The great teachings of Scripture on the doctrine of justification have always been under attack and perhaps especially so in the modern day. Martin Luther wrote and spoke in justification by faith alone and in doing that he was defending the teaching that man is justified by the sovereign grace of God alone. But in the modern day the idea of faith has eroded as well as where faith comes from and what it does. Part of how the biblical teaching on faith has disappeared (seemingly) is that we now simply ask people if they believe something rather than examining them and helping them examine themselves to see if they are in the faith and if Christ dwells in them.
Much of this might have been avoided if Luther would have spelled out what he meant and referred to justification as justification by Christ alone. It seems to me that this has a greater clarity for the ages, though indeed the prophets and lovers of error who want to contribute something to their own salvation or to maintain some control over it would have and will twist anything to keep (they think) their free-will. Without trying to say Luther was wrong in saying what he said because he was fighting errors in his own day, yet in our day (at the least) it appears that justification by Christ alone is a better way to put things in contrast to the modern errors.
When it is said that a person is justified by Christ alone, there is no real doubt that this is a message of truth about grace alone. There is no argument about a person being able to add to anything that Christ has accomplished, but instead it is by Christ alone. What righteousness can a person bring to the fore and add to what Christ has fully accomplished? What suffering can a person bring forth and say that it adds to the suffering of Christ on the cross when He Himself declared that “it is finished”? Where can a new heart come from unless Christ has accomplished the purchase of a new heart in His live, sufferings, death and resurrection? Where can a living faith (since it unites to a living Savior) come from apart from the work of the Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of the living Christ?
How can a full and free justification depend in any way upon my belief? If Christ has accomplished what the Father planned from all eternity and sent the Son to accomplish, then my belief of it has nothing to do with what Christ has actually done. My belief (actually, faith) can only be there if I am united to Christ Himself and He is my life and the very life of my faith. It is God who takes people from the kingdom of darkness, evil, and disbelief and transfers them into the kingdom of His Beloved Son (and unites them to the Son) and that does not depend on my faith/belief, but instead faith is given to the soul in regeneration and the soul is spiritually alive because it is united to Christ. As such faith must look to Christ alone and not to self for faith or for evidences of faith/belief. True faith/belief cannot be found as coming from self as faith does not come from being united to self, but instead it is only seen in whether it is united to Christ or not.
A true faith in Christ will always have evidences because Christ will always manifest Himself in some way, but this is not to say that a true faith will always be perfect and so absent from any doubts or even forms of unbelief. But a true faith, though it may take some period of time in great trials, will begin to focus on Christ rather than self. This great and glorious teaching of justification by Christ alone will begin to get the eyes of the sinner off of the sinner and back on to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. The Scriptures teach us that all things are from Him, though Him, and to Him. Such is the true faith of those who have been justified by Christ alone. They may wander a bit here and there, but the living Christ who is live Himself will draw their wandering eyes and hearts back to Himself. He purchased their sanctification and He will apply it.
The Lord Jesus Christ has fully and completely satisfied the wrath of His Father in the place of His people and there is no sin that has the power to take their soul from Christ, though it may have the power to distract. The Lord Jesus Christ earned a perfect and complete righteousness for His people and there is no need of any other righteousness (and no other righteousness is acceptable either) to enter the gates of glory. The Lord Jesus Christ is the perfect Husband of His people and the perfect Head of the Church. The Lord Jesus Christ is the perfect King of those in His kingdom and no one can take them out of His hands. The Lord Jesus Christ is the perfect Mediator as He has offered a full and complete satisfaction for the sins of His people and He ever lives to intercede for them. The Lord Jesus Christ is the perfect Prophet and He will teach His people in His perfect timing. Oh how sinners need to recognize the beauty and perfection of the perfect justification which Christ has accomplished. It is indeed and will always be justification by Christ alone. A person’s belief accomplishes nothing, so no need to trust in it.
God Loves... Himself 
Leave a comment