For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. - Romans 1:16,17.

Introduction: The Centrality of Justification Equals the Necessity of Faith.

Paul was not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. No doubt, he could prove this by his own life and labors, for no man suffered more for the gospel than he did. On one occasion, he said that he had been "in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness" (2 Cor. 11:23-27). Who has suffered as much as this great apostle? Yet all this came upon him because of the offence of the cross. Nevertheless, he was not ashamed, but gloried in its good news. To his young disciple, Timothy, he would later say, “I endure all things for the elect’s sakes, that they may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory” (2 Tim. 2:10).

The reason? Paul tells us: the gospel that he preached was "the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." That is, it was (and still is) the efficacious means by which God saves believers. For in this gospel the only way to salvation is revealed: the righteousness of God received and appropriated by faith alone: “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith (i.e. by faith alone - “by faith from first to last”): as it is written, The just shall live by faith” (v.17).

Paul knew that all mankind lay under the dreadful wrath of God (Eph. 2:3) for two reasons: first, because of the imputation of Adam's sin, and secondly, because of the actual sins which stem from the hearts of a depraved mankind. Being in this condition, they are unable to meet the requirements of God's holy law which requires perfect, perpetual, and personal obedience for every son of Adam (cf. Gal. 3:10). All men have failed to meet that standard, and have therefore fallen under the curse of the law. The only way man can be just in the sight of God, thereby obtaining His favor, is by having a righteousness of which God approves. But, again, this is unattainable to man in his fallen state. The ultimate question of all time still echoes resoundingly through the corridors of time: "How then can man be justified with God?" (Job 25:4).

And this is precisely why Paul could rejoice, for he - commissioned by Christ himself -preached a gospel that revealed the answer. For in the gospel it is revealed that the righteousness of God, which he authors and approves, can be attained through faith. Or, we might put it this way: Paul loved the gospel and was not ashamed of it because the gospel heralds the good news of the justification of unjust men who without any merit of their own are clothed in the righteousness of the Son of God by faith.

The importance that Paul placed on this concept is underlined as we turn the pages of this epistle. Indeed, most expositors of Romans would say that 1:16,17 are verses so crucial as to form the theme of the entire letter, or at least of the first five chapters, in which the apostle gloriously unfolds for us man’s need for justification and God’s provision of it. When the apostle wanted to tell the believers at Rome what the gospel was all about, he focused on the doctrine of justification. What that tells us is that justification is at the heart of the gospel. He that does not preach justification does not preach the gospel. It is therefore extremely important for us to understand exactly what it is, and Romans is ground zero in the effort to come to grips with its meaning.

The fullest statement of the gospel that the Bible contains is found in the epistle to the Romans, and Romans minus justification by faith would be like Hamlet without the Prince. . . .

For the doctrine of justification by faith is like Atlas: it bears a world on its shoulders, the entire evangelical knowledge of saving grace. The doctrines of election, of effectual calling, regeneration, and repentance, of adoption, of prayer, of the church, the ministry, and the sacraments, have all to be interpreted and understood in the light of justification by faith. . . . A right view of these things is not possible without a right understanding of justification; so that, when justification falls, all true knowledge of the grace of God in human life falls with it, and then, as Luther said, the church itself falls. . . . When Atlas falls, everything that rested on his shoulders comes crashing down too.¹

But if justification is so critical, then faith becomes necessary, because it is only by faith that we are justified. Over and over again the apostle labors this point. “Therefore we conclude,” he writes triumphantly at the end of the third chapter, “that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law” (3:28). In other words, it was this conclusion at which the apostle had been aiming all through the first three chapters of Romans, and on which he expands in chapters four and five.

This paper seeks to explore the Biblical framework for an understanding of justification through the lens of this great epistle, specifically focusing on 1:16,17. But I do so in order to underscore the necessity of faith in Christ, which, among Primitive Baptists, has been challenged more and more in recent years. Though many of those who do so are good and honest brethren, I believe they have allowed an unbalanced overemphasis on the sovereignty of God to nullify any responsibility on the part of man. This, in turn, has led to an emptying of evangelistic preaching beyond anything more than a mere presentation of historical facts. There is no call on men to repent and believe the gospel that they might be saved (cf. Acts 16:31). But this result is not surprising, for when you deny that faith is necessary to justification, you have cut the heart right out of any call for response. Thus, by denying the connection between faith and justification, though Primitive Baptists have not taken the Prince out of Hamlet, they have stripped him of his clothes.

It might have already become obvious to you that in handling the matter of the requirement of faith we are really dealing with three things. For the indispensability of a right standing before God requires faith which in turn calls for the preaching of the gospel, for faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God (Rom. 10:17). Therefore, we will examine the need for righteousness before God, God’s provision of that righteousness for us which is received by faith, and the relationship between faith and the gospel of Christ. We will end our discussion with an attempt to answer some of the objections that have been lodged against this doctrine. Let us now look at each of these in turn, beginning with man’s need for a righteousness before God.

