Sufficiency of Imputed Righteousness

[redleghunter]

"You cannot have salvific faith without regeneration. Just as you would not have a complete world without the 6 days of creation."

This is exactly why I feel regeneration should be included in our definition of justification.

Once again dealing with temporal timelines.

 

[Ron Gurley]

Back to Basics!

OP: Q: "...How then will imputed righteousness be sufficient in allowing me to enter heaven?..."

A: Study the doctrine of "substitutional atonement"!

" Substitutionary Atonement "...What is it ??

imputed righteousness ...in 2 verses!

OT: ...Yom Kippur
Leviticus 23:28
You shall not do any work on this same day, for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement on your behalf before the Lord your God.

NT:

2 Corinthians 5:21
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God IN Him.

The self righteousness of Man and his "works" are viewed as filthy rags by God.

OT:

Isaiah 64:6 (NASB)
For all of us have become like one who is unclean,
And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment;
And all of us wither like a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

NT:

Romans 3:10
as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one;

John 3...Justification by Faith
21 But now apart from the (Mosaic) Law the righteousness of God has been manifested,
being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe;
for there is no distinction;
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory (perfection) of God,
24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;
25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith.

Galatians 3:11
Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, “The righteous man shall live by faith.”

...Q2: ..." It seems I would need to be actually internally (spiritually) changed, (born again from above) or infused with Christ's righteousness..."

Yep. The heart of Christ-following:

Spiritually discern:
1. John 3
2. as explained in Ephesians 2

 

[hedrick]

Justification can’t be separated from faith, because we are justified by faith. Note however that the Greek pistis has a variety of meanings, including trust and faithfulness. The Reformers emphasized trust. Many today think the in Paul, it should often be translated faithfulness.

For Jesus, the core concept of a Christian is a follower, a disciple. I would suggest that the loyalty to Christ that makes someone a follower is the same thing as Paul’s faithfulness. When we are Christ’s follower, we are considered righteous, i.e. faith is imputed as righteousness.

It’s worth noting that righteousness here doesn’t mean moral perfection. A number of people throughout the OT and NT are referred to as righteous, and none of them is sinless. A righteous man is one who lives in a way that is acceptable to God. He followers God, and repents for his sins. So if you’re a follower of Christ, God considers this as righteousness.

So how about works and justification? Works don’t justify for at least two reason: (1) there’s no particular thing you have to do to become a disciple. You don’t need to be circumcized, you don’t need to respond to an altar call. (2) we don’t earn salvation by being sinless. Jesus constantly talks about forgiveness. Paul speaks of one who is justified without works using Ps 32:1-2: “Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven”.

So we are justified by the fact that we’re a follower of Jesus. However while we don’t earn this by any specific act or moral accomplishment, Jesus’ teachings about judgement all involve what people do. While we’re justified just because we’re Christ’s followers, as his followers we’re expected to show fruit. Both Jesus and Paul are pretty clear that this doesn’t mean sinlesness. God isn’t sitting up there counting our good and bad deeds. But Jesus and Paul seem to envision what I’d call a primary orientation. In Jesus’ terms, we can tell whether a tree is bad or good by whether it bears fruit.

This is sort of a paradox: there’s nothing particular we need to do to become Christ’s follower, but being one commits us to acting like one.

 

[fhansen]

A contradiction.

No, simply faith understood in its proper context.

I think what happens on these threads is a presupposition by Catholics that Protestants view faith as comatose.

What James invoked was the matter of dead faith meaning not saving faith. Faith implies faithfulness and as such is also according to Grace. Notice nothing we do we can boast. Meaning we cannot add the works of righteousness to our portfolio but only cast the crown at Christ's feet where the due credit is due (see Revelation 4:10).

Not only can we add works to our portfolio but we must, providing we're gifted with the time and opportunity and grace as per the Parable of the Talents. And the more we're given the more that's expected of us-Luke 12:48. And these works, as with faith, are gifts of grace, mentioned in Eph 2:10:
"For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

And this aligns with Matt 25:31-46, where the basis of God's judgment is seen to be works done "for the least of these". The New Covenant is all about change, to become beings who love as God does, where the law is fulfilled by its nature. Love constitutes man's justice; it's what faith is meant to lead to, which is why the Greatest Commandments are what they are. Jesus didn't say, "I really didn't mean it, you cannot possibly be obedient".
Rather, He says to the man healed in the temple, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you."
And to the woman caught in adultery, "Neither do I condemn you, now go and sin no more."
Because we know, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
And, "...if I have a faith that can move mountains but have not love, I am nothing." 1 Cor 13
Faith is not some sort of get-out-of-hell-free-card. As Augustine put it, "Without love faith may indeed exist, but avails nothing".

