God Loves… Himself

Justification by faith alone is the article upon which the Church stands or falls. Martin Luther

“4 Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. 5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” — Romans 4:4-5

Subject: We are justified only by faith in Christ, and not by any manner of goodness of our own. The following things may be noted in this verse:

4. It is evident that the subject of justification is looked upon as destitute of any righteousness in himself, by that expression, it is counted, or imputed to him for righteousness. — The phrase, as the apostle uses it here and in the context, manifestly imports that God of his sovereign grace is pleased in his dealings with the sinner, so to regard one that has no righteousness, that the consequence shall be the same as if he had. This however may be from the respect it bears to something that is indeed righteous. It is plain that this is the force of the expression in the preceding verses. In the last verse but one, it is manifest, the apostle lays the stress of his argument for the free grace of God — from that text of the Old Testament about Abraham — on the word counted or imputed. This is the thing that he supposed God to show his grace in, viz. in his counting something for righteousness, in his consequential dealings with Abraham, that was no righteousness in itself.          Jonathan Edwards, Justification by Faith Alone

Those who are justified have no righteousness in and of themselves. They are utterly “destitute” of righteousness themselves and whatever righteousness they have it is imputed to them. To those poor souls who have learned that they are utterly destitute of righteousness, this is good news. They are the ones that God justifies by Christ alone and grace alone. These are the souls that have learned that they are spiritually poor or impoverished of spirit. If Christ does not save them for His own glory and by grace alone, they will never be saved. If God does not justify them in the sense of declaring them just on the basis of Christ alone, they will perish forever. If God does not impute the righteousness of Christ to them and declare them righteous based on that, then they will have no righteousness for all eternity. The poor soul that has been shown just how destitute it is rejoices when Christ becomes his or hers and has the imputed righteousness of Christ to stand in.

It is clear from the context of the passages dealt with and the rest of the Bible that it is sovereign grace that God shows sinners. The whole world has sinned (original sin, all born dead in sin) and the whole world continues to fall short of His glory. There is no one more attractive to God than another, but all are by nature children of wrath. All humanity come into this world as children of the devil and with the poison of asps in their mouths. All human beings come into this world and are opposed to God and at enmity with Him. Yet God saves some to the praise of the glory of His grace. Since it is to the praise of the glory of His grace, the Gospel of Christ alone is all about what Christ has done in the place of sinners. It is not about sinners being able to obtain merit by works or some form of godliness, but instead justification is all about His grace and Christ.

The grace that is spoken of is free-grace which is a grace that is not moved by anything in the human or done by the human. This is a grace that is moved from within God and is for His own glory. This is a grace that comes to sinners as destitute and helpless in themselves and so must have another do all that is needed to save them or they will not be saved. These have no access and no ability to obtain righteousness, so it is only by sovereign and free-grace that righteousness is imputed to them or counted as theirs. As Edwards notes, when God counted something to Abraham as righteousness, this shows that Abraham was not righteous in himself and had no righteousness to count as his.

But again, we must look at our own hearts in light of this. Do we trust (have faith) in anything we have done? Do we trust in the fact that we have believed? Do we trust in the fact that we have done what we think is a good work or trust in good works? Until we have been broken from trusting in anything we have done we will not trust in Christ alone. Until we are broken from looking to any righteousness in ourselves or have lost hope in our ability to do any righteous thing, we will not look to the imputed righteousness of Christ alone. But we must also realize that this being broken is also the gracious work of Christ by His Spirit in our souls. We must not look to our own ability to break our own hearts either. We must not look to our own lack or righteousness or lack of ability as something we have worked up and therefore we can be proud of in a perverted way. It is all a work of grace from beginning to end. It is all to the praise of the glory of His grace!

Justification by faith alone is the article upon which the Church stands or falls. Martin Luther

“4 Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. 5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” — Romans 4:4-5

Subject: We are justified only by faith in Christ, and not by any manner of goodness of our own. The following things may be noted in this verse:

It is evident in the words, that by the faith here spoken of, by which we are justified, is not meant the same thing as a course of obedience or righteousness, since the expression by which this faith is here denoted, is believing on him that justifies the ungodly. — They that oppose the Solifidians, as they call them, greatly insist on it, that we should take the words of Scripture concerning this doctrine in their most natural and obvious meaning, and how do they cry out, of our clouding this doctrine with obscure metaphors, and unintelligible figures of speech? But is this to interpret Scripture according to its most obvious meaning, when the Scripture speaks of our believing on him that justifies the ungodly, or the breakers of his law, to say that the meaning of it is performing a course of obedience to his law, and avoiding the breaches of it? Believing on God as a justifier, certainly is a different thing from submitting to God as a lawgiver, especially believing on him as a justifier of the ungodly, or rebels against the lawgiver.     Jonathan Edwards, Justification by Faith Alone

Whatever else faith is, the context utterly demands that it is not a way of obedience and is not a way of earning wholly or partially any righteousness to add to the righteousness of Christ. It is true that James teaches us that faith without works is dead, yet James is not teaching that works that flow from faith contribute in any way to God justifying sinners by Christ alone. The faith spoken of here is opposite to good works for justification and is opposite to merit. The faith spoken of here is not what faith can do, but it is all about Christ. The person with faith is the person with Christ. It is not about the works that one does with faith, it is the works that Christ has done and is imputed to the one with Christ.

