OF THE ETERNAL AND
IMMANENT ACTS IN GOD;
PARTICULARLY
ADOPTION AND JUSTIFICATION
John Gill
I shall not here treat of
these as doctrines, in the full extent of them; or as blessings of grace
actually bestowed upon, and enjoyed by believers, with all the privileges and advantages arising from thence; or as transient acts
passing on them, and terminating in their consciences at believing; but as
internal and immanent acts, taken up in the mind of God from eternity, and
which abide in his will; in which they have their complete "esse", or
being, as eternal election has, being of the same kind and nature, and are
ranked with it as of the same date, and as branches of it, #Eph
1:4-6. In the other view of them they will be considered hereafter in course,
in a proper place. I shall begin with,
1. Adoption; as predestination
to it stands next to election, #Eph 1:5 which is no other than his will to
adopt the chosen ones, which is his adoption of them; for as the will of God to elect any is his election of them, so his will
to adopt the same is his adoption of them; and the complete essence of it lies
in his will, and is as such an eternal immanent act of it; in like manner as
election is, and may be considered as a branch of it, at least of the same
nature with it; and which agrees with the sense of the word "adopto",
from whence adoption comes, which is compounded of "ad" to, and "opto" to choose; so that adoption is God's
choice or election of some to be his children; and by this option, or choice,
of his they become so. The Greek word for adoption throughout the New Testament
is uioyesia, which signifies "putting among the children"; the phrase
used by God, #Jer 3:19. "How shall I put them among the children?" or
a putting one for and in the room of a son, that is a stranger and not a son by birth; a constituting and accounting such an one as a
son, according to choice, will, and pleasure: and divine adoption is an act of
the sovereign grace and good will of God, #Eph 1:5 to which he is not induced
by any motive out of himself; not by any excellency in the creature; nor for
want of a son; one or other of which is the case in human adoptions; as of
Moses, a goodly child, by Pharaoh's daughter; and of Esther,
a beautiful person, and a relation by Mordecai; but divine adoption is of
persons exceeding unworthy and undeserving, nothing engaging in them; not only
strangers, but children of wrath even as others, and like the wretched infant
in #Eze 16:1-63. It is an act of distinguishing grace; it is of men, and not
angels; who are servants and not sons, at least not by adoption; and of some
men and not of all, though all are alike in their nature
state; and it is a most amazing act of unmerited love and free grace, #1Jo 3:1.
Now this is an eternal act of grace:
1a. First, It did not begin in
time, but commenced from eternity; it is an act of God's will, and has its
complete essence in it; and the will of God is eternal, no new will, nor any new act of will, arises in God in time; or otherwise he
would not be the unchangeable God he is.
1a1. It is an
act that does not first take place at believing;
indeed the
saints are "all the children of God by faith in
Christ
Jesus", openly and manifestatively, #Ga 3:26 but then
it is not
faith that makes them children, but what makes
them appear
to be so; adoption is the act of God, and not of
faith; it is
God that says, "How shall I put them among the
children?"
