Justificação
pela Fé Somente
(A Relação da Fé com a Justificação)
por
Dr. Joel R. Beeke
A justificação pela fé somente foi a grande revolução espiritual e teológica de Martinho Lutero. Ela não veio facilmente. Ele havia tentado de tudo, desde dormir sob o chão duro e jejuar, até subir uma escadaria em Roma de joelhos em oração. Monastérios, disciplinas, confissões, missas, absolvições, boas obras - tudo provou ser inútil. A paz com Deus lhe escapava. O pensamento da justiça de Deus o perseguia. Ele odiava a própria palavra "justiça", que ele cria fornecer uma mandato divino para condená-lo.
A luz finalmente raiou para Lutero quando ele meditou sobre Romanos 1:17, "Porque nele se descobre a justiça de Deus de fé em fé, como está escrito: Mas o justo viverá pela fé". Ele viu pela primeira vez que a justiça que Paulo tinha aqui em mente não era uma justiça punitiva que condena os pecadores, mas uma justiça que Deus livremente concede aos pecadores com base nos méritos de Cristo, e a qual os pecadores recebem pela fé. Lutero viu que a doutrina da justificação pela graça somente (sola gratia) através da fé somente (per sola fidem) por causa de Cristo somente (solus Christus) era o coração do evangelho e se tornava para ele "uma porta aberta para o paraíso...um portão para o céu".
A frase "justificação pela fé somente" foi a chave que abriu a Bíblia para Lutero. [1] Ele veio a entender cada uma destas quatro palavras em relação às outras pela luz da Escritura e do Espírito. Em outra parte este volume trata com três palavras das quatro da redescoberta de Lutero: justificação, fé, somente. Minha tarefa de expor o "pela" pode, à primeira vista, parecer elementar, mas ao redor dessa enganosamente simples preposição, o cerne do debate romanista-protestante tem sido travado. Façamos algumas perguntas e respostas pertinentes em relação a esta preposição crítica que servirão para ressaltar a relação da fé com a justificação. Consideraremos a preposição "pela" a partir de quatro perspectivas: primeiro, escrituristicamente, por meio de uma consideração do ensino básico da justificação pela fé, juntamente com as implicações exegéticas e etimológicas da preposição; segundo, teologicamente, lutando com o assunto da fé como uma possível "condição" da justificação; terceiro, experiencialmente, falando sobre como um pecador se apropria de Cristo pela fé; quarto, polemicamente, defendendo a visão protestante da justificação "pela" fé contra as visões do catolicismo romano, do arminianismo e do antinomianismo.
Primeiro, onde a Bíblia ensina a justificação pela fé e o que realmente se trasmite na preposição "pela"?
O Antigo Testamento afirma que a justificação é "pela fé". Da fé de Abraão, Gênesis 15:6 declara: "E creu ele no SENHOR, e foi-lhe imputado isto para justiça". Os católicos romanos têm tradicionalmente apelado para esse versículo para sustentar sua doutrina de justificação por obras capacitadas pela graça, mas nenhuma palavra é mencionada aqui de obras ou mérito. Antes, em Gênesis 15:6, Deus condece justiça a Abraão como um dom gratuito. Paulo confirma em Romanos 4 e Gálatas 3:6-14 que a justiça imputada (isto é, computada) de Gênesis 15:6 é para ser entendida em termos de "pela ou através da fé". O verbo hebraico em Gênesis 15:6 é também traduzido como "foi contado" em Romanos 4:3 (conforme Gálatas 3:6, que usa "contado" no texto e "imputado" nas notas marginais). Esse verbo, na maioria das vezes, indica "o que uma pessoa, considerada em si mesma, não é ou não tem, mas que é computada, tida ou vista como sendo, ou tendo". [2] É claro, então, que quando Abraão foi justificado pele sua fé, a justiça que lhe foi computada ou "creditada em sua conta" era uma justiça não sua mas de outro, a saber, a justiça de Cristo (Gálatas 3:16).
Mas a objeção pode ser levantada: a preposição eis como usada em Romanos 4:5,9,22 ("fé lhe é contada como justiça...fé foi imputada a Abraão para justiça...isso lhe foi também imputado para justiça") implica que o ato de crer é imputado ao crente para justiça? Nesses versículos a presosição grega eis não significa "em lugar de", mas sempre significa "com o objetivo de" ou "a fim de". Poderia ser traduzida "em direção a" ou "para". Seu significado é claro a partir de Romanos 10:10, "com o coração se crê para [eis] justiça" - isto é, a fé se move em direção do próprio Cristo e se apega a Ele. [3] J. I. Packer sumariza bem isso:
Quando Paulo parafraseia esse verso [Gênesis 15:6] como ensinando que a fé de Abraão foi computada para justiça (Romanos 4:5,9,22), tudo que quis que entendêssemos é que a fé - a dependência decisiva e de todo o coração na promessa graciosa de Deus - (vs. 18ss.) - foi a ocasião e o meio de a justiça lhe ser imputada. Não há sugestão aqui de que a fé seja a base da justificação. [4]
Expondo Romanos 4, Theodore Beza comenta:
Abraão não foi justificado, e feito o pai dos fiéis, por qualquer de suas próprias obras, nem precendentes nem seguintes de sua fé em Cristo, conforme prometido a ele; mas meramente pela fé em Cristo, ou em o mérito de Cristo pela fé imputado a ele para justiça. Portanto, todos seus filhos tornam-se filhos seus e são justificados, não por suas obras, nem precedentes nem seguintes de sua fé; mas pela fé somente no mesmo Cristo. [5]
Um segundo texto importante do Antigo Testamento que apoia a justificação pela fé é Habacuque 2:4: "o justo viverá pela sua fé", ou como alguns estudiosos querem ler, "o justo pela fé viverá". Paulo deixa claro que este verso, citado em Romanos 1:17, Gálatas 3:11 e Hebreus 10:38, é cumprido finalmente na justiça que vem pela fé no evangelho de Cristo, pela qual a própria lei nos ensinar a procurar (Romanos 3:21-22; 10:4). A explicação de Paulo sobre Habacuque inspirou não somente Martinho Lutero, mas a incontáveis outros crentes a colocarem sua fé numa justiça não deles próprios, mas naquela de Jesus Cristo, que é chamado "O SENHOR JUSTIÇA NOSSA" (Jeremias 23:6).
O Novo Testamento é abundantemente claro em afirmar a justificação pela fé: "a justiça de Deus pela fé em Jesus Cristo para todos e sobre todos os que crêem" (Romanos 3:22). "Tu estás em pé pela fé" (Romanos 11:20). "De maneira que a lei nos serviu de aio, para nos conduzir a Cristo, para que, pela fé, fôssemos justificados" (Gálatas 3:24).
Mas se a Escritura claramente afirma a doutrina da justificação pela fé, qual é, então, a precisa relação da fé com a justificação? A resposta descansa no que é transmitido na preposição "pela". "Poucas coisas são mais necessárias para um correto entendimento do Novo Testamento" escreveu J. Gresham Machen, "do que um conhecimento preciso das preposições comuns". [6] Os escritores do Novo Testamento geralmente empregam três expressões: piste, ek pisteos, e dia pisteos. O Cristão é justificado "pela fé" (pistei ou ek pisteous) ou "através da fé" (dia pisteos). Por exemplo, pistei (o caso dativo do substantivo pistis) é usado em Romanos 3:28: "Concluímos, pois, que o homem é justificado pela fé, sem as obras da lei". Ek pisteos é usado em Romanos 5:1: "Sendo, pois, justificados pela fé, temos paz com Deus por nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo". Dia pisteos é usado em Efésios 2:8: "Porque pela graça sois salvos, por meio da fé; e isso não vem de vós; é dom de Deus" (ênfase adicionada).
