What is Justification and Sanctification?
1) If God adjudges a person righteous without changing the person's nature, how do you explain this verse:Justification is an act of God, by which He accounts or adjudges a person righteous in His sight, solely by His own grace and the works and merits of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's not a change in the person's nature, but it's a change in his standing in the sight of God. In short, God imputes over to the sinner the righteousness of Christ -- it's the free gift of life through Christ Jesus, apprehended by faith.
Sanctification is growth in holiness and a gradual conformity into the holy image of God, which is the progressive work of the Holy Spirit and man. It is brought about by the fruit of the Holy Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; and above all things love and fear of the Lord.
In a word, through faith in Jesus Christ, we are counted as righteous (Justification), that we may become like obedient children of God (Sanctification).
1) If God adjudges a person righteous without changing the person's nature, how do you explain this verse:
He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD. (Proverbs 17:15)
Is not adjudging a sinner righteous, without first changing his nature to make him righteous in-fact, the equivalent of justifying the wicked, which God abhors?
2) If what you wrote is true, how do you explain the various verses in Scripture that suggest that righteousness from God is infused into a person, which changes his very nature? For example:
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
He saved us, not because of deeds done by us in righteousness, but in virtue of his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit, which he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life (Titus 3:5-7)
And Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among the people (Acts 6:8).
And hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us (Romans 5:5).
Is the new creation that God makes righteous in fact and righteous as declared, or is the new creation that God makes unrighteous in fact, and righteous in declared?Yes, in Christ we are a new creation, but it's not on account of our new creation that we are saved, but on account of Jesus Christ. A new creation is a product of faith in Christ, by God's grace through the power of the Holy Spirit.
In simple terms, what I'm saying is this:
We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. We are justified by God's grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. And when we believe in the Lord, we are counted as righteous.
Is the new creation that God makes righteous in fact and righteous as declared, or is the new creation that God makes unrighteous in fact, and righteous in declared?
Let me see if I understand this. Jesus comes to the Earth and takes the form of a man, suffers, dies, and rises again, for our salvation. Through our faith in Jesus Christ, and God's grace through the power of the Holy Spirit, God makes us into a new creation. Yet, for some unknown reason, God decides to make us into a new creation that is unrighteous, instead of a new creation that is righteous? Why?
In other words, why should God employ a legal fiction, when God is capable of making us actually righteous? And why would God do that, when He abhors "he that justifieth the wicked"?
I don't mean to give you a hard time about it, but that does not seem to make a whole lot of sense. Do you have any idea why God would want to declare someone righteous when he is not, when God has the capability of making the person righteous?
It sounds a bit like a teacher giving Steve, who scored a 50% on a test, an A because his brother John scored 100%. Wouldn't it be better for John to teach Steve to score 90% or 95% on the test, so that when the teacher gives Steve an A, it is based on his true ability?
Thanks. I did recognize the scripture references, but I did not think they got to the heart of the question as to whether the "righteousness of God" is Christ's own personal righteousness, which is imputed to the believer, or a different righteousness that is given to the believer from God. If it were a bank account, I suppose that I would interpret "credited" or "counted" to mean something along the lines that funds are actually put into my account in fact, and then I pay the creditor from those funds, while you would look at my account as actually still empty, but the creditor looks at the someone else's account that is full, and takes the money directly from his account instead. I think that Scripture is more supportive of the "infused" view, but you disagree obviously.Not a problem. It's a good question
First of all, I nearly word for word repeated Scripture:
Ephesians 2:10 Romans 3:23-25 (or better yet, see the full context of Romans 3:21-31) Genesis 15:6
When I say "counted as righteous", I refer to the teachings found in Romans 4
However, I also believe the regenerate to be holy, for we have been washed by the blood of Christ; dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus, a new creation set apart for God, being made into obedient children of God.
To put it in a different way:
1. Can people who believe in God sin? Yes, inasmuch as we are not without sin, unlike Christ who is the only one without sin, we still need to pray for forgiveness.
2. Are people who believe in God then unrighteous? No, we are righteous on account of faith in Jesus.
3. Does this righteousness come from us or from God? From God.
Thanks. I did recognize the scripture references, but I did not think they got to the heart of the question as to whether the "righteousness of God" is Christ's own personal righteousness, which is imputed to the believer, or a different righteousness that is given to the believer from God. If it were a bank account, I suppose that I would interpret "credited" or "counted" to mean something along the lines that funds are actually put into my account in fact, and then I pay the creditor from those funds, while you would look at my account as actually still empty, but the creditor looks at the someone else's account that is full, and takes the money directly from his account instead. I think that Scripture is more supportive of the "infused" view, but you disagree obviously.
For your point number 2, what do you do with a text like Galatians 5:19-21?
Thanks. No analogy is perfect, of course.At the risk of derailing into an endless Catholic vs Lutheran debate, I'll try and keep it brief and leave it at this
Scripture talks freely in many ways, often using the same words to point to different things. It's also full of paradoxes; such as Jesus Christ being fully man and fully God. Likewise, I believe it can be said both that "we are sinners" and that "we are free of sin" - they are both accurate and they are not contrary, but points to the same truth in Christ; namely, justification by grace through faith in Christ Jesus.
"Righteousness" can be used in two senses: Before the world, and before God. In some places Scripture will call someone blameless and righteous, but in other places it will say that no one is righteous - not even one. That is, only Christ is without sin and righteous before the Father. Dying and raising into Christ therefore means dying to sin and raising into the righteousness of Christ, which is not of ourselves, but a free gift from God. In other words, Sanctification does not affect Justification, but Sanctification is a result of Justification. This does not make good works any less important, for we are to uphold the law, because we are in Christ, who is the founder and perfecter of our faith. But it's in God's grace and His own promise through Christ that we are saved - not of our works.
I have to politely disagree with the bank analogy, because I don't think it makes sense as a symbol for Justification, but even if I thought it did, it would not be an "empty credit", for Christ is in us, as we are in Christ. John 14:20
To answer your question - I hold faith to be binary. It may be strong or weak, but either we are a new creation in the Lord or we're not. Galatians 5:19-21 talks about people who do not belong to the Lord, but are given into sin. We can know this from our Lord's own words in Matthew 7:15-20
Suffice to say, I can appreciate that our views on Justification are different, but in the words of Irenaeus: "Disagreement in fasting does not destroy unity in faith". God bless