and again, "I will be their Father, and they
shall
be my sons and daughters", #Jer 3:19 2Co 6:18 it is
the work and
business of faith to receive the blessing of
adoption,
which it could not do, unless it had been
previously
provided in the mind and by the will of God, and
in the
covenant of his grace; for the reception of which
Christ
has made way by his redemption, one end of which is
"that we
might receive the adoption of sons", #Ga 4:5 that
is, by faith;
for God has appointed faith to be the general
receiver of
Christ, and of all the blessings of grace
through him,
and this among the rest; and to as many as
receive
Christ, he gives exousian, a power, authority,
dignity, and
privilege to become the sons of God openly;
that is, to
claim this as their privilege and dignity; which
claim is made
by faith; but not the thing itself claimed;
"even to
them that believe on his name", and who are
described
as regenerate persons; which is an evidence of
their
sonship, though not the thing itself; "who are born,
not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will
of man; but
of God", #Joh 1:12,13. But though this
describes
such who are the sons of God openly, and who
1a2. Adoption
does not first commence at regeneration; adoption
and
regeneration are two distinct blessings, and the one is
previous to
the other; though they are commonly confounded
together
by divines. Regeneration is not the foundation of
adoption, but
adoption the foundation of regeneration; or,
the reason
why men are adopted, is not because they are
regenerated,
but they are regenerated because they are
adopted. By
adoption they are put into the relation of
children,
and by regeneration they have a nature given them
suitable to
that relation; and are made partakers of the
divine
nature, that they may be made known to be heirs
apparent to,
and to have a meekness for the possession,
enjoyment,
and use of it, the inheritance in heaven they are
1a3. The act of
adoption is previous to any work of the Spirit of
God upon the
hearts of his people; "Because ye are sons,
sons already,
sons by adopting grace; God hath sent forth
the
Spirit of his Son into your hearts", both to convince,
convert,
regenerate, and effectually call by his grace, and
sanctify, and
also to comfort, and to enable to cry Abba
Father,
witnessing to their spirits, that they are the
children of
God; and hence he is called, "the Spirit of
Adoption";
and it is his influences, teachings, and
leadings,
which are the evidences of adoption; "For as many
as are led by
the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God";
not that
those influences, operations, and leadings, make
them, but
make them evident to be such, #Ga 4:6 Ro 8:14-16.
1a4. Divine
adoption, or sonship, took place before any work of
Christ was
wrought in time, for any of the sons of men; it
was before
his incarnation and birth; forasmuch then, or
because
"the children are partakers of flesh and blood", the
children
of God, who are so by adopting grace; therefore "he
also",
Christ, "himself took part of the same"; for though
the nature he
assumed was what was in common to all mankind,
yet he
assumed it with a peculiar view to the children of
God, the
spiritual seed of Abraham; whose nature he is said
to
take, and for whose sake he was the child born, and the
Son given,
#Isa 9:6 Heb 2:14,16 and in consequence they
must be the
children of God before Christ suffered and died;
and, indeed, he
suffered and died for them under this
character,
considered as the children of God by adopting
grace;
for he died not only for the elect of God among the
"Jews,
but that also he should gather together in one the
children of
God that were scattered abroad"; that is, those
who were
already the children of God by adopting grace, who
were
scattered throughout the whole Gentile world. This
relates
to the gathering of all the elect in one, in Christ,
in the
dispensation of the fulness of times; when Christ
suffered as
their Surety, Head, and Representative; and when
they were all
considered as the children of God, whether in
heaven or on
earth, and whether among Jews or Gentiles,
#Eph
1:10 Joh 11:51,52 and in order to bring these many
sons to glory,
it became him to be made perfect through
sufferings,
and that through his redemption of them thereby,
they might
receive, actually in their own persons, the
adoption
before provided for them, as before observed; see
1b. Secondly,
Adoption is an act of God's free grace from all eternity.
1b1. The
elect of God are frequently spoken of as a distinct
number
of men, given to Christ, and as previous to their
coming to him
by faith, which is the certain fruit and
consequence
of that gift; see #Joh 17:2,6,9,24 6:37 yea,
they were
given to Christ before the world was; for if grace
was given to
them in him before the world began, they
themselves
must be given to him, and be in him before the
world began, #2Ti
1:9. Now these were given to Christ in the
relation of
children, and therefore must be children so
early;
"Behold, I, and the children which God hath given
me",
#Heb 2:13.
1b2. The
elect of God were espoused to Christ in eternity; as has
been shown in
the preceding chapter; which serves to
illustrate
and prove the relation of sonship to God so
early; for as
in natural and civil marriage, if a man
marries
a king's daughter, he becomes his son in law; as
David to
Saul: or if a woman marries a king's son, she
becomes the
king's daughter: so the elect of God, his church
and people,
being espoused to the Son of God, they become
the sons and
daughters of the Lord God almighty, the King of
kings;
and hence the church is called the King's daughter,
#Ps 45:13 and
these persons being betrothed to Christ, the
Son of God,
in eternity, as they were the spouse of Christ,
they must be,
and must be considered as being the sons of
God so early.
