How the Doctrine of Imputed Righteousness Birthed the Reformation

^ESV Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. ¹⁷ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

 

In the gospel there is found a God-righteousness which is by faith from first to last. This is a righteousness that God gives as a result of His act of justifying. It is the doctrine of justification by faith.

 

This doctrine birthed the Protestant Reformation. Consider the words of Anthony Hoekema (Saved By Grace, p. 152) as he describes how Martin Luther came to grasp the righteousness of God in the gospel:

 

“Martin Luther had tried everything: sleeping on hard floors, going without food, even climbing a staircase in Rome on his hands and knees – but to no avail. His teachers at the monastery told him that he was doing enough to have peace of soul. But he had no peace. His sense of sin was too deep.

He had been studying the Psalms. They often mentioned “the righteousness of God.” But this term bothered him. He thought it meant God’s punitive righteousness, whereby he punishes sinners. And Luther knew he was a sinner. So when he saw the word righteousness in the Bible, he saw red.

One day he opened his Bible to the Book of Romans. There he read about the gospel of Christ which is the power of God for salvation (1:16). This was good news! But the next verse said, “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed” – there was the bad word righteousness again! And Luther’s depression returned. It got worse when he went on to read about the wrath of God revealed from heaven against all the unrighteousness of men (v. 18).

So Luther turned again to verse 17. How could Paul have written such terrible words? Had he, Luther, perhaps misunderstood them? “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, the just shall live by faith” (KJV).

Suddenly the light dawned on him. The “righteousness of God” Paul here had in mind was not God’s punitive justice which leads him to punish sinners, but rather a righteousness which God gives to the needy sinner, and which that sinners accepts by faith. This was a spotless, perfect righteousness, earned by Christ, which God graciously bestows on all who believe. No longer did Luther need to seek the basis for peace of soul in himself, in his own good works. Now he could look away from himself to Christ, and live by faith instead of groveling in fear.

At that moment the Protestant Reformation was born. Bells began to ring in Luther’s soul. Peace and joy now flooded his being. Romans 1:17 now became for him the very “gate of Paradise” – the key which unlocked the Bible.”

We Are Elect Exiles

“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.” (1Peter 1:1-2 ESV)

Christians are elect. To call believers “the elect” is biblical. Jesus (Matt 24:31), Paul (2 Tim 2:10), and John (2 John 1) were not ashamed of this term for true believers. God, before the foundation of the world, chose us to salvation in Christ Jesus. Election is according to His foreknowledge, His “foreloving” a people by His gracious pleasure. God chooses people unconditionally, not according to some foreseen faith or response or works, but solely by His special love and sovereign purpose (Rom 9:10-13). Peter calls his readers the “elect” to assure them in suffering by establishing their irrevocable standing in Christ Jesus. God has chosen us. He will bring us all the way home. Nothing will separate His elect from His love in Christ Jesus. “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.” (Rom 8:33)

Christians are also exiles. We are sojourners among a people to whom we do not belong. We are strangers in a non-Christian world that is hostile to God. We are salt and light and ambassadors for the King. But we are resident aliens looking for our heavenly home (Heb 11:16). Here is how an anonymous work from the second century put it:

Christians are not distinguished from the rest of mankind by either country, speech, or customs… They reside in their respective countries, but only as aliens. They take part in everything as citizens and put up with everything as foreigners. Every foreign land is their home, and every home a foreign land… They find themselves in the flesh, but do not live according to the flesh. They spend their days on earth, but hold citizenship in heaven.

We are elect exiles. God has chosen us and called us out as a people of His own possession to proclaim His excellencies (1 Peter 2:9-10). By God’s mercy, this is our position in Christ. Let us stand firm in such wondrous grace.

The Cross and the “Spiritual”

Consider D. A. Carson’s concluding reflection from his exposition of 1 Cor. 2:6-16 in The Cross and Christian Ministry (pp. 62-63):

What it means to be “spiritual” is profoundly tied to the cross, and to nothing else… This lesson is especially important when so many Christians today identify themselves with some “single issue” (a concept drawn from politics) other than the cross, other than the gospel. It is not that they deny the gospel. If pressed, they will emphatically endorse it. But their point of self-identification, the focus of their minds and hearts, what occupies their interest and energy, is something else: a style of worship, the abortion issue, home schooling, the gift of prophecy, pop sociology, a certain brand of counseling, or whatever. Of course, all of these issues have their own importance. Doubtless we need some Christians working on them full time. But even those who are so engaged must do so as an extension of the gospel, as an extension of the message of the cross. They must take special pains to avoid giving any impression that being really spiritual or really insightful or really wise turns on an appropriate response to their issue.

