Justification by Faith Alone: A Reformed Perspective

Devotional

Day 1: Justification by Faith Alone: A Divine Declaration

Justification by faith alone is a foundational principle of Reformed Theology, emphasizing that God declares sinners righteous through faith, not by their own merit but by the imputed righteousness of Christ. This doctrine was pivotal in the Protestant Reformation, challenging the Roman Catholic view of infused grace through sacraments. The Reformers argued that justification is an act of God, declaring believers righteous through faith, based on the imputed righteousness of Christ. This imputed righteousness is a "foreign" righteousness, external to the believer, yet fully sufficient for justification. Faith, therefore, is the instrumental cause that unites the believer with Christ, allowing them to receive His righteousness. [00:37]

"For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe." (Romans 3:20-22 ESV)

Reflection: In what ways have you relied on your own efforts for righteousness, and how can you shift your focus to trust in Christ's righteousness today?

Day 2: The Contrast of Infused Grace and Imputed Righteousness

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that grace is infused into the soul through sacraments like baptism and penance, requiring cooperation to achieve righteousness. In contrast, the Reformers emphasized that justification is an act of God, declaring believers righteous through faith, based on the imputed righteousness of Christ. Imputation involves the transfer of Christ's righteousness to the believer's account, covering their sins and granting them a righteous standing before God. This "foreign" righteousness is external to the believer yet fully sufficient for justification. The Reformers distinguished between infused grace, a gradual process of becoming righteous, and imputed righteousness, an immediate declaration based on Christ's perfect obedience and sacrificial death. [03:42]

"For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ." (Romans 5:17 ESV)

Reflection: How does understanding the difference between infused grace and imputed righteousness change your perspective on your relationship with God?

Day 3: The Role of Faith in Receiving Christ's Righteousness

Imputation, a key concept in Reformed Theology, involves the transfer of Christ's righteousness to the believer's account, covering their sins and granting them a righteous standing before God. This "foreign" righteousness is external to the believer yet fully sufficient for justification. Faith is the instrumental cause that unites the believer with Christ, allowing them to receive His righteousness. Saving faith is not mere intellectual assent but involves personal trust and reliance on Christ. It encompasses three elements: notitia (knowledge), assensus (assent), and fiducia (trust). True faith inevitably produces the fruit of sanctification, demonstrating its authenticity. [13:29]

"Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God." (Romans 5:1-2 ESV)

Reflection: What steps can you take to deepen your personal trust and reliance on Christ in your daily life?

Day 4: The Elements of Saving Faith

Saving faith is not mere intellectual assent but involves personal trust and reliance on Christ. It encompasses three elements: notitia (knowledge), assensus (assent), and fiducia (trust). True faith inevitably produces the fruit of sanctification, demonstrating its authenticity. Justification by faith alone underscores that it is not by our merit but by Christ's righteousness that we are justified. This righteousness is a gift, received through faith, and it is the basis for our standing before God. The Reformers emphasized that true faith is alive and produces the fruit of obedience. [20:52]

"And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." (John 17:3 ESV)

Reflection: Reflect on the three elements of saving faith. Which element do you feel strongest in, and which one do you need to cultivate more in your spiritual journey?

Day 5: The Gift of Righteousness and the Fruit of Obedience

Justification by faith alone underscores that it is not by our merit but by Christ's righteousness that we are justified. This righteousness is a gift, received through faith, and it is the basis for our standing before God. The Reformers emphasized that true faith is alive and produces the fruit of obedience. This means that while we are justified by faith alone, the faith that justifies is never alone; it is accompanied by a life of obedience and sanctification. True faith inevitably produces the fruit of sanctification, demonstrating its authenticity. [22:07]

"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:10 ESV)

Reflection: Identify one area in your life where you can actively demonstrate the fruit of obedience to God. What practical steps can you take today to live out this obedience?

