Following are some notes from the seminars:

Items to remember when evangelizing

1. The supreme object is God’s glory
2. The Holy Spirit is the only power that can do the work
3. The Spirit uses the medium of Scripture; the preaching of it and the living according to it (the witness of Christian living)
4. The true motivation is zeal for God and love of the neighbor
5. Beware false zeal and unscriptural methods

Our calling

1. Be faithful in sowing the seed, regardless of results
2. Pray
3. Genuinely present the Truth
4. Love the neighbor and deal with them in their present state; don’t expect too much too soon
5. Have courage and conviction with humility

Evangelism do’s and dont’s

1. Be clear about what you believe and why; know the Bible and confessions
2. Communicate sin and grace
3. Avoid Christian jargon
4. Prove everything from the Bible
5. Be kind and courteous
6. Establish a relationship
7. Be sensitive to their past
8. It’s about proclaiming God’s commands, not winning an argument
9. Don’t rush things
10. Don’t force things; don’t “cast your pearls before swine”
11. Provide resources: Bible, books, Bible studies
12. Pray for opportunities to witness
13. Pray for wisdom
14. Trust the Spirit

How to start an evangelistic conversation

• Turn daily conversations about earthly topics to spiritual matters
• When talking to logically-minded people, apologetics may be a useful starting point
• Tell what God has done for you personally and His people; Acts 2:11: “we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God”
• Don’t jump straight into “thou shalt nots”

New media evangelism

• Use a consistent, recognizable theme across your website, bulletin, Facebook page, etc.
• Provide a daily devotional that promotes lectures, Bible studies, and other church activities
• Advertise pamphlets and other materials on YouTube; provide summary and instructions on ordering

In-church evangelism

• Have greeters welcome visitors
• Provide pamphlets that explain basics like how to read the Bible, the parts of worship, etc.
• Host lectures on non-doctrinal topics such as current events, the end times, gambling, Jesus, etc.
• Evangelism committees should communicate between churches more, sharing ideas about pamphlets, lectures, witnessing techniques, etc.

Neighborhood evangelism

• Get to know your neighbors
• Invite neighbors to barbecues and other gatherings
• Invite neighbors to Bible studies at your home

John Calvin

“Preaching…what is the point? How out-dated can you be? If you have to speak, keep it entertaining and keep it brief, real brief.”

Such, sadly, are the thoughts of many in the churches of our day. But there is another perspective. Come and hear what John Calvin had to say about preaching, the place preaching occupied in his own ministry, and why it matters to us today. In the third speech of the Calvin Conference, Rev. Steven Key will call attention to Calvin the preacher.

Plan to attend. September 3-5, 2009. Check out the new website! 500yearsofcalvin.org

Prof. Herman Hanko

Introduction

The antithesis, as the previous speakers made clear, is that work of God, sovereignly executed, by means of which God reaches down into this world of sin and darkness, seemingly under the control and power of Satan, and, through the salvation of His people, causes the light of His truth and holiness to shine. Satan has made his attempt to seize control of this creation and of the human race, but God does not relinquish His world to Satan. God stakes His claim to the world by the testimony and lives of His people. The world says, “We serve Satan. We will take God’s world from Him and make it ours to do with it as we please.” Over against that loud boast, God says, through His people, “This creation is mine. I made it. I will redeem it. I will glorify it and accomplish my own eternal purpose in making it. I will punish with everlasting destruction those who claim it for their own.”

The antithesis, therefore, has its deepest cause in the eternal counsel of God, specifically in the decree of election and reprobation. The antithesis has its power in the suffering and death of Jesus Christ, by which sacrifice Christ paid for the sins of His people and earned the right for them to represent God’s cause in the world. The antithesis has its reality in the work of grace in the hearts of those for whom Christ died. The ascended Christ sends His Spirit into the hearts of His people to regenerate, convert and sanctify them. By this work of grace, Christ’s people are enabled to live the life of the antithesis here in this sorry world.

Christ’s rule is universal, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings. In the Father’s name, Christ rules over the entire creation of God – over heaven and the angels and over earth and all men in it. Christ’s rule is, however, sharply antithetical. He rules over the wicked sovereignly so that the wicked in all their rebellion serve the cause of God. The kings of the earth may take counsel against Christ to cast His yoke from them, but He that sits in the heavens laughs, for God has set His King on the holy hill of Zion (Psalm 2). But Christ rules His people by His Spirit, by whose work He sets up the throne of His kingdom in their hearts and sways the sovereign scepter of His rule over their lives. By that rule, Christ’s people become willing, joyful and obedient servants of Christ, bowing before Him as their Lord and Master to whom they belong. When Christ’s rule is sovereignly exercised in the hearts of His people, that rule of Christ is of such a kind that it cuts through their entire lives. Nothing in their life is untouched; nothing remains unchanged. These people are now His subjects in the whole of their life. They are obedient and willing subjects who love their Lord. While the lives of Christ’s servants are still sinful in many respects, and while the battle which God’s people wage begins in their own sinful flesh, yet they are different, strangely changed, marvelously renewed, so that Christ’s work touches everything they do.

Both wicked and righteous laugh; but in entirely different ways and for entirely different reasons. Both the wicked and the righteous weep, but no similarity exists between the righteous who weep, but not without hope, and the wicked who weep with despair. Both marry, but the wicked marry to satisfy their own personal urges, while the righteous marry to enjoy the intimacy of an institution which points to Christ and His church, and in that intimacy, to bring forth the seed of the covenant. You will find wicked and righteous in the shop, both operating a drill press, both changing tires on a truck. But the antithesis is present in the shop. The wicked work to use the fruit of their labor for pleasure; the righteous use the fruit of their labor for the support of the causes of God’s kingdom. And so it is in the whole of their life.

The Antithesis and the Covenant

The subject we discuss is living antithetically in an age of immorality. Immorality is sexual perversion of all kinds. Sex has to do with marriage. It is a part of it and limited to it. The subject with which we deal, therefore, has to do with marriage and its important sexual aspect. Because marriage is an institution of God which, purified and sanctified by grace, pictures the heavenly relation of Christ and His church, marriage has to do with God’s covenant. Perhaps the antithesis shines more brightly at this point, and the lines of the antithesis appear more sharply in this part of life than anywhere else in all man’s activities. At this point especially the relation between the antithesis and God’s covenant comes sharply into focus.

The relation between God’s covenant and the antithesis is taught clearly in II Corinthians 6:14 through II Corinthians 7:1. In that passage Scripture exhorts us to live antithetically, but does so on the basis of God’s covenant with His people.

Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?

Then comes the covenantal description of God’s relation of fellowship with His people.

For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Then the admonition to covenant people to live antithetically.

Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing.

Again, the promise of the covenant.

And I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

Again the admonition.

Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

The antithesis means that God’s people are a covenant people. As a covenant people they walk in this world as members of the family of God. They walk as sons and daughters of their Father in heaven – in a world in which most walk as children of their father, the devil (John 8:44). Having fellowship with God and confessing that God is their God and they are His people, they represent God’s covenant in the world. When the world hates God and the cause of Christ, they proclaim in their words and life that Christ is their King and that God’s cause in their cause. Nothing in all life expresses this as clearly as marriage. God’s covenant with His people in Christ is a spiritual marriage consummated in Christ with whose body the people of God become one flesh. Our marriages are pictures of that heavenly marriage (Eph. 5:22-33).

An important part of marriage is sexual activity. This activity is touched, sanctified and made holy by God’s grace. This activity is a covenantal activity. This activity has been brutally corrupted by the world in which we live.

The World’s Immorality

It is better not to sing the exceedingly sad song of the terrible sins of immorality in our world today. It is better to heed the warning of Paul in Ephesians 5:12: “It is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.” We ought to take that warning seriously. Nevertheless, some aspects of the present immorality of are age must be noticed.

One hundred years ago or so divorce was a shame and was discouraged by the laws of the land and the courts. Even in a wicked world where marital problems abounded, wicked people rarely sought escape from marriage in divorce. Today divorce is common. Over half the married population in our country has been divorced and remarried at least once and many have been divorced and remarried frequently. Divorce and remarriage is immorality, for our Lord makes clear that one who is separated from his/her spouse and marries again commits adultery. Adultery is immorality.

One can see how closely this sin relates to God’s covenant. Scripture teaches that the covenant which God establishes with His people in Christ is an unbroken covenant which endures into eternity. Marriage is also an unbreakable covenant which only death can dissolve. Covenant conscious people, out of gratitude to God for His covenant mercies, maintain the earthly picture of that covenant in their married life.

Yet, not only has the world so loosened the laws concerning marriage that any book, newspaper column or marriage counselor quickly advises divorce and remarriage as the solution to any problems which people think they face in the marriage state, but the evangelical church joins with the world. The church approves divorce; the church approves remarriage. It is a rarity in any church circles to find anyone who still holds sacred the God-instituted bond of marriage. The Protestant Reformed Churches have become the objects of ridicule and scorn because of their stand opposing divorce (except for fornication) and remarriage. Our churches have been accused of lack of sympathy for people in bad marriages, lack of love to those who are unhappy, lack of willingness to help those who encounter serious and difficult marital problems. This almost universal approval of immorality is new.

It is also new that marriage is no longer considered necessary for two people who live together in the intimacies of marriage. Fifty years ago such a practice was called “shacking up.” Today it is approved and encouraged. The argument is even made that it is good for people to experiment with marriage and with living together before finally entering the marriage state. Even to have children is not considered wrong. The Grand Rapids Press recently carried an article in which, to my astonishment, current figures showed that slightly over half of couples living together were not married. This practice is gross fornication and dreadful immorality. How can such a practice reflect God’s covenant?

The law of this “Christian” nation promotes divorce and remarriage not only, but increasingly, under the pressures of feminism and the homosexual lobby, supports open homosexuality. Laws are being passed sanctioning homosexual marriages and the raising of children by homosexual people. Not only does the law promote these terrible sins, but builds a wall of protection around them to prevent anyone from condemning this heinous crime. In other countries, and increasingly in our own, criticism of homosexual practices is labeled a hate crime and makes the one who witnesses to the truth liable to punishment. One can be put in jail for saying what the Scriptures say. And, if that all were not bad enough, churches throughout the country approve homosexual practices not only but ordain into Christ’s sacred offices in the church those who commit such dreadful sins.

While once sexual perversion was kept secret, today every form of sexuality is openly discussed and frequently taught children from early years in the schools. All this is done under the guise of teaching children to use the gift of sex properly and wisely; but sex education is only an excuse for sex-crazed teachers and sexual perverts burning with lust to drag young children into the net of fornication.

We are bombarded with sex on every side. If one turns off his TV because it makes him gag at the foul debauchery found even in advertisements, one must be on guard when turning on the computer. If one’s spam detectors and filters screen out pornography, one must cautiously go through almost every secular and news magazine that comes into the home to see whether it is fit for the children to page through. The news tells us that over eight million pornographic sites can be accessed on the web, and that pornography is readily available in public libraries to anyone who wants such material.

That which is most holy, most sacred, almost of sacramental importance within the God-ordained bonds of marriage is made vile, filthy, corrupt to an extent unimaginable in past centuries. The picture of Christ and His church has become a toy, a plaything, an instrument for self-seeking pleasure, a recreation used freely. The perversion of sexual practices is beyond belief. No judgments of God upon man of sexually transmitted diseases has the least impact on man’s degradation, and one who dares to say that AIDS is God’s judgment upon the sinner runs the risk of public condemnation. Paul, in Romans 1, calls homosexuality the punishment of God upon man for the sin of idolatry. Man calls homosexuality his right and punishes the one who dares speak of God’s judgment upon the sin. The Dutch have an expression (zo’n groot geest, zo’n groot beest.), which translated means, “The greater the spirit, the greater the beast.” Even animals are not guilty of the perversions common among men.

It has become literally impossible for a godly person to escape the perversion of sex. The whole world has become a sewer, filled with filth and excrement, in which today’s generation delight to swim. The world has found its pleasure in drinking the water in a septic tank. How does this sad state of affairs call upon the people of God to live antithetically in such a world! Be ye holy, for I the Lord your God am holy! (I Peter 1:16).

The theory of common grace has done more to destroy the antithesis than any other single doctrine in the history of the church. Common grace insists that the wicked world is capable, by the grace of God, to produce good people who do good deeds. Common grace finds “redeeming elements” in everything man does. Common grace tells us that there are broad areas of life in which, because of the good found in all men, there is much room for cooperation between Christ and Belial, between righteousness and unrighteousness. And, with regard to the subject of marriage and sex, common grace would have us believe that a cup of water taken from the wrong side of a filtration plant is good to drink. Or, if I may change the figure, common grace says that although there is a certain bad smell to the river of life which flows through the world, one finds also a delightful perfume.

The Antithesis in Marriage

To live an antithetical life requires that we live in two dimensions as it were. The one dimension is life in this present evil world; the other dimension is the life of heaven, firmly planted in our hearts, which is a principle of our calling and life as citizens of the kingdom of Christ. Such being the nature of the antithesis, the child of God is called by His heavenly Father to live a no/yes life: that is, to live a life in which he must say No! to sin and Yes! to God. It is quite impossible to say Yes to God without saying No to sin. It is equally impossible to say No to sin without saying Yes to God. Already in Paradise Adam was called to say No to the forbidden tree and Yes to the tree of life.

The servant of Jesus Christ says his loud No to all the corruption in marriage and sex. But he must say Yes to God. Marriage is wonderful institution of God. It is a relationship of life where man and woman become one flesh in a very real, but also profoundly spiritual sense. Becoming one flesh is so sublime, so pure, so beautiful that God has said it is a picture of the transcendent relation of Christ and His church. In the heavenly marriage, as well as in our earthly marriages, Christ and his people become one flesh; we are the body of Christ, bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh, very really, more fully than the earthly can imagine. God made woman from the flesh of man; in marriage they once again become one flesh. Such great blessedness belongs to those who marry in the Lord and live holily in the marriage state.

Marriage is the fundamental institution of society. God married Adam and Eve and thus created the institution of marriage. It is the only institution of life God created with the original creation. The rest of life’s institutions develop organically from marriage: the home with children, the church, the school, the shop, government, and the public square. Marriage, after the pattern laid down by God in society, produces a well-regulated, crime-free, holy society with holy institutions. When marriage is corrupted, the home is corrupted, schools are failures, government becomes itself a decayed institution from which little good can come, disorder reigns in society at large. Governments appoint blue-ribboned committees who spend millions studying how crime in society, deterioration of education, and sexually-transmitted disease can be overcome. Usually the answer from committee after committee is: More money needs to be spent. No one mentions that the home is to blame for all society’s ills and no improvement anywhere will be made until marriages are reformed.

One has some trouble understanding Satan’s strategies. He is not stupid. He knows, perhaps better than we do, that the home is fundamental to society and that if the home is wrecked, society will be destroyed. Yet he and his fellow demons have launched an unprecedented attack against the home and have enlisted the aid of sinful men in their determination to destroy the home. These demons, under Satanic leadership, are committing suicide. They are destroying the very world they want to steal from God. They want to drive the owner from his premises (so they can live there); but in doing so, they burn down the house to attain their goals.

Is this stupidity on Satan’s part? Does he not know what he is doing? Do not the wicked with him sense the futility of their plots? Yes, they really do. The trouble is not ignorance; the trouble is hatred of God and His creation. The wicked are bent on destroying marriage (though through success they destroy society) because marriage is an institution of God and their hatred against God is so intense that they will destroy themselves in order to destroy God.

To live the antithesis means that the believer says in word and deed: “No. We understand you, Satan. We know what you are up to. We want no part of your plots.” It also means that we say, “Yes, Lord. We will be faithful to Thy covenant in the world no matter what the cost to us, and no matter what suffering may be our lot. We will maintain our marriages and build our homes upon the foundation of Thy Word. We will fight to maintain the sanctity of Thy glorious institution, made heavenly in Christ. We will live in holiness and purity.”

To live the antithesis means that we continue to condemn divorce and remarriage. We continue to warn against its evils and its evil consequences. We continue to strive to maintain our marriages as pictures of Christ and His church.

