Jonathan Edwards
CHRIST’S DEATH: ATONEMENT AND REDEMPTION (Cont’d)
3. I proceed now to the third and last assertion of this argument. I will show that this doctrine of the imputation of Christ’s righteousness is utterly inconsistent with the doctrine of our being justified by our own virtue or sincere obedience. If God’s favor and a title to life are given to believers as the reward of Christ’s obedience, then it is not given as the reward of our own obedience. Christ is our Savior. That undoubtedly makes it impossible for us to be our own saviors. If we could be our own saviors in the same respect that Christ is, then salvation by Christ is needless. According to the apostle’s reasoning in Galatians 5:4, “Christ is rendered of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law.” Without question, is Christ’s perogative to be our Savior in whatever manner He is. And therefore, if it is by His obedience that we are justified, then it is not by our own obedience.
Here perhaps it might be said that a title to salvation is not directly given as the reward for our obedience. That reward is not given for anything of ours. It is given only by Christ’s satisfaction and righteousness, but an interest in that satisfaction and righteousness, but an interest in that satisfaction and righteousness is given as a reward of our obedience.
Here perhaps it might be said that a title to salvation is not directly given as the reward for our obedience. That reward is not given for anything of ours. It is given only by Christ’s satisfaction and righteousness, but an interest in that satisfaction and righteousness is given as a reward of our obedience.
But this does not at all help the case. An interest in that satisfaction and righteousness given as reward for obedience ascribes as much to our obedience as if we ascribed salvation to it directly and without the intervention of Christ’s righteousness. It would be as great for God to give us Christ and His satisfaction and righteousness in reward for our obedience, as to give us heaven immediately. It would be as great a reward, and as great a testament to respect to our obedience. And if God gives as great a thing as salvation for our obedience, why could He not give salvation itself directly? Then there would have been no need of Christ’s righteousness. And indeed of God gives us Christ or an interest in Him as a proper reward for our obedience. He actually gives us salvation in reward for our obedience. Indeed, it exalts our virtue and obedience more to think that God gives us Christ in reward for our virtue and obedience, than if He gives us salvation without Christ.
GOD’S FAVOR THROUGH CHRIST
Scripture guards us against imagining that our own goodness, virtue, or excellence instate us in God’s acceptance and favor. But God gives us an interest in Christ in reward for our virtue. Through Christ we are instated in God’s favor, just as if He had bestowed a title to eternal life as a direct reward. If God gives us an interest in Christ as a reward of our obedience, it is easy to conclude that we re instated in God’s acceptance and favor by our own obedience prior to our having an interest in Christ. Rewarding anyone’s excellence always implies favor and acceptance because of that excellence.
According to this scheme, it is not by virtue of our interest in Christ and His merits that we first come into favor with God. Here, we would be in God’s favor before we have any interest in those merits. We would have an interest in those merits given as a fruit of God’s favor for our own virtue. Yet, if our interest in Christ is the fruit of God’s favor, then it cannot be the basis of it. The scheme supposes that if God did not accept us or favor us for our own excellence, He never would bestow so great a reward upon us as a right in Christ’s satisfaction and righteousness. So here is where a scheme destroys itself. It mistakenly supposes that Christ’s satisfaction and righteousness are necessary for us to recommend us to the favor of God, and yet supposes that we have God’s favor and acceptance before we have Christ’s satisfaction and righteousness, and have these given as a fruit of God’s favor.
Indeed and in truth, neither salvation itself nor Christ the Savior is given as a reward for anything in man. They are not even given as a reward for faith. We are not united to Christ as a reward for our faith, but have union with Him by faith, because faith is the very act of uniting or closing on our part. When a man offers himself to a woman in marriage, he does not give himself to her as a reward for her receiving him in marriage. Her receiving him is not considered a worthy deed for which he rewards her by giving himself to her. But it is by her receiving him that the union is made, by which she has him for her husband. She is the one who unites them.
How contrary to the gospel of Christ is the scheme of those who say that faith justifies as a principle of obedience, or as leading act of obedience, or as the sum and comprehension of all evangelical obedience. By this reasoning, obedience or virtue that is in faith gives it its justifying influence. In other words, they mistakenly conclude that we are justified by our own obedience, virtue, or goodness.
Having considered the evidence of the truth of the doctrine, I proceed now to Section III.
SECTION 3
How acts of a Christian life or evangelical obedience are concerned
From what has already been said, it is evident that acts and obedience are of no concern in this affair. This includes good works, moral goodness, works of the law, moral excellence, or any part of the fulfillment of that great, universal, and everlasting covenant of works that the great Lawgiver has established as the highest, unalterable rule of judgment. Christ alone answers or does anything toward it.