I agree with Carson that we must make the cross, the message of the crucified Messiah, the center of our self-identification. How often have I used a litmus test issue to judge another Christian and identify myself with a certain group? Some of the loudest amens are heard in churches when a pet issue is reinforced. These are the verbal “slaps on each other’s backs” by the more spiritual. But where are the amens when the gospel is proclaimed?

There are varying degrees of maturity among believers, but not varying degrees of spirituality. Every believer is spiritual because he/she has the Spirit. One believer is not more spiritual than the other. And the spiritual understand “what God has freely given us” (1 Cor 2:12). We understand the message of the cross! Praise God for that kind of “spirituality.” As Carson concludes:

We must recognize that what it means to be wise, what it means to be spiritual, is to embrace, by the help of God’s Spirit, the message of the crucified Messiah.

How God Communicates His Glory to Us

In his book The End for Which God Created the World (printed in God’s Passion for His Glory by John Piper) Jonathan Edwards describes what God’s glory is in Himself and what it is when manifested to us. This is how Edwards describes God’s glory within Himself:

The whole of God’s internal good or glory, is in these three things, his infinite knowledge, his infinite virtue [love] or holiness, and his infinite joy and happiness (p. 244).

God communicates (emanates) His internal glory to us by communicating His knowledge of Himself, His love of Himself, and His happiness in Himself. Therefore, we glorify God by knowing, loving, and rejoicing in God’s glory as God knows, loves, and rejoices in Himself.

And in these things, knowing God’s excellency, loving God for it, and rejoicing in it, and in the exercise and expression of these, consists God’s honor and praise; so that these are clearly implied in that glory of God, which consists in the emanation of his internal glory (p. 245).

Thus God’s glory is reflected in us. As God’s internal glory is in His mind (knowledge) and will (love, joy), so He manifests His external glory to our minds and wills.

God communicates himself to the understanding of the creature, in giving him the knowledge of his glory; and to the will of the creature, in giving him holiness, consisting primarily in the love of God: and in giving the creature happiness, chiefly consisting in joy in God. These are the sum of that emanation of divine fullness called in Scripture, the glory of God. The first part of this glory is called truth, the latter, grace, John 1:14. “We beheld his glory, the glory of the only-begotted of the Father, full of grace and truth.” (pp. 246-246)

These three things – knowing, loving, and rejoicing – are found in 1 Peter 1:8 in reference to believers toward Christ:

Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory (ESV).

Is this none other than a believer “seeing” the glory of Christ in the gospel and coming to know, love and rejoice in Him?

One final observation: Edwards indicates that God’s love for Himself manifests itself in holiness and happiness. And so our response to God’s glory should be a love for God that expresses itself in holiness and happiness. Thus holiness is driven by love for God and happiness in God is love overflowing in joy.

Wilberforce and Joy

William Wilberforce led the movement to end slavery in England in the early 1800’s.  The movie Amazing Grace depicts Wilberforce’s story and opens this Friday. In his short book Amazing Grace in the Life of William Wilberforce, John Piper provides a fascinating and inspiring look at Wilberforce’s driving Christian principles and his indomitable joy in the midst of great obstacles. The following quote (p. 62) is Wilberforce’s response to his cousin’s mistrust of joy. Wilberforce said:

My grand objection to the religious system still held by many who declare themselves orthodox Churchmen… is, that it tends to render Christianity so much a system of prohibitions rather than of privilege and hopes, and thus the injunction to rejoice, so strongly enforced in the New Testament, is practically neglected, and Religion is made to wear a forbidding and gloomy air and not one of peace and hope and joy.

What a reminder that our main emphasis should be joy and hope in Christ rather than a system of don’ts which produces a gloomy joylessness. Scriptural prohibitions exist and should be followed. But the overarching attitude of a Christian should be unstoppable joy in the Savior who achieved our perfect right standing with God and promises the hope of glory.

Body-Building

Welcome to EDIFY. In the spirit of Ephesians 4:12-16, this blog is dedicated to the building up of believers through speaking the truth in love. Posts will primarily generate from Scripture and from interaction with the teaching of great men of the Faith. The content of posts and comments will be measured according to Ephesians 4:29 (ESV):

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.

Please give correction when necessary. I claim no corner on the market of truth. God's Word is truth. I hope we can encourage each other in our daily walk of putting sin to death and growing in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.