To live the antithesis means that we understand that marriage is a union of love, of life and of joy. Husband and wife love each other not only when a handsome and strong man stands with his beautiful wife before the minister in marriage, but also when each of them has become old and decrepit, wrinkled and disabled, worn and dying. Love for each other within marriage reflects the love of God that pervades all of married life. Husbands and wives are gifts of God to each other, for they are not only husband and wife, but brother and sister in Christ. They are given the blessedness of spending their earthly years in the joys of marriage, and they will spend eternity in the joys of a greater, higher, more blessed marriage when they are with Christ.

To live the antithesis means to thank God for the privilege of having children. It is to use the sanctity of that mysterious wonder of sex, that marvelous gift of God, to bring forth the seed of the covenant. It is to believe that God will be our God and the God of our children through all the generations of time. It is to lay hold on God’s promises that God in mercy uses us to bring forth those whom He has elected from eternity and redeemed with the great price of His own Son.

When children come in a home, to live the antithesis is to protect, as much as possible, the home from the attacks of Satan. It is to make the home a harbor of safety, of peace, of love, a place of tranquility and serenity, a place to flee from the terrors and horrors of the world. No longer can the home be protected from the perversity of fornication and moral degradation. To live the antithesis is to show children their calling before God to live lives of purity. This can only be taught children when husband and wife are joined in a common effort to live lives of purity themselves. Then homes, too, will be reflections in this life of the family of God’s everlasting covenant of grace.

Our Bodies, Temples of the Holy Spirit

We are told that marriage is a picture of the heavenly and covenantal relation between Christ and His church. The question is: How does the earthly picture become a reality in the profoundly spiritual sense of the word? How do we and Christ become one flesh?

Christ Himself works this by His Spirit when He sends His Spirit into the hearts of His people. By the in-dwelling of the Spirit, we are united to the body of Christ. In its discussion of the Lord’s Supper and the mysterious spirituality of eating and drinking Christ, the Heidelberg Catechism (question and answer 76) tells us that to eat the body of Christ and to drink His blood means “not only to embrace with a believing heart all the sufferings and death of Christ, . . . but also . . . to become more and more united to his sacred body by the Holy Ghost, who dwells both in Christ and in us; so that we, though Christ is in heaven and we on earth, are notwithstanding ‘flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bone’; and that we live and are governed forever by one Spirit, as members of the same body are by one soul.”

It is because we are united to Christ that our bodies are, as Paul expresses it in I Corinthians 6:16, where he warns against fornication, the temples of the Holy Spirit. It is terribly wrong to become one flesh with a harlot when the Holy Spirit dwells in our bodies.

The meaning is this. First, although the apostle speaks only of our bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit, he does not mean to exclude our souls. Our souls (our minds, wills, emotions) are also part of the Temple of the Spirit. Paul emphasizes the body especially because it is with our bodies that we commit fornication. And so, with respect to the matter of fornication, we must be especially careful of our bodies. How we use our bodies will be determined by how we use our minds and wills. If our wills burn with an unquenchable fire of lust, we will use our bodies to fulfill our lusts. If our minds are filled with pornography and all sorts of sordid sexual corruption, our bodies will become instruments of fornication. But if our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, this will be because our minds are filled with the Word of God and our wills made obedient to the will of Christ.

Second, when our bodies are the temples of the Spirit, Christ dwells in us, for the Spirit unites us to Christ and makes us one with Him. When Christ dwells in us, we have fellowship with Christ and through Christ, with God. We are, in other words, brought into fellowship with God through the indwelling of the Spirit. The apostle uses the word “temple” to describe our bodies. The temple was the place where God dwelt with Israel in covenant fellowship.

Third, to use our bodies for perverse sexual behavior is to make the temples of the Holy Spirit whorehouses. When we use our tongues for dirty jokes and sexual innuendo, we use part of the Spirit’s temple as a house of prostitution. When we engage in sex outside of marriage, we use our bodies to commit whoredom. And activity with perverse sexual implications is tantamount to turning the Spirit’s temple into a place for all the sexual sins associated with heathen idolatry to be practiced.

But our bodies will be used as temples of the Holy Spirit when our minds and hearts are filled with thoughts of God.

Jesus taught a parable once. It is not usually considered to be a parable, and perhaps is not according to the precise definition of parable. But in it Jesus illustrates what I have in mind. He speaks of a man who owned a house which was filled with an unclean spirit. He expelled the unclean sprit and cleaned up the house. He remodeled, refurbished, scrubbed and polished until the house looked like new. But he made a mistake. He left it empty. And the result was that the evil spirit which had been expelled could find no rest. And so he returned to the house from which he had been expelled, found it empty and moved in. But he took seven other unclean spirits with him, and so the house was in worse shape than it had ever been.

The meaning is clear. If you are weary of fornication, you may expel the devil of lust and try to be done with it. You may say, “I am not going to have anything to do any more with pornography. I am not going to let my body be used for such evil.” But what if you leave your mind and body empty? When our whole being is filled with the things of God and of His Word, then there is no room for the devil of immorality. That is the antithesis. That is saying No to Satan and Yes to God. A No, no matter how emphatic, is not enough. A Yes to God is essential.

The battle against immorality starts therefore, in our own sinful natures. It starts in that fierce battle to make our bodies temples of the Holy Spirit. It starts with the fight against the power of sin within us. And from our own struggle with sin and the conquest of sin within us, the battle spreads to our marriages, then to our homes; and, by God’s grace, to our churches, our schools, our whole lives in the world. The festering wound of immorality will prove fatal in us, in our marriages, in our homes, schools and churches unless we fight against the swelling tide of immorality around us.

Antithesis Means Warfare and a Pilgrimage

Scripture uses different ways to describe the life of the antithesis. Sometimes Scripture defines this life in terms of warfare. The people of God are an army. We have spiritual armor and spiritual weapons. Jesus Christ is the Captain of our salvation. We are therefore in this world to fight. Most of us, it seems, think that this world is a playground, with sex as one of our toys. But it is a battle, a fierce battle, a battle to the death. It is a battle that from every earthly point of view is hopeless, for the powers of evil are strong. But it is a battle in which the victory is certain. Faith is the victory that overcomes the world, for faith puts us in union with Christ and Christ has overcome the world for us. Our strength is in His cross and our victory in His rule at God’s right hand. Let us then fight; fight for our marriages, for our homes, for sanctity in our own lives. Let us not lack courage, for we shall be victorious.

Sometimes Scripture speaks of the antithesis in terms of a pilgrimage. Peter does this in his first epistle. It is a marvelous epistle and no minister could do better in this evil day than preach a series on this book. There are two ways, two roads on which one may walk. There is a wide, double-laned, divided highway that is smooth and broad, easy to travel, crowded with people who are laughing and joking. They are enamored with pleasure, earthly pleasure, pleasure that satisfies the yearning of sinful hearts. But the way leads to hell. The child of God, because of his sinful nature, is never out of sight of that easy way. On it there is no suffering to speak of, no difficulty on the journey, no loneliness, for many people travel it.

But the other way is quite different. It is a dirt, rocky, narrow trail. It is rugged and steep and requires constant exertion. It is a trail on which are a few people, and for the most part, they are weeping. It sometimes leads through dark and swampy ways, but sometimes over cold snowy peaks where icy winds blow. On each side lurk ogres and strange creatures bent on devouring the few travelers that pass. It is a way that Jesus characterizes as one of self-denial and cross-bearing, a way of suffering and pain, a way of persecution and affliction, a way in which the joys are not earthly pleasures but simply obedience – obedience to God.

This road goes to heaven. The difficulties of that way are enormous, but the end of it is what John Bunyan called “The Celestial City.” It is the way of the fulfillment of all God’s covenant promises. It is the way to that heavenly city where we shall see Jesus face to face. It is the way to the home of that host of elect who are now in the company of just men made perfect, and to the home of the angels.

What road are you on? What road do you want to be on? I know everything in our flesh says, “Not the hard way. I want to enjoy life. I want the treasures and pleasures of this present time. I fear self-denial and cross-bearing.” But by the grace of God we do not want that way at all, though our flesh craves it. We want the way to glory, no matter how difficult.

I am on that way. Come with me. We will travel together. We will face the cruel jeering of the world and the hatred of the ungodly. There is pleasure on this way, though it be difficult to walk. It is the pleasure of God’s favor and love. We will stumble on that way and sometimes fall. We will grow desperately weary on that way and think sometimes that we cannot go on. But, though we bear a cross, it will remind us of the cross of our Savior on which He earned for us everlasting salvation. And to His cross we will run with haste to find forgiveness for our sins and strength to go on. By the power of His cross we will stagger forward and onward as we wend our way home. There will be blessedness forever, rest from our labors, joy unspeakable. There the battle is over and the journey completed. There we will be with Christ. It is the Celestial City.

This lecture was hosted by the Evangelism Committee of the First Protestant Reformed Church of Holland.  For an audio copy (MP3, CD, or cassette tape), please contact us.

Rev. Garry Eriks

Introduction:

The antithesis is a fundamental aspect of a Reformed Christian’s worldview. Although the term “worldview” is of fairly recent origin, the concept is not new for the Reformed Christian. Worldview is simply an understanding from Scripture of the Christian’s place and calling in this world. For the Reformed Christian this worldview is based upon the doctrines of God’s Word. There is much discussion today about a Christian worldview, and even a Reformed worldview at conferences and in print. It is not my intention to treat worldview as such. But I call to your attention, that when we treat the antithesis we are considering a vital aspect of the Christian’s worldview.

Much of what is said about worldview today purposely excludes the antithesis. Instead, much of what you read and hear of worldview in the church world today speaks of engaging culture and reforming and changing the world and the culture in which we live. This is the worldview of common grace.

The antithesis is an essential element of the Reformed worldview, because it is a truth that is taught throughout Scripture. The antithesis is that spiritual separation God has created by saving His people, the children of light, out of the world of darkness. God separates His people from the world by saving them. He elects His people from before the foundation of the world, redeems them from their sins in the blood of Jesus Christ, regenerates them through the working of the Holy Spirit, and calls them out of the world of darkness into His marvelous light. God calls His separate, redeemed people to live antithetically in this world. This antithetical life is not a life of physical separation, but a life of spiritual separation. Essentially, when you boil it all down, the antithetical life is saying “no” to sin, and “yes” to God.

It is my contention that a consideration of covetousness and its opposite, contentment, lie at the very heart of the antithesis. This is true, first, because a consideration of covetousness and contentment force us to face this question: who or what is your God? And along with that then, where is your heart? What is the focus of your life? Or, who is the focus of your life? Those who are covetous are not focused on God, but they are focused on the things of this earth. But those who are content are focused upon God. They know that the one, true and living God is their God, Whom they love and serve.

If a man’s life reflects that his god is money then that man will do whatever he can to obtain riches. This pursuit then controls his life. But if a man’s life reflects that Jehovah is his God then the pursuit and goal of his life is living to glorify the God of his salvation.

Secondly, the Heidelberg Catechism’s explanation of the tenth commandment of God’s law, which is, “Thou shalt not covet…”, shows that covetousness and contentment are the very core of the antithetical life. Answer 113 of the Heidelberg Catechism explains the requirement of the tenth commandment this way: “That even the smallest inclination or thought contrary to any of God’s commandments never arise in our hearts; but that all times we hate all sin with our whole heart, and delight in all righteousness.”

Thirdly, covetousness and contentment are the core of the antithesis because they are two responses to the truth of God’s sovereignty. The Reformed Christian confesses the truth of the sovereignty of God. This means God reigns over all. He rules over all things. God is the One Who sovereignly saves. Sovereignly He chose His people. Sovereignly He redeemed them. Sovereignly He works in them the blessings of salvation through the Spirit of Christ. Covetousness and contentment are two opposite responses to the truth of God’s sovereignty. Covetousness is the unbelieving, disobedient response to God’s sovereignty. Those who are covetous, say, by their covetousness, that they are not pleased with what God has given to them. They want more of things. Or they want different circumstances in their lives. But contentment is the believing response, the obedient response to God’s sovereignty. It is to say, “Have Thine own way, Lord. Not my way. Have Thine own way.”

As we develop living antithetically in an age of covetousness, we have to look at these opposites: covetousness and contentment.

Living spiritually separate from the world in this age of covetousness in which we find ourselves is of utmost importance. This is of utmost importance, first of all, because of what the Scriptures say in Ephesians 5:5. There we read, “For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” Those who continue living in covetousness have no place in the kingdom of God. So we must be aware of the importance of our consideration of covetousness. It is a matter of life and death.

Secondly, this is important because the Scriptures tell us in II Timothy 3:2 that in the perilous and last days in which the church lives the world is characterized by covetousness. The people of the world are covetous. And so is vital right now that the church lives a life of spiritual separation from the world. We must not be covetous, but content.

Finally it is important that we consider this subject because covetousness is one of the great struggles of the Christian life, as we live in an age of covetousness. Contentment is not something that comes naturally to us. What does come naturally to our sinful natures is complaining and covetousness. What comes naturally is seeking happiness and joy and fulfillment in an abundance of things. The Word of God calls God’s people to live antithetically by rejecting covetousness and walking in contentment.

The Sin of Covetousness

Covetousness is the sin of desiring what God has not been pleased to give. It is disagreement with God concerning what He has willed for us. Those who covet foolishly think that their lives would be happier and more fulfilling if the circumstances of their lives were different. They think that they know better than God what they need to have a good life on this earth.

The Scriptures expose the awfulness of the sin of covetousness: at bottom covetousness is idolatry. Ephesians 5:5 makes this connection when it says the “covetous man…is an idolater.” Covetousness is the sin of setting one’s heart on something other than God. This is the awful sin of thinking that there is something bigger and greater than God. This object of coveting controls that person. It is what he thinks about, desires more than anything else, and pursues in life. Covetousness is the sin of having something other than God at the heart and center of life.

There are many things in this world that wicked man sets his heart on so that they become his idols. Men think that if they have this certain dream job they will discover great happiness and fulfillment in life. If he has this certain woman to be his wife, then he will be happy. It doesn’t matter that he already has a wife and a family. He says, “I don’t love her anymore. But I do love this other woman and she makes me happy so I should be with her.” I read on the Internet a story in which psychologists now believe that playing video games fulfills a “need.” Not only is not bad to play video games, but also it is a need. Playing such games fulfills a certain need so that a man can find fulfillment and joy in life. When we begin looking around we see that virtually anything in this earth can become a god and an object of covetousness.

Money, according to Scripture, often becomes the idol god of covetousness. I Timothy 6:10 speaks of “The love of money.” The sin identified in this passage is covetousness. The object identified is money. One of the words that is translated covetousness in the New Testament, means literally, “money loving,” or “silver loving.” That is the term that you find in Hebrews 13:5: “Let your conversation be without covetousness.” Scripture identifies money especially as something that becomes a man’s idol god.

I Timothy 6:10 is not teaching that money, possessions, or riches, are wrong of themselves. The remedy for money-love is not getting rid of everything that you have. You can sell all you have and empty your bank accounts and still be covetous. Covetousness is a sin of the heart. Covetousness is often manifest as a desire for the money or possessions that God is not pleased to give. It is really a denial of God’s sovereignty and His ownership of all things. The answer is a change of heart!

The covetous man foolishly places a very high value on the things of this life. This is a driving force in the world of today. The thinking today is that money can provide happiness. Many in the world today would protest saying, “No, we’ve come to the understanding that you cannot buy happiness.” They say it with their mouths, but their conduct says otherwise. The thinking today of the world is that if you have much of the things of this earth, that you will find happiness and fulfillment in life. If you have a nice fancy car that others notice and talk about, that will bring fulfillment. If you have a new, large house, that will bring happiness and joy in life. If you have big bank accounts and plush 401K plans that will bring joy. And so that becomes the pursuit of the men of this world.

This is the covetousness, which we find in the world today. But the question when we are considering living antithetically in this covetous age is “what does the Word of God call the child of God to do? What does the Word of God call us, as Reformed Christians, to do?” The antithetical life of the Reformed Christian demands that we remove from our lives all covetousness. That comes out in Hebrews 13:5. “Let your conversation [let your life] be without covetousness.” At every moment of our lives we must spurn covetousness. Ounce of covetousness must not remain in our lives. We must rid our marriages, our homes, the church, and every part of our lives of all covetousness. This covetousness is not just found in the world, but it is the bitter struggle of the child of God who wants to live antithetically in the world.

