christ, and all their blemishes and pollutions are wiped away by his purity, so as never to come under the cognizance of the divine tribunal. The guilt of all transgressions, by which men are prevented from offering God an acceptable service, being thus effaced, and the imperfection which is wont to sully even good works being buried, the good works which are done by believers are deemed righteous, or; which is the same thing, are imputed for righteousness.
http://s3.amazonaws.com/churchplantmedia-cms/paramount_church/dispositional-soteriology-george-hunsinger.pdf
WTJ 66:1 (Spring 2004) p. 111]
Jonathan Edwards----Though it be true that the saints are rewarded for their good works, yet it is for Christ’s sake only, and not for the excellency of their works IN THEMSELVES CONSIDERED (p. 213)
Gerstner argues that the issue of merit in heaven for good works done on earth is not a problem for the Protestant at all, for these good works have nothing to do with earning salvation; they all occur after justification. These faith-works are necessary to prove the genuineness of a Christian’s faith, but they have nothing to do with earning heaven. How can imperfect works, tainted with sin, merit heavenly rewards? Gerstner argues that since Christ has removed all the guilt of sin from every believer, his post-justification good works actually do merit heavenly rewards. Gerstner writes: “They are real ‘works of supererogation,’ if you wish…[the believer] goes to heaven without one iota of merit in anything and everything he does. But every post-justification good work he ever does will merit, deserve, and receive its reward in heaven…. Moreover, do you dare impugn the justice of God by saying that He would ‘reward’ what did not deserve reward? (P.S. I confess my own and Augustine’s past error in using the oxymoron: ‘rewards of grace.’)”145
ReplyDeleteGerstner is absolutely correct when he says that good works do not contribute to salvation. But what about his idea that post-justification good works actually do merit and deserve a heavenly reward? Is the classic Protestant view of rewards based upon grace wrong?146 Although Gerstner’s logic is impeccable, his formulation oversimplifies the biblical view of merit and heavenly rewards. Note that even in Gerstner’s own analysis a Christian’s works must have sin removed from them before they merit a reward. Thus, already the correlation between work and merit or pay that one finds in everyday life and what the Bible describes are two different things. One does not pay for a new car with a severely warped engine block and non-functioning transmission and say, “I forgive you for these defects, but you’ve truly earned your pay.” Furthermore, Jesus rules out human merit in the economic contractual sense in Luke 17:10: “So likewise you, when you have done all things which you are commanded say, ‘we are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’” http://www.graceonlinelibrary.org/doctrine-theology/justification/justification-by-faith-part-v-judgment-according-to-works-by-brian-schwertley/
WCF 16
ReplyDelete5. We cannot by our best works merit pardon of sin, or eternal life at the hand of God, by reason of the great disproportion that is between them and the glory to come; and the infinite distance that is between us and God, whom, by them, we can neither profit, nor satisfy for the debt of our former sins, but when we have done all we can, we have done but our duty, and are unprofitable servants: and because, as they are good, they proceed from his Spirit; and as they are wrought by us, they are defiled, and mixed with so much weakness and imperfection, that they cannot endure the severity of God's judgment.
6. Notwithstanding, the persons of believers being accepted through Christ, their good works also are accepted in him; not as though they were in this life wholly unblamable and unreprovable in God's sight; but that he, looking upon them in his Son, is pleased to accept and reward that which is sincere, although accompanied with many weaknesses and imperfections.