Whose or whose righteousness do you speak of above?

"The righteousness of God", which God created man to have. Simply put, God did not create man to sin.

In John 15:5 we are told we can do nothing without Christ.

Amen. And the message of the New Covenant is all about grace, about God doing a work in us of justification, putting His law in our minds and writing it on our hearts, as we come to know Him, from the least to the greatest, implying faith, a faith wrought in us by Jesus as He revealed the true face of God to the world. And this work is one we must participate in, that we must "work out" with He who works in us as man comes back to belief in Him again.

Was it your point we have enough human goodness to respond to God's call to us? If so, the below refutes such a claim:

But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved)(Ephesians 2:4-5)

Yes, God elicits our cooperation, and yet we can still refuse to cooperate. He wants our wills involved; Adam willed wrongly, and God allowed him to, and that sin is the reason why man was booted from Eden to begin with. The whole history of the world since then, particularity of the Jews, was preparation for one event, the advent of Christ. This history involved man's education, the formation of his will, realized the hard way, over time, so that he may learn of his abject inability to be righteous apart from God, so that he may learn that he falls inexorably to unrighteousness and evil the moment he steps away from God, so that he may turn back and be healed of his woundedness and corruption, made alive again, be saved. IOW, without our wills involved, at least our consent, and continued consent and cooperation throughout our lives, man is lost. Otherwise God may as well have simply stocked heaven with the elect and hell with the rest to begin with, preempting all the drama and pain and suffering that followed the Fall, man's "education".

 

[sdowney717]

Read John, Acts and Romans. If you still have questions, come back and start another thread. Justification by faith is what Jesus Christ died for.

Yes.
By faith through faith we are justified with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. By His works, not our works. We are made righteous by our FAITH in Christ in God, not of ourselves, and this faith is also God's gift to those who are His.


7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Pressing Toward the Goal
12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

15 Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. 16 Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.

 

[redleghunter]

Not only can we add works to our portfolio but we must, providing we're gifted with the time and opportunity and grace as per the Parable of the Talents. And the more we're given the more that's expected of us-Luke 12:48. And these works, as with faith, are gifts of grace, mentioned in Eph 2:10:
"For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

Those who trusted their master received a reward. The one servant who hid the talent demonstrated no faith. Again, these talents are not works of righteousness which we present to Christ as earning or keeping our salvation.
The Ephesians 2:10 quote is rightly quoted. Verses 8-9 explain how God accomplishes verse 10.

Ephesians 2:

4 But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus; 8 for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, that no one would boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.

I think where we disagree is on cause and effect. Even the Reformers noted "we are saved by faith alone but the faith that saves is never alone."

And this aligns with Matt 25:31-46, where the basis of God's judgment is seen to be works done "for the least of these".

Faith sure does heavily imply faithfulness. Again we most likely disagree where the source of this faithfulness comes from.

The New Covenant is all about change, to become beings who love as God does, where the law is fulfilled by its nature.

Again who is effecting this change?

Love constitutes man's justice; it's what faith is meant to lead to, which is why the Greatest Commandments are what they are. Jesus didn't say, "I really didn't mean it, you cannot possibly be obedient".
Rather, He says to the man healed in the temple, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you."
And to the woman caught in adultery, "Neither do I condemn you, now go and sin no more."
Because we know, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
And, "...if I have a faith that can move mountains but have not love, I am nothing." 1 Cor 13
Faith is not some sort of get-out-of-hell-free-card. As Augustine put it, "Without love faith may indeed exist, but avails nothing".

Not understanding why you posted the above. I have clearly indicated previously we are a new creation in Christ the old is put away the new has come. 2 Corinthians 5:17

"The righteousness of God", which God created man to have. Simply put, God did not create man to sin.

However mankind did sin thus making us spiritually dead.

Amen. And the message of the New Covenant is all about grace, about God doing a work in us of justification, putting His law in our minds and writing it on our hearts, as we come to know Him, from the least to the greatest, implying faith, a faith wrought in us by Jesus as He revealed the true face of God to the world. And this work is one we must participate in, that we must "work out" with He who works in us as man comes back to belief in Him again.

Dead men can't participate in anything save their own funeral. As God said "let there be light" the same quickening must happen with us spiritually or there is no life in us.

Yes, God elicits our cooperation, and yet we can still refuse to cooperate. He wants our wills involved;

Please define what you mean by "our wills."

Also, at what point does one refuse? When we are already spiritually dead?