As has been said, mankind has a basic need. And that need is neither material, nor physical, nor even mental. It is imminently a spiritual need, the need for acceptance with a holy God. Paul describes the need as one of “salvation” and “righteousness.” This need stems from sin which has corrupted the entire human race and brought it under the awful wrath of God. The connection between sin and salvation is underlined in verse 18, as the apostle tells us why this gospel that reveals the righteousness of God is so critical: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold [suppress] the truth in unrighteousness.” This theme of sin and judgment the apostle carries until 3:20 when he summons all men to the judgment seat of God to receive the condemnatory sentence. This, in turn, sets the stage for how men are made right with God (3:21-5:21). As John Murray says in what is probably the best commentary available on the book of Romans, “The design [of the apostle] is to show that the salvation provided in the gospel is the need of all and that the power of God is operative unto salvation only through the revelation of the righteousness of God appropriated by faith. The convergent lines of the apostle’s argument all meet in a conclusive demonstration that all, both Jews and Gentiles, are guilty before God, are utterly destitute of the good which would make them well-pleasing to God, and are therefore subjects of his wrath.”²

God is infinitely holy. In fact, so holy is he that even the seraphim around his throne cover their faces in the view of his awesome holiness. Isaiah narrates for us the moving scene: "In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory" (6:1-3). In the Hebrew language repetition is utilized for emphasis. The fact that “holy” is repeated three times accents its importance. It is interesting to note that of all the attributes of God that the seraphim could have echoed in praise, they singled out His holiness. What does this mean to us?

Since God is holy, he will only accept those who are holy as he is holy. God cannot contradict himself. He said to Moses in Exodus 23:7, "I will not justify the wicked." That does not just apply to the Mosaic dispensation, for God is unchangeable. If he would not justify the wicked then, neither will he justify the wicked now. It is understandable now when we read what Isaiah said after he had beheld that amazing sight described in 6:1-4, "Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts."

Even so the gospel is presented against the backdrop of sin and the judgment of God against it. That was one reason why Paul spent so much time showing the connection between the sin of

man and the judgment of God. We tend to minimize sin because we tend to think low thoughts of God. Paul thus focuses on the fact that men have sinned in the shadow of a God who is of such a character that he will not ignore it or sweep it under the rug. His judgment is a righteous judgment that is both inescapable and impartial (Rom. 2:1-11).

The way in which we may survey the holy character of God is in his law. This was given to Moses on Mount Sinai in tablets of stone as the Ten Commandments (Ex. 19,20), but it is also written to a certain extent in every man's conscience (cf. Rom. 2:14,15; see also Jn. 8:9; Tit. 1:15,16). This is why even those who are not born of the Spirit are able to discern between good and evil, even though they may have never come into contact with either civilization or the word of God.

The requirement of the law is - as has been seen - perfect, perpetual, and personal obedience. All three of these elements can be seen in Galatians 3:10, "For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one (personal) that continueth (perpetual) not in all things (perfect) which are written in the book of the law to do them." We may also see from this verse that the law of God encompasses the entire human race. For it says, "Cursed is every one. . ." regardless of who they may be. Even those who have never seen a Bible, or a written copy of the Ten Commandments, have no excuse for Paul tells us in Romans 2 that the conscience acts universally as an internal witness to the law of God: "For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law" (v.12). In other words, even though certain men are “without law” in the sense that they do not have written revelation as the Jews had, they are still accountable to God and will “perish without law.” But God is not unjust in punishing those who are without law, because they have the witness of conscience which accuses wickedness and approves of righteousness (vs. 14,15).

The problem therefore is not that man does not know the law but that he is not able in any way to fulfill the law. The reason for this is two-fold. First, every man is born into this world with the sin of Adam imputed to him (Rom. 5:12-14). His sin brought condemnation and death (vs. 15-19). Secondly, the Scriptures teach us (and experience confirms it) that all men - because of the fall of mankind in Adam - are born into this world with a depraved nature. David said in Psalm 51:5, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me." If this was the case with David, surely it is so with every man. But the Scriptures are not vague about this matter of universal depravity. In Ecclesiastes 7:20, we find this written: "For there is not a just man upon the earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not." The apostle Paul, quoting from numerous Old Testament Scriptures, says in this very epistle, "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one" (Rom. 3:10-12). The prophet Jeremiah wrote that "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked" (Jer.17:9). Because of this heart depravity, no man can by nature please God or keep His law (cf. Rom. 8:7,8).

Therefore, all mankind falls under the sweeping sentence of the law. Because all have broken the law, all men are liable to the judgment of an offended and holy God. What is this punishment, this damnation? Paul vividly describes it in Romans 2:8,9 - "But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness," their reward is "indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile." In the Bible this is called hell, a place of torment for those who are not just in the sight of God.

Thus there is a need for righteousness, and it is an essential need, if we care anything about our souls. Whether we are justified or not carries eternal consequences. For as long as God is just he will never accept those who are not righteous. Now we are in a position to see the relevance of the question asked in Job 25:4, "How then can man be justified with God?" How can sinful man become just before God?

The glory of the Gospel is that it addresses this very problem: "For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith."