Cada um desses três usos tem sua própria ênfase ou significado especial. O uso do dativo simples (pistei) chama a atenção para a necessidade e importância da fé. O uso da preposição dia ("através" ou "por meio de") descreve a fé como o instrumento de justificação, isto é, o meio pelo qual a justiça de Cristo é recebida e apropriada pelo pecador para a justificação. O uso da preposição ek ("de", "como resultado de", ou "por") descreve a fé como a ocasião da justificação, embora nunca como a causa eficiente ou definitiva da justificação. [7]
É fundamental notar que em nenhum desses casos, nem em nenhuma outra parte da Escritura, é a fé (ou qualquer outra graça) representada como constituindo alguma base de mérito para a justificação. E isto é ainda mais notável quando alguém considera que dia com o acusativo significaria "com base em" ou "por causa de". Dessa forma, dia ten pistin transmitiria a noção de "sobre a base de ou ou por causa da fé", fazendo assim a fé ser a razão meritória da aceitação do pecador diante de Deus. Mas tal é a precisão da supervisão das escrituras do Novo Testamento pelo Espírito que em nenhum lugar um escritor pratica um deslize usando essa frase preposicional. Em cada ocasião a fé apresentada como o meio da justificação. A justificação pela fé somente nunca é justificação por causa da fé (propter fidem), mas sempre justificação por causa de Cristo (propter Christum), isto é, por causa da satisfação da justiça pelo sangue do Cordeiro de Deus ser graciosamente imputada e recebida por um pecador não merecedor (Gálatas 3:6; Tiago 2:23). No final das contas, a base da justificação é Cristo e Sua justiça somente. [8]
Na tradição reformada, vários termos ou expressões teológicas têm sido usados para captar esta relação bíblica da fé com a justificação. Por exemplo, a Confissão de Fé Belga (1561, Artigo 22) e a Confissão de Fé de Westminster (1647, Capítulo 11.2) denominam a fé como "apenas um instrumento" e "o único instrumento de justificação. [9] A fé não é um agente (isto é, uma causa eficiente), mas um instrumento (isto é, um meio) de justificação. Esse é o único meio do crente receber a justificação. Esse meio não é mecânico como a palavra "instrumento" infelizmente sugere; antes, esse meio é em si a obra salvadora do Espírito Santo através da Palavra pela qual um pecador é trazido à um relacionamento vivo e pessoal com o Deus triúno.
O Catecismo de Heidelberg (1563, Questão 61) declara que não existe "nenhum outro meio" (nicht anders) a não ser a fé pela qual a justiça de Cristo se torna nossa. Deus não ordenou que a fé fosse o instrumento da justificação por causa de alguma virtude peculiar na fé, mas porque a fé se esvazia e em si mesma não tem nenhum mérito: "Portanto, é pela fé, para que seja segundo a graça" (Romanos 4:16).
João Calvino compara a fé a um vaso vazio: "Comparamos a fé a uma espécie de vaso; pois a não ser que cheguemos vazios e com a boca de nossa alma aberta para buscar a graça de Cristo, não somos capazes de receber Cristo". [10] O vaso não pode ser comparado em seu valor ao tesouro que ele contém (2 Coríntios 4:7).
O puritano Thomas Goodwin usa uma
linguagem forte e ativa: "Fé é olhos, e mãos, e pés,
sim, e boca, e estômago, e tudo". [11] E o
Bispo J. C. Ryle do século XIX escreve: "A fé salvadora é
a mão...o olho...a boca...e o pé da alma". [12]
Contudo, a fé vive pelo Pão Vivo somente, não pela boca
que se alimenta do pão (João 6:35-58). O pecador é justificado
pelo sacrifício de Cristo somente, não por seu ato de se banquetear
ou crer naquele sacrifício pela fé.
Segundo, é correto chamar a fé de "uma condição da justificação", como freqüentemente tem sido feito?
Dado o sentido de "pela fé" no original grego, é mais acurado falar de fé como um instrumento do que uma condição da justificação e salvação, porque uma condição geralmente denota uma qualidade meritória por amor à qual um benefício é conferido. Somos justificados não meramente pela fé, mas pela fé em Cristo; não por causa daquilo que a fé é, mas por causa daquilo a que a fé se apega e recebe. Nós não somos salvos para crêr, mas por estar crendo. Na aplicação da justificação, a fé não é um construtor, mas um contemplador; ela não tem nada para dar ou alcançar, mas tudo para receber. A fé não é a base nem a substância de nossa justificação, mas a mão, o instrumento, o vaso que recebe a dádiva divina oferecida a nós no evangelho. "Assim como um mendigo, que estende sua mão para receber um pedaço de pão, não pode dizer que fez por merecer a dádiva que lhe foi concedida", escreveu Herman Kuiper, "também não podem os crentes afirmar que mereceram a justificação, só porque abraçaram a justiça de Cristo, graciosamente oferecida a eles no Evangelho". [13]
A distinção entre essas duas visões não é meramente semântica; é fatal considerar a fé como um pré-requisito que o pecador pode satisfazer por um ato de sua própra vontade para ser salvo. Num caso desse, o homem na realidade torna-se seu próprio salvador. Pior ainda, tudo depende então da pureza e força ou perfeição da fé do pecador. Ao contrário, a Escritura ensina que o que está em jogo é o próprio caráter da fé: a fé é uma obra do homem ou o dom de Deus? A questão é respondida decisivamente pelo Apóstolo Paulo: "Porque a vós vos foi concedido, em relação a Cristo, não somente crer nEle, como também padecer por ele" (Filipenses 1:29; veja também Efésios 2:8; ênfase adicionada). A justificação é recebida na forma de fé, visto que agrada a Deus justificar um pecador concedendo-lhe fé". [14]
Embora a fé seja o meio através do qual Deus opera a salvação, a fé não é e não pode ser uma condição humana - isto é, se "condição" implica mais do que a ordem necessária, ou o caminho de salvação. Se a fé fosse o fundamento condicional (isto é, meritório) da justificação, a salvação pelo mérito humano estaria introduzida, desonrando a graça divina e subvertendo o evangelho ao reduzi-lo a simplesmente mais uma versão de justificação pelas obras (Gálatas 4:21-5:12). Além do mais, visto que não podemos ser aceitos por Deus com uma justiça menos do que perfeita, nossa fé teria de ser perfeita. Contudo, a fé de ninguém é perfeita. Toda nossa fé é danificada pelo pecado. Nada em nós, inclusive nossa fé, teria possibilidade de obter sucesso como uma condição. A fé desconhece o mérito humano (Efésios 2:8), porque a própria natureza da fé é depender inteiramente do mérito e justiça de Cristo como "mais que suficiente para quitar a dívida de nossos pecados" (Confissão Belga, Artigo 22). Nós não somos justificados por nossa fé que é sempre imperfeita, mas pela sempre perfeita justiça de Cristo. Todas as condições de salvação devem ser e têm sido cumpridas por Jesus através de Sua obediência, tanto ativa como passiva, no estado de Sua humilhação (Romanos 5:19). A. A. Hodge observa, de forma sucinta:
"A fé justificadora termina em Cristo, em Seu sangue e sacrifício, e nas promessas de Deus; em sua própria essência, portanto, envolve confiança, e, negando seu próprio valor justificador, afirma o mérito único daquilo em que confia" (Romanos 3:15-26; 4:20,22; Gálatas 3:26; Efésios 1:12-13; 1 João 5:10). [15]
Alguns teólogos reformados, contudo, têm chamado a fé de uma "condição" num sentido não meritório. Robert Shaw comenta sabiamente sobre isto:
Alguns dignos teólogos têm chamado a fé de uma condição, os quais estão longe de ser da opinião de que ela seja uma condição propriadamente dita, um desempenho pelo qual os homens devessem, conforme o pacto gracioso de Deus, ter direito à justificação como sua recompensa. Eles meramente pretendiam dizer que sem a fé não podemos ser justificados - que a fé deve preceder a justificação pela ordem do tempo ou da natureza. Mas como o termo "condição" é muito ambíguo, e calculado para enganar os ignorantes, deve ser evitado. [16]
Robert Traill é até mais vigoroso: "A fé em Jesus
Cristo...no ofício da justificação, não é
nem condição nem qualificação...mas no próprio
ato é uma renúncia de todas as pretensões semelhantes".