Jesus sounds the warning against the sin of covetousness in Luke 12:15, when He commands, “Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” That was not just something that Jesus was throwing out there. He was teaching this because there was this sin in the world at that time, in Israel. This sin was found among the leaders of the Jews who sold animals in the temple at the time of the Passover. Not only was this convenient for Jews traveling from all over the world so that they did not have to take their own animals to sacrifice, but the Jews made a large profit from exchanging money and from the sale of these animals. Certainly there was the thinking among the people of that day, that there was joy and happiness in riches.

Jesus spoke of covetousness when He addressed the rich young ruler, whom He told to go and sell everything that he had. Jesus put his finger on this man’s great sin: he loved his money and possessions more than God. Is there anything in our lives that we love more than God?

That is a struggle that we have as well. Easily it happens for us that we go to work for a paycheck, so that we can buy the things that we want. Now there is nothing wrong with that in itself. But our hearts can be so focused on this that the pursuit of money and possessions becomes the chief goal, aim, and desire of life instead of working to serve God and to do all things to the glory of His name. Then we begin to think it is a burden to pay Christian school tuition, the budget of the church, and then put a little in the collection plate for the other causes. Or we think of all the things that we could possibly buy with that money.

We live in an affluent society. But yet for a young family it is a struggle to pay the bills. The bills add up and we begin to think, “If we just had a little bit more all of our problems would be solved. Then it would be so much easier. That is what we really need.”

We must be extremely sensitive to this sin because we can so easily twist what the Word of God says. We can easily convince ourselves that it is good for us to pursue riches because we want more to give to the church and to the schools. Giving cheerfully for the causes of the kingdom is good. But we must not use this good goal to mask a carnal lust, thinking that both may exist in us. The truth of the antithesis does not allow for being two-faced. We are called to flee from sin and obey God!

There is another popular error that is worthy of mention in this connection. Churches today feed people’s greed and use it for their own advantage. This is what the health and wealth gospel is all about. There are many preachers today promising untold riches from God’s hand if they will just contribute to their ministry. They encourage people to write out checks for more money than they have, trusting that God will provide that amount and much more. God’s Word in II Corinthians 9:6 does say, “He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.” This does not mean that God blesses liberal contributions with riches. God’s Word makes clear that He will take care of those who seek first the kingdom. But nowhere does God promise riches. What men today are doing is using greed and covetousness as a motive for giving. “Give and you will be come rich,” they say. This cannot be right because God demands that we put away all covetousness.

The Grace of Contentment

When the Word of God calls us to put off all covetousness, it demands positively, “Be content.” If the antithetical life is saying “no” to sin and “yes” to God, we must say “no” to covetousness and “yes” to contentment.

What is contentment? The word contentment literally means, “to be satisfied,” or “to be sufficient.” To be content is to know that we lack nothing. It is to say, “I have everything that I need.” It is to confess with David, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”

Contentment has nothing to do with how much or how little of the things of this earth that we have. Paul says in Philippians 4:11, 12: “Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.” The child of God can and does confess contentment no matter what the circumstances of life may be.

If a man owns nothing he can still be content. If a man lives in an apartment, has little furniture, and lives month-to-month, or even day-to-day, he can still be content. He can still confess, “I am content. I have everything that I need. I have sufficient.” This is true because contentment is not based on how much of the things of this earth we have. Contentment is a spiritual gift of God’s grace, in which we understand that in Jesus Christ we have everything that we need. This is why I lack nothing. God’s grace is sufficient for me. That is enough. In His grace and in His work through Jesus Christ, I have everything I need.

The Word of God comes to the people of God and says, “Be content with such things as ye have.” Sometimes when people ask us how we are doing, we think (we don’t say it), “Things aren’t so great. I don’t have enough money. My house isn’t big enough. My children are naughty. I’m behind in my work. I’m overburdened with all of these things. If some of these cares and concerns could be taken away, that is what I need.” We think, “If only I had this, or if only I had that, or if only this were different in my life, I would be so much happier.”

In Jesus Christ we have everything that we need. We are satisfied because the Bread of Life has satisfied for all of our sins. The Word of God reminds to be satisfied with Christ’s work, the knowledge of God, and the treasures of salvation in Jesus Christ. Be satisfied with God’s sovereign rule over your life. This is essentially what God said to Paul when he prayed for the removal of his thorn in the flesh (II Corinthians 12:9). Paul asked God three times to remove that thorn in the flesh. What was God’s answer? “My grace is sufficient for thee. You don’t need that thorn removed. My grace is what you need.” This grace is what we need.

The Reasons

As we look at this calling to live antithetically in this age of covetousness, we must understand why we are not to be covetous, and why we must be content. Scripture does not simply calls us to put away covetousness and be content. God teaches us why we must do this.

Why must we put away covetousness? First, coveting riches is vanity. Many today imagine that happiness, good self-esteem, and success are found in proportion to one’s possessions, bank accounts, house, and dress. They try to find happiness in things: in buying and hoarding to themselves the things of this earth. This is why gambling prospers today. People play the lottery, play the slots, and journey to the Mecca of gambling, Las Vegas, to strike it rich and solve all their problems. Others rack up credit card debt into the tens of thousands of dollars, thinking that buying the things their hearts desire, even though they do not have the resources, will solve all their problems and provide them happiness.

The Word of God exposes this thinking for what it is: vanity. I Timothy 6:7 says, “For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.” Jesus makes that same point in Luke 12 in the parable of the rich man, who tore down his barns to build bigger barns, so that he could fill those barns with the harvest that he had taken in. This man thought he should rest, be merry, and enjoy the good things of this earth. But that man’s life was taken. What was the profit of all those things that he had?

There is nothing like death to expose the vanity of the things of this earth, because we leave them all behind. We do not take any of these things with us. Yet is it not striking that after a person dies some families fight over the possessions that remain? Death reminds that these things cannot provide any eternal happiness. They are all vanity. One day they will melt with a fervent heat. Why would we set our hearts upon the things that moth and rust corrupt?

Covetousness in the end really makes man no different than an animal that only thinks about his next meal, and the next thing that he can have. And so man becomes that very same thing in covetousness.

Secondly, we must not walk in covetousness because it leads to all kinds of sin. I Timothy 6:10 makes this point: “The love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” The idea is not that every single evil we find in this earth can be traced to the love of money. The idea is that the love of money leads to all kinds of different sins. For example, if a man loves money, he will do whatever he can to obtain that money. He may even resort to stealing from his employer or clients in his work. Covetousness leads to all kinds of sin.

In covetousness we will not find happiness. I Timothy 6: 10 says, “and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” There is no happiness to be found in money-love. Instead, there is only sorrow, pain, and suffering. This is true because those who live covetously without turning from that sin will face Almighty God, the Judge of all. Jesus said, “What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” The love of money is spiritually bankrupt.

We must also consider the Biblical reasons for walking in contentment. We must be content in life because, as Reformed Christians, we believe the Word of God. The Reformed Christian believes everything that is found in the Word of God from Genesis 1:1 to the end of Revelation 22 because it is all the inspired Word of God. It is completely without error. The Word of God is full of God’s promises to His people. In that Word God declares to His people what He has done for them. The word of man cannot bring contentment. There are bookstores and libraries filled with books about how you can find happiness. But they are all vanity and they are all wrong, unless they point us to the Word of God. We must listen to what the Word of God says. The Word of God is the basis for contentment. We believe what He says about sufficiency and that in Him is found everything that we need.

God’s Word teaches us that there are two truths that are the basis of contentment. First, God has met our greatest need in Jesus Christ. What is our greatest need? Our greatest need is deliverance from punishment and power of sin. We need to know that in God’s eyes we are whiter than snow. We need to know that in Jesus Christ we have the forgiveness of our sins. God met our greatest need, by sending the Son of His love to die on the cross for our sins. He met our greatest need by pouring out His Spirit upon the church and working in His people the blessings of salvation that Jesus Christ earned for them. God has given to us everlasting life through the finished work of Jesus Christ. We cannot find the joy and happiness of that knowledge in any of the things of this earth.

Second, God’s Word tells us that the sovereign God of our salvation will not leave us or forsake us. God sovereignly and constantly cares for us. He will not abandon us, but continues to be present with us. He controls all things and He works them all for our good. He does not abandon us in our time of need, but instead gives grace and strength to bear the burdens that we face. His grace is sufficient for us. His promise to us is, “I am with you.”

Because God is with us, we have nothing to fear or worry about. What are the things that you worry about? Do you worry about making ends meet? Do you worry about rearing your covenant children, or your covenant grandchildren? What are the fears that you have hidden in the recesses of your heart? A child of God who is content and clings to the promises of God, knows that there is nothing to fear. The child of God then confesses with David in Psalm 27:1, “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” There is no one to fear. There is nothing to be afraid of because God is our God. He is the One Who has done everything necessary for our salvation. It is not God and man working together. Man does not do anything to make that salvation apply to himself. God has done it all. And in the consciousness of that, we know He continues to be with us and care for us.

That is so important in life. That is so important when we face death. That is so important for young fathers and mothers who feel the heavy weight of the responsibility of training their children in the fear of the Lord. We feel the weight of the other responsibilities God has placed upon us in this world. Sometimes it seems like it is too much so that we are ready to collapse. The fears that we have in life are real fears, even for those who know and understand the sovereignty of God. But the Word of God says there is no reason to worry about any of those things because God will give to us everything that we need.

The Result

When we live antithetically in an age of covetousness there will be the experience of joy and peace. This is the fruit of contentment. Covetousness can never bear such fruit. It only bears the fruit of more covetousness, sin, and unhappiness. Riches can never satisfy. The reality is that no matter how much of the things of this earth we have our appetite for those things is insatiable. The richest of men in the world, who have more of the things of this world than most others still do not have enough. That is the way covetousness is. It is never enough. But knowing God’s grace we say, “It is enough. I have everything that I need.” The way of contentment is the way of peace and joy.

This peace and joy is evident in the confession of contentment found in Psalm 23:1, “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” Because the LORD is our Shepherd we lie down in green pastures. Sheep do not easily lie down and rest. A sheep will lie down only when he has everything that he needs and has no fears. The same is true for us. We have everything we need and we have no fears because Jehovah is our faithful Shepherd.

As we live antithetically in this world, let us not walk in the way of covetousness. Instead, may we be reminded that part of the Reformed worldview of the antithesis is that we be content in all of life.

This lecture was hosted by the Evangelism Committee of the First Protestant Reformed Church of Holland.  For an audio copy (MP3, CD, or cassette tape), please contact us.

Rev. Daniel Kleyn

Introduction:

The subject before us is both an important and timely one. One reason for this is because the word “antithesis” itself has in many ways fallen into disuse. As a result, there is a measure of ignorance today concerning what exactly the antithesis is. It is good, therefore, that we take the time to look at and set forth the meaning of this term.

It is also an important and timely subject because the truth of the antithesis is very practical. That is expressed in the subtitle for this pamphlet, “Godly Living in Ungodly Times.” The antithesis, you see, has to do with how we live, and more specifically, with how we do so in relation to the world in which God has placed us. We realize that the world we live in is not a godly world. Society is not Christian. Rather, we live in very ungodly times. And that in itself makes this subject very timely and crucially important to every one of us.

However, what especially makes it important and timely is the fact that things are not improving in this world, but rapidly getting worse. As the end of time approaches, wickedness abounds, temptations get stronger, and Satan puts greater pressure upon the people of God to conform to the world. And as regards the specific subject we are now considering, namely, technology, the attacks of Satan in our day come especially against our children and young people. That makes the subject all the more urgent and all the more important, for the children and youth of the people of God are, the Lord willing, the future leaders in the church of Christ in this world.

We need, therefore, to be reminded of this important truth, and to be instructed concerning our calling as God’s people in the midst of an evil world.

My subject is, “Living Antithetically in a Technological Age.” Before specifically looking at this, however, we need first of all to consider what the antithesis itself is.

The Idea Of The Antithesis

As already stated, the word “antithesis” is not one that all are familiar with. Perhaps some have not heard it before. As far as the English word itself is concerned it is made up of two words, “anti” and “thesis.” The word anti means “against.” The word “thesis” is often used in reference to a position paper that a student must write. In that paper, the student presents a certain position or viewpoint on a subject. Thus the word “antithesis” literally means to be against a certain position, or a certain viewpoint.

What helps further in understanding this term is to realize that it comes from a Greek word that means literally, “to set or to place against.” And thus the antithesis can be defined, as far as the word itself is concerned, as something that is the direct opposite of something else, a person or a thing that stands in contrast, or in opposition to something else.

The Scriptures themselves, however, are most helpful in explaining what exactly is meant by this term. And in seeking to know what the Scriptures teach concerning it, we must look first of all at the passage in God’s Word where the whole idea and thought of the antithesis is first mentioned. That passage is Genesis 3:15. In that verse, God is speaking to the devil after man has fallen into sin. God says to the devil, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

That verse is the antithesis in a nutshell. That verse gives us the definition of the antithesis. God says to the devil, “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed.” Enmity between the seed of Satan and the seed of Christ. Enmity between the children of the devil and the children of God, between the ungodly and the righteous, between the church and the world. That is the antithesis.

There are a few important points that must be noted from Genesis 3:15. First of all, as we have already said, enmity is at the heart of it. Enmity as you know is hatred, war, hostility, conflict. And God says, “That is what exists between Satan and Christ, and that is what exists between their seeds.” Not friendship, not fellowship, not love (under any circumstances), but enmity. There are these two seeds in the world: the seed of the woman, and the seed of the serpent. And because of the antithesis that God puts in place, these two seeds do not get on together, and may not get on together. They are radically different – radically different spiritually. There must therefore be separation between them.

Notice, secondly, that this enmity is put in place by God. God says, “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her seed.” It is not you and I that create this enmity. It is not you and I who decide that we must be the enemies of the devil and the wicked world. It is not you and I that decide that there should be separation between the godly and the ungodly. God puts it there. It is God Who puts in place enmity, hatred, opposition, and warfare between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent.

God does that in three very significant ways. First of all, God does that in the decree of predestination in eternity, in the decree of election and reprobation. God determined in eternity, before He even created man, and before man fell into sin, and before God spoke these words to the devil, that the human race would be made up of two completely different people, the elect and the reprobate. That is where the antithesis originates – in God’s decree of predestination.

In the second place, God puts the enmity between the two seeds in place and makes it a reality through the work of Christ on the cross. On the cross the Lord Jesus Christ died, shed His blood, and laid down His life to redeem. But He did not redeem everyone. His sacrifice on the cross was not universal. But Christ died on the cross for His sheep, for His people. And that, you realize, was a death of Christ and a work of Christ in order to redeem the people of God from him who was their natural father, the devil. And by being redeemed from the devil they now belong to Christ, and to God. The fact that Christ died only for some makes the antithesis a reality. If the Lord Jesus Christ had died to save all men, then the antithesis would not exist.

In the third place, God sees to it that this enmity exists through the work of the Holy Spirit. This is accomplished through the Spirit’s work of regenerating those for whom Christ died. This work radically changes us, making us very different from the ungodly. And thus it is a work that results in enmity and conflict existing between us and the ungodly. Thus the Spirit’s work of regeneration is a means by which God sees to it that the antithesis exists in the world.

The Spiritual Character Of The Antithesis

When we speak of the antithesis, it is very important that we understand that this separation between the godly and the ungodly is a spiritual separation. It is true that sometimes, out of necessity, it takes physical form. But essentially the separation between the church and the world is spiritual.

The antithesis does not mean world flight. It is not the people of God turning their backs on the world, organizing themselves into separate communities, and isolating themselves from the ungodly. That was what the Anabaptists taught and practiced at the time of the Reformation in the 15th and 16th centuries. And it is really what the Anabaptists still practice today, as seen for example in the Amish, who refuse to use technology, electricity, automobiles, and so on.

The reason some advocate such physical separation is because as they look at the world and the things that it does and produces, they notice much evil. They therefore reject all that is in the world, saying (wrongly) that evil is in the things themselves. We know from the Word of God, however, that that is not the case. I Timothy 4:4-5 tells us, “For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.” It is not the things themselves that are evil.