Scripture makes clear that it is only by faith, the soul’s receiving and uniting to the Savior who has wrought our righteousness, that we are justified. Therefore, acts of a Christian life cannot be concerned in this affair unless they are expressions of faith. Then they may be looked upon as so many acts of receiving Christ the Savior. But before we can determine how acts of Christian obedience are influenced in justification, we must resolve two points. We must know if any other act of faith besides the first act has any concern in our justification. And we must know the extent to which continued and renewed acts of faith have influence in this affair.
It seems obvious that justification is by the first act of faith, because a sinner is actually and finally justified as soon as he has performed one act of faith. And faith in its first act depends on God for perseverance, and entitles the faithful to this perseverance and other benefits. But the preservance of faith is not excluded in this affair. It is certainly connected with justification. Perseverance is not excluded from that on which the justification of a sinner depends, or that by which the sinner is justified.
I have shown that justification depends on faith, and that faith is necessary to be worthy of an interest in the righteousness of Christ. Not only is faith necessary, but also perseverance of faith. He who believes in Christ will have an interest in Christ’s righteousness and so in the eternal benefits purchased by it, because his faith unites his soul with Christ. He who is one with Christ will have a joint interest with Him in His eternal benefits. But being one with Christ must also be an abiding, enduring union. Just as the branch should abide in the vine in order to receive the lasting benefits of the root, so it is necessary that the soul should abide in Christ in order to receive those lasting benefits of God’s final acceptance and favor.
John 15:6-7, “If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth, as a branch. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.”
John 15:9-10, “Continue ye in my love. If ye keep (or abide in) my commandments, ye shall abide in my love: even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.” This union is intended to be enduring. If it should be begun without remaining, the beginning would be in vain. Once the soul is in a justified stte and now free from condemnation, it should always remain in Christ.
Romans 8:1, “There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” The soul is saved in Christ now when the salvation is bestowed, not as remembering that it once was in Him.
Philemon 3:9, “That I may be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.”
1 John 2:28, “And now, little children, abide in him; that when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.” In order for people to be blessed after death, it is necessary not only that they should once be in Him, but that they should die in Him.
Revelation 14:13, “Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord.” Being blessed after death is the reason that faith, the uniting qualification, should remain throughout the union. Faith is as vital for the duration of the union even unto death as it is when the man is first established.
PERSEVERANCE OF FAITH
Although the sinner is actually and finally justified on the first act of faith, perseverance of faith still comes into consideration. Worthiness of acceptance to life depends on it. God justifies when a sinner first believes. Perseverance, virtually contained within that first act of faith, is looked upon and taken by God as a property in that faith. God has respect to the believer’s continuance in faith. The believer is justified as though it already existed, because by divine establishment it will follow. Because divine constitution connects continuance with that first faith, as though it was a property of it, God considers it as such. So justification is not suspended. It does not expire. If not for this considerataion, God would need to suspend justification until the sinner had actually preserved in faith.
God, in the act of final justification that He passes at the sinner’s conversion, includes perserverance in faith and future acts of faith as being virtually implied in the first act. When a sinner converts and is justified, that justification comes with eternal forgiveness for past and future sins. That first justification is decisive and final. Pardon, in the order of nature, properly follows the crime and acts of repentance and faith for the pardoned crime. This principle is manifest both in reason and Scripture.
David, in the beginning of Psalm 32, speaks of being forgiven for sins doubtlessly committed long after he was first godly, as a result of his repentance and faith. Yet, the apostle in Romans 4 speaks of forgiveness as a result of justification by faith. Probably David speaks of the same sin he committed in the matter of Uriah, and so the pardon was release from death or eternal punishment. The prophet Nathan speaks of this in 2 Samuel 12:13, “The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.” Not only does the pardon follow the sin, but also follows David’s repentance and faith with respect to the sin. It is spoken of in Psalms 32 as depending on it.
The sinner, in his first justification, is forever justified and freed from all obligations to eternal punishment. Because justification is forever, it follows that future faith and repentance are contained within that justification. Repentance of those future sins, faith in the Redeemer, and continuance in one whose heart is repentant and faithful are now made sure by God’s promise. If sin is committed after conversion, faith and repentance naturally follow. Future sins are respected in the first justification, just as are future faith and repentance. Indeed, God looks upon future faith and repentance as inherent in the first faith and repentance, in the same manner that justification from future sins is inherent in the first justification.