The stunning truth is that if men cannot provide their own righteousness, God will. That is at the heart of verse 17 and indeed of the gospel: “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” This statement is foundational to much of what the apostle is about to say, especially in 3:21-4:25. With regard to this verse, three questions need to be answered. First, what does Paul mean by “the righteousness of God”? Second, what is the connection between this righteousness and faith, and (third) what does he mean by the statement, “The just shall live by faith”?

The phrase “the righteousness of God” points in one of three directions: either it signifies a divine attribute, a divine activity, or a divine achievement.³ The first refers to the character of God, and would then signify God’s uprightness, his fidelity and faithfulness. This, however, is not an acceptable choice because the revelation of God’s righteous character does not explain why the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. The law already adequately revealed this, anyway. Further, God’s righteousness (or justice) as an attribute considered in itself does not exist to save but to condemn. But Paul is talking about a righteousness that is intimately connected with the gospel and salvation.

The second choice is more plausible because in the Old Testament God’s righteousness is often connected with his saving activity. In fact, some would say that “in the language of the Old Testament the salvation of God and the righteousness of God . . . are virtually synonymous - the working of salvation and the revelation of righteousness are to the same effect” (cf. Isa.46:13; 51:5-8).⁴ But in light of the context of Romans, it is unlikely that the apostle limits “the righteousness of God” even to this sense.

The third option, the righteousness of God as a divine achievement, points to the status of righteousness bestowed through the merit of Christ to those who believe. This would mean that “God” is not the object but the subject of “righteousness.” In other words, the “righteousness of God” refers to righteousness from God which he gives, not a righteousness of God which he is. Is this what the apostle meant? I believe so for the following reasons. First, in Philippians 3:9, Paul makes this idea explicit by replacing the genitive (“of”) with a prepositional phrase, so that instead of saying “the righteousness of God,” he says, “the righteousness which is of God (or, better, “from God”, ek theou). Second, Paul sees this righteousness as being given to believers: “the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all that believe” (Rom. 3:22; italics added). It is called “the free gift” in 5:15, and in 2 Corinthians 5:21, Paul says that in Christ we become the righteousness of God. Third, this is a righteousness which can be credited to us, a thought which is developed in detail in the fourth chapter. There, Paul notes that “God imputeth (reckons, credits) righteousness without works” (4:6). That God imputes righteousness to someone means that he thinks of them as righteous. All of these factors together contribute to the undeniable fact that “the righteousness of God” refers to a righteous status which God bestows.

Of course, we must stress that “the righteousness of God” comes to us through Christ, so that it could with equal propriety be called “the righteousness of Christ,” even though this phrase occurs nowhere explicitly in the New Testament. For it is through his redemption (3:24), propitiatory work (v.25), and obedience (5:19) that we are constituted righteous. It is a righteousness which God has provided through his own Son. Indeed, this fact is implied in the text (1:16,17), for there Paul is demonstrating why he is not ashamed of the gospel. But the gospel is all about Christ, and so when Paul unfolds the elements of its message as the revelation of the righteousness of God from faith to faith, it is unthinkable to extract God’s righteousness from Christ and his atoning work.

The bestowal of this righteous status is what the Bible calls justification. To be more specific, “Justification is an act of God’s free grace, whereby he pardoneth all our sins and accepteth us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone.”⁵ Or, as John Murray explains, “Justification is . . . a constitutive act whereby the righteousness of Christ is imputed to our account and we are accordingly accepted as righteousness in God's sight.”⁶ It is not, as the Roman Catholics errantly believe, the same with sanctification, for justification does not change the person; it changes his status. Those who are justified have the righteousness of Christ imputed to them and are thereby declared by God to be righteous. It is thus a forensic - a legal - term.

There are several strong reasons why justification must have this meaning. First, of course, if it is synonymous with sanctification, it would mean that it is on account of something we do that we are justified. Sanctification is God working good in us (cf. 1 Thess. 4:3), so that if justification were synonymous with sanctification, our acceptance with God would depend on personal moral goodness. But then justification could not be by grace, as the Scriptures declare (Rom. 3:24). God would owe it to us (cf.4:4). Second, when one looks into Scripture, he will find that justification is often contrasted with condemnation (cf. Prov. 17:15; Rom. 5:18; 8:33,34). Because condemnation is not making one wicked, but rather declaring him to be such, even so justification means to declare righteous. Thirdly, there are Scriptures, such as Luke 7:29, that could mean nothing else than to declare one to be righteous: “And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John.” The people and the publicans did not make God righteous. As it has been rightfully observed, such a thought would be blasphemous. They simply acknowledged the righteousness of God.

This leads us to ask the second question: what is the connection between the righteousness of God and faith? Paul tells us that “therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith.” The key to the relation between righteousness and faith is the word “revealed” and the phrase “from faith to faith.”

But before we can safely resolve these questions, the nature of Biblical faith must be determined. What is does it mean to believe the gospel? Though entire books have been written on this subject, space limits us to a brief exposition. The faith under consideration in this paper is the embracing of Christ as the soul’s Lord and Savior (cf. Jn. 1:12,13). This faith consists of knowledge, assent, and trust.