Something very important is forgotten by those who think that the calling of Christians is to isolate themselves physically from the world. What I refer to is the fact that even the child of God has the world within his own heart. Every person in the world, even the regenerated believer, takes the world with him wherever he goes, within his own heart, and in his sinful flesh. It is impossible, therefore, for anyone to isolate himself from the world and all its sin.

Clearly, therefore, the antithesis is to be understood as being spiritual enmity, and therefore spiritual separation from the world. We could put it this way: not world flight, but world fight. That is the antithesis.

The Scriptures speak of that not only in Genesis 3:15, but throughout. The antithesis is expressed, for example, in II Corinthians 6:14 & 17: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? … Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing.” And in Revelation 18:4 we are commanded, “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.”

When by the grace of God we obey His Word and are spiritually separate, then we and our children are spiritually safe. The Scriptures tell us that “Israel then shall dwell in safety alone” (Deuteronomy 33:28).

The Calling With Regard To Technology

As is clear from what has been said thus far, and as is especially clear from the Scriptures just quoted, the antithesis is not just an idea or theory, but it is also a calling. And that calling is the command that comes to the people of God to live antithetically, to live a life of spiritual separation from the world. That is really the whole of the Christian life. It is a life of spiritual separation and spiritual contrast. It is a life in which we may not be friends with the world. It is a life of being pilgrims and strangers on this earth.

We may not be those whose lives are characterized by synthesis with the world. Such synthesis is very popular today. There is the push for cooperation between the church and the world. It is said that the church and the world should join forces in order to accomplish common goals. But such synthesis amounts to trying to unite light and darkness, truth and the lie, Christ and the devil. Not synthesis, but the antithesis. That is our calling.

Those who are the friends of God may not be friends with those who are the enemies of God. We are commanded (I John 2:15), “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.” And what are those things that are in the world that we may not love? They are (I John 2:16) “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” Love not the world, and love not these things of the world. That is our calling as the people of God in this evil world. And that is also our calling specifically with regard to the world’s technology.

I am sure we are all well aware of the fact that we live in a technologically advanced age. Technology is all around us. Technology is very much a part of our every day life, through such things as televisions, radios, sound systems, computers, cell phones, ipods, MP3 players, PDAs, digital cameras, CD players, DVD players, video games, and much, much more. Technology is used today for every possible purpose and in every possible area of life – for communications, for education, for farming, for surveillance, for tracking down criminals, in tools, in appliances, in the entertainment field, in predicting the weather, in fighting wars, in discovering and curing sickness and disease, etcetera. And none of this stands still, for all the technology that is available to us keeps advancing, and that quite often at an astounding and mind-boggling pace.

The child of God is called to live antithetically in relation to all this. What does that mean? What does that involve?

Obviously one aspect of our calling is this: we may not view technology as or make technology a god. I trust you understand that there is nothing wrong with technology itself. Technology has many positive uses. Consider how it can be used, especially the internet, for the spread of the gospel, for missions and evangelism. It is a useful means to get the Word of God to places where otherwise we could not get it. Because of it people all over the world have the ability to discover the truth that has been entrusted to us and that we hold to and believe. Think too of what technology is able to accomplish in wars, and in the field of education, and in the medical world. Astounding things!

The temptation we face because of all this is to replace God with technology. As we consider technology and all the things it can accomplish and provide, we think to ourselves, perhaps unwittingly, that technology has attributes that God has: it is all-powerful; it enables us to be all-knowing; it is able to perform miracles.

Ungodly men and women worship technology, and the men who produce it. They praise these. They look to them for the answers. They trust in them for cures. The child of God, however, must trust in and worship God alone. We may not, as the world does, make technology a god.

Another aspect of living antithetically with regard to technology is that we keep ourselves separate, not from technology itself, but from its misuse, from its abuse. The world itself abuses technology, using it for humanistic goals, using it to try to rid the world of the effects of the curse, and using it to commit and to promote sin, cursing, violence, sex, homosexuality, drug use, drunkenness, and so on. And even in the medical field the world abuses technology, as for example in its attempts to clone human beings. The devil is behind it. And the devil and the world are using technology to tempt the people of God to commit sin. Satan has all of this technology at his disposal, and he is focused upon using it against the people of God and against the church of Christ. He uses whatever technology he can to get us and our children to sin and to go astray. We need to be aware of this very real danger.

As already stated, there is nothing wrong with technology itself. But it used to be the case that the world was more “out there.” In the past God’s people could be more isolated from ungodliness, and less exposed to the world. It used to be easier for parents to guard and shelter their children from the filth and garbage and uncleanness of the ungodly world. However, that has now changed. Technology has changed it. Technology now enables the world to have much easier access into our lives and homes. Technology enables the world to appear in our living rooms, in our dens, in our offices, in our bedrooms. We can tune in to the world in our cars. We can carry around access to the world in our pockets. We are now living in a time when every possible evil can be placed before our very eyes, within the confines of our homes, cars, etcetera. It is all available at the press of a button, or at the click of a computer mouse.

Let us not be blind to all this and kid ourselves concerning the dangers. We and our children live in evil times. We face great pressure. It is therefore urgent that we take seriously our antithetical calling to oppose this ungodliness that would creep into our homes and lives through the means of technology.

The Dangers Of The Internet

That leads me to speak for a little while about what I consider to be a very serious danger in and threat to the lives of the people of God. What I have in mind is the internet. Computer and communication technology enables the internet to be with us wherever we go. It is possible to have free and open access to it from desktops, as well as wirelessly through laptops and even cell phones. This is a grave danger, not because of the internet itself, but because of how the internet can be and is used by the world and by the devil. It is a grave danger because of the wickedness on the internet, which wickedness can then easily enter our homes and lives.

What makes it a grave danger is that it is very easy to use as a means to commit grievous sins. In the confines and privacy of your home you are able to gamble, you are able to listen to the world’s songs, you are able to participate in ungodly humor, you are able to desecrate the Sabbath day. Through the use of the internet, emailing, and blogs, you are able to slander others, to pass on filth to your friends, and to establish friendships and unequal yokes with ungodly people. And (perhaps worst of all) one is able, through the internet, to view pornography. A link that you receive in an email can get it in front of you. An unwanted pop-up puts it before your eyes. Or else your own active searching for it exposes you to this great evil. And one who heads down this path becomes addicted and gets caught up in the terrible cycle of fulfilling the lusts of the flesh and the lusts of the eyes. In the course of time, he or she also becomes desensitized to the sin, and thus looks for something more explicit, something more filthy, something more vile.

These are sins that bring grievous consequences. They can have a permanent affect on a single person who has participated in them. And with regard to the married, they are sins that pull threads out of the fabric of marriage. Damage is caused that can only be repaired by the almighty grace of God.

What makes all of this so dangerous is not only its availability, but also the fact that it is so easy to commit these sins and to get away with them. You can do it all in private. You do not have to go out of your home looking for these sins and for places to commit these sins. In fact, you don’t even need a computer anymore. Now one is able to access all this trash with a cell phone. It is all very convenient, very easy, and very private. No one needs to know or find out – not parents, or siblings, or a fellow church member, or even a spouse. Yet a person pursues all this to the ruin of his or her life, and his or her soul.

The main reason why the filth that is on the internet is so dangerous to the people of God is because there is a strong point of contact between us and what the world presents – our sinful flesh. We still have a sinful nature. Because of it, we are attracted to all the sin that the world offers on the internet. It is pleasing and pleasurable to our flesh. We are strongly tempted to take a look, or to listen to it for a moment. And gradually one can be sucked in. It begins with a quick look. It is justified with the excuse that something just “popped up” on the screen. Gradually, a small step at a time, the antithesis that ought to characterize the life of the believer is broken down. There is not enmity and fighting and separation, but instead love and friendship and fellowship in relation to the world. One loves the world and the things of the world. One is captivated by the things that appeal to the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes. Indeed the internet has the potential of snaring and leading one into great sin.

The Calling To Fight

In light of all this, the calling of the Christian is, in one word, to fight!

The fight is first of all against your own sinful flesh. It is true that we must not be ignorant of the world itself, and of how evil it is. We need to be aware of the dangers of technology. We must fight all this. But especially we must not be ignorant of ourselves. Do not be ignorant of the fact that you are attracted to what the world offers. Do not deny that you are tempted by it. Admit that there are specific sins you are attracted to. Be aware of them, and fight!

The Word of God gives good instruction concerning this fight, and does so specifically with regard to the wickedness that can be viewed through today’s technology. I have in mind two passages.

First of all there are the striking words of Job – striking because of how directly they apply to us today. Job stated (Job 31:1): “I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?” You and I do well to say and do the same. Make a covenant with your eyes to behold no evil thing!

The other passage is Psalm 101:3. We ought to make the same resolve the psalmist did: “I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.”

Another necessary part of this spiritual fight is that it must be done for the sake of our children. A parent fights for his or her children by realizing, and not being ignorant of or turning a blind eye to, the dangers that exist. Parents fight for their children by taking oversight and control of what their children do, whether they are young children or teenagers. They talk with their children often about what they do online, what they do with their cell phones, and what they do with their friends. Out of loving concern for them, they seek to discover whether their children are forgetting the antithesis and establishing instead an unbiblical relationship with the world.

From a very practical point of view, that means supervising your children’s use of the computer. It means you need to have your computer in a visible place in the home. And it means that if you have a wireless network and laptop computers, you need to give special attention to these things.

There is also the need for parents to use monitoring and protection software. Regardless of what anyone else might say, you have a right as a parent to monitor your children. You have a right to know everything that they do, and to let them know that you may at any time check what they are doing on the internet, and what sites they are visiting. And this is not only a right, but also a responsibility. Because you are parents you have the calling to protect your children from the filth of the world, from exposure to evil, as well as from predators who are on the internet. If you love your children, and that means having a love for their souls and a concern for their salvation, you will put much effort into monitoring and protecting them.

Conclusion

I certainly do not know what goes on in your home and in your life. I have no idea how you might be using the technology which God enables us to have. I have no clue as to what you watch, what you search for, and what you see. But remember this, God knows it all. And one day you will have to give an account to Him.

I trust that you will use wisdom to apply what has been said to all of the other areas of life in which technology is abused. May we all seek Christ for forgiveness for the sins that we commit with technology, and for grace to fight against the sins and dangers that technology poses.

In fulfilling your calling not to love the world, remember the positive – to love the Lord your God. Love Him Who is your faithful Friend. Instead of loving the things of the world, love the things of God. Instead of occupying your time with pursuing the things here below, use your time to seek the things that are above.

Remember that we have an incentive. That incentive is given us also in Genesis 3:15, in these words: “It (i.e., the enmity between the two seeds) shall bruise thy (Satan’s) head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” God tells us there of victory, the victory of Christ and of the cross of Christ. At the cross, Christ overcame and crushed the devil and all his hosts. And the victory of Christ is our victory. Because of Him, we never lose. Because of Him, we will never go lost, no matter how fierce the enemy. “We are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37). May God grant that to us all.

This lecture was hosted by the Evangelism Committee of the First Protestant Reformed Church of Holland.  For an audio copy (MP3, CD, or cassette tape), please contact us.

Rev. William Langerak

Introduction

One thing yet remains in this timely and enriching conference on the subject, “Justification by Faith Alone.” Previous speakers have carefully explained the truth of it. And because almost every attack upon it through the ages has taken the same form, namely by injecting the works of the sinner as a basis for our justification, these speakers have carefully distinguished between justification and sanctification, showed the necessary relationship between them, and demonstrated that justification occurs both objectively and subjectively without any respect to our works, whether good or evil, in body or soul, from the flesh or regenerated spirit. It has been shown that when it comes to justification, our works simply have no place whatsoever. What has been taught is the truth of justification as generally understood by the church for some 2000 years, but especially as developed, formulated and taught by the church of the Reformation over against the pernicious errors of Rome and the Arminians. The thing that remains in this conference is to explain the significance of this truth for the everyday life of the believer.

The general significance of this truth has already been noted. The theme of this conference uses the fond description given it by the church in the past, “the heart of the gospel.” Previous speakers noted Luther called it, “the article upon which the church stands or falls” and Calvin, “the main hinge upon which religion turns.” We might add that the general significance of justification is also indicated by the depth of treatment it has received by such theologians. For example, in Book Three of his Institutes, Calvin devotes nine of the 25 chapters to justification, compared with one each on faith and regeneration, and three on predestination—so much for stereo-types. He also devotes eight chapters to sanctification, reducing the charge that the Reformed have no place for good works, to outright slander. The general significance of justification was also clear from the text we read, where Scripture not only defends this truth, but calls those who try to overthrow it “dogs” and “evil-workers.”

It is the purpose of this speech, however, to demonstrate from Scripture, the confessions, and Reformed writers, the specific practical benefits the truth of justification affords the believer, and to do this while demonstrating what is forfeited when any other notion of justification is entertained. Furthermore, it is my intention to concentrate on those aspects of justification that apply to our present earthly life, since previous speakers have mentioned the significance of justification for our eternal life and glory.

The practical significance of this truth for our present earthly life is important to demonstrate for two reasons. First, so that believers will be encouraged to battle with great zeal and personal cost for this truth over against error. Even at this present hour, supposedly conservative Reformed and Presbyterian leaders boldly claim that this truth as developed, formulated and taught by the church of the Reformation, is deformed, illegitimate, and diseased. In their opinion thousands of believers offered their backs to the whips, their tongues to the knives, their mouths to the gags, and their bodies to the fire not for the truth of God’s Word, but for a colossal, theological mistake made by our Reformed fathers. This most recent attack, which goes by the name “Federal Vision,” does more than belittle the dear cost paid in the past by Reformed believers to maintain this truth, a despicable thing all by itself. But by assaulting the biblical truth of justification, which is indeed the very heart of the gospel, proponents rob the believer of it practical and saving benefits, and God of His glory. Believers, therefore, must know these benefits of justification for their everyday life, so they personally are moved to maintain it, even at great personal cost.

In the second place, the practical benefits of the truth of justification must be demonstrated so that believers will avail themselves of them. There is a danger that we simply view justification as a theological abstraction and the battle over it as a family quarrel over semantics. The fact is where justification is misunderstood, rejected or overthrown, there simply can be no enjoyment of the rich benefits it provides, only misery.

Justification Establishes the Righteousness of God and our Legal Relationship to All Things

To understand the significance of justification by faith alone for the every day life of the believer, it is first necessary to know what sets it apart from every other aspect of salvation. What is it that makes justification the heart of the gospel, the main hinge upon which religion turns, and the article upon which the church stands or falls? If you suppose the reason is that justification most clearly reveals the sovereign discretion, grace, and mercy of God in salvation apart from the will, worth, and works of men, you would be mistaken. It is true the doctrine of justification clearly reveals these things, but not exclusively or even primarily so. God’s electing love, enlivening regeneration, transforming sanctification, and indeed every part of salvation equally reveal that God saves apart from the will, worth, or work of the sinner. It could even be argued that election more clearly reveals the divine prerogative in salvation, or that sanctification more clearly reveals the divine power in salvation, or regeneration the passivity of man under God’s work.
What sets justification apart and gives it its unique significance is this: Of all the aspects of salvation we enjoy, justification reveals and extols the legal right of the triune God, i.e. His righteousness both within His own being and in His dealings with mankind. And this issue of God’s righteousness is fundamental for the enjoyment of salvation in the Christian life and is what makes justification the heart of the gospel.

God’s righteousness refers to the truth that within His own being and in all His dealings with the creation, particularly mankind, the triune God acts according to the standard of His own ethical goodness. Implied also is the right of God to insist upon and maintain that standard. The righteousness of God is not appreciated much anymore in the churches today. In fact, it would be fair to say that failure to honor it underlies most movements to reject the truth of justification. Churches today may be interested in personal improvement and even deliverance from misery. But as Abraham Kuyper once charged, the whole matter is merely one of “calling for the assistance of the Great Physician, who receives His fee and then is discharged with a few thanks. The question of right does not enter into the matter at all; so long as the sinner is made holy, all is well.”1

God’s righteousness is basic to the Christian faith. It is an essential perfection of God’s own being and activity; if God were unrighteous or act unrighteously, He would not be God. Consider also that along with knowledge and holiness, it is a perfection God communicated to man when He created him in His own image, and is a perfection He immediately restores by Christ in the new man. In addition, the person and every work of Jesus Christ has as its purpose to reveal the righteousness of God. On the cross, rather than let sin go unpunished, God punished the same in His beloved Son, would accept only the sacrifice of His righteousness as satisfaction for sin, and rewarded Him righteously with highest honor and glory for His work. The Heidelberg Catechism teaches Jesus was provided to restore us to righteousness (Q&A16), suffered to obtain for us righteousness (Q&A37), died to satisfy the righteousness of God (Q&A40), and arose and ascended to make us partakers of that righteousness (Q&A45 & 49). He, Jesus Christ, the mystery of godliness, was even Himself justified in the Spirit (1Tim. 3:16) to reveal God’s righteousness.