[17] O próprio ato de fé pelo qual recebemos
Cristo é um ato de renúncia total de todas nosas próprias
obras e justiça como uma condição ou base de salvação.
Como Horatius Bonar profundamente comenta: "A fé não é
obra, nem mérito, nem esforço; mas é o cessar de tudo isso,
e a aceitação em seu lugar daquilo que um outro fez - fez completamente,
e para sempre". [18] E John Girardeau observa: "A
fé é um vazio preenchido com a plenitude de Cristo; é a
impotência descansando sobre a força de Cristo". [19]
Mas a objeção pode ser então levantada: se a fé é essencial a medida que somente ela une um pecador a Cristo, mas a fé não é condicional em qualquer sentido meritório, é apropriado ver a fé como a "mão" que recebe Cristo? Não está sendo atribuída alguma capacidade ao homem natural por meio dessa metáfora? Visto que a fé é sempre tanto dom de Deus (Efésios 2:8) como obra de Deus ("Jesus respondeu e disse-lhes: A obra de Deus é esta: que creiais naquele que ele enviou" [João 6:29]), como pode a fé ser designada como uma "mão"?
De fato, o homem natural não tem nenhuma capacidade de estender a mão para aceitar a salvação de Deus em Cristo. O homem natural está morto em delitos e pecados (Efésios 2:1). Ele nunca "aceitará Cristo" de seu próprio livre-arbítrio (Mateus 23:37; João 5:40). A Escritura ensina que um pecador não se move primeiro em direção a Deus, e sim que Deus primeiro se move em direção ao pecador para uni-lo com Cristo pela fé, porque um pecador nunca por sua vontade ou desejo se volta para Cristo em fé (Romanos 9:16). Mesmo quando atormentado com os terrores do juízo divino, o homem natural não pode ser persuadido a fugir para Deus pela fé salvadora para salvação (Provérbios 1:24-27). Mas na regeneração o Espírito Santo concede o dom de uma mão vazia e viva que não pode se voltar para nada a não ser para Jesus. "Mas a todos quantos o receberam deu-lhes o poder de serem feitos filhos de Deus: aos que crêem no seu nome, os quais não nasceram do sangue, nem da vontade da carne, nem da vontade do varão, mas de Deus" (João 1:12-13; conforme Salmos 110:3).
A fé não é chamada de mão porque trabalha ou merece justificação de alguma forma, mas porque ela recebe, abraça e se apropria de Cristo mediante a imputação divina. A fé não é uma mão criativa, mas uma mão receptiva. Como Abraham Booth observa: "Portanto, na justificação lemos da preciosa fé na justiça de nosso Deus e Salvador Jesus Cristo (2 Pedro 1) e da 'fé em Seu sangue' (Romanos 3:25), e os crentes são descritos como 'recebendo a reconciliação' e recebendo 'o dom da justiça' (Romanos 5:11,17)". [20]
A fé é passiva na justificação, mas torna-se ativa ao aceitar Cristo quando Ele é oferecido ao pecador. [21] Na verdade, quando Cristo é dado, a fé não pode deixar de ser ativa, motivando o crente a alegrar-se na justiça imputada de Cristo com alegria espiritual e profunda. Todavia, essa alegria não pode gloriar-se de nenhum mérito humano, pois não é a mão em si mesma que produz alegria e enriquece, e sim o dom recebido pela mão da fé, Jesus Cristo.
A mão da fé graciosa e incondicionalmente recebe e descansa somente sobre Cristo e Sua justiça. A fé tem vida que sai de Cristo, em quem toda nossa salvação se encontra (João 15:11-7). Como B.B. Warfield apropriadamente sumariza:
É do seu objeto [Jesus Cristo] que a fé deriva seu valor...O poder salvador da fé, dessa forma, não reside em si mesma, mas no Salvador Todo-Poderoso em quem ela reside...Não é a fé que salva, mas a fé em Jesus Cristo...Falando estritamente, não é nem mesmo a fé em Cristo que salva, mas Cristo que salva através da fé. [22]
Terceiro, como é aberto espaço na alma para a fé fazer sua apropriação de Cristo? De que maneira a fé se apropria de Cristo e Sua justiça experiencialmente? Qual é a marca de tal apropriação?
O conceito de receber Cristo pela fé, raptado em nossos dias pelo arminianismo, precisa ser recuperado até mesmo pelo púlpito reformado. Muitos cristãos reformados sinceros têm medo de falar em "receber Cristo" simplesmente por causa da maneira falsa em que evangelistas modernos descrevem tal recepção (isto é, como um ato do suposto "livre-arbítrio" do pecador para cumprir uma condição para a salvação). Crendo que de algum modo parece errado e "arminiano" receber Cristo, fica inibida sua resposta ao evangelho com liberdade. [23]
Negar que a fé seja o fundamento da justificação não é minimizar a fé nem a necessidade de receber Cristo pela fé pessoalmente. Embora a Escritura nunca atribua mérito à fé em si mesma, ela estabelece inequivocamente a necessidade da fé (Hebreus 11:6). A graça soberana da justiça imputada de Cristo deve ser pessoalmente recebida pela fé, se é para um pecador ser enxertado ou incorporado em Cristo (João 3:36; Romanos 5:11,17). O Espírito Santo usa a fé para operar a graça soberana. Como G. C. Berkouwer declara: "O caminho da salvação é o caminho da fé justamente porque é somente em fé que a exclusividade da graça divina é reconhecida e honrada...A fé não é uma competidora da sola gratia [pela graça somente]; mas a graça soberana é confirmada pela fé...Sola gratia e sola fide [pela fé somente], dessa forma, permanecem o tudo ser e tudo terminar do relacionamento entre a fé e a justificação". [24]
A fé é um santo mandamento, uma necessidade pessoal, uma urgência premente (2 Reis 17:14,18,21). Só existe fé ou condenação (Marcos 16:16; João 3:18). A fé é indispensável. John Flavel escreveu: "A alma é a vida do corpo; a fé é a vida da alma; Cristo é a vida da fé".
Pelo Espírito e pela palavra de Deus, a fé justificadora é uma graça salvadora que, primeiro, convence do pecado e da miséria; segundo, assenti com o evangelho de coração; terceiro, recebe e descansa em Cristo e na Sua justiça para perdão e salvação; e quarto, vive a partir de Cristo, que é a marca da fé apropriadora (Hebreus 10:39; Romanos 10:14; João 16:8-9; Romanos 10:8-10; Atos 10:43; Filipenses 3:9; Gálatas 3:11; conforme o Catecismo Maior de Westminster, Questões 72-73). Essas marca da fé são experimentadas na alma e exigem ser examinadas mais de perto, se é para averiguarmos as dimensões experimentadas do "pela" na justificação pela somente somente.
Primeiro então, a fé é uma graça experimental, convincente e esvaziadora da alma. Para me apegar a Cristo, entesourar Sua justiça, é preciso que eu perca minha própria justiça. A fé ensina a absoluta humildade, o total esvaziamento de tudo dentro do pecador quando ele é visto fora de Cristo. [25] A fé significa um desprezo absoluto de tudo, exceto de Cristo. Para esse fim, a fé torna um pecador consciente da situação desesperada em que se encontra e do julgamento trágico que merece. O pecado deve se tornar pecado se é para a graça se tornar graça. Longe de ser uma obra de mérito, a fé é o reconhecimento do meu demérito, uma negação de toda esperança de mérito, um tornar-se consciente da misericórdia divina. Meus trapos imundos devem ser lançados fora; o caráter espiritual da lei que demanda perfeito amor a Deus e a meu próximo deve me condenar, se é para eu chegar a apreciar a beleza do Salvador que, pelos ímpios, obedeceu perfeitamente a lei em Sua obediência ativa, e suportou a penalidade do pecado em Sua obediência passiva (Romanos 5:6-10). Minha injustiça deve ser desvelada se é para ficar descoberta a justiça de Cristo (Salmos 71:16).
