Confession of Faith: Article XXIII

The confession again asks our attention for justification. We would like to see wherein justification consists, what it really means, and not only how we are justified, but what justification implies. Article XXII says that justification is through faith in Jesus Christ. Justification consists in two things: a) in acquittal of guilt and punishment; and b) in giving a right to eternal life. Both are necessary in order for a sinner to be placed before God and to enter into His glory. When the Lord works in our heart, then it becomes our desire, our longing, to be back with Him. Then it is the chief desire that this lost place, this lost communion, be restored.

In order that this might be restored, Christ did two things: He obeyed in a passive and in an active way. In His passive obedience, He suffered the wrath of God, bearing the punishment, “the chastisement of our peace was upon Him” (Isaiah 53:5), so that by His stripes we might be healed, and sins might be acquitted.

By His active obedience, He obeyed the law of God which we did not keep and cannot keep anymore, and which yet remains an everlasting law. In it the Lord said, “Do this and ye shall live.” Christ kept that law for His church. He said, “I delight to do Thy will” (Psalm 40:8). He kept all the commandments. Because of this obedience, the reward was also given unto Him and, in Him, unto all His people. He earned, or merited, the right to eternal life.

Those two things, the acquittal of guilt and the giving of a right to eternal life, are implied in the work of salvation. Your heart should long and yearn for this benefit and say, “That is what I need; that is what I must have shall it be well with me and shall my poor soul be saved and my heart be satisfied.”

Justification is the acquittal of guilt and giving the right to eternal life. Justification in Dutch is rechtvaardig maken, that is, making just. This may sound a little confusing, for justification is not something which happens within us. It is not as the Roman Catholic church considers it to be — an infusion of something which the Lord gives in our heart; it is rather something which comes to us; it is a judicial sentence; it is a declaring just; it is a statement, a pronouncement, a sentence, a declaring just, innocent, and free. It is not a process which continues over years and years so that one gradually becomes more and more just; it is not a changeable condition, but it is a state before God.

We all are in either the one state or the other. We are condemned, we are under God’s wrath, or we are acquitted. We are just, or we are unjust. We are under God’s wrath, or we are free. That does not imply that all God’s children have the assurance of this. Yet it is true for all of them. This is the state wherein a guilty sinner is declared to be free, innocent before God. God has nothing against him. God’s wrath is taken away, and He has nothing to demand, nothing to punish anymore. He is completely satisfied. Oh, that you might be longing for such a benefit!

This declaring just, or this justification, becomes a personal thing in our life in two ways: a) from God’s side and b) from our side. From God’s side there is the imputation. From our side there is the receiving. These two things happen in this order: God imputes the righteousness of Christ to the sinner; and then the sinner may receive it, may embrace it. God’s act is always first; for salvation belongs to the Lord and proceeds from Him.

But that is not what man likes, nor what that proud creature desires. He wants to have some credit for himself. The Arminians say, “You first receive or accept Christ, and when you have accepted Christ, you will be justified. Then God will impute the righteousness of Christ.” Thus, if you believe in Him, if you take Him, then the Lord transfers and gives the righteousness of Christ unto you.

This is not true. What is there before God imputes righteousness? There is only a totally guilty sinner with whom He can have nothing to do. So He cannot give grace and life to that sinner. He cannot look upon that sinner in mercy, but only in wrath. Before the Lord imputes the righteousness of Christ to that sinner, there is nothing in him but death and enmity. How can such a dead sinner embrace Christ and believe in Him and take the first step to God, who would then be waiting until man takes that first step? That is a denial of our total depravity and is one of the main errors of the Arminians, or Remonstrants. The true order is: God imputes; the sinner receives. God gives; a sinner may accept. That is what we need, and that is what the Lord teaches in Scripture.

This imputation, this justification, is the work of a Triune God. It is not the work only of the Father or only of the Holy Spirit. The Father is the moving cause of it. He is the One who in His good pleasure has chosen them to eternal life. The Son is the meriting cause; He has merited this righteousness. The Holy Spirit is the applying cause. All three Persons are involved in the work of salvation and also in the justification of the sinner.

When we speak about justification, then we may compare it to a court case. There is a judge, there is a prosecutor, there is the guilty person, there is also a lawyer. There is also the secretary, the one who writes it down and seals it, who makes it official, filing the official statement. So it is also in the justification of the sinner. The judge is the Father. He is the Judge of sinners; He is also the Judge of us. He was our Father, but is now our Judge. There is the sinner, the summoned one who is called to come before the court. There are also prosecutors. And who are they? There is Satan, who stands over against Joshua with his filthy garments and accuses him. He tries to destroy that sinner, to condemn, and to mock with him. Another prosecutor is the conscience, the guilty conscience of the sinner. A third is the holy law of God. Then there is the Advocate, the second Person in the Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Mediator, the Son of God. The Secretary, who writes it down, who seals the sentence, is the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost. All Persons of the Trinity have their work in the justification of the sinner. The Judge in the case of justification acquits; He officially pronounces the sinner to be free from wrath, and He opens His arms and says, “I have nothing against you.” Oh, that access unto the Father! And then the Holy Spirit seals it to the heart so that they may know that there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.

The justification of the sinner: we must consider it a little bit closer. The question is asked, “When does it happen? When is a sinner justified?” There are many errors in regard to this question. Dr. Alexander Comrie and other older theologians have emphasized that there is justification before faith, accompanying faith, and following faith. It is the past, the present, and the future.

The justification before faith is distinguished in two: a) from eternity and b) in the resurrection of Christ. From eternity God’s people are already justified in the sight of God. How? The Father views them in the work of His Son, who is called the Lamb of God “slain before the foundation of the world.” Even though it still had to happen in time, the Father viewed Him as the Lamb being slain from the foundation of the world. And in that being slain, in that sacrifice, the Father already viewed His church as justified in Christ. That is justification from eternity. Everything was provided for in that Lamb of God.

Justification before faith also took place in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. When He was raised from the dead, the Father gave Him the receipt; as it were, He said, “It is paid, I am satisfied.” Paid! In Him the entire church also received the receipt. The Father has nothing against all those for whom Christ paid the price. They are justified in eternity, but also in the resurrection of Christ. We may call this the collective justification.

However, this justification must become personal. It is not as the Antinomian says, that justification means only that you in this time-state become conscious of your eternal justification; that is all, you have only to become conscious that everything is already good. By this teaching they diminish the need of a change of state, and of regeneration. Others also, like Dr. Kuiper, presumed this regeneration in the little children of the congregation. But although the elect are just in God’s sight when He views them in Christ, yet something has to happen in their life. It has to become a personal matter. We have to become a true believer.

There is a justification accompanying faith, a being just by faith. This also happens in two aspects: first, in the moment that the Lord looks upon that sinner at the time of His good pleasure. In the moment of regeneration, He imputes the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ personally to that sinner. How else could the Lord dwell in such a heart if He would not first impute that righteousness? How could He open the sinner’s blind eyes? How could He give him love and open the gospel to him? It is only possible because, in the regeneration of the sinner, that righteousness is imputed to him, and then, objectively, he is just before God. Does he know that? Oh, he knows that he is an enemy, a lost and wretched sinner; and he begins to long for fellowship with God, but he is outside it, under the wrath of God. But from God’s side the righteousness of Christ is already imputed to him in his regeneration.

However, there is another step, and that is justification in the bar of the conscience, or in the tribunal of our conscience. We call that the assurance of our justification before God. Then it becomes a subjective justification rather than an objective one. Then it becomes my knowledge, sealed by the Spirit, that the Lord will never be wroth with me nor rebuke me. What an eternal wonder this is!

— to be continued —

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