Faith is knowledge. A person's faith is not built upon thin air. It is built upon facts, and those facts are to be found in God's word. That is why the apostle Paul wrote in Romans 10:17, “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

Faith is assent. Or, rather, faith is heart-conviction that what God's word says is the truth. That aspect of faith is what is emphasized in Hebrews 11:1, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” In other words, faith convinces us of the reality of the things God has promised. According to Thayer, the Greek word for “substance” signifies “that which has foundation, is firm,” and is used for “confidence, firm trust, assurance.” The word for “evidence” means “conviction.” Thus we see that this verse depicts faith as a very deep conviction of the truth of God’s word. This aspect of faith is also stressed in Romans 4:21, where Paul illustrates faith by the example of Abraham, where we read, “And being fully persuaded that, what he [God] had promised, he was able also to perform.”

Faith is trust. But true faith does not stop at assent, for those who are persuaded of the truth of God's word, are made to trust in Him, and in His Son Jesus Christ for salvation (see Jn. 1:12; 6:35; 11:25; Acts 16:31). Again, to quote John Murray, “Faith is knowledge passing into conviction, and it is conviction passing into confidence. Faith cannot stop short of self-commitment to Christ, a transference of reliance upon ourselves and all human resources to reliance upon Christ alone for salvation. It is a receiving and resting upon him. . . . Faith is trust in a person, the person of Christ, the Son of God and Saviour of the lost. It is entrustment of ourselves to him. It is not simply believing him; it is believing in him and on him.”⁷

Before passing on, let me say one more thing concerning faith. That is, faith is a grace. It is given by God, not worked up of ourselves. No man can exercise faith unless he is enabled to by no less than the divine power which raised up Christ from the dead. It is indeed “the operation of God” (Col. 2:12), and “the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8; Phil. 1:29).

It can be safely said that, among the myriad of interpretations that have been put upon the phrase “from faith to faith,” the best explanation understands it as highlighting the importance of faith. Charles Hodge explains, “The sense is however perfectly clear and good, if the phrase is explained to mean, faith alone. As ‘death unto death’ and ‘life unto life’ are intensive, so ‘faith unto faith’ may mean, entirely of faith.”⁸ Douglas Moo explains similarly, that “in light of the only clear NT parallel to the construction (referring to 2 Cor. 2:16), the combination (‘from faith to faith’) is rhetorical and is intended to emphasize that faith and ‘nothing but faith’ can put us into right relationship with God.”⁹

But if “from faith to faith” means “faith alone,” exactly what word is this phrase connected to? Some connect it directly with “righteousness” so that Paul is saying that in the gospel a righteousness by faith alone is revealed. Others connect it directly with “revealed” so that Paul is saying the righteousness of God is revealed to faith alone. Though the choice is difficult, in the end there is not much difference between the two interpretations. Each would demonstrate the inseparable connection between the righteousness of God and faith. But I take the first explanation as more likely, in light of the obvious parallel to Romans 3:21,22, “But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference” (italics added). Note that the phrase “the righteousness of God . . . is manifested” (3:21), is obviously parallel to “the righteousness of God is revealed” (1:17). Then Paul goes on to unpack this righteousness of God; it is “the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe.” In this verse, the apostle explicitly connects faith with the righteousness of God. So in Romans 1:17, he is telling us that the gospel is glorious because it reveals the righteousness of God by faith alone.

The second reason why I believe “from faith to faith” connects directly to “the righteousness of God” is found in the Habakkuk quotation that follows as explanation: “as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” Again, there is the inseparable connection between being “just” or “righteous” and faith. You cannot have a righteous status before God if you have not faith. In fact, some translate it, “The righteous by faith shall live,” in order to bring the idea out more clearly. John Stott explains the “strong arguments in favour of this epigram”:

First, Paul has already used this text, in Galatians written some years earlier, as Biblical support for justification by faith, not law. So this seems to be how he understands it. Secondly, the context almost demands this rendering, being an endorsement from Scripture of ‘from faith to faith’. Paul’s concern here is not how righteous people live, but how sinful people become righteous. Thirdly, this translation fits the structure of the letter. Thus Anders Nygren points out that in Romans 1-4 ‘faith’ occurs at least twenty-five times and ‘life’ only twice, whereas in Romans 5-8 ‘life’ occurs twenty-five times and ‘faith’ only twice. These statistics establish, he concludes, ‘that the theme for chapters 1-4 is “he who through faith is righteous” and for chapters 5-8 “he shall live”’.¹⁰

What then is Paul telling us in Romans 1:17? He tells us that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation because therein is revealed the righteousness which God gives to believers. It is this righteousness that acquits their sin and gives them acceptance with God. Faith then is the means whereby we obtain the righteousness of God. Or, as some theologians have put it, faith in Christ is the instrumental cause of our justification. That is the connection between the righteousness of God and faith. And thus the great need of man is met.