Segundo, a
Second, faith wholeheartedly "assents
to the truth of the gospel" (Westminster Larger Catechism, Question 73).
Faith is no mere intellectual assent. Faith believes from the heart that which
the Scriptures teach about self, the holiness of God, and the saviorhood of
Christ. Thrust before God's holiness, faith repudiates self-righteousness and
is brought to need Christ experientially as revealed in the Scriptures and given
by the Spirit. Faith abandons all self-merit while being increasingly allured
to Christ and his merits (Romans 7:24-25). Faith surrenders to the evangel and
falls into the outstretched arms of God. "The act of faith is as much being
held by God as holding Him; the power of faith is exercised as much in capitulation
as in conquering—the faith that overcomes the world is capitulation to
Christ's great victory."26 Faith looks away from self and itself to Christ,
living and moving entirely from and in grace.27 Faith flees with all the soul's
poverty to Christ's riches, with all the soul's guilt to Christ as reconciler,
with all the soul's bondage to Christ as liberator. Faith confesses with Augustus
Toplady:
Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to thee for dress;
Helpless, look to thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Saviour, or I die.
Third, justifying faith is especially that act of the soul by which a sinner
lays hold of Christ and His righteousness and experiences pardon and peace that
passes understanding (Philippians 4:7). Faith is nothing less than the means
which unites a sinner with his Savior. "Faith justifies in no other way,"
wrote Calvin, "than as it introduces us into a participation of the righteousness
of Christ." It apprehends (fides apprehensiva) "closes" with,
and "grasps" Christ in warm believing embrace, surrendering all of
self, clinging to His Word, relying on His promises, Christ is not only the
object of faith, but is Himself present in faith. Faith reposes in the person
of Christ— hearing, seeing, trusting, taking, embracing, knowing, rejoicing
loving, triumphing. It leaves its case in the hands of Christ as great Physician,
while taking His prescriptions, following His directions, trusting simply and
supremely in his finished work and ongoing intercessions. Faith, Luther writes,
"clasps Christ as a ring clasps its jewel"; faith wraps the soul in
Christ's righteousness. it appropriates with a believing heart the perfect righteousness,
satisfaction and holiness of Christ. It tastes the efficacy of Christ's blood-righteousness
as the righteousness of God Himself (Romans 3:21-25; 5:9; 6:7; 2 Corinthians
5:18-21). It weds the soul to Christ, experiences divine pardon and acceptance
in the Beloved, and makes the soul partaker of every covenant mercy. Faith and
Christ become inseparable in justification as Daniel Cawdray illustrates:
As the act of healing through the eyes of the Israelites and the brazen serpent
went together; so, in the act of justifying, these two, faith and Christ, have
a mutual relation, and must always concur—faith as the action which apprehendeth,
Christ as the object which is apprehended; so that neither the passion of Christ
saveth without faith, nor doth faith help unless it be in Christ, its object28
William Gurnall put it this way: "With one hand faith pulls off its own
righteousness and throws it away; with the other it puts on Christ's."
The Heidelberg Catechism explains personal appropriation of Christ's righteousness
best:
Question 60: How art thou righteous before God?
Answer: Only by a true faith in Jesus Christ (Rom. 3:22ff; Gal. 2:16); so that,
though my conscience accuse me, that I have grossly transgressed all the commandments
of God, and kept none of them (Rom 3:9ff.), and am still inclined to all evil
(Rom. 7:23); notwithstanding, God, without any merit of mine (Rom. 3:24), but
only of mere grace (Tit. 3:5; Eph. 2:8-9), grants (Rom. 4:4-5; 2 Cor. 5:19)
and imputes to me (1 john 2:1) the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and
holiness of Christ (Rom. 3:24-25); even so, as if I never had had, nor committed
any sin; yea, as if I had fully accomplished all that obedience which Christ
has accomplished for me (2Cor. 5:210), inasmuch as I embrace such benefit with
a believing heart (Rom. 3:28; Jn 3:18).
Question 61: Why sayest thou that thou are righteous by faith only?
Answer: Not that I am acceptable to God on account of the worthiness of my faith
(Psa. 16:2; Eph. 2:8-9), but because only the satisfaction, righteousness, and
holiness of Christ, is my righteousness before God (1 Cor. 1:30; 2:2); and that
I cannot receive and apply the same to myself any other way than by faith only
(1 John 5:10).
Fourth, faith lives out of Christ. Being united to Christ by faith, the believer
is objectively possessed of all Christ's benefits and subjectively experiences
these benefits as abundantly as the Spirit applies them and as he is capable
of receiving them through apprehending Christ. since grace and faith are given
in Christ, the essential righteousness of the believer will remain extrinsic
to him, even as Christ is really present within him, effecting daily conversion.
"Christ without" is the ground of justification; "Christ within,":
the fruit of justification, and an evidence of vital union of the believer to
Christ.29 For faith, Christ—both in glory as ascended Lord and in the
believer's soul—is the chief among ten thousand, white and ruddy, altogether
lovely (Song of Solomon 5:10, 16). with the Queen of Sheba, faith can say of
the greater Solomon when gazing and feasting upon His blessed person and benefits,
"Behold, the one half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me: for
thou exceedest the fame that I heard" (2 Chronicles 9:6). Faith exclaims,
"Christ is all, and in all" (Colossians 3:11)!
This Christ-centeredness is the hallmark of faith. Faith's distinguishing mark
is the real and redeeming presence of Christ. It is the very nature and fountain
of faith to rest entirely upon Christ. faith does not look at itself. Many today
are too preoccupied with looking at their faith rather than faith's object.
The Reformers spoke and wrote much about faith, but their concern was object-centered
rather than subject-centered, Christo-centric rather than anthropocentric, theological
rather than psychological. It is not faith in our faith, nor faith in the faith,
nor faith in our justification, that is salvific, but faith in Christ. The Puritans
caught this well. As George Swinnock indicted, "First, Faith must look
out for Christ; secondly, Faith must look up to Christ for grace; thirdly, Faith
must take Christ down, or receive Him and grace."30 "Faith has two
hands," Thomas Manton wrote, "with one it stretches out for Christ;
with the other, it pushes away all that comes between Christ and the soul."
Faith not only ventures to Christ with the demanding law at its heels and upon
Christ with all the soul's guilt, but it also ventures for Christ despite all
difficulties and discouragements.
"Without faith it is impossible to please God." (Hebrews 11:6). god
is pleased with faith because faith is pleased with Christ. Christ honors faith
the most of all graces because faith honors Christ the most. Faith continually
takes refuge, as the Belgic Confession states, "in the blood, death, passion,
and obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Article 29).
Christ is faith's only object and only expectation. He is the heartbeat and
life of faith. Faith enables the soul to enjoy the whole salvation of Christ;
by faith Christ becomes the soul's wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and
redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30). Faith commits the total person to the total
person of Christ. this Christ-centeredness, more than anything else, makes faith
inseparable from justification and superior to all other graces in justification.31
Small wonder then that faith has been called the captain of all spiritual graces.
Thomas Watson wrote, "Love is the crowning grace in heaven, but faith is
the conquering grace upon earth....Faith is the master-wheel; it sets all the
other graces running....Other graces make us like Christ, faith makes us members
of Christ."32 "Call forth first that commander-in-chief," George
Swinnock adds, "and then the private soldiers, the other graces, will all
follow."33
Quarto, como a apresentação bíblica, histórica e protestante da justificação pela fé somente contradiz o ensino católico-romano?