Should it surprise us then that justification, the forensic, juridical, and legal act of God declaring us righteous on the basis of the cross, is the heart of the gospel? It is so because it establishes God’s righteousness. It reveals God to be the Lawgiver who establishes right and wrong, the Judge who determines what is in conformity with that law, and King who rules in righteousness, punishing or rewarding according to His law. And since it establishes God’s righteousness, it reveals the wonder of His grace in justifying men. As Herman Bavinck put it, “What God most strictly condemns in His holy law, namely the justification of the wicked (Deut. 25:1), what He says of Himself He will never do (Exo. 23:7), that He nevertheless does. But He does it without jeopardizing His righteousness. This is the wonder of the gospel.”2

The further significance of justification, then, is that because it reveals God’s righteousness in establishing a relationship with us, it serves as the legal basis for every relationship of the believer. Abraham Kuyper rightly noted, “Right regulates relations. Right is the basis especially of interpersonal relationships. All are first established and developed on a legal basis, that of right.”3 And so, our justification serves as the basis for our relationship to the world, relationship to sin, to death, to the law, to the church, to every member of the church, to every member of the world, but especially to our relationship to God. There can be no relationship with God apart from justification, and no subsequent change in our condition by God unless there is first a change in our status, that is our legal relationship to God, the legal right of God over us.

Kuyper again: “It is evident that regeneration, calling and conversion, yea, even complete reformation and sanctification, are not sufficient. For although these are very glorious and deliver you from sin’s stain and pollution…yet they do not touch your juridical relation to God. Every member of the church must…realize his juridical position to God, now and forever, that he is not merely man or woman, but a creature belonging to God, absolutely controlled by God, and guilty and punishable when not acting according to the will of God.”4

We will now examine more closely the significance of justification for the believer in these relationships.

Justification and our Relationship to the Church

Justification is basic to our relationship with the church of Jesus Christ. First, it implies that right church membership is essential. To enjoy the benefits of justification by faith alone, one must be a member where it is taught and believed. The reason is that justification is received by means of official worship. By his words in worship, the publican was justified, and by his words in worship the Pharisee was condemned (Matt. 12:37). Christ’s declaration that one is justified is heard only through the right and official preaching of the gospel by ministers called and sent. Christ must speak, for only God can forgive sins. Only God can justify. And he chooses to do so through preaching. Besides, preaching that has at its heart the declaration sinners who believe in Christ are justified, is the primary mark of the true church.

The importance of justification for church membership explains why Luther called it the article upon which the church stands or falls. A true church is one that preaches justification by faith alone, and nothing contrary to it. A church that will not and does not preach justification by faith alone is no church. Where justification by faith alone is rejected and another form of justification is taught, there simply can be no justification of sinners. It may have the form of pure religion and undefiled, but it justifies no member.

In this regard, I think that preaching which declares sinners justified some other way, is no different than a radical Muslim cleric who teaches his followers they are received into the favor of God for killing infidels by detonating a suicide bomb strapped to their waist. It may be believed so that some give up their life for this cause, but what they preach simply does not happen. So also, where the preacher declares that one is justified by faith and works of faith, no one is justified. They can declare it, but it simply isn’t true.

As regards our relationship to the church, justification also serves as the basis for our essential unity as members of the church and right judgment of one another. It is in this connection that Calvin spoke of the  judgment of love or charity. He noted that because unholiness and hypocrisy always exist in the church and in every member, sanctification all by itself cannot be used as a mark of the true church, or any member for that matter. Judgment must be according to love, that is, according to how we ourselves would be judged by other believers in the light of God’s gracious justification of us. This is what Jesus was referring to when He said, “Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment” (John 7:24), and “with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged” (Matt. 7:2). We should keep that in mind in our dealing with one another. We are even required to pray, “Forgive us our sins, as we forgive the sins of others.”

The reason justification serves as the basis for our unity, and of right judgment of one another is because it is the great equalizer in the church of Jesus Christ. Justification is the legal basis for spiritual equality. The Westminster Catechism takes note of this significant fact: “Justification doth equally free all believers from the revenging wrath of God and that perfectly, in this life, that they never fall into condemnation. Sanctification is neither equal in all, nor in this life, perfect in any” (Q&A77). Justification is the one thing that all members of the church, from little children to the oldest saints, share in common. There will be differences in race, gender, gifts, social standing, economic position, and education. There will be differences of growth in sanctification—children who spiritually mature early and adults who are yet spiritually children—but all must be viewed and treated as equals on the basis of their justification.

Justification and our Relationship to the World: Our Flesh and Sin

The doctrine of justification is also significant for our relationship to the world and things that belong to it. Justification changes our entire relationship to the creation, to the law, to sin, and to members of the world. This change in our relationship to the world and the things in it, is indicated in Scripture. The operative phrase is that we “are dead to” them. By this Scripture means that our legal relationship to them is severed so that they no longer have any right over us, while at the same time a new relationship is established with Jesus Christ so we can derive all life and benefit from Him.

We note in the first place that Scripture teaches justification changes the relationship to our own flesh, which has its origins in this world, and the sins which have their source in our flesh. Justification makes us dead to sin and the law of sin in our flesh. For example, 1Peter 2:24 says Christ “bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness.” And Romans 6:1-2: “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?”

Justification, then, is the basis, possibility, and certainty of sanctification, the deliverance from the actual power of sin in our flesh. Justification and sanctification, then, are necessarily and inseparably related; the  relationship is that of legal to actual, status to condition, right to reception, imputation to indwelling. And they are necessarily and inseparably related exactly because it is God that justifies. Justification gives the believer the right to be delivered from the dominion of sin. Through it the right of sin to reign in his flesh is legally overthrown. And, since justification occurs through means of faith—the living, organic connection to Jesus Christ established by God—the believer certainly will be delivered from the power of sin. This explains why the Heidelberg Catechism can so boldly proclaim that it is impossible that the doctrine of justification by faith alone makes men careless and profane (Q&A64). Because of their relationship to Christ by justification through faith, the believer is now dead to sin so that it is impossible that the life of Christ fail to actuate them to a new and godly life. Justification does not depend upon sanctification, but is the legal basis and certainty of it.

That one is justified does not mean sin is dead in the flesh of the believer. That should be clear not only from our experience, but Scripture. Job talked of the iniquities of his youth and that he abhorred himself because of his sin. While David speaks of his integrity in Psalm 7:8, he also confesses his iniquity and his depravity in Psalm 51. “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” And the apostle Paul, a justified saint, remarked, “With the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin” (Rom. 7:25).

The believer must also recognize the presence of in-dwelling sin because faith is counted for righteousness in the man who “believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly” (Rom. 4:5). I believe this to be true, even when speaking of subjective justification. The benefits of justification are experienced continually in our lives not only when we humbly confess our past sin and depravity, but especially when we confess that while justified and sanctified saints, we remain sinners in our flesh. We must accept personal responsibility for our depravity and the sin that issues forth from it like a flood. Otherwise, we become “the whole” who have no need of the physician and “the righteous” who have no need for repentance” (Mark 2:17-18). In the words of Calvin, “to obtain Christ’s righteousness, we must abandon our own righteousness…The heart cannot be open to receive God’s mercy unless it be utterly empty of all opinion of it’s own worth” (Institutes, 3.11.3 and 3.12.7). An example is the publican, who was justified when he cried out, “Be merciful to me, a sinner”—not, “be merciful to me, who used to be a sinner.”

The above, explains why the Heidelberg Catechism includes an entire section on our misery prior to the section on our deliverance where justification is proclaimed. A Reformed preacher does not skip this section and simply go on to preach our deliverance with the attitude, “Well, this stuff about sin, our misery, and depravity is something we used to be and used to need deliverance from.” It, too, is there for our comfort; it is there so we properly evaluate ourselves as we are by nature because it is necessary to enjoy justification. It is necessary because Jesus delivers and gives righteousness to the poor, the needy, the oppressed, the humble, the mourning, the weary and heavy laden, the hungry and thirsty after righteousness. Even the justified, regenerated, and sanctified apostle Paul could still confess, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief” (1Tim. 1:15). Bavinck made the point this way: “Even though the believer shares in the forgiveness of sins (justification) he must consciously, from day to day, keep appropriating it by faith in order to enjoy the assurance and comfort of it. It is true that there are many who continue to live on the basis of a bygone experience and are content with that, but such is not the Christian life.”5

Understanding justification’s change in our relationship to sin (that we are dead to sin, but sin is not dead in us) is also important so we do not minimize sin or God’s law. Previous speakers have pointed out the striking fact that those who attack the truth of justification on the basis that it hinders the performance of good works, generally do not uphold the standard of God’s law or hold it in high esteem themselves. This was true of the self-justifying Pharisees who paid lip service to the law in Jesus’ day. This was true of the Arminians and followers of John Wesley. There is a reason for this. If one is justified in part by his works according to the standard of God’s law, then that standard must be attainable. Otherwise no sinner can be justified. The result of such thinking invariably is that the perfection demanded by the law is lessened, either by saying the law only demands perfect outward performance, or that God accepts imperfect performance as the basis of justification. Striking too, that when this is done, good works in the eyes of men become evil in the eyes of God, since they are not fruits of thankfulness for our justification, but are means to attain justification. This phenomena also explains the complaint voiced by the Presbyterian theologian, John Murray. “Far too frequently we fail to entertain the gravity of our sin against God. This is the reason why this grand article of justification does not ring the bells in the innermost depths of our spirit. This is the reason why the gospel of justification is to such an extent a meaningless sound in the world and in the church of the 20th century.”6

Justification and our Relationship to the World: The Natural Creation

As regards the significance of justification for our relationships in the world, justification also is the basis for the believer’s relationship to the natural creation. Being justified, we are also made dead to the world in that sense. However, we must quickly add that at the same time we are reconciled to the world, which is also redeemed in Christ. That is brought out in two texts in 2 Corinthians. In chapter 4:14-15 Paul says one benefit of justification is that all things are now for your sakes. And in chapter 5:17-18 he says, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation.”

What does this all mean? First, the believer is made dead to the world in the same sense that he is made dead to sin. We are dead to the affects of every evil. They simply cannot change our relationship to God. The evil works for our benefit, enlivening the new man and crucifying the old. Satan, even when tempting us, serves our Lord. This is what Calvin was referring to, when in the context of justification, he remarked that although we are redeemed from a world that otherwise confines and oppresses us, all things now work together for our good” (Institutes, 3.15.8). Our comfort is not simply in God’s providence. Our comfort, as the Heidelberg Catechism teaches, is that the God of providence is my Father, who established that new adoptive relationship when I was justified (Q&A27). Bavinck again: “The earmark of the justified is that in the midst of oppression and persecution to which they are exposed on every hand in the world, they put their trust in the Lord and seek their salvation and blessedness in Him alone. Nowhere is there any deliverance for them, neither in themselves nor in any creature, but in the Lord their God alone.”7

This fact explains why, immediately after teaching that “it is God that justifies,” Paul asks those comforting rhetorical questions, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword” (Rom. 8:36)? Being justified, they are all either averted by God our justifying Father, or they are turned to our profit. Either way, once justified, providence and the world, and even the evil of this world serves our salvation.

Secondly, this truth of justification by faith means that our attitude toward the things of this earthly creation is changed. As Col. 3:2-3 teaches: “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ.” Or 1John 2:15: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.” This attitude toward the world that is the result of our justification, is captured by Paul in Phil. 3:8 we read earlier: “I count [since I am justified] all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung.” Calvin called this attitude a real contempt for this life, adding, “Indeed there is no middle ground between these two. Either the world must become worthless to us, or hold us bound by intemperate love of it” (Institutes, 3.9.1-2).
Thirdly, justification also establishes the right use of the world by the believer. It is important to remember that this contempt we are to have for the world is not absolute since the creation is being redeemed, and given for our benefit as justified believers. Hence, justification serves as the basis for what we call Christian liberty. As Bavinck put it so well, “The believer who is justified in Christ is the freest creature in the world.”8 This connection probably explains why in his section on justification Calvin also treated the subject of Christian liberty. He saw that since we are dead to the world on the basis of our justification, Christian liberty condemns any unbiblical restrictions upon the use of the good things in this creation. Since we are dead with Christ from the rudiments of this world, while living in it we are not subject to ordinances such as touch not, taste not, or handle not (Col. 2:20). Calvin says of those who want to restrict the use of this creation to such laws or even their necessary use, that they “fetter the consciences more tightly than does the Word,” and “deprive us of the lawful fruit of God’s beneficence.” (Institutes, 3.10.1).

As regards the lawful use of this present creation by the justified, Calvin is helpful when he gives us two main principles to live by. The first is that we use this creation as though not using it, or enjoy the gifts of it as though not having them. The operative attitude for Calvin is indifference. For him, adiaphora  were truly the things indifferent, i.e. can only be used lawfully when we are indifferent to them or, to use biblical language, we are dead to them. Secondly, Calvin taught that being justified, we must use and enjoy the creation conscious that we are stewards who must give an account to our Father in the day of Christ.

Justification and our Relationship to God: Peace

We move finally to the significance of the doctrine of justification for our relationship to God.

In the first place we notice that justification is the exclusive means by which we are reconciled to God, that is, by which we enjoy any peaceful and blessed relationship to God. Negatively, that means those who justify themselves are not and cannot be reconciled to God. We are now not so concerned with those who would do so by excusing their sin, but those who attempt to attain justification on the basis of their own works, either in whole or in part. It makes no difference what kind of works they try to make a part of their justification—whether works supposedly performed by an unregenerated person, or good works supposedly done with a sanctified heart. One who believes they play some part in their justification, simply is not justified, either in actuality or the experience.

Bavinck again: “You either have all of Christ’s righteousness or none of it. You cannot get a part of it and fill in the rest ourselves.” In Luke 18:44 Jesus declared frankly to the Pharisees who attempted this, that they were not justified. His sharp word to all who use their works as the basis for their righteousness before God, is this: “Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God” (Luke 16:15). The result of self-justification is everlasting death under the wrath of God. “The man who doeth those things shall live by them,” that is he will not live at all but die by them (Rom. 10:5). The official judgment of the Reformed is that “if we should appear before God, relying on ourselves or any other creature, though ever so little, we should, alas! be consumed” (Belgic Confession, Art. 23).

But for those who believe that they are justified by means of faith alone, the pre-eminent benefit is peace with God, according to Romans 5:1. About this text Calvin remarked, “There Paul says that no peace or quiet joy are retained unless we are convinced we are justified by faith. Those that prate that we are justified by faith because being reborn we are righteous by living spiritually, have never tasted the sweetness of grace” (Institutes, 3.13.5).

Justified, we have peace with God because he removes the guilt of sin from our conscience. Peace with God as regards guilt from sin is what Luther so desired and what drove him to inquire as to what Scripture says. Trying to achieve righteousness through works, he was terrified in his own conscience. But forsaking all that and being justified by faith, all that was taken away.

Then too, we are granted peace with God, because he grants unto us the right to enjoy every blessing in Jesus Christ. Justification is the basis for our adoption as His sons and daughters to enjoy all the rights and privileges of the inheritance which is His kingdom, and to live in conscious fellowship with Him which is the covenant of grace. This ought to thrill every one of us this evening who love God’s covenant, that fellowship with God we enjoy and receive being justified.