It was this understanding of the text that turned midnight into day for the soul of Martin Luther and in turn revolutionized the face of Europe in the Reformation, and demonstrates why it is so important to be right on this doctrine. He describes for us how he wrestled with the words “the righteousness of God” in Romans 1:17 and how this was the key that unlocked his prison doors and gave him freedom:

I greatly longed to understand Paul’s Epistle to the Romans and nothing stood in the way but that one expression, “the justice of God,” because I took it to mean that justice whereby God is just and deals justly in punishing the unjust. My situation was that, although an impeccable monk, I stood before God as a sinner troubled in conscience, and I had no confidence that my merit would assuage him. Therefore I did not love a just and angry God, but rather hated and murmured against him. Yet I clung to the dear Paul and had a great yearning to know what he meant.

Night and day I pondered until I saw the connection between the justice of God and the statement that “the just shall live by his faith.” Then I grasped that the justice of God is that righteousness by which though grace and sheer mercy God justifies us through faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole of Scripture took on a new meaning, and whereas before the “justice of God” had filled me with hate, now it became to me inexpressibly sweet in greater love.¹¹

The message of the gospel then is that though we all stand before God as guilty and condemned sinners (3:19,20), God has provided a righteousness through Christ that we receive by faith alone. This righteousness justifies us before God and gives a right to everlasting life (5:17). And this is what made this gospel so sweet and precious to Paul and Luther. The fact that men are justified not by acquiring merit through their works but by looking out of themselves to Christ and his finished work means that no sinner who comes to Christ, however black his past, will be cast out. Salvation by grace is anchored in righteousness by faith (4:16; cf. Eph. 2:8). We are not justified by trying but by trusting.

We have seen so far that Paul says the essence of the gospel lies in the declaration that the righteousness of God that justifies is received through faith alone. I said above that some theologians have sought to clarify this by calling faith the instrumental cause of our justification. What do they mean by this and how is this consistent with the fact that Christ’s atoning work lies at the basis of our justification?

We should never for a moment deny that what Christ has done forms the basis of our justification before God. What he has done is and only is the meritorious cause of our justification. Paul makes that very clear later on. In 3:24 he tells us that we are “justified freely by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus” and that Christ’s propitiatory work whereby he satisfied the wrath of God for sin was necessary for God to remain just while justifying those who believe (3:25,26). The content of the righteousness bestowed upon believers is the righteousness of Christ, based upon his life and death. “For he (God) hath made him (Christ) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor. 5:21): it is only in Christ therefore that we are made righteousness before God. The believer does not look to anything he has done, not even to his faith, as the basis of his acceptance with God.

What theologians mean by calling faith the instrumental cause of justification is that the moment of faith is the divinely ordained occasion when we receive the righteousness of Christ. I like to illustrate this by pipes and cups. Thirst is a need that is satisfied by water. But my thirst is not quenched until I receive water into my mouth. How does the water get there? By pipes and cups. It comes through pipes to the faucet and through the faucet into my cup. I take the water in the cup and lift it up to my lips and drink until my thirst is quenched. Now water satisfied my need, not the pipe or cup. The pipe and cup simply brought the water to me. They were instrumental means in getting the water to my mouth where I could drink my fill.

That is similar to the relationship that faith holds to the righteousness of Christ. Faith is like a pipe or cup and the righteousness of Jesus is like cool, refreshing, spring water. Faith, like the pipe, doesn’t satisfy my deepest need. I don’t say when I take a drink of water, “Ah, that was good plumbing!” or “Ah, that was a good cup!” but rather “Ah, this water is great!” The cup simply transported the water to my lips so I could drink. Even so faith brings to us the righteousness of Christ. His righteousness is what justifies and saves. I don’t say when I believe, “Ah, what great faith!” but “Ah, what a great Savior!” Faith is essential because it brings us to Christ where we can drink our fill. And this is exactly what our Lord said: “He that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst” (Jn. 6:35).

We do not glory in our faith. The moment a person shifts his focus from Christ to faith and begins to boast in something in himself has really ceased to believe in Christ. Faith by its very nature is outward-looking in its perspective. Faith is the recognition of my emptiness and of Christ’s all-sufficiency. That is the reason why Paul says that faith excludes boasting: “Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith” (3:27; italics added). That is also why the apostle consistently contrasts, not compares, faith and works. “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law” (3.28). And this is also why he links faith and grace together in an indissoluble bond: “Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace” (4:16), so that where there is no faith there can be no grace.

Another illustration of this comes from a verse in Isaiah. In Isaiah 61:10, the prophet writes, “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.” The “garments of salvation” and the “robe of righteousness” is the righteousness of Christ which he sewed, as it were, by his obedient life and atoning death. But just as a garment does not benefit me personally unless it is put on, so also the righteousness of Christ, wherewith believers are girded (Rev. 19:8,9) is not applied personally until it is put on by faith. But thanks be unto God, the Scripture says that it is God who clothes us: he will work faith in each of his elect. Here indeed is a cause of thanksgiving, for if it were not for the grace of God, we would never put this robe of righteousness on.