When the leaders of the roman Catholic
Counter-Reformation convened the Council of Trent (1545-1563), one of their
major purposes was to deal with the doctrine of justification by faith. their
goal was to establish a roman catholic consensus and to condemn the new Protestantism
by pronouncing anathemas upon the distinctive teachings of Luther and the early
Lutheran confessions of faith.34 Due to the importance of justification, the
Tridentine Decree (Sixth Session, finalized January 13, 1547) contains a detailed
exposition of Romanist teaching in sixteen "Chapters" (each containing
one or two lengthy paragraphs), followed by a condemnation of thirty-three specific
opinions, called "Canons" (one short paragraph each).35 The final
arrangement of the Sixth Decree expounds the Romanist notion of three states
of justification: the first state (Chapters 1-9) describes a sinner's initial
transition from a state of sin to a state of righteousness; the second state
(Chapters 10-130 details how the justified sinner might increase in righteousness;
the third state (Chapters 14-16) is concerned with the recovery of justification
through the sacrament of penance by those who have fallen from grace. The thirty-three
appended Canons condemning specific heretical opinions deal largely but not
exclusively with Protestantism. Unfortunately, Protestant teachings are so severely
caricatured in these Canons that most of them are unrecognizable as Protestant
doctrines, or else they are mingled with real heresies, which Protestants themselves
would condemn as severely as Rome. Trent did make clear, however, that Romanists
and Protestants differ substantially on the doctrine of justification in the
following points.
First, traditional Roman Catholic teaching regards justification as a process
in which a sinner is made righteous. Rome claims that the verb "to justify"
means to make righteous. Justification follows sanctification; it is dependent
upon an inner change in a sinner's nature (rather than his state or status),
making him into a righteous person. Theologically, this results in the commingling
of justification and sanctification. Justification results from being made righteous;
justification is righteousness infused (iustitia infusa, Chapter 7) —i.e.
righteousness actualized rather than imputed. The believer is justified on the
basis of internal righteousness (iustitia in nobis); justification is granted
to the righteous rather than to the sinner. According to Trent, faith is to
be seen as the beginning of human salvation, the foundation and root of all
justification (Chapter 8). Faith justifies as it is animated by love; hence
faith is never alone, but "worketh by love" (Galatians 5:6), and therefore
its own virtues merit some degree of divine acceptance (Chapter 7). Canon 11
states:
If anyone says that men are justified either by the sole imputation of the justice
of Christ or by the sole remission of sins, to the exclusion of the grace and
the charity which is poured forth in their hearts by the Holy Ghost, and remains
in them, or also that the grace by which they were justified is only the good
will of God, let him be anathema.
More recently Jesuit scholar John Bligh has joined other roman Catholic scholars
in affirming that "to justify" often occurs in judicial contexts and
can mean to acquit as a declarative act on god's part. Bligh continues the commingling
of justification and sanctification, however, by stating that "justification
is more than forgiveness; it is forgiveness plus transformation."36 This
commingling is also evident in the united statement on justification by faith
issued by the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission: "Justification
and sanctification are two aspects of the same divine act."37
Contrary to Trent, Scripture and Protestant theology teach that in justification,
righteousness is imputed (iustitia imputata) or reckoned to the sinner's account
solely by the good will of God; justification is a forensic declaration or pronouncement
that a sinner is reckoned righteous by God. It is justification of he ungodly
"apart from ourselves" (iustitia extra nos), i.e. by the external
or alien righteousness of Christ (Isaiah 45:24-25; Acts 13:39; 1 Corinthians
6:11; Ephesians 1:7). the sinner's sin is not reckoned; Christ's righteousness
is reckoned (Romans 4:5-8) and received by faith alone. Justification and sanctification
are not to be commingled. Justification by inward transformation is no way to
salvation. "We are justified," Luther states in his Galatians commentary,
"not by faith furnished with charity, but by faith only and alone."
Faith does not justify because it produces the fruit of love for Christ, but
because it receives the fruit of Christ's love. such faith, however, as James
teaches (Ch. 2:14ff), will indeed bear fruits of love, good works, and every
Christian grace. A good tree will bear good fruit, which, however, testifies
to, rather than causes, its good nature. "Works," Luther continues,
"are not taken into consideration when the question respects justification.
but true faith will no more fail to produce them, than the sun can cease to
give light." Justification without subsequent sanctification is impossible;
sanctification confirms that justification has transpired. Conversely, if no
works follow faith, that faith is dead; it is not a living faith in Christ.38
For the historic Protestant faith, justification and sanctification possess
like denominators in the believer's salvation and yet are distinct though inseparable.
Both proceed from free grace, being rooted in the sovereign good pleasure of
the triune God. both are made possible only through the head of the eternal
covenant, Jesus Christ. Both are necessary unto salvation, commencing already
from the moment of regeneration. Fine-tuned distinctions, however, are numerous:
Justification is extrinsic to the sinner saved; sanctification is intrinsic.
Justification declares the sinner righteous and holy in Christ; sanctification
makes the sinner righteous and holy as fruit from Christ. Justification removes
the guilt of sin, having to do with the legal status; sanctification subdues
the love and power of sin, having to do with spiritual condition. Justification
restores to God's favor; sanctification restores His image. Justification is
a complete and perfect act, a once-and-for-all act in its essence; sanctification
is a progressive but incomplete process, not perfected until death. Justification
grants the redeemed the title for heaven and the boldness to enter; sanctification
gives them the meetness for heaven and the preparation necessary to enjoy it.
Justification gives the right of salvation; sanctification gives the beginning
of salvation. By grace the justified are what they are in justification; by
grace they work what they work in sanctification. Justification is the criminal
pardoned; sanctification , the patient healed. The union of both constitutes
present salvation, as John angel James illustrates:
Conceive of a man in prison under sentence of death, and at the same time dangerously
ill [with] jail fever. If the monarch pardon him, this is not enough for his
safety and happiness, for he will die soon of his disease, unless it be cured.
On the other hand, if the physician cure his disease, it is of little consequence
unless the monarch give him a reprieve; for though he get well of his disorder,
he must soon suffer the penalty of the law; but if he be both pardoned and cured,
he will be completely saved.39
The Roman Catholic is taught to come to faith by good works; the Protestant,
to come to good works by faith. Trent reasoned that if salvation were given
freely, regardless of works, justification by faith alone would reap complacency.
Virtue and good works would serve no ultimate purpose.
In response, the Protestant Reformers argued that the believer, having become
justified by free grace, is also reborn with a will inclined to good and to
the glory of god. Faith must bear fruit. Luther wrote, "Let us conclude
that faith alone justifies and that faith alone fulfills the law.... Faith is
a living, restless thing. It cannot be inoperative."40 The Reformers and
their successors insisted that though we are justified by faith, our faith must
be justified (i.e. validated) by our works (James 2:17). Hence they spoke often
of "the obedience of faith" (Romans 16;26), stressing that faith leads
to obedience and obedience springs from faith. "By faith Abraham...obeyed"
(Hebrews 11:8). As Thomas Watson remarked: "Faith believes as if it did
not work, and it works as if it did not believe."41
The Westminster Confession of Faith (11.1-2) summarizes the Protestant position
succinctly here, under girding the whole with irrefutable support from Scripture:
I. Those whom God effectually calleth, he also freely justifieth (Rom. 8:30;
3:24), not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins,
and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous; not for anything
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 (Rom. 3:22-28; 4:5-8; 5:17-19; 2 Cor. 5:19,21; Tit. 3:5,7), they receiving
and resting on him and his righteousness, by faith; which faith they have not
of themselves, it is the gift of God (Acts 10;44; Gal. 2:16; Phil. 3:9; Eph.
2:7-8).
II. Faith, thus receiving and resting on Christ and his righteousness, is the
alone instrument of justification (Jn 1:12; Rom 3:28; 5:1); yet is it not alone
in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces,
and is no dead faith, but worketh by love (James 2:17, 22, 26; Gal. 5:6).
