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by
John Piper
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April 21 - May 17, 2020
The move away from justification by faith alone and the resulting confusion of an alien righteousness with sanctification as the basis for our right standing before God probably came after Augustine,
The above quotation gives us reason to believe that the New Testament doctrine of justification by faith was implicitly, if not explicitly, held by many pious souls through all the ages of papal darkness.
Luther dates his great discovery of the gospel of justification by faith alone to 1518 during his series of lectures on Psalms.
“In it the righteousness of God is revealed,” that had stood in my way. For I hated that word “righteousness of God,” which according to the use and custom of all the teachers, I had been taught to understand philosophically regarding the formal or active righteousness, as they called it, with which God is righteous and punishes the unrighteous sinner.
At last, by the mercy of God, meditating day and night, I gave heed to the context of the words, namely, “In it the righteousness of God is revealed, as it is written, ‘He who through faith is righteous shall live.’”
When we embrace Christ by faith, and come, as it were, into communion with him, this we term, after the manner of Scripture, the righteousness of faith.
challenged that the justification of the ungodly by faith alone would lead to loose living
(just as Paul was challenged in Romans 6:1 and 15),
Paul in this context explain the nature of grace and sin. When we accept righteousness by faith and truly understand it. It doesn't lead to loose living as Paul eloquently put it that we ought to live for Christ and bring glory to the Father as we live under grace.
that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor yet my bad frame that made my righteousness worse, for my righteousness was Jesus Christ himself,
During the Great Awakening in the 1730s and 40s, the preaching of justification on both sides of the Atlantic grounded the strength of the movement of God.
Luther said, and give yourselves to it: “I beat importunately upon Paul.” Take hold of Romans and Galatians and wrestle with them the way Jacob wrestled with the angel of God—until these inspired writings bless you with this glorious truth.
say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.’”
This is why justification by works would not put an end to boasting.
If you worked for justification and you succeeded, you would not get grace but a wage. God would owe it to you.
do? Romans 4:5
First,
“To the one who does not work.”
the moment of justification.
it is not a long process (like sanctification).
The second
ungodly.
“but trusts him who justifies t...
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“Christ died for the ungodly” (Rom. 5:6). God can justify the ungodly because His Son died for the ungodly.
the word ungodly here is to stress that faith is not our righteousness.
Finally, the third
faith alone
“His faith is counted as righ...
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So justification would be God’s recognizing in me a righteousness that He put there and that He acknowledges and counts for what it really is—righteous.
My answer is that Paul means faith is what unites us with Christ and all that God is for us in Him. And when God sees us united to Christ—sees us in Christ—He sees the righteousness of Christ as our righteousness.
why “faith counted as righteousness” does not mean that faith is our righteousness.
First,
of verse 6, “God counts righteousness apart from works.”
verse 11, “that righteousness might be counted to them.”
Notice: in both of these, faith is not the thing counted as righteousness, but righteousness ...
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“God credits righteousness,” not “God credits faith a...
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What is counted to our account here is not faith but righteousness.
righteousness is counted through faith.
Se...
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3:21–22, “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God throug...
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Faith is what unites us to God’s righteousness. Faith is not God’s righteousness which is imputed (reckoned) ...
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T...
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It’s not our righteousness that we get in Christ. It is God’s righteousness. And we get it not because our faith is righteous but because we are “in Christ.” Faith unites us to Christ. And in Christ we have an alien righteousness.
Fourth,
1 Corinthians 1:30. “[God] is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption.”
Bunyan’s text (1 Cor. 1:30) says that Christ became for us (simple dative, hēmin) “righteousness.”
Christ, not faith, is our righteousness.
Paul says in Romans 4:3, 5, 9, and 22 that “faith is counted as righteousness,”
he does not mean that our faith is our righteousness.
his apology connects him with the promise given for a clean room.
And Paul said it both ways: “Faith is reckoned as righteousness,” and “God credits righteousness to us.”