Is there a relationship between the gospel and faith? Is such a statement Scriptural? According to the apostle Paul, the answer is yes. For in Romans 1:16, he states that the gospel “is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.”

1. Romans 10:14,15,17-“How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! . . . So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

2. 2 Thessalonians 2:13,14-“But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: whereunto he called by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

3. Ephesians 1:13-“In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. . . .”

4. John 17:20 [here is the Master praying for his elect in his great high priestly prayer]-“Neither pray I for these alone [that is, the apostles], but or them also which shall believe on me through their word . . . .”

5. Matthew 28:19,20-“Go ye therefore, and teach [or, ‘make disciples of’] all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”

Consider also the numerous examples of those who believed through hearing the gospel in the book of Acts. For example:

6. In Acts 4:4, when Peter had preached a sermon after the healing of the lame man in the third chapter, we read, “Howbeit [notwithstanding the persecution of the Sadducees] many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.”

7. Later, in the eighth chapter, when Philip the evangelist went to Samaria to preach the gospel to them, we find this recorded in the twelfth verse: “But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.”

8. Acts 13:48, a famous verse for those who contend for election (as it is plainly taught in this verse), it is written, “And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.”

9. In Acts 16:30-34, we have the example of the Philippian jailor, whom God enabled to believe through the preaching of Paul.

10. Finally, in Acts 18:8, Luke narrates: “And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized. . . .”

These are not all the examples that can be given, but for the sake of space we will limit ourselves to these. Undoubtedly, there is a relation between the gospel and faith. The Biblical precedent and principle, then, is that faith comes by the word preached.

But even here we must be careful. Although I earnestly contend for the relation between the preaching of the gospel and faith, yet I believe perhaps it would be more accurate to state this principle using the words of John Flavel: “The preaching of the gospel by Christ's ambassadors is the principle means appointed for reconciling and bringing home sinners to Christ” [italics added].¹² That it is the principle means needs to be stressed. God can work faith in the hearts of his elect any way he pleases; I, for one, will not limit God in this matter. Nevertheless, that it is by the gospel that God ordinarily calls us to faith cannot be denied either, for that is the least that can be said once Scriptures like Romans 10:14-17 are examined!

The gospel is the power of God unto salvation because it is through its message that men believe and are justified. However, several objections have been raised to our understanding of this text in Romans as well as other passages. So, to these objections we now turn.

I am no historian, but as a Baptist, I certainly entertain an appreciation of my heritage. Perhaps no other group of Christians has ever been as persecuted for their steadfast commitment to truth. And I firmly believe that Baptists hold more of the truth than any other group of people. What do the voices of the past say?

Is faith necessary? Elders C. B. and Sylvester Hassell believed so. In their History of the Church of God, first published in 1886, they wrote, "The language of Christ in Mark xvi. 16, 'He that believeth not shall be damned,' shows with perfect clearness that not want of water baptism, but want of faith, is the cause of damnation; and as the grace of faith is ‘the gift of God’ (Eph. i.19; ii.8; Gal. v.22; Phil. i.29; Heb. xii.2), it is as easy for Omnipotence to bestow it upon a dying infant as upon a living adult.”¹³ This statement clearly shows the importance that great men like the Hassells placed upon faith. To such an affirmation we say, “Amen!”

Concerning the truth that the righteousness of Christ is received by faith alone, in 1777, the Kehukee Association of Baptists adopted a list of seventeen articles of faith. The eighth article says this: “We believe that justification in the sight of God is only by the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ, received and applied by faith alone.”¹⁴

That faith ordinarily comes through the preaching of the gospel is clearly taught in the 1644 London Confession of faith. It reads: “That faith is ordinarily begot by the preaching of the Gospel, or word of Christ, without respect to any power or capacity in the creature, but it is wholly passive, being dead in sins and trespasses, doth believe, and is converted by no less power, then that which raised Christ from the dead.”¹⁵ A later confession, in 1689, said substantially the same thing: “The grace of faith, whereby the elect are enabled to believe to the saving of their souls, is the work of the Spirit of Christ in their hearts, and is ordinarily wrought by the ministry of the word.”

What about infants, and those incapable of hearing the gospel, or of exercising faith?

For some reason, those who argue that faith is not necessary, believe that the question about infants, etc., is the death-knell to what has been furthered in these pages. For example, in one periodical in a Primitive Baptist paper, one elder wrote:

The Justification that is mentioned in Romans 8:30 is not the same as that mentioned in Romans 5:1. Romans 8:30 is clear in teaching that our Justification satisfies God's perfect justice and that it is based entirely upon the work of Christ. The Justification in Romans 5:1comes about by faith. According to this Scripture, without the exercise of faith on the part of the individual, there is no Justification. If the two Justifications (8:30 and 5:1) are the same, we must conclude that no one is atoned for by Christ except believer in Christ. This concept excludes several groups--babies that die in infancy, those who are mentally incompetent, those who live in places where the gospel is not taught, etc. Most Christian denominations in their theology have come up against this problem.[italics added]¹⁶