The phrase of Scripture in its own context is crystal clear on this. We are told that the one whose faith “is counted for righteousness” is the one who does not work for justification and is the one who believes on Him “that justifies the ungodly.” There is no mysterious teaching here, but instead this is plain and straight to the point. The way of the Gospel of Christ and the Gospel of grace is the way of faith. It is not that faith is the single work we come up with that God rewards it with salvation and it is not a way of working harder or better. The way of faith is in accordance with the doctrine of election and in accordance with the way of grace alone. Romans 4:16 tells us this:

Romans 4:16 For this reason it is by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.

The passage just above (Romans 4:16) is in the direct context of Romans 4:4-5. Faith is not a way of doing good works in order to be justified. Faith is not a way of obtaining merit before God so that He will justify us. The biblical doctrine of faith teaches us that it is by faith in order that it may be in accordance with grace, that is, that based totally on the grace of God He will justify sinners by Christ alone. Faith is in accordance with grace so that the promise will guaranteed to all the descendants. In other words, since it is by grace all that the promise is for will be saved. The promise could not be carried out if it depended on the works of men, but instead it depends on the works of God and the promises of God. When sinners are justified by promise, that is, by Christ alone and grace alone, salvation does not depend on their own works and godliness. This is indeed good news.

In terms of the experience of the soul, this is profound. It does not depend upon the soul doing works and gaining merit, but instead the soul must learn not to depend upon itself and look to God alone to justify it by grace alone. The soul must learn to look to God as justifier by grace alone through Christ instead of the lawgiver who gives laws to be obeyed as a way of justification. Instead of working, the soul must learn not to work for justification. Instead of obtaining godliness, the soul must learn to look to God who justifies the ungodly. This is not an easy task, and instead it is as impossible to do this as it is to work for justification. It is Christ who alone can teach the soul and guide the soul in the way of humility and brokenness.

Justification by faith alone is the article upon which the Church stands or falls. Martin Luther

“4 Now to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due. 5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” — Romans 4:4-5

Subject: We are justified only by faith in Christ, and not by any manner of goodness of our own. The following things may be noted in this verse:
2. It appears, that by him that worketh not, in this verse, is not meant one who merely does not conform to the ceremonial law, because he that worketh not, and the ungodly, are evidently synonymous expressions, or what signify the same, as appears by the manner of their connection. If not, to what purpose is the latter expression, the ungodly, brought in? The context gives no other occasion for it, but to show that by the grace of the gospel, God in justification has no regard to any godliness of ours. The foregoing verse is, “Now to him that worketh, is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.” In that verse, it is evident that gospel grace consists in the reward being given without works, and in this verse, which immediately follows it, and in sense is connected with it, gospel grace consists in a man’s being justified as ungodly. By which it is most plain, that by him that worketh not, and him that is ungodly, are meant the same thing, and that therefore not only works of the ceremonial law are excluded in this business of justification, but works of morality and godliness.       Jonathan Edwards, Justification by Faith Alone