Sermon Summary

In our exploration of Reformed Theology, we delve into the doctrine of justification by faith alone, a cornerstone of the Protestant Reformation. This doctrine asserts that God declares sinners just in His sight through faith, not by their own righteousness but by the righteousness of Christ. Historically, the 16th-century controversy revolved around the etymology of "justification," with the Roman Catholic Church interpreting it as a process of becoming righteous through infused grace, primarily via sacraments like baptism and penance. In contrast, the Reformers emphasized justification as an act of God, declaring believers righteous through faith, based on the imputed righteousness of Christ.

The Roman Catholic view holds that grace is infused into the soul through sacraments, requiring cooperation to achieve righteousness. This process involves baptism, penance, and works of satisfaction, aiming to restore the believer to a state of grace. However, the Reformers argued that justification is not about becoming inherently righteous but about being declared righteous through faith. They introduced the concept of imputation, where Christ's righteousness is credited to the believer's account, covering their sins and granting them a righteous standing before God.

The Reformers also distinguished between infused grace and imputed righteousness. While the former involves a gradual process of becoming righteous, the latter is an immediate declaration based on Christ's perfect obedience and sacrificial death. This imputed righteousness is a "foreign" righteousness, external to the believer, yet fully sufficient for justification. Faith, therefore, is the instrumental cause that unites the believer with Christ, allowing them to receive His righteousness.

Furthermore, saving faith is not mere intellectual assent but involves personal trust and reliance on Christ. It encompasses three elements: notitia (knowledge), assensus (assent), and fiducia (trust). True faith inevitably produces the fruit of sanctification, demonstrating its authenticity. Justification by faith alone underscores that it is not by our merit but by Christ's righteousness that we are justified.

Key Takeaways

1. Justification by faith alone is central to Reformed Theology, emphasizing that God declares sinners righteous through faith, not by their own merit but by the imputed righteousness of Christ. This doctrine was pivotal in the Protestant Reformation, challenging the Roman Catholic view of infused grace through sacraments. [00:37]
2. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that grace is infused into the soul through sacraments like baptism and penance, requiring cooperation to achieve righteousness. In contrast, the Reformers argued that justification is an act of God, declaring believers righteous through faith, based on the imputed righteousness of Christ. [03:42]
3. Imputation, a key concept in Reformed Theology, involves the transfer of Christ's righteousness to the believer's account, covering their sins and granting them a righteous standing before God. This "foreign" righteousness is external to the believer yet fully sufficient for justification. [13:29]
4. Saving faith is not mere intellectual assent but involves personal trust and reliance on Christ. It encompasses three elements: notitia (knowledge), assensus (assent), and fiducia (trust). True faith inevitably produces the fruit of sanctification, demonstrating its authenticity. [20:52]
5. Justification by faith alone underscores that it is not by our merit but by Christ's righteousness that we are justified. This righteousness is a gift, received through faith, and it is the basis for our standing before God. The Reformers emphasized that true faith is alive and produces the fruit of obedience. [22:07]
** [22:07]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:37] - Introduction to Justification by Faith Alone
[01:20] - Etymology and Historical Controversy
[02:55] - Instrumental Cause of Justification
[03:42] - Roman Catholic View: Baptism and Penance
[05:19] - Mortal Sin and the Sacrament of Penance
[06:39] - Elements of the Sacrament of Penance
[08:00] - Merit and Justification
[09:25] - Reformers' View: Faith as Instrumental Cause
[10:13] - Infusion vs. Imputation
[12:15] - Cooperation with Infused Grace
[13:29] - Imputation and Righteousness of Christ
[15:06] - Atonement and Substitution
[16:33] - Active Obedience of Christ
[18:01] - Faith as Instrumental Cause
[20:52] - Elements of Saving Faith
[22:07] - Faith and Sanctification