Justification and our Relationship to God: God-glorifying Worship and a Thankful Holy Life

Finally, we note that justification is the basis for proper worship, heartfelt praise, honor, and glory of God, whether by word or deed. Without justification, there can be holy living in thankfulness, which is a form of worship. Calvin noted this too. After calling justification the main hinge upon which religion turns, he goes on to explain why: “Unless you first grasp what your relation to God is and the nature of His judgment concerning you, you have neither a foundation upon which to establish your salvation, nor one on which to build piety toward God” (Institutes, 3.11.1). Here, Calvin turns the tables on all advocates of justification by works, faith and works, or faith and the works of faith. Against their charge that the doctrine of justification by faith alone hinders a holy life, he rightly claims that without it men cannot and will not live piously.

History confirms this assertion. For whenever the doctrine of justification by faith alone is overthrown, rejected, or minimized, members of the church become more unholy and profane (as one previous speaker already noted). The reason is that a holy life is the fruit of thankfulness to God for His free grace in justifying us. Whenever we believe we have some part, though ever so small, in our justification, we cannot be thankful to God. Instead we will not only be proud and complacent, but, as Calvin claims, “attempt to our great harm to filch from the Lord the thanks we owe his free kindness” (Institutes, 3.13.1).

There can be no real worship, heartfelt praise, honor and glory to God, with a doctrine of justification by faith and works—only self glory. Or as Scripture declares, “If Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God” (Rom. 4:2). And this is abhorrent in the sight of God, for it robs him of the glory of his righteousness. Calvin again: “Whoever glories in himself, glories against God. Man cannot without sacrilege, claim for himself even a crumb of righteousness, for just so much is plucked and taken away from the glory of God’s righteousness” (Institutes, 3.13.2).

But when we believe we are justified by faith alone, there will be true and acceptable thanksgiving, praise, honor and glory to God expressed in our lives and in worship. This occurs because, as we stated earlier, when God justifies us, He establishes and causes us to experience in the most wonderful way his righteousness, which in turn magnifies and extols his grace. This is why Scripture calls the gospel of righteousness a glorious gospel. The Lord’s purpose in bestowing righteousness upon us graciously in Christ through justification by faith alone is “to declare His own righteousness” (Rom. 3:26). He wills that every mouth be stopped and all the world be rendered guilty before Him (Rom. 3:19ff), because as long as man has anything to say in his defense he detracts from God’s glory.

Without being justified by faith alone, there can be no confidence before the righteousness of God either. Calvin again: “One can easily and readily prattle about the value of works in justifying men. But when we come before the presence of God we must away such amusements. How shall we reply to the heavenly judge when He calls us to an account. Let us envisage for ourselves that Judge. Not as our minds naturally imagine Him, but as He is depicted for us in Scripture. By whose brightness the stars are darkened, by whose strength the mountains are melted, by whose wrath the earth is shaken, whose wisdom catches the wise in their craftiness, besides whose purity all things are defiled, whose righteousness not even the angels can bear, who makes not the guilty man innocent, whose vengeance when once kindled penetrates to the depths of hell. Let us behold Him, I say, sitting in judgment to examine the deeds of men. Who will stand confident before His throne? The answer is the man who is justified by faith alone and only that man” (Institutes, 3.12.1).

All these benefits for the justified believer as regards his relationship to God are summarized in one of the most beautiful passages of the Reformed Confessions: “The result of being justified freely by His grace is that the believer ascribes all glory to God, humbles himself before God, and acknowledging ourselves such as we really are, relies and rests upon the obedience of Christ crucified alone. This gives us confidence in approaching to God, freeing the conscience of fear terror and dread. Therefore, as Hebrews 4:16 puts it, we may come boldly unto that throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Belgic Confession, Art. 23). And if these were the only benefits of justification by faith alone, it should be enough to motivate us to fight hell itself for this doctrine. And many have.

We conclude with a fitting quote from Martin Luther: “Whoever departs from the article of justification does not know God and is an idolater. For when this article has been taken away, nothing remains but error, hypocrisy, godlessness and idolatry, although it may seem to be the height of truth, worship of God, and holiness.” Give thanks to God for this unspeakable gift.

This lecture was hosted by the Evangelism Committee of the First Protestant Reformed Church of Holland.  For an audio copy (MP3, CD, or cassette tape), please contact us.

Prof. David J. Engelsma

Introduction

What a grand gospel truth is justification by faith alone.  What a blessed gift of God to us is justification by faith alone.  And what a blessed work of the Spirit of Jesus Christ in our consciousness is justification by faith alone.

Justification is the strictly legal act of God as judge in which He forgives the sins of the one who believes in Jesus Christ and reckons him righteous on the basis alone of the obedience of Jesus Christ in the stead of this sinner.  This is how David describes justification in Psalm 32:1-2, where he proclaims the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness without works.  “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.  Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.”  And this is how the apostle Paul describes justification, with appeal to this passage in the Psalms, in Romans 4:5.  “To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted [or imputed, or reckoned] for righteousness.”

The sole basis of this act of God the judge pronouncing the ungodly but believing sinner righteous is the obedience of Jesus Christ in the sinner’s stead.  The basis is both Christ’s lifelong obedience to the law of God, and Christ’s death as complete and perfect satisfaction of God’s justice regarding the elect sinner’s guilt.  Paul writes in Romans 5:19 that it is by the obedience of one, that is, Jesus Christ, that many are “constituted” (not, “made,” as is the translation of the Authorized Version there) righteous, just as all of us were constituted guilty by “one man’s disobedience.”  The only righteousness that avails in the heavenly courtroom with God the judge, Who is awesome in His holiness, is the righteousness worked out by God Himself in the obedient life and death of His own incarnate Son, Jesus Christ.

This righteousness, is God’s own righteousness, as Paul teaches in Romans 3:25:  Especially in the propitiation of the cross, God declared His righteousness.  In Romans 10:3, the charge of the apostle against the Jews, and against all who in any way whatever make their own obedience in whole or in part, their righteousness with God, is that they are “ignorant of God’s righteousness” and go about to “establish their own righteousness;” their sin is that they do not submit themselves to the righteousness of God.

This righteousness, which is God’s own, and the only righteousness that avails with God so as to obtain the verdict, “innocent,” and so as to throw the doors to eternal life open to the sinner, this righteousness, I say, is granted to the sinner by means of faith, and by means of faith only.  This is the teaching of the apostle in Romans 3:28: “We conclude that a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the law.”  Faith in Jesus Christ is the means, the instrument, by which the sinner receives righteousness by imputation, so that his standing with God the judge is that it is as if he had never sinned, as if he had himself perfectly obeyed the law of God, and as if he himself had completely paid for all his sins and merited eternal life.  Inasmuch as Romans 3:28 contrasts faith with “the deeds of the law,” the apostle in fact teaches that justification is by faith alone.

When Martin Luther translated Romans 3:28 by the word “allein” in German, that is the word “alone,” rendering the text, “a man is justified by faith alone without the deeds of the law,” he captured the meaning of the Holy Spirit and translated the text correctly.

This understanding of Romans 3:28, Galatians 2:16, and other texts, namely, that these texts teach that we are justified by faith alone, is confessional with all Reformed people.  Q&A 60 of the Heidelberg Catechism, for example, answers the question “How art thou righteous before God?” this way: “Only by a true faith in Jesus Christ.”

What a grand gospel truth this is.  It is the heart of the biblical gospel, declared Luther and the entire Protestant Reformation.  Calvin agreed, calling justification by faith alone, in his Institutes, “the hinge on which all religion turns.”

As a purely gracious act of God, justification by faith alone glorifies God.  The righteousness of a sinner, upon which all blessing and salvation depend, is God’s free gift.  The righteousness of the sinner before God is God’s own righteousness worked out by God in the incarnation and atoning death of His Son.  Inasmuch as the act of justifying, the obedience that is the basis of the justifying, and even the faith itself of the sinner by which he receives righteousness, are God’s free gift in sovereign grace, justification points to God’s eternal election in grace as the source of justification, and magnifies the grace of God.

As a purely gracious act of God, justification by faith alone affords peace to the believer.  “Though my conscience accuse me that I have grossly transgressed all the commandments of God, and kept none of them, and am still inclined to all evil,” I am confident that I am righteous before God on the basis of the obedience of Christ.  This is the testimony of the Heidelberg Catechism in Q&A 60.  Without justification by faith alone, depending on even one good work of our own, “we would always be in doubt, tossed to and fro without any certainty, with our poor consciences continually vexed,” we confess in Article 24 of the Belgic Confession.

Where now does this truth of justification by faith alone leave the good works of the justified believer?  Is there still a place at all for good works?  Is this place of good works an important place, even a necessary place?  Or are good works, and the call to perform good works, excluded, or perhaps minimized?  The question is this: What is the relation between justification by faith alone and good works?

This, my friends, is an important question in itself, apart from any controversy over the issue.  The same gospel that excludes good works from justification includes good works in the salvation of us by the Spirit.  The same gospel that warns us against bringing good works into justification warns against leaving good works out of our lives.

Adding to the urgency of a right understanding of the relation between justification and good works is the attack on justification by faith alone by determined foes of that truth.  This attack on justification by faith alone is raised, allegedly, on behalf of good works.  The urgency is heightened today in the community of Reformed churches by an attack on justification by faith alone in the name of an emphasis on good works from within the Reformed churches themselves.  Indeed this attack on justification by faith alone is raised by prominent, influential, Reformed theologians, seminary professors, and ministers of the gospel.  These men are spokesmen for a movement known as the “federal vision,” that is literally “covenant vision,” because it is the development of a certain doctrine of the covenant.  Basic to this covenant doctrine is an attack on justification by faith alone.  This attack is defended as a promotion of good works in the life of the Christian.

This attack on justification by faith alone is found today in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, the Presbyterian Church in America, the United Reformed Churches, and the Orthodox Christian Reformed Churches.  Not only is the attack on justification by faith alone found in these churches, but it is also tolerated by these churches.  Not only is it tolerated by these churches, but in the case of at least three of these churches the attack on justification by faith alone has been upheld by the major assemblies – by classes, presbyteries, and synods.

The Attack on Justification on behalf of Good Works

The main attack on the gospel truth of justification by faith alone by its foes in every age is the argument that justification by faith alone weakens, if it does not destroy altogether, zeal for a holy life of good works.

At the outset, we should recognize the seeming validity of this charge.  Justification by faith alone asserts that the works of the sinner who is justified do not at all enter into the justification of the sinner.  Not all the good works he may do, and not one of the sinful works he has done, be that sinful work never so gross, enter into his justification by God.  On the basis of this doctrine, the carnal mind, the fleshly thought, the natural man says, “This inevitably results in carelessness of life on the part of those who embrace this doctrine.”

Up to the present hour, three notable champions of good works, as they like to have us believe, have arisen, who oppose justification by faith alone, because the doctrine is harmful to good works.

The first of these foes of justification by faith alone is the Roman Catholic church.  At the Reformation, and ever after, Rome has condemned the truth of justification by faith alone as destructive of zeal for holiness of life.  It is to this charge by Rome that the Heidelberg Catechism is responding in Q. 64: “But doth not this doctrine (that is, the doctrine of justification by faith alone) make men careless and profane?”  I do not take Rome’s pretended concern for holiness of life and for good works seriously.  Nor should anyone take Rome’s pretended concern for good works seriously.  When Rome puts on her pious face and displays concern lest Reformed Protestants come short of holiness, I laugh, out loud.  That that foul church at the time of the Reformation should have criticized Protestantism for unholiness was a joke.  That that church of widespread sodomy and buggery, who covered up the iniquity at the highest levels, until the secular press blew the whistle on their perversions, should censure Reformed Christians for carelessness is ludicrous.  That the church that accepts Ted Kennedy and most of the mafia as members in good standing, and who will give those men fine funeral masses when they die and perish eternally, should even utter a peep about justification and good works is sheer hypocrisy.  But we are interested in Rome’s charges, because they are the very same charges that are always raised also by the other enemies of justification by faith alone.  Indeed, Rome’s charges are the very same as those that were raised against the apostle Paul himself when he was proclaiming the doctrine of justification in the epistle to the Romans.

The second noteworthy attack on justification, supposedly because the doctrine is hurtful to holiness of life and good works, comes from the Arminians.  This is not so well known among us because we concentrate on their denial of election, efficacious atonement for the elect alone, sovereign grace, and the perseverance of the saints.  But the Arminians denied justification by faith alone also.  And they denied it, as they said, because they saw it as detrimental to human responsibility and the life of holiness.  The Canons of Dordt refer to this aspect of the Arminian heresy in Head II, Rejection of Errors #4, where they condemn the error that “regards faith itself and the obedience of faith, although imperfect, as the perfect obedience of the law, and does esteem it worthy of the reward of eternal life through grace.”  John Wesley was a true son of James Arminius and Simon Episcopius in his denial of justification by faith alone as destructive of John Wesley’s idea of holiness.

The third notable assault on justification by faith alone has been launched in the past thirty years or so from within the Reformed churches themselves, indeed, from within Reformed and Presbyterian churches that are widely reputed to be the most conservative Presbyterian and Reformed churches.  I refer to the movement that promotes a theology known as the “federal vision,” a movement that is influenced by an understanding of Paul, especially in Romans and Galatians, that differs from the understanding of Paul that Luther had, that Calvin had, that the whole Reformed tradition has had, and especially that the Reformed confessions have.  This is called the new perspective on Paul.  Because this denial of justification by faith alone has risen within, and is nourished in the bosom of, reputedly conservative Reformed churches, and because it bases itself upon a popular, indeed the prevailing, doctrine of the covenant, this attack on justification by faith alone is the most dangerous to professing, Reformed Christians today.  Indeed, I regard this heresy as the gravest threat to the Reformed faith since the Synod of Dordt.

The attack on justification by faith alone, on behalf of good works, as they say, always takes the same form, and always uses the same arguments.  Whether it is coming out of the mouth of the Roman Catholic theologian, out of the mouth of the Arminian theologian, or out of the mouth of the spokesman in conservative Reformed churches for the “federal vision,” the argument is always the same.

The fundamental argument against justification by faith alone is this, that a believer will be motivated to be zealous for good works only if he supposes that his justification depends on those good works, or is earned by those good works, or if he is driven by the terrifying conviction that his good works make him worthy of God’s justification of him.  This is the fundamental argument.  The only motivation for zeal in doing good works is the supposition that those good works are the basis or ground of righteousness, that these good works are the condition of salvation, that these good works make one worthy of eternal life.  If this argument is wrong (and the gospel of Scripture says it is dead wrong), the whole argument against justification by faith alone collapses.

Related to this fundamental argument are several other perennial arguments against justification by faith alone.  For one thing, so the argument runs, when Paul teaches justification by faith without the deeds of the law, or apart from the law, he is only excluding certain kinds of works – ceremonial works (such as circumcision), or works that are done in order to merit, or works that are done by unregenerated people.  According to those who raise this argument, Paul does not intend to exclude from justification truly good works, works done out of love for God by the believing Christian.

Another argument goes like this.  When God promises, as He certainly does, to reward our good works, the meaning is that our good works earn salvation, or make us worthy of salvation, or are the basis of our salvation in part, so that our justification is partly, at least, by good works, and not only by faith.

Then there is this argument.  When the Bible teaches in II Corinthians 5:10, and other places, that our final judgment will take place “according to” our works, it means that the final judgment, which decides our eternal destiny, will be based in part on the works that we have performed.  And because the final judgment will only be the public version of the justification that we experience today, inasmuch as the final judgment will be based on our works, so also is our justification today, in our own experience, justification on the basis of works.

Of special interest to us, is the argument against justification by faith alone by the men of the “federal vision.”  Their argument against justification by faith alone is an argument from a certain doctrine of the covenant.  It is the argument that since God’s covenant with His people is conditional, that is, a covenant that depends upon the baptized child’s own faith and obedience, also justification in the covenant is conditional.  That is, God’s justification of the baptized children depends on the child’s act of believing, and on the child’s lifelong obedience to God in the covenant.
Now this is not entirely new, since the notion of a conditional covenant and conditional salvation in the covenant has been found and has been defended in Reformed churches for a long time.  This is the doctrine against which the Protestant Reformed Churches battled hard in the late 1940s and early 1950s.  It is this doctrine of the covenant that now is being developed into a full-blown denial of justification by faith alone, and with this central gospel truth, a denial of all of the so-called “5 points of Calvinism.”  What is new is that the doctrine of a conditional covenant is now applied to the truth of justification with the result that men boldly deny justification by faith alone.