Justification is thus a sister-concept to imputation. As a forensic (i.e. legal
or judicial) term, justification is the act of God's sovereign grace whereby
He imputes to the elect sinner, who is in himself guilty and condemned, the
perfect righteousness of Christ, acquits him on the ground of Christ's merits
of all guilt and punishment, grants him a right to eternal life, and enables
him to lay hold of and appropriate to himself Christ and His benefits. Imputation
signifies to credit something to someone's account by transfer, i.e. God transfers
the perfect righteousness of Christ to the elect sinner as a gracious gift,
and transfers all of the sinner's unrighteousness to Christ who has paid the
full price of satisfaction for that unrighteousness.42 By means of this mutual
transfer the justified sinner is viewed by God as if he "never had had,
nor committed any sin," but had himself "fully accomplished all that
obedience which Christ has accomplished" (Heidelberg Catechism, Q. 60;
cf. Romans 4:4-6; 5:12-19; 2 Corinthians 5:21).43
Second, Roman Catholicism teaches that Christ's merited righteousness must be
buttressed by the sinner's own righteousness in his justification. chapter 16
of Trent on justification asserts that the believer, by cooperating with grace,
is entitled to merit and increase in justification. If he perseveres until the
end, he will be rewarded with God's crowning gift to persevering believers.
But this was just the error of the Jews in Romans 10:3-4, who thought to find
something in themselves that could help them establish their own righteousness
before God: "For the being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about
to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the
righteousness of god. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to
every one that believeth."
Protestant theology teaches that Christ's merited righteousness cannot tolerate
any human addition. All our works are a stench in God's nostrils in terms of
meriting any righteousness in His holy sight (Isaiah 64:6). Neither our sweetest
experiences of God's love and grace, nor our faith itself granted by the Holy
spirit can add one stitch of merit to the white robe of Christ's spotless righteousness.
Nothing will satisfy the justice of God except the eternally valid righteousness
of Christ Jesus. We are "justfied freely by his grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:24; cf. Job 25:4-6).
Roman Catholicism argues for the mixing of grace and works in justification.
Both are required in preparation for justification and in the justification
event itself. The council of Trent stressed both the role of grace in the believer's
merits and that merits are to be considered the believer's own and true merits,
due to free will and inherent grace. Scripture and Protestantism assert that
justification is by sovereign grace only through faith without any merit on
the believer's part (Jonah 2:9). The ultimate foundation of our justification
is God's sovereign election: "Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth
sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his" (2 Timothy
2:19). God's eternal decree to justify is worked out through His eternal covenant
of grace which in turn is grounded in christ's meritorious satisfaction —
satisfaction which the elect sinner receives through the means of grace by faith
(Romans 9-10).
Third, Roman Catholicism advocates degrees in justification and implicit faith
in the church's teaching; Scripture and protestantism do no. We are either justified
or not justified, either totally under grace or totally under wrath. In Luke
18 the publican returned home justified; the Pharisee remained unjustified.
"I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the
other" (v. 14a). The faith which justified the publican here is not implicit
faith in the teaching of the church, but personal trust in and reliance on the
sheer mercy of God (Luke 18:13). Such justifying by faith is grounded in the
absolute favor of God to a sinner, rather than to a quality, or a series of
qualities, at work within his soul as Trent advocates (Chapter 16).
Finally, Roman Catholicism unites the reception of God's grace to the reception
of the sacraments. Utilizing scholastic terminology, the Council of Trent teaches
in Chapter 7 on justification that baptism (rather than faith) is the instrumental
of justification; personal righteousness (rather than imputed righteousness)
is the formal cause.44 Thus, it was impossible, according to Trent, to be justified
outside of the visible church, i.e. without being baptized. This is not only
contrary to biblical example (Luke 23:39-43), but also deprives the believer
of his immediate relation to Christ by faith. consequently, the sacraments are
allowed to come between himself and Christ. With its ceremonial rituals, automatic
communications of grace, and central status in the church, the sacramental system
can easily become a surrogate Christ. all forms of sacramentalism obscure the
honor of Christ just as does anything added to faith as a condition of salvation.
Protestantism, on the other hand, maintained that faith is the instrumental
cause of justification, while the alien righteousness of Christ, external to
the believer and imputed to him, is the formal cause, i.e. the ground upon which
God can justly justify sinners. "For he hath made him to be sin for us,
who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him"
(2 Corinthians 5:21; cf. Romans 3:26). It is critical to maintain that this
formal cause of justification resides in Christ's righteousness alone, for all
the Scriptures dealing with the fundamentally depraved nature of man make clear
that there is no righteousness inherent in the natural man upon which a divine
verdict of justification could be based. "They are all gone aside, they
are all together become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one"
(Psalm 14:3). Form the Reformers, faith was the conscious, personal, immediate
reliance of a sinner on Christ alone. such faith brings the sinner into Christ's
church and makes him a member of Christ's body even if he had never heard of
the visible church. Sacraments are not essential for salvation but for the consummation
of discipleship.45 The sacraments are signs and seals of the grace that is received
by faith; they are no part of justifying faith.
If the church is the dispenser of the sacraments, and the sacraments are necessary
for salvation, the church becomes the dispenser of salvation. And so we have
arrived at Roman Catholicism's ultimate error — the church replacing Christ
— as one of many unavoidable consequences of her defective views of justification.
Notwithstanding Vatican II, Rome has yet to repudiate any of the Council of
Trent's serious errors on the doctrine of justification by faith. Until such
takes place, as Martin Smyth concludes, there can be "no honest compromise
between the Roman and Reformed doctrine of justification."46 Cooperation
can only be based on evasion rather than on explanation, as has been witnessed
yet again in the March 29, 1994 document, Evangelicals and Catholics Together;
The Christian Mission in the Third Millenium, signed by forty evangelical Protestants
and Roman Catholics.
Finally, how are the historic doctrinal errors of Arminianism and Antinomianism,
so prevalent in the modern church, exposed by a Biblical presentation of justification
by faith alone?
Arminianism errs in making part of justification's foundation to rest upon faith.47
By advocating conditional predestination and conditional faith unto justification
(i.e. that God elects and saves those who believe), Arminian theology is a cruel
hoax. John Owen ridicules the Arminian condition of salvation — i,e, faith
— as an impossibility: it is "as if a man should promise a blind
man a thousand pounds upon condition that he will see." Consequently, Owen
styles the Arminian Christ "but a half-mediator" because He procures
the end of salvation but not the means to it.48 Charles Spurgeon is more graphic.
He compares Arminianism and Calvinism to two bridges over a river. The Arminian
bridge is wide and easy but does not bring it traveler safely to the opposite
shore. It stops short in sight of the shore of eternal communion with God because
something is left for the depraved will of the natural man to accomplish —
i.e. to exercise faith in Christ by his own strength. The Calvinian bridge is
narrow but spans the entire river for Christ Jesus is the alpha and omega of
salvation and justification. Arminianism looks promising, but cannot live up
to its promises because it depends upon depraved humanity to act; it deceives
myriads of souls who think they accept Christ by a simple act of their own will,
but do not bow under Christ's lordship. They imagine they possess saving faith
while their lives evidence that they remain spiritually dead. Calvinism is promising,
however, for it places the entire weight of justification and salvation upon
the sufficiency of Christ and the operation of His Spirit who bestows and sustains
saving faith.
In the final analysis, if we base our justification on our faith, our works,
or anything else of our own, the very foundations of justification must crumble.
Inevitably the agonizing, perplexing, and hopeless questions of having "enough"
would surface; Is my faith strong enough? Are the fruits of grace in my life
fruitful enough? Are my experiences deep enough, clear enough, persistent enough?
Every detected inadequacy in my faith is going to shake the very foundations
of my spiritual life. My best believing is always defective. I am always too
ungodly even im my faith. Apart from Christ, the best of my best is "as
filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6).