Sermon Clips

Again, to recap the term justification means that act by which God declares sinners to be just in His sight. Now part of the controversy of the 16th Century rested on the etymological derivation of the word justification. Our English word justification comes from the Latin iustificare, and in the Medieval church what happened was the doctrine of justification began to be expounded in light of the background of the Latin Vulgate, the Latin interpretation or translation of the Bible, rather than on the basis of the Greek New Testament. [00:01:11]

Now in the Roman Catholic Church justification is seen as requiring faith, at least in the case of adults, but initially justification is accomplished through what Rome called the instrumental cause of baptism. That is in the sacrament of baptism grace is infused into the soul. And the infusion or the pouring in of this grace into a human soul is saving grace. And then as a person receives this infusion of grace as an infant, they are placed in a state of grace. [00:03:53]

So even as a person can grow to adulthood, commit a mortal sin, still have faith, but loses the grace of justification. So the person who's in a state of mortal sin can still have true faith and not be justified. So that person, in order to be restored to a state of grace, has to come through what the Council of Trent called "the second plank of justification for those who have made shipwreck of their souls." [00:05:19]

The Reformers said that the instrumental cause of justification is faith. Faith is the means by which the righteousness of Christ is given to us. Now that raises another issue that perhaps more than any other point of the dispute was the center of the controversy, and that is the debate between grace that comes through infusion and grace that comes through imputation. [00:09:44]

The Protestant view is that God justifies those who have faith by imputation. Now imputation means this: It involves a transfer from one person's account to another, so that the righteousness of Jesus is transferred in God's sight to the believer's account. So that when God looks at the believer, He doesn't see the believer's sin, in legal terms, rather He views that person under the covering of the righteousness of Christ. [00:13:29]

And so in terms of the New Testament view of the cross Christ is the suffering servant who bears the sins of His people, not because He Himself in His own humanity becomes inherently wicked but rather He is a substitute for us, and God transfers our guilt to Him. And when He dies on the cross He is taking the negative judgment, the wrath of God, to satisfy God's judgment. [00:15:06]

The Reformers understood the place of the active obedience of Christ that Christ not only paid the negative penalty for our sins, but He positively achieved perfect righteousness. You see, if all He did was pay for our guilt, that would just simply put us back to square one, put us back to the status Adam had before the fall--not guilty but innocent in the sense of not bearing any sin but having no positive obedience to commend himself before God's justice. [00:16:33]

And that's why the reason the instrumental cause of justification is faith, because it's faith that is the tool or the instrument that links us to Christ. Now Luther insisted that the merit or the righteousness by which sinners are justified is what he called a iustitium alienum, a foreign justice or an alien righteousness, a righteousness that Luther said is extra nos, extra--outside of us. [00:18:01]

The good news of the Gospel is that God justifies the ungodly freely by giving to all who believe a righteousness that is properly speaking not their own. It is somebody else's righteousness. It is the righteousness of Christ that alone meets the test of the standard of God's perfect judgment. And so again when we say that justification is by faith alone this is mere shorthand for saying justification is by Christ alone because the grounds of our justification is the righteous merit of Christ who alone has perfect justice in the sight of God. [00:19:16]

There are at least three elements to saving faith according to the Reformers that they distinguished. First of all, notitia, which is the information, the data. There is content to the Gospel that we must believe. We must believe that Jesus is our Savior. We must believe that He died on the cross for us. We must acknowledge it to be true that we are sinners before a holy God. [00:20:52]

The crucial element of saving faith is what's called fiducia or fiducia, which means personal trust and reliance. And saving faith is given to all of those who put their trust in Christ and in His righteousness and put their trust there alone. Now the Reformers said that justification is by faith alone but not by a faith that is alone that true faith, if you're really resting in Christ, and you're really counted righteous by God, if you have true faith that faith will immediately, necessarily, and inevitably produce the fruit of sanctification. [00:21:51]

But again the issue itself is how am I justified? Not by my own righteousness, not by my own merit, but by the righteousness of Christ and of Christ alone. [00:23:04]

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