I have demonstrated that the “federal vision’s” denial of justification by faith alone is the development of the doctrine of a conditional covenant in my book, The Covenant of God and the Children of Believers. (RFPA, 2005)

The view of justification defended by all those who attack justification by faith alone is this: justification is not strictly a legal act of God, but also a renewing, sanctifying work, actually making the sinner good.  Justification, in this case, does not depend entirely upon Christ’s obedience for us and outside us, but it depends also in part upon us ourselves, upon our own obedience, and upon our own good works.  And, on this view, justification does not consist only of the obedience and righteousness of Jesus Christ, the perfect righteousness of Christ made up of His lifelong obedience and His atoning death in our place; rather, the righteousness that is recognized by God in justification is also partly our own – our own imperfect righteousness, made up of our own imperfect good works.

What is the response of the orthodox Reformed faith to this attack on justification by faith alone on behalf of good works, whether by the Roman Catholic Church, by the Arminians (who are 90 % or more of those professing Christians in North America who call themselves evangelicals and fundamentalists), or by the defenders of a conditional covenant?

In the first place, we respond that the attack itself upon us and our doctrine of justification confirms that we are holding the same gospel truth of justification that the apostle Paul held and confessed, especially in Romans and Galatians.  Paul’s teaching on justification drew the same attack, the very same attack.  “Paul,” charged his opponents, “you make void the law through faith” (Romans 3:31).  “Paul,” they exclaimed, “you are preaching that we may and that we will continue in sin, that grace may abound” (Romans 6:1).  Speaking for myself, and for the Protestant Reformed Churches, we rejoice that our confession of justification is still drawing this attack.  If our confession of justification did not draw this attack, I would be worried that there is something wrong with our doctrine of justification.  The confession and preaching of very few Reformed churches today concerning justification draw this attack.  Very few Reformed churches are so clearly and sharply preaching and confessing justification by faith alone and salvation by free, sovereign, unconditional grace, that opponents charge them with teaching a doctrine that results in carelessness of life.

In the second place, our response to the attack is Paul’s own: “God forbid!”  We do not disparage a life of good works in obedience to the law of God.  On the contrary, by the teaching of justification by faith alone we establish such a life of zeal for good works.

In the third place, we do not respond to these attacks by compromising the doctrine of justification by faith alone – not in the slightest.  But we defend the doctrine against the attacks.  Justification is by faith alone.  All our works are excluded, including our truly good works, the works that we do in the power of the Spirit of Christ.  The sole basis of our righteousness with God is the obedience of Christ, and not our own obedience, not whatsoever.  The only work that is our righteousness with God is the work for us of another, even Jesus Christ.

With regard to the specific arguments that are raised against justification by faith alone, we respond that when Paul excludes the deeds of the law, and the law, from justification, he is referring to all our works.  Galatians 3:10, 12 prove this, for in these passages the law, about which he says in verse 11 that it has no place in the justification of the sinner, obviously refers to the entire law of God, including the ten commandments.  In verse 10, Paul quotes Deuteronomy 27:26: “Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.”  The “book of the law” includes all the commandments, not merely ceremonial commandments.  Accordingly, when, in verse 11, the apostle denies that anyone is justified “by the law,” he refers to the entire law.

Regarding the promised reward, we respond that the Bible does indeed promise us a reward for our good works.  But this reward is a reward of grace, not a reward that we earn, not a reward that we deserve, and not wages that God pays us for our labors.  The reward is of grace because God in His grace eternally ordained the good works that we should walk in. (Ephesians 2:10)  The reward is of grace because by His death Jesus Christ earned for us the right to do good works. (Titus 2:14)  It is a privilege to do good works in the service of God.  The reward is a reward of grace because the Spirit of Christ Himself works these works in us and through us (Philippians 2:13).  The reward is a reward of grace because when God accepts them of us He first justifies, or forgives, all those good works with regard to the corruption and sin that stain every one of them.  And the reward is a reward of grace because when God gives us the reward, which is eternal life and the place that we have in glory, He does that, not because He owes it to us, but in free favor. (Heidelberg Catechism, Q. 63)

With regard to the argument against free justification that appeals to the final judgment and to the fact that we will be judged according to our works, it is certainly true that the judgment of us on the world’s last day will be the justification of us who believe in Jesus Christ.  It will be a public justification.  Today, when I believe in Jesus Christ, I am justified privately.  God and I know that I am justified by faith in Christ.  There comes a day when I will stand before God the judge in the presence of the whole world, elect and reprobate, devils and angels, and then God will make public the justification that now is private.  That justification of the final judgment will be a strictly legal act of God.  It will not occur, nor does Scripture ever say so, because of our works, or on the basis of our works.  But it will take place according to our works as a kind of standard.  In that final judgment, the sole basis of our justification will be what it is today, namely, the obedience of Jesus Christ in our stead.  Thank God for that!  If this is not true, we have no hope.  But in that day, the good works that we have done by the grace of God will be displayed by God, forgiven of all the corruption that tainted them, so that those works display and demonstrate the reality of God’s gracious judgment and salvation of us to the praise of God.

To the attack on justification that arises from the doctrine of a conditional covenant, we reply, first, that on the basis of a conditional covenant the denial of justification by faith alone, and of all the doctrines of grace, follows.  If the covenant is conditional, justification is by faith and works.  And if the covenant is conditional, so is election conditional, the atonement conditional, the salvation of a sinner conditional, and eternal life conditional.

But, second, our response is that the very fact that a conditional covenant implies justification by faith and works proves that the doctrine of a conditional covenant is false doctrine.  It is the introduction into the Reformed churches of a gospel of salvation by man’s own willing and working.

Third, our response is that the covenant is unconditional.  God promises the covenant to, and fulfils the covenant with Jesus Christ and all the elect in Jesus Christ out of mere grace, as Galatians 3:16 and Galatians 3:29 teach.  Galatians 3:16 teaches that the covenant promise to Abraham’s seed was a promise to Christ, who is the seed of Abraham.  The covenant promise never was directed to all the physical offspring of Abraham.  According to Galatians 3:29, those, and only those, who belong to Christ by divine election are included in the seed of Abraham and are objects of the promise.  Today the entire conservative Reformed and Presbyterian church world is put on guard by God, through the theology of the “federal vision,” that the doctrine of a conditional covenant is the rejection of the gospel of salvation by grace.  And the whole Reformed church world is being tested regarding the fundamental confession of the Reformed churches down through the ages, that salvation is by grace alone.

Our response to the attack on justification by faith alone, in the fourth place, is this, that we on our part charge those who teach justification by faith and works that they destroy the peace and the certainty of salvation of the child of God, that they rob God of His glory, and that they are, as Calvin accuses everyone who teaches justification by faith and works, Pharisees.  Everyone who teaches and believes justification by works in any form is a Pharisee.  According to our Lord, in Luke 18:14, Pharisees are not justified.  How can one be justified who depends on his own sin-tainted works and dares, as Robert Trail put it, to make his own pitiful holiness sit on the throne of judgment with the precious blood of the lamb of God.

The Truth of James 2

I have so far deliberately bypassed the chief argument always used for justification by faith and works, and against justification by faith alone.  This is a biblical argument.  It is the appeal to James 2:14ff.  I now want to consider the attack on justification by faith alone consisting of an appeal to James 2, and in connection with this appeal,  the truth of James 2 concerning justification.

James 2, teaches that both Abraham, in offering up Isaac at God’s command, and Rahab, in receiving and saving the Israelite spies, were justified by works (vss. 21, 25).  James 2 teaches that from these important events in Old Testament history, explained as justification by works, we see “how that by works a man is justified and not by faith only” (vs. 24).   Apparently, James 2 teaches that justification is by works, and not by faith only.  And, seemingly, in chapter 2 James teaches a doctrine that is clean contrary to the teaching of the apostle Paul, who, in Romans 3 and 4, in Galatians 2, and in other places, teaches that justification is not by works, but by faith alone.

It is not surprising that the enemies of justification by faith alone make much of James 2.  James 2 is the decisive passage for them all.  Rome quoted James 2 to Martin Luther endlessly, until at one point, in exasperation, the Reformer dismissed James as a “right strawy epistle” – an epistle of straw (a charge he did not maintain).  Similarly, the contemporary defenders of justification by works in the Reformed churches sit in James 2.  This all by itself is highly significant.  These defenders of justification by works in the Reformed churches line up with Rome against the gospel of the Reformation.

The explanation of James 2 by the enemies of justification by faith alone is as follows.  James teaches that justification, as an act of God by which the sinner becomes righteous, is very really by the good works of the sinner, so that the righteousness of the sinner is partly his own obedience to the law of God.  According to these defenders of justification by faith and works, God takes the sinner’s works into account in the act of justification.  James is to be harmonized with Paul in this way, that, although both of them are speaking of justification in the same sense, they have different works in view.  The works that Paul excludes from justification in Romans 3:28 are only ceremonial works, and works that are done to merit salvation.  On the other hand, they say, the works that James has in view are the truly good works that proceed from faith.

This was the explanation of James 2 that Rome has always given.  This is the explanation of James 2 that the advocates of the “federal vision” are now giving.  Our righteousness with God is partly Christ’s obedience, and partly our own.  Our justification today and in the day of judgment depends partly on Christ’s work for us and partly on our own good works.  In the justifying act of God by which we become righteous, our own works enter in.  His holy eye falls on them, not as sins to be pardoned, but as deeds that must be acceptable to God, to make us worthy of eternal life.  And we stroll into the judgment, now and on the world’s last day, with our good works in our hands, pleading these works as deeds upon which our eternal destiny shall depend.

Is this not too terrifying to contemplate?  Will you and I face the last judgment in this way?  Must I die with this terrifying thought in my soul: my eternal destiny rests upon something I have done, upon myself?  Is this not gross insult – the insult of self-righteous unbelief – to the perfect righteousness God has worked out in Christ?

This is not the teaching of James 2.

First of all, whatever James teaches in chapter 2, it is in harmony with what Paul teaches, because the Spirit cannot contradict Himself in the Bible.  Paul is teaching about justification in the sense of a legal act of God acquitting us of guilt and reckoning us righteous.  This is plain from Paul’s language in Romans 3 and 4: “imputes;” “forgives;” “to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly;” Abraham our father was not “justified by works.” (Romans 4:1-8)

Second, James is speaking of justification in a different sense from Paul.  James refers to the believer’s proof and demonstration of his free justification by faith alone.  The man who has been justified by faith alone will show that justification.  He will show it to other men.  He will prove that justification to himself.  And he will show that justification to God his judge.  He will show his justification by the good works that always are the fruit of justification.

This has always been the explanation of James 2 by the Reformed fathers.  In his commentary on James 2:14ff, John Calvin wrote that justification by works in James 2 refers to the “proof [Abraham] gave of his justification.”  Justification by works in James 2 means “that righteousness is known and proved by its fruits.”

That this is indeed James’ meaning the passage itself shows.  James is contending with church members who, although they profess faith, in fact have a “dead” faith, a faith that produces no good works at all, but is content to live impenitently in sin.  James challenges this kind of church member: “show me thy faith without thy works,” and adds, “I will show thee my faith by my works” (vs. 18).

James himself calls attention to the fact that Abraham was justified by God’s legal act of forgiving sins, and imputing righteousness by faith alone, long before Abraham offered up his son Isaac on the mountain.  Right in the middle of his doctrine of justification, James quotes Genesis 15:6: “and the Scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness.”  This happened many years before Isaac was born.  Abraham believed the promise of God.  And Abraham’s faith, apart from any works at all, including the sacrifice of Isaac, was imputed unto Abraham for righteousness.

James is teaching exactly what Jesus had taught in Luke 7:47 about the sinful woman who loved Him, because He had forgiven all her sins, and who anointed His feet with the precious ointment.  “Her sins, which are many are forgiven; for she loved much.”  He did not mean that her love was the ground of her forgiveness.  But He meant that her love was proof and evidence of the forgiveness of her many sins.  That this was Jesus meaning is put beyond doubt by the second part of Luke 7:47: “but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.”

This is the teaching of James 2.  Good works, which have no part in the sinner’s being accounted righteous before God (for this is by faith alone), are the necessary fruit and demonstration of justification.  By the good works of loving gratitude to Him who has graciously forgiven their sins, Abraham, Rahab, and every true believer are justified demonstratively.

James 2, therefore, is an important passage, to teach us the right relation between justification by faith alone and a life of good works.

The Relation Between Justification and Works

Good works, indeed an entire, consistent life of good works – good works in personal life, good works in high school, good works in dating, good works in marriage, good works in the home and family, good works on the job, good works at church, good works in the midst of and over against the godless, depraved culture and society in which we are privileged to shine as light in the darkness – I say, good works are the fruits of justification by faith alone.  They are fruits and evidences of our justification by faith alone.  Our good works are not the conditions for justification, nor the basis of justification, nor the content of justification, but the fruits of it.

Good works are the fruits of justification in two ways.

First, the faith by which we are justified is a true and living faith.  As a true and living faith, it unites us to the resurrected, living, Jesus Christ so that by this faith we also receive the cleansing, empowering grace of Christ to live godly lives.  Whomever He justifies, them He also sanctifies.  Although we are justified by faith without any works, the faith that justifies is never without its works.

Second, good works are the fruit of justification in this way, that the forgiven sinner, freed from the guilt and shame of sin, and freed therefore from death and hell, and to whom now heaven is opened up, and upon whom the smiling face of God now shines, will love his gracious Savior.  And this thankful love for God is the motive of a life of good works.  Oh, it is a mighty motive for zeal for good works.  This was Jesus’ teaching about the relation between justification and good works in the parable of the two debtors in Luke 7:42: “and when they had nothing to pay, he freely forgave them both.  Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most?”  If we are forgiven, we will love.  And if we are forgiven much, we will love much.  Without love for God for gracious justification, no good work is possible at all.  We must hear Him say to our soul: “My son, My daughter, adopted in the cross, I freely forgive all your sins.  I impute to you the righteousness of My Son.”  Then we will be zealous for good works – we cannot but be zealous for good works.

Fact is, and let the advocates of justification by works hear it, every work that is done out of the motive of earning, out of the motive of repaying, out of the motive of fulfilling a condition, out of the motive to make ourselves worthy, out of the motive of grounding our salvation, in order to make a universal gracious promise effective for oneself, every such work is evil, is sin.  Love works in the only way pleasing to God.  And love confesses the truth of salvation by grace alone.  Love obeys the law.  Love heeds the precepts and follows the example of Jesus in the gospel.

The preacher has no reason to fear that if he preaches justification by faith alone, the doctrine will breed carelessness in his congregation.

This is not to say that there will not be those who abuse the doctrine by showing themselves careless in their life.  That some will do this explains the presence in the Bible of James 2.

It may not be overlooked that James 2 is a necessary warning concerning justification and good works.  There were in the church at that time those who were loudly confessing gracious salvation, but were failing to live in good works, especially by cruelty toward their fellow church members.  There still are such people in the church.  I myself have contended with these people, and those were some of the fiercest conflicts in all of my ministry.  Oh, how loudly they spoke of sovereign grace.  But then in their lives showed no fruits of good works.  The preacher and consistory must admonish them in strong language: “Do you make an orthodox confession while living wickedly?  So does Satan.  Wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?”

By this very admonition, written on the pages of inspired Scripture, which comes to us all, we who have a living faith are stirred up the more to a life of good works, to show our faith.  This glorifies God, Who saves, not only from the punishment of sin, but also from sin’s pollution and slavery.  And He saves from sin’s pollution and power in the same way He saves from sin’s guilt: by the gospel of grace, not by the law.

This lecture was hosted by the Evangelism Committee of the First Protestant Reformed Church of Holland.  For an audio copy (MP3, CD, or cassette tape), please contact us.

Rev. Ronald Van Overloop

Introduction

It is my privilege to speak to you this evening on a most important subject. It is objectively important because it was the material principle of the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century, and it remains such in Reformed churches. It is subjectively important for every child of God because it is knowing how I am right before God.

Martin Luther maintained that this truth was the difference between a standing and a falling church. If a church upholds the truth of justification by faith alone, then in Luther’s judgment it was a standing church. If they did not, then it was falling. The importance of the truth of justification by faith alone is also evidenced in the fact that thee two creeds which arose out of the Reformation, the Belgic Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism, maintain and defend this truth, and they do so in precise, powerful, and comforting terms: Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Days 23,24,51 and Belgic Confession, Articles 22 – 24.