Too many Christians live in constant despondency because they cannot distinguish
between the rock on which they stand and the faith by which they stand upon
the rock. Faith is not our rock; Christ is our rock. We do not get faith by
having faith in our faith or by looking to faith, but by looking to Christ.
Looking to Christ is faith.
Nor is it perfect faith, great faith, fruitful faith, strong faith that justifies.
If we start qualifying our faith, we destroy the gospel. Our faith may be weak,
immature, timid, even indiscernible at times, but if it is real faith it is
justifying faith (Matthew 6;30). Our degree of faith affects sanctification
and assurance, but not justification. Faith's value in justification does not
lie in any degree in itself but in its uniting us to Christ and His glorious
achievement. As George Downame illustrates:
A small and weak hand, if it be able to reach up the meat to the mouth, as well
performs its duty for the nourishment of the body as one of greater strength,
because it is not the strength of the hand but the goodness of the meat which
nourishes the body49
Far too often we are prone to look to the quality of our faith, the quality
of our conviction of sin, the quality of our evangelical repentance, the quality
of our love for the brethren for confirmation of our justification, forgetting
that it is Christ alone who saves by gracious faith alone. As Horatius Bonar
states: "It is not the strength of faith, but the perfection of the sacrifice,
that saves; and no feebleness of faith, no dimness of eye, no trembling of hand,
can change the efficacy of our burnt-offering."50
Christ is the solid rock who is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews
13:8):
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus' name.
On Christ the solid rock I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.
We must also firmly reject Antinomian or hyper-Calvinistic tendencies which
adhere to a justification from eternity that negates the need for actual justification
in time by becoming personal partakers of Christ by faith.51 For example, Abraham
Kuyper went beyond the Synod of Dort in describing justification by faith as
merely "becoming conscious" of the fact that we were already justified
by God from eternity and in the resurrection of Christ. William Gadsby, J. C.
Philpot and most of the Strict Baptists speak similarly by affirming that the
believer is justified in time only with respect to his own conscience by the
Sprit's witness. This erroneous view already exited in Puritan times among those
with Antinomian tendencies, as Thomas Goodwin's apt response to it reveals:
"It is vain to say I am justified only in respect to the court of mine
own conscience. The faith that Paul and the other apostles were justified by,
was their believing on Christ that they might be justified (Galatians 2:15,
16), and not a believing they were justified already."52
The view that an actual justification by faith in time does not exist for the
believer faces three additional obstacles: First, it is contrary to Romans 4:6-8
which clearly affirms the imputation of Christ's righteousness in time. Second,
time itself would then be a mere parenthesis, for God's people would not be
viewed prior to regeneration as being "children of wrath, even as others"
(Ephesians 2:3). If justification by faith does not transfer a sinner from the
state of wrath to that of grace, and is merely a recognition of justification
from eternity, all historical relevance of justification by faith alone is swept
away. Third, if justification by faith is not a personal and historical necessity,
the fruits of justification in deadness to sin and aliveness to Christ would
likewise be a matter of indifference. One could then ask in all seriousness,
"Shall we not sin, that grace may abound?" (Romans 6:2). This Paul
strenuously opposes in Romans 6. We have shown that the absence of works is
impossible for a true Christian. That faith which justifies is a working faith.
"Faith without works is dead" (James 2:21) — yes, dead, not
just sick or dying. saving faith does not exist where it is not accompanied
by good works. A fruitless Christian is a misnomer. Where Christ saves, He will
also exercise His lordship. Contrary to the primary tenet of Antinomianism —
the believer may disregard the law altogether (anti=against: nomos=law) since
he is freed from its demands as a means of salvation — Christ sends the
saved believer, who was condemned by the law prior to being justified by faith,
back to the law to live out of gratitude under His lordship in obedience to
His Word. luther said that the law was like a stick: "God first used it
to beat me, but later I used it to walk with."
As today's Christians confront various forms of roman Catholicism, Antinomianism,
Arminianism, and Modernism, the doctrine of justification by faith alone too
often no longer receives its biblical and rightful place. Unfortunately, as
Alister McGrath has noted, "The present century has witnessed a growing
tendency to relate the doctrine of justification to the question of the meaning
of human existence, rather than the more restricted sphere of man's justification
coram Deo [before God]. It is this trend which underlies the existentialist
reinterpretation of the doctrine."53 But when exceptions exist and justification
by faith alone is presented in all the freeness of the evangel, are not some
bound to say, "This is dangerous teaching"? Of course they will, and
in one sense they are right. Rightly understood and rightly preached, the doctrine
of justification by faith alone exposes the natural enmity of carnal man to
the exclusivity and freeness of the gospel. Therefore this doctrine is distorted
and wrested to the destruction of souls, both by "can-do" activistic
Arminianism on one hand and "won't-do" passivistic Antinomianism on
the other. Faith is overemphasized when viewed as a condition of salvation (arminianism),
but underemphasized when denied as a necessary fruit of salvation (Antinomianism).
We are not transferred from the status of death to life by faith as a joint
effort with works (Romanists), nor by faith as an act of grace in us (Arminians),
nor by faith as it receives the Sprit's witness (Antinomians), nor by faith
as it relates to the meaning of human existence (modern existentialists), but
only by the imputation of Christ's righteousness received by faith.
The precious and momentous doctrine of justification by faith alone, when biblically
preached and rightly balanced, is not a denominational or sectarian peculiarity.
It is not a mere species of Christianity. It is the heart of the evangel, the
kernel of the glorious gospel of the blessed triune God, and the key to the
kingdom of heaven. "Justification by faith," John Murray writes, "
is the jubilee trumpet of the gospel because it proclaims the gospel to the
poor and destitute whose only door of hope is to roll themselves in total helplessness
upon the grace and power and righteousness of the Redeemer of the lost."54
In our decadent and desperate day there is a crying need to reestablish and
defend, with prayer and hope, in the power of the Spirit, the scriptural proclamation
of this doctrine. The relevance and urgency of this doctrine relate to the identity
of the church, the essence of Christian theology, the proclamation of the gospel,
as well as to the scriptural-experiential foundations of the Christian faith
for every one of us. Not only is justification by faith still, in Luther's words,
"the article by which the church stands or falls" (articulus stantis
et cadentis ecclesiae), but by this doctrine each of us shall personally stand
of fall before God.55 Justification by faith alone must be confessed and experienced
by you and me; it is a matter of eternal life or eternal death.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Notas
1. D. Martin Luthers Werke (hereafter:WA), ed. J. C. F. Knaake, et. al. (Weimar:
Herman Bohlaus, 1883ff.), 401, 33, 7-9. For the development of Luther's theology
of jusitication, see Johann Heinz, Justification and Merit: Luther vs. Catholicism
(Berrien Springs, Michigan: andrews University press, 1981), pp. 45-81; Alister
E. McGrath, Iustitia Dei: A History of the Christian Doctrine of Justification
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), 2:3ff.
2. William Hendriksen, Romans (Grand Rapi9ds: Baker, 1982), p. 147
3. Arthur W. Pink, The Doctrines of Election and Justification (Grand Rapids:
Baker, 1974), p. 234. In noting the Holy spirit's recision in using Greek prepositions,
Pink adds: "Never do we find Him emplying eis in connection with Christ's
satisfaction and sacrifice in our room and stead, but only 'anti' or 'huper'
are never used in connection with our believing, for faith is not accepted by
God in lieu of perfect obedience. Faith must either be the ground of our acceptance
with God, or the means or insturment of our becoming interested in the righteousness
of Christ; it cannot stand in both relations to our justification" (ibid.,
p. 235).
4. "Justification," Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, ed. Walter
A. Elwell (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1984), p. 596.
5. Quoted by Wm. S. Plumer, The Grace of Christ, or Sinners Saved by Unmerited
Kindness (1853; repr. Keyser, West Virginia: Odom, n.d.), p. 244
6. New Testament Greek for Beginners (New York: MacMilan, 1923), par. 88
7. Some texts employ ek pisteos and dia pistoes in one sentence (Romans 3:30).
Readers of the English Bible should know that translators have not always observed
or maintained these distinctions in their English renderings.