To object to the understanding of justification by faith advanced in these pages by throwing in the difficult case of infants is just another way to skirt the Biblical evidence without having to answer it. The case of infants or imbeciles are not determinative of the question; it is the exegesis of biblical texts such as those found in Romans 3-5 that must be the final arbiter of the biblical doctrine of justification by faith. We must not allow difficult cases to skew the natural meaning of texts; we must learn to humbly accept the word of God for what it says and if we cannot fit that with every scenario then we must also learn to humbly accept that until God reveals to us the solution. In fact, the question of how infants dying in infancy are saved is a question best left up to God. As Dr. Gill said of infants in another connection: “But as the Scriptures say little of the case of such, it becomes us to say little also” and I readily agree.¹⁷ We ought to be willing to let the question mark stand behind these mysteries until God deems fit to answer them with his exclamation point.

However, one or two further observations/clarifications on this point are in place. First, I do think it is possible in light of Psalm 22:10 (“Thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother’s breasts.”) and Luke 1:41,44 (John the Baptist leaping in his mother’s womb for joy at the greeting of Mary the mother of Jesus) that “infant faith” is at least possible. As Hassell said, “It is as easy for Omnipotence to bestow it upon a dying infant as upon a living adult.” If this is true, then the case for justification by faith becomes air-tight: No one, not even an infant, is saved without faith. Of course, the content of their faith will be limited as compared to that of an adult; but faith is faith, and the saving power of it does not depend upon its strength but upon its reality. This seems to have been the position of John Murray who wrote in his commentary on Romans: “The salvation which is of the gospel is never ours apart from faith. This is true even in the case of infants, for in regeneration the germ of faith is implanted.¹⁸

However, it needs to be stressed that it is not right to assume, on the basis of “infant faith,” that the word of God in Scripture is not the normative means to bring about the faith that justifies. For if this were true, Romans 1:16 would not make sense (nor would Romans 10:13-17 and many other Scriptures, as listed above). If God reveals himself directly to infants apart from the gospel (which the nature of the case would necessitate), that does not necessarily mean he reveals himself to others without the gospel, though he can.¹⁹ The gospel is the power of God unto salvation, and the salvation under consideration is that which encompasses the free gift of justification.

As for those who live in places where the gospel is not taught, we must remember that God in his providence determines where the gospel goes, or where it does not go (Acts 16:6-10). If the gospel has not reached a certain place, it may be because God at the present has no people there.²⁰ God sent the apostle Paul to Corinth because he had “much people in this city” (Acts 18:10). But, as I will not limit the sovereignty of God, we must bear in mind that the Lord is not limited to people to spread the gospel: it is possible that he could do it by means of direct revelation (as he did to the apostle Paul, Acts 9:3-7).

In order to escape the plain import of texts that unite faith and justification, it has been suggested by some theologians that there are different justifications. Some, like the venerable John Gill, have maintained that all the elect are eternally justified before God in Christ and that justification by faith is the moment when the elect receive the assurance of that justification.²¹ Another theory closely allied to this is that there are three justifications that correspond to three different “court-rooms.” Justification proper is justification in the court-room of God and has eternal consequences. Justification by faith is justification in the court-room of the conscience and only gives assurance. Justification by works is justification in the court-room of the watching world. By now we are changing court-rooms so often that we are almost dizzy.

An example of this kind of Biblical interpretation can be seen in the article quoted above. The author states that the justification by faith mentioned in Romans 5:1 is different from that in Romans chapter eight. He says, in particular, “Romans 8:30 is clear in teaching that our Justification satisfies God's perfect justice and that it is based entirely upon the work of Christ. The Justification in Romans 5:1comes about by faith.” How he came to this conclusion, however, is to me a mystery. For Romans 5:1 is immediately preceded by Romans 4:25 which describes the basis of our justification, namely, Christ’s death and resurrection which satisfied God’s perfect justice. That the apostle is still pursuing the same line of thought in 5:1 is evident in the transitional word at the beginning of the sentence: “therefore.” The textual evidence is just not there to suggest that “justification” in Romans 5:1 and 8:30 are two different things. It is simply assumed because these good brothers are hemmed in by a theology that will not allow faith to have any eternal consequences. They then read that theology into the text whether it is there or not.

Therefore, the major flaw of the eternal justification or three-courtroom theories is that both deny that justification by faith is the bestowal of a righteous status before God that has eternal significance. There are serious problems that the Bible student runs into when he or she tries to make that paradigm fit.

One of the problems is that when the apostle Paul expounds on the theme of justification by faith, he does so within the context of the divine tribunal. Romans 3:19 and 20 make this unmistakably clear: “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped and that all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” This then sets the stage for and is followed by the declaration that all who believe will be justified (3:21-31). And in Romans 4:2, the apostle again affirms that this justification is “before God,” not “in the conscience” or “before the world.”