The essence of what the sinner does that is justified is vital to the biblical doctrine of justification by grace alone through faith alone. The person who is justified, that is, declared just by God on the basis of Christ alone is a person that does not work for salvation. This is so important, even utterly vital. The person that is declared just by God has given up on his works for justification and so does not work at all for justification. This does not mean that the justified person will not work out of love for God, but it teaches us that the justified person stops working for justification. While this text does not say what has gone on and is going on in the heart of the person, we can note that if a person has stopped working for justification, the heart of the person has been broken from looking to his own merits and his own abilities.
When God declares the sinner just in His sight, the sinner has stopped working for justification and the sinner is ungodly in and of himself. The sinner has arrived at the inward conviction that if he is working for salvation and that work did in fact contribute to salvation, then he would be earning something of his salvation. But Scripture is quite clear that works do not contribute to salvation. When the Holy Spirit is working in the conscience and in the heart of a sinner, that sinner begins to see that s/he is ungodly and cannot possibly contribute to justification in the slightest way. The sinner that sees himself as ungodly will know (if taught in the inward man) that there is no merit in his works and in fact the best of his works is full of sin. This person accepts the word of God and knows that s/he is ungodly and it must be Christ alone by grace alone if s/he is going to be justified.
Edwards makes a very important point in the paragraph (of his) above. In both verses 4 and 5 it is Gospel grace that is the issue. We cannot work in such a way to obtain merit because it is grace that justifies and not our works. If we had even a bit of godliness, then it is not Gospel grace that justifies apart from anything good found in us. The glory of God’s grace is that God justifies sinners because of Christ and nothing that the sinner has in terms of merit or godliness. In this way we see that Christ and grace shines in the justification of sinners.
Another issue, as pointed out by Edwards, is that it is not just the civil and ceremonial law that men are excluded from keeping as a way of merit, it is also the moral law. Men are ungodly which means that they do not keep any moral law at all in a way that is acceptable to God. It is not that God has divided His Old Testament laws up and now there are some we don’t keep and a few we do, but all law-keeping (for justification) is excluded in terms of His justifying ungodly sinners. All law-keeping is excluded in terms of His justifying sinners who no longer work for justification. The hearts of sinners that are justified by grace alone are broken from trying to earn any part of justification and their hearts are broken from any idea of trying to merit a part of it by their godliness. The justified sinner looks to nothing but Christ alone and His grace alone.

Justification by faith alone is the article upon which the Church stands or falls. Martin Luther

“But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” — Romans 4:5

Subject: We are justified only by faith in Christ, and not by any manner of goodness of our own. The following things may be noted in this verse:

1. That justification respects a man as ungodly. This is evident by these words — that justifieth the ungodly, which cannot imply less than that God, in the act of justification, has no regard to anything in the person justified, as godliness or any goodness in him, but that immediately before this act, God beholds him only as an ungodly creature, so that godliness in the person to be justified is not so antecedent to his justification as to be the ground of it. When it is said that God justifies the ungodly, it is as absurd to suppose that our godliness, taken as some goodness in us, is the ground of our justification, as when it is said that Christ gave sight to the blind to suppose that sight was prior to, and the ground of, that act of mercy in Christ. Or as, if it should be said that such an one by his bounty has made a poor man rich, to suppose that it was the wealth of this poor man that was the ground of this bounty towards him, and was the price by which it was procured. Jonathan Edwards, Justification by Faith Alone

In viewing the text (Romans 4:5) it is plain to see that there is nothing in the human being that would move God to declare the person just in His sight. The justification that God declares only respects the human being as ungodly. If God regards the person or beholds the person as ungodly, then the person is ungodly and there is nothing in the person that would move Him to save that person and there is nothing in Him that could declare the person justified in His sight. This is an important teaching regarding the experimental aspect of justification. The soul of the person that is seeking God asking Him to convert the person must not come to God with any hope in anything that the person has done or can do.

There is no room for pride in the person that desires for God to declare him or her just on the basis of Christ alone. Instead, the proud heart must be humbled and broken and stand naked before God. The proud heart of the natural person that looks to self for something and looks to self for some sufficiency cannot have those things if s/he is going to be justified by Christ alone. The heart of man must look to Christ and no one else, especially self. The proud heart that thinks that it can please God and be converted because it now believes or that it came up with faith is still looking to self with trust. If God regards the soul as ungodly, then the soul should regard itself as ungodly and seek the Lord to open its eyes in order to see self in that way.

Edwards is showing all who will read his writings that justification is all of grace and nothing else but grace. In other words, sinners are justified by Christ and Christ alone and there is nothing but ungodliness in the soul of the person. This is seen in the following illustrations. First, when Christ gave sight to the blind, we never assume that there was some sight before the act of mercy in granting sight. No, the person was born blind and Christ gave the person sight. Second, if a rich man saw a man that was totally impoverished and made him rich, we should not assume that the rich man saw that the totally impoverished man had some riches and then gave him more to make him even richer. Both of these illustrations show the absolute folly of trying to attribute something to the ungodly that would move God to save them.

The justification of sinners is by Christ alone and He is moved by Himself and His grace alone. When sinners hear the truth of justification, they will either look to self to some degree or they will seek the Lord to empty them of all of their hope and trust in self. There is no middle ground. If the soul that has Christ trusts in Christ alone and the proud soul is not right before God, then souls should seek the Lord to humble them and break them from their trust in themselves. If God saves the humble, yet unregenerate souls are full of pride and enmity against God, then those who see the truth of justification should seek the Lord to empty them of pride and to break their hearts from their enmity toward God. The soul that God declares just before Him based on Christ alone by grace alone will work the trust that sinners have in themselves out that they may rest in Christ alone.