Survey of the Westminster Confession of Faith (Chapter 11)

Survey of the Westminster Confession of Faith

Chapter 11

Of Justification

(Part  1)

This chapter concerns that doctrine which was the cornerstone of the Protestant Reformation and continues to be the distinguishing doctrinal characteristic of Reformed theology: Justification by faith alone. If we were to pick the one issue that divided the Reformers from the Romanists, it would be the doctrine of justification. Every significant statement in this chapter is a refutation of some aspect of Rome’s teaching. When we understand that the question of how a condemned man is justified before a holy God is the question of all time, then we can see why this issue was at the heart of the debate between the Reformers and the Church of Rome.

All other matters that are related to Christian doctrine or the Christian life or the ministry of the Church take the place of secondary importance when ranked with the doctrine of justification by faith alone. It is this doctrine that deals with the all-important issue of the atonement. Therefore, it touches upon the matters of fallen man’s condition, the nature and work of the Mediator, and the grace of God the Father, just to name a few.

This chapter begins with a thorough definition of the Reformed understanding of justification; this is followed by an explanation of the role of faith in justification, the satisfaction offered by Christ on behalf of those justified, the application of Christ’s satisfaction to the sinner, the continuing threat of sin in the life of the justified sinner and, finally, a statement declaring that all of God’s saints are justified before Him in the same manner.

I. Those whom God effectually calls, He also freely justifies; not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous; not for any thing wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ’s sake alone; nor by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them, as their righteousness; but by imputing the obedience and satisfaction of Christ unto them, they receiving and resting on Him and His righteousness by faith; which faith they have not of themselves, it is the gift of God.

The first paragraph begins by making the necessary connection with the last chapter, which concerned the issue of God’s effectual call. Logically speaking, as the sinner is converted, justification is the matter that follows God’s call and regeneration of a sinner. The call of God by the Spirit awakens the sinner through regeneration; the sinner is thereby enabled to respond to God by believing in Christ.

Notice that the writers infer that God’s effectual call will certainly result in the sinner’s justification. This must be given the Biblical definition of the saving call of God; it is a call unto salvation. Therefore, the Divines write that all those whom God calls, “He also freely justifies.” The manner of that justification is the subject of the rest of this first paragraph. As we look at this section, we can break it into four elements:

First, justification involves the pardoning of sin and the accompanying consideration of the subject as righteous. The Divines specifically refute Rome’s doctrine of infused righteousness (This is the teaching that when God pardons the sinner, He does so on the basis of the righteousness that develops progressively in the sinner and the sinner makes use of the sacraments of the Church and conforms his life more consistently to Biblical standards.)

Second, justification is not grounded in the sinner’s worth or work. The sinner’s justification before God has no connection to his inherent goodness or anything of his that might be taken into consideration by God. The problem with the sinner is, of course, that he is a sinner and, therefore, has nothing in himself and nothing done by himself to commend him to God. The ground of his justification, then, if there is to be a justification, must be something outside the sinner. Otherwise, justification would be impossible given the fallen nature of man and the holy nature of the Judge.

Third, justification is grounded in the Person and work of Jesus Christ. This means that God takes into account the life and work of His Son when He declares a sinner justified. God pronounces the sinner righteous, but His declaration is based on the obedience and satisfaction of Christ, which is imputed to, or credited to, the undeserving sinner. The sinner is declared righteous, but only because God has willed to count the righteousness of His Son as the righteousness of the sinner.

Fourth, justification requires faith on the part of the sinner. Following the effectual call of God, the sinner accepts by faith God’s determination to impute the righteousness of Christ to him; by faith, he rests in the promise of God that the righteousness of the Savior will, indeed, be counted on his behalf. This element of this doctrine is crucial for it renders the sinner absolutely passive in the matter of his justification before God; all the sinner “does,” so to speak, is believe what God says He has done. And, as the Divines point out, even this belief, even this faith, is a gift from God; it is generated in the heart of the sinner by the Holy Spirit.

II. Faith, thus receiving and resting on Christ and His righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification: yet is it not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces, and is no dead faith, but works by love.

This paragraph expands on the closing remarks of the previous paragraph. The writers emphasize that faith and faith alone is the “instrument of justification.” This emphasis is meant to make clear the Reformed understanding of the sinner’s involvement relative to his justification. The sinner does nothing except receive what God does for Him in Christ. The singular object of the sinner’s belief is the Savior; he does not rest on his efforts and those of Christ, nor does he rest on Christ’s efforts and those of the Church.

Moreover, the Divines add that saving faith is always accompanied by “other saving graces,” by which they mean the other elements of the ordo salutis: effectual calling, adoption, sanctification, etc. And the writers state that this saving faith, this faith that fixes on the Person and work of Jesus Christ, “is no dead faith, but works by love.” They mean that saving faith must, by its definition and nature, manifest itself in the life of the one justified. There will be fruit that results from a sinner’s justification; he will bear the marks of the new birth as they are defined for us in Scripture.

(To be continued)