Another problem is that those who take that view have to add words to verses to make them fit their theology. It has to be said, for example, that justification by faith really means experimental justification, i.e., when someone comes to know that they are justified. So that when Paul says, “Therefore being justified by faith,” what he really means is, “Therefore being convinced that we are justified by faith.” But again, this just won’t fit. As John Murray aptly explains, “It appears quite unnatural and forced to regard the sustained emphasis of the Scripture that we are justified by faith in any other way.”²² So, when Paul says, “Therefore being justified by faith,” he means exactly that. There are many, many Scriptures that say the same thing. These do not say that we become conscious of our justification by faith, but that we are justified by faith. Again, to quote Murray, “Justification does not consist in that which is reflected in our consciousness; it consists in the divine act of acquittal and acceptance. And it is precisely this that is said to be by faith.”²³

If we allow Scripture to retain its natural force, then Galatians 2:16 seems definitely to point to the fact that faith precedes justification: “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” Here the apostle says that they believed in order that they might be justified. Justification, then, does not precede faith, for as the apostle here says, faith is in order to justification.

Primitive Baptists emphasize the fact that regeneration is the giving of spiritual life and that the “dead alien sinner” can do nothing before he or she is quickened into life. So far so good. But often they have taken this so far that they believe that only regeneration has any eternal consequences tied to it, and they define regeneration so narrowly as to divorce it from its effects. As a result, when one begins to speak of faith having eternal consequences, many of them jump to the premature conclusion that what is being discussed is decisional regeneration. But that is neither a logical nor Biblical deduction from what this paper advances with respect to justification by faith.

The necessity of faith in the salvation of souls does not eliminate the need for regeneration. The Scriptures abundantly teach that only those who are born of God can come to Christ for the forgiveness of their sins (cf. Jn. 1:12,13; 3:3; 6:44; I Jn. 5:1). Regeneration must precede conversion as life must precede action. There must be an implantation of a divine principle before any spiritually dead son of Adam can do anything that is pleasing to God (Rom. 8:5-8). But we must be careful, for neither does the priority of regeneration to the act of faith eliminate the necessity of believing. And whether or not there is a time-gap between regeneration and faith (be it never so great, or never so small), the Scripture principle still is, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mk. 16:16).

Thus we see the necessity of faith and the relationship it holds to the gospel. May we be able to say with the apostle, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,” and may we, like him, have the boldness to preach it in its fullness as that which reveals the righteousness of God received by faith alone.

19Of course, there must be a prior work of God in the heart of people before they will respond to the gospel in saving faith. This is the work of the Spirit of God in regeneration. However, I do not understand this work to be the impartation of revelation additional to that which is given in Scripture. The Holy Spirit does not whisper truth in our ears. When our Lord said to Peter, “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven” (Mt. 16:17), he was not referring to the transmission of information; he was referring to the work of the Spirit in opening Peter’s eyes to see the self-authenticating glory of God in the gospel. This is just as necessary - even more necessary - than the communication of truth, for unless men see the glory of the truth they will never embrace it. Paul said that men are blind not because they lack information but because they do not see the “light of the gospel of the glory of Christ” (cf. 2 Cor. 4:3-7). Jonathan Edwards, in a sermon on Mt. 16:17, describes this aspect of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in this way: “This spiritual light is not the suggesting of any new truths or propositions not contained in the word of God. This suggesting of new truths or doctrines to the mind, independent of any antecedent revelation of those propositions, either in word or writing, is inspiration; such as the prophets and apostles had, and such as some enthusiasts pretend to. But this spiritual light that I am speaking of, is quite a different thing from inspiration. It reveals no new doctrine, it suggests no new proposition to the mind, it teaches no new thing of God, or Christ, or another world, not taught in the Bible, but only gives a due apprehension of those things that are taught in the word of God.” Jonathan Edwards, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, 2 vols. (1834; reprint, Peabody: Hendrickson, 1998), 2:13.

20It has been my experience that people object to this by quoting Revelation 5:9, which says that Jesus has redeemed to God men and women “out of every kindred, and tongue, and people and nation.” However, this text does not say that Christ redeems some out of every people-group in every generation. All it says is that some out of every people-group in the world will be saved. So it is a good possibility if the gospel has not reached a certain place, that God at the present has no people there. But that does not mean he will never have any people there, or that the gospel will never reach them.

21See, for example, John Gill, Body of Divinity (London, 1839; reprint, Atlanta: Turner Lassetter, 1950), 203-209. However, it should be pointed out that Gill definitely believed in the necessity of faith (and seeing it as a response to the gospel), even though he did not connect this necessity directly to justification. In his chapter, “Of Faith in God and in Christ” he says, “In short, none but the elect of God, become true believers in Christ; and all these do, in God’s due time, and through the efficacy of his grace; so it has been and so it ever will be, until they are all brought to believe in Christ; as many as were ordained unto eternal life believed, Acts xiii. 48. for, the belief of the truth, of Christ, who is the truth, and of the gospel of truth, that comes by him, is the means through which God has chosen men to salvation; and which is as certain to them as the thing itself; for faith is given in consequence of this choice, and is peculiar to the objects of it; hence called the faith of God’s elect, 2 Thess. ii. 13. Tit. i. 1. such only are the partakers and subjects of this grace, who are regenerated, called, and sanctified” (741).