8. Cf. G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament, 3rd ed.
(Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1937), pp. 105, 492.
9. Cf. also the Westminster Larger Catechism, Question 73 (emphasis added).
10. Institutes of the Christian Religion, ed. J. T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis
Battles (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1960), 3.11.7.
11. The Works of Thomas Goodwin, ed. John C. Miller (Edingburgh: James Nichol,
1864), 8:147
12. Home Truths, Second Series (repr. Keyser, West Virginia, n.d.), p. 102
13. By Grace alone: A Study in Soteriology (Grand Rapids: eerdmans, 1955), p.
109
14. Cf. Peter Toon's exposition of Luther's view, Justification and Sanctification
(Westchester, Illinois: Crossway Books, 1983), p. 58
15. Outlines of Theology (Chicago: Bible Institute Colportage Ass'n., 1878),
p. 504
16. The Reformed Faith: an Exposition of the Westminster Confession of Faith
(1845; repr. Inverness: Christian Focus, 1974), p. 131. For one such "worthy
divine," see Francis Turretin, Institutes of Elenctic Theology, trans.
George Musgrave Giger, ed. James T. Dennison, Jr. (Phillipsburg, New Jersey:
Presbyterian and Reformed, 1994), 2:675. Cf. The Works of John Owen ((1851;
repr. London: Banner of Truth Trust, 1965), 5:113; Thomas Ridgley, A Body of
Divinity...on the Assembly's Larger Catechism (Philadelphia: William Woodward,
1815), 3:108-109.
17. "A Vindication of the Protestant Doctrine Concerning Justification...from
the Unjust Charge of Antinominanism," The Works of Robert Traill (1810;
repr. Edinburgh:Banner of Truth Trust, 1975), 1:252-96.
18. The Everlasting Righteousness (1874; repr. Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust,
1993), p.75.
19. Calvinism and Evangelical Arminianism: Compared as to Election, Reprobation,
Justification, and Related Doctrines (1890; repr. Harrisonburg, Virginia: Sprinkle,
1984), pp. 522-66.
20. The Reign of Grace from Its Rise to Its Consummation (Boston: Lincoln &
Edmands, 1820), pp. 180-81
21. Heinrich Heppe, Reformed Dogmatics, trans. by G. T. Thomson (London: George
Allen and Unwin, 1950), quoting Guilielmus Bucanus (XXXI, 34): "In what
sense are we said to be justified by faith? It is not regarded in its own intrinsic
dignity or merit, nor as a work or a new quality in us, nor in its force and
efficacy minus love; nor because it has love added to it or works through love;
nor because faith imparts the spirit of Christ, by whom the believer is rendered
just because we are bidden seek righteousness not in ourselves but in Christ;
but because it seeks and embraces the righteousness offered in the Gospel"
(p. 554).
22. Biblical and Theological Studies (Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed,
1968), pp. 423-25.
23. Corresponding to Ray Lanning, October 5, 1994. I wish to express my gratitude
to Rev. Lanning for a careful proofing of this chapter and a number of helpful
suggestions.
24. Faith and Justification (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1954), pp. 185-89, 200.
25. Ibid., pp. 172-75.
26. Ibid., p. 190.
27. John Calvin, Commentary on Romans (Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society,
1843), pp. 147-49.
28. Selfe-examination required in everyone for the Worthy Receiving of the Lord's
Supper, 2nd edition (London: T. Walkley, 1648), p. 55.
29. Joel R. Beeke, Assurance of Faith: Calvin, English Puritanism, and the Dutch
Second Reformation (New York: peter lang, 1991), pp. 158ff. Grave danger results
from interchanging the ground and fruit of justification, as William Gurnall
points out: "When thou trustest Christ within thee, instead of Christ without
thee, thou settest Christ against Christ. The bride does well to esteem her
husband's picture, but it were ridiculous if she should love it better than
himself, much more if she should go to it rather than to him to supply all her
wants. Yet thou actest thus when thou art more fond of Christ's image in thy
soul than of Him who painted it there" (The Christian in Complete Armour
[1655-62; repr. Edinbrugh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1974], 2:145) Cf. James Ussher,
A Body of Divinity (1645; repr. London: R. B. Seeley and W. Burnside, 1841),
p. 244.
30. The Works of George Swinnock (1868; repr. Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust,
1992) 1:203.
31. James Buchanan, The Doctrine of Justification (Edinburgh: T. & T. clark,
1867), p. 385.
32. The Select Works of the Rev. Thomas Watson (New York: Robert Carter &
Brothers, 1856), pp. 150-51.
33. The Works of George Swinnock, 1:202.
34. Hubert Jedin, A History of the Council of Trent, trans. Dom Ernest Graf
(St. Loiuis: B. Herder, 1961), 2:309. Jedin's work is the definitive study of
the Council by a Roman Catholic.
35. Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom (New York: Harper & Brothers,
1878), 2:77-206, provides parallel Latin and English columns.
36. Galatians: A Discussion of St. Paul's Epistle (London, St. Paul Publications,
1969), p. 42.
37. Salvation and the Church (1987), para. 15.
38. WA 69, 254, 27-30; 69, 46, 20.
39. Pastoral Addresses (New York: Robert Carter, 1853), p. 309.
40. WA 69, 46, 20.
41. A Body of Divinity, p. 151. Cf. Berkouwer, Faith and Justification, pp.
195-96.
42. Wilhelmus a Brakel, The Christian's Reasonable Service, trans. Bartel Elshout
(Ligonier, Pennsylvania: Soli Deo Gloria, 1993), 2:375.
43. For numerous biblical proofs of divine imputation, see John Bunyan, "Justification
by an Imputed Righteousness," The Works of John Bunyan (Marshallton, Delaware:
National Foundation for Christian Education, 1968), pp. 382-414.
44. For scholastic Roman Catholic and Protestant views on a fourfold schema
of causality in salvation, see Richard A. Muller, Dictionary of Latin and Greek
Theological Terms (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1985), p. 61.
45. John Murray, Christian Baptism (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1974), p. 45.
46. "Difference between the Roman and Reformed doctrines of Justification,"
Evangelical Quarterly 36 (1964): 47.
47. Cf. The Works of James Arminius, trans. James Nichols and W. R. Bagnall,
3 vols. (1825-28; repr. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1956).
48. The Works of John Owen, 5:323. Cf. Belgic Confession, Article 22.
49. A Treatise of Justification (London: Felix Kyngston, 1633), p. 142.
50. The Everlasting Righteousness, p. 23.
51. See Peter Toon, The Emergence of Hyper-Calvinism (London: The Olive Tree,
1967).
52. The Object and Acts of Justifying Faith (repr. Marshallton, Delaware: National
Foundation for Christian Education, n.d.), p. 325.
53. Iustitia Dei, 2:185.
54. Collected Writings of John Murray (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1977),
2:217.
55. Johann Heinrich Alsted, Theologia Scholastica Didactica (Hanover, 1618),
p. 711; John H. Gerstner, A Primer on Justification (Phillipsburg, New Jersey:
Presbyterian and Reformed, 1983), p.1.
Author
Dr. Joel R. Beeke is the pastor of Heritage Netherlands Reformed Congregation
of Grand Rapids, MI. He earned a Ph. D. in Reformation and Post-Reformation
Theology from Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. He is the author
of Assurance of Faith: Calvin, English Puritanism, and The Dutch Second Reformation.
Dr. Beeke is editor of "The Banner of Sovereign Grace Truth" magazine.
This article is chapter 5, taken from the book Justification by Faith ALONE
and used by permission of the publisher, Soli Deo Gloria who also published
the excellent companion volume Sola Scriptura.
Traduzido por: Felipe
Sabino de Araújo Neto
Cuiabá-MT, 15 de Maio de 2004.
Fonte: http://www.the-highway.com/articleJan98.html