It seems that many Anabaptists have lost track of the biblical truth of justification. Most frequently, the term is met with confusion and uncertainty. This is most unfortunate because the term is found in the pages of Scripture. Not only that, it is a part of the warp and woof of the gospel. Justification—sinners declared just through Christ—is fundamental to the gospel. We could more broadly define the gospel as “all that which God has done to make sinners righteous,” including justification, sanctification, and glorification. Yet justification is the starting point of all of God’s salvific work, and it is the foundation for all relationship with God.
God has made His offer of justification by faith abundantly clear in His Word. As Romans 3:21-24 says, “The righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed…even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Righteousness and justification are related terms in the Greek. Righteousness speaks of being righteous, while justification speaks of being called righteous. Justification is God’s declaration that we are righteous based on Jesus’ perfect righteousness. It is something applied to us, not something present in us. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” We are made righteous in Christ. We were sinners, and Christ took our sin. Christ is righteous, and we are made righteous through Him.
How is that righteousness appropriated? Through faith. Specifically, faith apart from works. Apart from anything we contribute. As Ephesians 2:8 says, “By grace you have been saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” It is clear that our obedience, our good works, our righteousness, can add nothing to the finished work of Christ. Faith alone justifies. Again in Galatians 2:16 we find that “a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ…for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.” Works do not qualify us for salvation, they do not contribute to our salvation, nor do they maintain our salvation. Salvation can only be experienced through faith.
The Protestant view is not incorrect in teaching that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone. We have no hope without God’s gracious offer of salvation through Christ. It is by God’s grace we are saved. And we bring no merit, no goodness, but simply submit ourselves to God in humble faith. Our righteousness is in Christ, apart from our works. Where the Protestant view sometimes errs is in neglecting to emphasize that true faith always produces works. As James says, “Faith without works is dead.” Paul also calls us to “present [our] members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.” When works are absent, we should conclude that faith is likewise absent.
Yet in our efforts to emphasize the importance of obedience, we hesitate to teach that justification is experienced apart from our works. We fear that, if people realize that they contribute nothing to their standing before God, they will consider themselves free to sin. We tiptoe around the numerous New Testament passages that teach justification apart from works, concerned that if we teach them as they appear in God’s word, we will encourage people to sin. If we are saved simply by believing, does that not free us to live however we want?
The opposite is most certainly true. Only when we understand the grace of God in Christ, offering us His righteousness apart from our works, will we apprehend the call to obedience. Minimizing grace does not result in more godliness; it results in less. The man left to work, either to earn God’s favor or keep it, feels the immense weight of duty but lacks the empowerment of love. Love for God is a response to His unconditional love for us. If we neglect justification (righteousness made ours through Christ), we neglect the most powerful motivator for Christian obedience. A right understanding must result in a hatred for sin, not a love for it.
When we are justified at salvation, God begins the process of sanctifying us. To be justified is to be declared righteous; to be sanctified is to be made righteous. Justification happens in an instant, but sanctification is a lifelong process. Justification and sanctification are inseparable, but they are distinct. The basis of our relationship with God is always Christ’s work on our behalf, applied in justification. Who we are has no effect on whether or not we have been justified. Rather, it demonstrates whether or not we have been justified. The result of our relationship with God is a desire to please Him. That desire is met by God’s enabling grace in the process of sanctification. He changes who we are to make us more like Himself.
Confusion about the distinctions between justification and sanctification have led to alternative views of justification. The failure to distinguish between that which is foundational to our relationship with God (justification) and that which results (sanctification) has produced unbiblical definitions of both. Scripture teaches that sanctification is a necessary reality, not just to aspire to but to experience in daily life. All true believers are being sanctified. Some, seeing that sanctification is necessary for all believers, make it a condition for us to be saved or for us to stay saved. This is, I believe, a distortion of the gospel.
If we make sanctification a condition for justification, we make works the requirement for salvation, a belief in stark contrast with the Scripture already cited that teach that justification is experienced through faith alone. If sanctification is a condition for justification, we are obligated to be faithful disciples before we can be confident of our justification. But works (or even noble desires) are never the prerequisite for justification. If we make sanctification (works) a condition for maintaining salvation, we likewise blur the biblical truth of justification. Faith is what saves.
Are works then optional? Absolutely not. True faith produces works, as already mentioned. Though obedience does nothing to add to our righteous standing before God, it is not optional. I say it is not optional, for three reasons. We obey (1) because of who we are, (2) because of who we love, and (3) because of who lives in us.
First, we obey God because of who we are. Jesus speaks of this in John 3 when He says that the one who sees (experiences, understands) the kingdom of God must first be born again. If we have been born again, we have experienced a change of nature. This is a change of who we are. Our nature is transformed. We go from being “dead in trespasses and sins” to being “alive together with Christ.” (Eph. 2:5). This change of nature results in a change of life. Since we no longer are who we once were, we no longer love what we once loved nor do what we once did. If our natures are changed, our lives will be changed too. We see this in 2 Corinthians 5:17 (“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have past away; behold, all things have become new.”) and in Romans 6:2 (“How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?”). The believer is not just reckoned as righteous, he is also transformed. While justification is counted to us apart from who we are, it is never separated from the new birth. Those who are justified are those who are born again, and none can be counted as justified if they are not born again. Justification is externally applied; the new birth is internally experienced; works invariably result.
Second, we obey God because we love Him. The one who has put his faith in Christ and has experienced salvation (including justification and regeneration) is marked by a love for his Savior. How can he not be? His lot was changed from eternal damnation to eternal glory in the presence of Christ, not by his own contribution but only by the grace of God! It is then his calling to let his “conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ” (Phil. 2:27). He loves his Savior; therefore he seeks to please him in everything he does. He “presents his body as a living sacrifice” (Rom. 12:1). There is no true believer who does not love his Lord, and there is no true love that does not demonstrate itself in obedience. As Christ said, “If you love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). Also comes the call in Ephesians 4:1 to “imitate God as dear children.” Just as a child naturally imitates his parents, so God’s children naturally imitate their Heavenly Father. The gospel-expectation of Scripture is that we will want to be holy as God Himself is holy (1 Peter 1:16). Because we love Him, we want to be like Him. Because we love Him, we want to obey Him.
Third, we obey God because of who lives in us. If we have been justified, we have been born again. If we have been born again, we are filled with the Spirit. If we are filled with the Spirit, He is working in us to make us like Christ. All believers are indwelt by the Spirit. This is quite plain in Romans 8:9; “Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.” But the Spirit is not an inactive dweller in our spiritual abodes. He is busy working in us to change us “from glory to glory” (2 Cor. 3:18). Through Him we are “being renewed day by day” (2 Cor. 4:16). “If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you” (Rom. 8:11). We who are saved have the Spirit in us, and He is conforming us to Scripture—to Christ.
To tie these threads together, when we are saved, we are justified, regenerated, and Spirit-filled. We are declared righteous through Christ, but at that moment God begins His work in us to sanctify us. If there is no ability for sanctification, there is no spiritual life. If there is no power for sanctification, there is no Spirit-filling. If there is no desire for sanctification, there is no comprehension of the gospel. But where righteousness has been reckoned, where justification has happened, there you will find a man who has been born again and who’s all-consuming concern is to please his Savior. Let us not lessen the worth of justification by adding our meager efforts to the perfect work of Christ. Let us also be careful not to mock the gospel by claiming its benefits while living a life that despises the Giver. God’s good pleasure in salvation is both to declare us righteous (justification) and make us righteous (sanctification). Let us, like Abraham, believe the word of God and find our salvation.