The importance of this truth can also been seen in the kind of attention Satan gives to it. Throughout the history of the church Satan has attacked the truth of justification by faith alone. Some of his most deceptive attacks have been and are made when he distorts the language, using the words “justification by faith,” but making them mean something different. Most often Satan attacks the use of the word “alone.” Those who identify their position as “federal vision” are attacking this fundamental and precious truth, doing so in a most deceptive way. They will speak of the fact that justification is by faith and that it is through grace, but they add that justification is not only by faith, but also by the works which flow from faith. The result is that justification is not by faith alone!

And the importance of the truth of justification by faith alone is experienced. It was in the life of Martin Luther. And every believer has times when he wonders how he can stand before the holy God whose eyes will not behold iniquity. Every believer is aware of his sins and of the presence of great sinfulness within. We ask, How will I know when the great day of judgment comes that I can stand before that judgment seat without terror? Then everything that I have done, said, and thought will be exposed. How can I look forward to that day with a comfortable sense of God’s favor? How do we gain such assurance when my conscience accuses me that I have grossly transgressed all of God’s commandments? How can I have this assurance when others point out my errors? How can I stand before God? How does He receive me? The answer to these penetrating questions is found only in the truth of justification by faith alone. This truth is the heart of the gospel as far as the experience of every child of God is concerned.

What Justification Is

What is justification? Herman Hoeksema defined it as an act of the grace of God, whereby He imputes, puts on the legal account of one who is guilty and condemned but elect His perfect righteousness in Christ, acquitting him of all his guilt and punishment on the grounds of the merit of Christ’s work, and giving to this sinner the right to eternal life. Justification is a part of salvation from sin in Christ as God applies salvation to each of His elect.

Our creeds speak of justification in the same way. Both the Belgic Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism describe justification as a work of God in the experience of a believer. Scripture declares, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. For whom he did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified” (Romans 8:28-30). This passage speaks of justification as a work of God – His legal declaration in the consciousness of the elect, called, believing sinner. When we speak of justification tonight, we will be speaking of it as a part of the work of God in saving every elect sinner, giving to them salvation from sin in Christ. Justification is God declaring to the consciousness of His regenerated and called children that they are forgiven and righteous.

God by His Spirit speaks to the consciousness of the humbled and broken sinner of His act of changing his legal position before God, the Judge, from a state of guilt to a state of innocence. God speaks to the repenting sinner of His work of having justified him in Christ. Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the Publican concludes with the publican going “to his house justified.” The Pharisee and the publican went to the temple to pray. The Pharisee stood and prayed with himself, “God I thank Thee, that I am not as other men are.” The publican found a place in a far corner and there He humbly pleaded for mercy – God’s undeserved pity for a miserable sinner. God spoke to the consciousness of that broken, humble sinner, working in him an awareness that God had done something for him. The humble sinner left the temple justified, rejoicing in the knowledge and assurance of his justification. Justification is the humble sinner hearing God declare that his legal status before the holy and righteous Judge is changed from one of guilt to one of innocence. Believing what God had spoken by His Spirit to his consciousness, the publican went home no longer beating his breast as he did in the temple, but happy with the blessedness of justification.

While God’s declaration of the justification of His elect children took place once at the cross of Christ, the justification which takes place in the consciousness of His children occurs repeatedly. Every time the sinner repents, God gives the humbled sinner the knowledge that all his sins and sinfulness are forgiven for Jesus’ sake. Why it is that the children of the heavenly Father are taught to pray repeatedly: “forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors”? In answering this question our spiritual fathers use the language of justification in the Heidelberg Catechism. “Be pleased for the sake of Christ’s blood not to impute to us poor sinners, our transgressions, nor that depravity, which always cleaves to us” (Q. 126). Every time we pray the fifth petition of the Lord’s Prayer we are asking our Father in heaven to justify us, that is, not to impute to us our sins and the sinfulness which lies within us. Justification is repeated, not because God’s act of justifying is imperfect, but because the sinner repeatedly sins and needs to be told, over and over, that his sins are not imputed to him.

There are two major elements in God’s declaration of an elect sinner’s justification. The one is negative and the other is positive. The first element of justification is that God instructs the elect ungodly that he is forgiven, delivering him from all the guilt and shame of his sins. The sinner knows that he is only worthy of condemnation and his conscience condemns him (Luke 18:13). But God declares him to be forgiven – perfect innocent. Listen to the Heidelberg Catechism. “Though my conscience accuse me, that I have grossly transgressed all the commandments of God, and kept none of them, and am still inclined to all evil; notwithstanding, God, without any merit of mine, but only of mere grace, grants and imputes to me, the perfect satisfaction, righteousness and holiness of Christ; even so, as if I never had had, nor committed any sin. (Q. 60). God forgives. He takes away my condemnation, the penalty I deserve, the shame that comes with the penalty, and the consciousness of the guilt which drove the publican to beat his breast in the far corner of the temple. God declares that our sin is gone. He declares that in His judgment we are no longer worthy of being condemned. For what can a justified sinner be condemned? His sin is gone. Long ago a catechism teacher taught me that to be justified means “just-as-if-I’d-never-sinned.” The Heidelberg says, “As if I never had had, nor committed any sin.”
The second element of justification is God declaring to the consciousness of the elect sinner that he is righteous. Simply put, to be righteous is to be right in God’s sight because God’s law has been perfectly fulfilled. God declares that in Christ the believing sinner has fulfilled His law (Romans 5:19). It does not matter what my sight sees or what others say they see in me. Righteousness is that God declares that I have done what is right. Again, the Heidelberg Catechism puts it very well: “as if I had fully accomplished all that obedience which Christ has accomplished for me” (Q. 60). It is the reality of this second element of justification which makes the simple definition of justification (just-as-if-I’d-never-sinned) simplistic, because it does not speak of righteousness. Justification means that God declares one to be righteous. This is a real righteousness. God, the perfect Judge declares the elect, regenerated, called sinner to be righteous. The justified sinner is aware that he is worthy to be condemned to everlasting damnation, but God, out of His own good pleasure, merely of grace, for the sake of Christ declares this sinner to be perfectly righteous, and thus worthy of intimate friendship with God, both now and eternally in heaven. The present relationship with God is that the justified one is a child of God, graciously adopted into His family. And he is an heir of eternal life. Children are heirs, co-heirs with Christ of everlasting life with God.

We must say one more thing about the righteousness which God reckons to the account of the justified. It is God declaring one to be righteous by imputation. This is not yet God making him righteous by infusing or by renewal. This latter is sanctification which always follows justification. The righteousness which is ours in justification is something which God, as the Judge, declares to be ours legally, by imputation. The righteousness which God gives to the sinner is only the righteousness of Jesus. We have none. And this righteousness is nothing less than God’s righteousness. “By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in His sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets: even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe” (Romans 3:20-22). It is the righteousness of God – His own righteousness. God’s own perfect righteousness is reckoned on our account because of the perfect work of Jesus Christ.

Jesus earned this absolutely perfect righteousness. He did so by His perfect obedience to God’s law and by His suffering all the penalty of our sins. In His life and suffering Jesus was made to be sin for us. He was reckoned among sinners. Our sins were imputed to Him, so He carried every one of our sins and all of our sinfulness. He came into the likeness of our sinful flesh in order to bear the wrath of God for all of our sins. Romans 4:25 declares that He was delivered unto death because of, on account of, our offenses. His work of bearing God’s wrath was a perfect work, performed out of loving obedience to God. This merited forgiveness and righteousness. He fully paid our debt and He earned for us such perfect righteousness that God had to raise Him from the dead. Jesus no longer belonged under death and in the grave. Every one of our sins and all of our sinfulness was forgiven.

Even as Jesus was delivered to death on account of our offenses, so He was raised from the dead on account of our righteousness. His resurrection is proof that He had fully paid for all of our sin. When we see the empty tomb, then the Spirit communicates to us the truth of forgiveness, full and free. Our conscience may say the opposite. It may want us to look at all of our sins and to stare at the spiritual cesspool of sinfulness out of which all our sins arise. This would make us doubt our salvation. But the gospel points to the cross and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. His tomb is empty. He paid it all. We are justified. We are righteous.

How Justification Is Ours

How is justification ours? How do we know that we are righteous? How does God communicate it to us? How do we experience it? By faith alone! Faith is the means or instrument by which God imputes to the guilty sinner the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And faith is the means or instrument by which the guilty sinner experientially knows and enjoys his innocence and peace with God.

The Heidelberg Catechism presents the subject of justification after it treats the things one must believe. It arrives at the truth of justification with this question, What does it profit you now that you believe all the truths expressed in the Apostles’ Creed? Its beautiful answer is, “That I am righteous in Christ, before God.” It is not whether I am righteous before other humans. They are going to have a harder time believing that I am righteous. They, like my conscience, see that I still sin, that I still do things wrong. But God says, “You are righteous before Me, and you are so righteous that you are an heir of eternal life.”

Faith is that gift of God in the regenerated and called sinner, whereby the sinner is ingrafted into Christ and whereby he embraces and appropriate Christ and all His benefits, relying on Him. Faith embraces the declaration of the divine Judge. Faith appropriates to oneself the forgiveness in Christ and the righteousness of Christ.

Faith is a most fitting instrument to give to us the knowledge of our justification. It is so because faith is a believing and not a working. To say “faith” is to say “no work.” Faith is the opposite of works. Faith is a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast (Ephesians 2:8,9). Faith is the bond which unites one with Christ. God objectively unites all the elect to Christ in election. When God regenerates the elect, then He objectively engrafts us by faith into Christ. This is the power of faith. This power of faith becomes active, so those who are objectively engrafted into Christ, subjectively hold to Him. They embrace Him, or “abide in Him” as Jesus says in John 15. Faith knows and trusts Christ for righteousness. It embraces Jesus Christ as He is proclaimed in the gospel. We trust Him Whom we believe. I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to take my sin, to pay for it all, and to earn righteousness which He puts onto my account. Faith simply believes – holding for truth that which God has revealed in His Word.

So how am I right in the sight of the perfectly holy God? This is the question which burns in every guilty sinner. This was Luther’s burning question. If the seraphim of Isaiah 6 were compelled to hide themselves and their faces before the thrice-holy God, then how can I stand before Him? Faith says, “I stand before Him, not on the basis of sight, but on the basis of what God has taught me in His Word. The Bible tells me that when Jesus died, He died for sin. And when He lived, doing perfectly the will of the Father, He earned for those He represented a perfect righteousness. God, for Jesus’ sake, puts that righteousness to my account. God allows me to stand before Him in that righteousness.

Faith excludes works. Repeatedly the Scriptures declare that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone without any works of man. “Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace” (Romans 4:16a). “By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight…” “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God: being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law” (Romans 3:20,23,24,28). To one who works there is a reward, but it is not a reward of grace; it is a reward of debt (cf. Romans 4:4). “To him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (Romans 4:5). Faith believes on Him Who justifies the ungodly, for “Christ died for the ungodly,” who are without strength to do anything good (Romans 5:6). The ungodly have done nothing to deserve anything good from God. And Galatians 2:16 put it this way, “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.”
Faith is a gift of God, not a work of man. There are many who speak of justification by faith, but they make faith to be a work of man. But the Bible and our Reformed confessions condemn such thinking. “Why sayest thou, that thou art righteous by faith only? Not that I am acceptable to God, on account of the worthiness of my faith; but because only the satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ, is my righteousness before God; and that I cannot receive and apply the same to myself any other way than by faith only.” (Heidelberg Catechism, Q. & A. 61). Faith is not the righteousness, it is only the way God gives His righteousness to His people. Faith is not a work of man, but a gift of God. Therefore we may never think that faith makes one worthy or is of any merit before God. God so works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13), so that when we believe, then it is still a work of God and not of us. Human works do not make up any part of our justification before God. Good works flow from our salvation, but in no way do they earn salvation or make us righteous before God. “Why cannot our good works be the whole, or part of our righteousness before God? Because, that the righteousness, which can be approved of before the tribunal of God, must be absolutely perfect, and in all respects conformable to the divine law; and also, that our best works in this life are all imperfect and defiled with sin” (Heidelberg Catechism, Q. & A. 62). “What! Do not our good works merit, which yet God will reward in this and in a future life?” Yes, our good works do receive a reward, but “this reward is not of merit, but of grace” (Heidelberg Catechism, Q. & A. 63). It is all of grace. The good works which flow out of our salvation, which God will reward, do not make up the least part of our righteousness. When we stand before God now and in the judgment day, we may not think that it is ever because of something we have done. We do stand before God in righteousness, but it is all of grace through faith, without any works of man.

Precisely because faith clings Christ, we look away from ourselves and to Him. We cannot add to His perfect work. Faith in Christ declares that it is all of Him and nothing of us. If our works could add or help in our salvation, then our sins would detract from it. We are righteous before God only because He graciously justifies. He makes the imputation and the declaration of judgment. We cannot earn it and we cannot lose it. We are justified by faith without works. Then we can have peace with God!

Peace With God

Because justification is by grace alone through faith alone, there is peace with God (Romans 5:1). This is not just peace, but wonderful peace with God. Between God and us there is fundamental agreement and subsequent good will.

This peace is not something I will have or might have, but it is something I have now. The present possession of this blessed peace is experienced in the way of remembering that we are justified by faith alone through our Lord Jesus Christ. If we would only consider our sin, then we would lose the sense of peace with God. The devil loves to have us focus on our sin. He uses our conscience and other humans to point out our sins and our sinfulness. He wants us to think that we are not good enough. He wants us to compare ourselves to others, because this invariably makes us consider our works. He just wants us to look away from the cross of Christ. The devil loves to make us know such guilt that we can find no way out, but stay guilty and condemned. Over against the devil, God wants His children to experience guilt, but only as that which drives us away from the merit of works to the merit of the cross of Christ. For God guilt is the doorway through which we must pass in order to come into the awareness of being justified.

We are justified by faith through our Lord Jesus Christ. We must look at Him, and keep looking at Him. His perfect work is the only thing that can merit complete forgiveness and perfect righteousness. Faith in His cross and His resurrection assures us of justification. And so real is this forgiveness and righteousness that no one can or may lay a charge against us. “If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth” (Romans 8:31-33). If we are not justified, then we are condemned. And so the apostle continues, “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us” (Romans 8:34). God makes us look at Christ’s work to assure us of freedom from condemnation and the possession of justification. “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died.” Christ, our representative head, died for us. But there is more, “yea rather, that is risen again.” Remember that we already learned in Romans 4:25 that Jesus was raised for our justification. It gets better, “Who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.” At God’s right hand Jesus intercedes for us, pleading the riches of the merits of His cross, so God declares us justified. There is nothing that can separate us form the love of God and from our righteousness in Christ. That is why we have peace with God!

Forgiveness and righteousness are ours according to the riches of God’s grace (confer Ephesians 1:7). It is not according to the measure of our repentance nor of the exercise of our faith. God’s forgiveness is according to the riches of His grace. His grace is the only standard. Faith knows that we are God’s children by adoption, possessing every right of children, including an eternal inheritance. And faith knows that our righteousness can never be lost and that we are heirs of eternal life. Standing in His grace we rejoice in hope of the glory of God (Romans 5:2).

Peace with God is the ability to rejoice. We rejoice that we are not our own, but belong to our faithful Savior in life and in death. We need never be tormented by the thought that we do not measure up or are not good enough. Instead we have confidence in approaching God, our conscience free “of fear, terror, and dread” (Belgic Confession, article 23). The only acceptance that matters is God’s, and we are “accepted in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:6). When God loves His beloved Son, then we may know that we are accepted in Him and loved for His sake.

Therefore, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That is all that Paul had to say in answer to the Philippian jailor. Exercise your God-given faith to lay hold on Christ and His perfect work. Abide in Him. Realize how completely forgiven and perfectly righteous you are. This is the peace that passes all understanding. Then, O sinner, you may go home justified!

This lecture was hosted by the Evangelism Committee of the First Protestant Reformed Church of Holland.  For an audio copy (MP3, CD, or cassette tape), please contact us.