TRADING DOUBT FOR JOY AND PEACE
If it is not necessary for acts of faith following justification, and to seeking justification by such acts, then Christians, who doubt their first act of faith, are cut off from the joy and peace of believing. Because justifying faith means that we obtain pardon and peace with God by looking to God and trusting in Him for these blessings, we have joy and peace. Any Christians who doubts his first act of faith cannot be sure that he obtained pardon and peace by that act. The solution for him is now to look to God in Christ in faith for these blessings. But even this solution falls short, because he is uncertain that he has God’s warrant so to do. He does not understand that because he has already believed, he now has no need to look to God by faith for these blessings, because no new act of faith is a proper means of obtaining these blessings. So he can never properly obtain the joy of faith. There are acts of true faith that are very weak, and the first act might be weak as well. It might be like the first motion of the infant in the womb. It might be so weak an act that the Christian, by examining it, might never be able to determine wheter it was a true act of faith or not.. It is evident from fact and abundant experience that many Christians are forever at a loss to determine which act of faith was their first. Even those saints who have had a good degree of satisfaction concerning their faith might be subject to great falls and consequent great fears of eternal punishment. The proper way of deliverance is to forsake their sin by repentance, and now to come to Christ in faith for deliverance from the deserved eternal punishment. This would be impossible if this were not the way to obtain deliverance from that punishment.
FAITH AND DELIVERANCE
Still more plain and direct evidence of my argument is the act of faith that Abraham exercised in the great promise that God made to him in the covenant of grace. Galatians 3:6, “It was accounted to him for righteousness.” The apostle uses this throughout Romans 3 and Galatians 3 to confirm his doctrine of justification by faith alone. It was not Abraham’s first act of faith, but was exerted long after he had by faith forsaken his own country and been treated as an eminent friend of God (Hebrews 11:8).
In Philippians 3, the apostle Paul tells us how earnestly he sought justification by faith after his conversion, to win Christ and obtain that righteousness which was by the faith in Him. Philippians 3:8-9, “For whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.” In the two next verses he expresses the same thing in other words, and tells us how we went through sufferings and became submissive following Christ’s death so that he might partake with Christ in the benefit of His resurrection.
The apostle elsewhere teaches us that this is justification. Christ’s resurrection was His justification. In this, when Christ was put to death in the flesh. He was justified by the Spirit. He was delivered for our offenses and rose again for our justification. The apostle tells us, in the verses that follow in that third chapter of Philippians, that he sought to attain righteousness thrugh faith in Christ, so that he could partake of the benefit of His resurrection. He was unaware that he had already attained justification, so he continued to follow after it.
PERSEVERANCE AFTER JUSTIFICATION
On the whole, it appears that the perseverance of faith is necessary, even though a sinner is justified. Perseverance is promised on the first act of faith. God, in that justification, has respect not only to the past act of faith, but to His own promise of future acts that will be worthy. Scripture confirms that perseverance in faith is necessary to salvation, not merely as essential, but as influential and dependent. Hebrews 3:6, “Whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence, and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.” Hebrews 3:14, “For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end.” Hebrews 6:12, “Be ye followers of them, who through faith and patience inherit the promises.” Romans 11:20, “Well, because of unbelief they were broken off; but thou standest by faith Be not high-minded, but fear.”
Because final justification depends on perseverance in faith, often the manifestation of justification arises in the conscience a great deal more from subsequent acts of faith than from the first one. Specific to justification, the difference between the first act of faith and subsequent acts seems to be only in accidental difference, arising from the circumstance of time. The first act of faith s merely first in order of time. It has neither particular distinction from nor more influence on salvation than other acts.
A truly Christian walk and acts of evangelical, child-like, believing obedience are concerned in the affair of our justification. In Scripture they are expressions of a preserving faith in the Son of God, the only Savior. Faith unites us to Christ, and so justification is not merely a principle lying dormant in the heart, but active expression in being and appearance. The obedience of a Christian, as long as it is truly evangelical and performed with the Spirit of the Son sent forth into the heart, has all relation to Christ the Mediator. It is an expression of the soul’s believing unity with Christ.
All evangelical works are works of that faith done in love. Every act of obedience, done inwardly and from the soul, is only a new, effective act of receiving Christ and adhering to the glorious Savior. Galatians 2:20, “I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life that I now live in the flesh, is by the faith of the Son of God.” Because of this, we are directed, in whatever we do in word or deed, to do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ (Colossians 3:17).
In justifying, God has respect not only to the first act of faith, but also to future preserving acts, as expressed in life. Romans 7, “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” Hebrews 10:38-39, “Now the just shall live by faith; but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe, to the saving of the soul.”
Child-like obedience, like faith, has no concern in justification by any virtue or excellence of its own, except that there is a reception of Christ in it. And this is no more contrary to the apostle’s frequent assertion of our being justified without the works of the law, thhan to say that we are justified by faith. For faith is as much a work or act of Christian obedience as the expressions of faith in spiritual life and walk. And therefore, when we say that faith does not justify as a work, we inclue all expressions of faith.
This thinking is contrary to the scheme of our modern clergy, who insist that faith justifies only as an act or expression of obedience. The truth is that obedience has no more concern in justification than as an expression of faith.
(To be continued …)
warriorprincess4yeshua.blog 