1b3. The
elect of God were taken by him into the covenant of his
grace, as
children; the sum and substance of which runs
thus, "I
will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons
and
daughters, saith the Lord almighty", #2Co 6:18. Now this
covenant
was from everlasting; as the setting up of Christ
the Mediator
of it so soon; and the promises and blessings,
made and
provided before the world began, do abundantly
testify.
Besides, in this covenant, these same persons so
early were
given to Christ, as his seed and offspring, his
children,
and he commenced the everlasting Father of them;
see #Isa 9:6
53:10.
1b4.
Predestination to the adoption of children, is mentioned
along with
election, as of the same date with it, and as an
illustration
of it, and as an addition to it, or rather, a
branch of it;
as men by election are not only chosen to
holiness, but
to adoption, and the inheritance annexed to
it, #Eph
1:4,5. Adoption is a sentence of grace conceived
in the divine
mind, and settled by the divine will, and
pronounced
in divine predestination, which is an eternal act
of God; and
so says Dr. Ames {3},
``Adoption is a gracious
sentence of God--which sentence is pronounced in the same variety of degrees as
justification; for it was first pronounced in divine predestination,
#Eph 1:5 afterwards in Christ, #Ga 4:5 then in believers themselves, #Ga 4:6.''
And all these
pronunciations, and so all that Christ did in
redemption
respecting this, or the Spirit of God does in
revealing,
applying, and witnessing it, yea, all that will
be done in
eternity to come; for though now the saints "are
the sons of
God, it doth not yet appear", clearly and fully,
"what
they shall be", even as sons, or what dignity and
glory they
shall be raised unto, in consequence of this
relation;
I say, all these in time, and to eternity, serve
only to open
and expand the original act of God's will, in
appointing
and constituting them his sons in an eternity
past.
2.
Justification is an act of God's grace, flowing from his sovereign good will and
pleasure; the elect of God are said to be "justified by his grace";
and as if that expression was not strong enough to set forth the freeness of
it, the word "freely" is added elsewhere; "Being justified
freely by his grace", #Tit 3:7 Ro 3:24. Justification is by many divines
distinguished into active and passive. Active justification
is the act of God; it is God that justifies. Passive justification is the act
of God, terminating on the conscience of a believer, commonly called a
transient act, passing upon an external object. It is not of this I shall now
treat, but of the former; which is an act internal and eternal, taken up in the
divine mind from eternity, and is an immanent, abiding one in it; it is, as Dr.
Ames {4} expresses it,
``a sentence conceived in the
divine mind, by the decree of justifying.''
Now, as before observed, as
God's will to elect, is the election of his people, so his will to justify
them, is the justification of them; as it is an immanent act in God, it is an act of his grace towards them, is wholly without them,
entirely resides in the divine mind, and lies in his estimating, accounting,
and constituting them righteous, through the righteousness of his Son; and, as
such, did not first commence in time, but from eternity.
2a. First,
It does not begin to take place in time, or at believing, but is antecedent to
any act of faith.
2a1. Faith is not the cause,
but an effect of justification; it is not the cause of it in any sense; it is
not the moving
cause,
that is the free grace of God; "Being justified freely by his grace",
#Ro 3:24 nor the efficient cause of it; "It is God that justifies",
#Ro 8:33 nor the meritorious cause, as some express it; or the matter of it,
that is the obedience and blood of Christ, #Ro 5:9,19 or the righteousness of
Christ, consisting of his active and passive obedience; nor even the
instrumental cause; for, as Mr. Baxter {5} himself argues, "If
faith is the instrument of our justification, it is the instrument either of
God or man; not of man, for justification is God's act; he is the sole
Justifier, #Ro 3:26 man doth not justify himself: nor of God, for it is not God
that believes": nor is it a "causa sine qua non", as the case of
elect infants shows; it is not in any class of causes whatever; but it is the
effect of justification: all men have not faith, and the reason
why some do not believe is, because they are none of Christ's sheep; they were
not chosen in him, nor justified through him; but justly left in their sins,
and so to condemnation; the reason why others believe is, because they are
ordained to eternal life, have a justifying righteousness provided for them,
and are justified by it, and shall never enter into condemnation: the reason
why any are justified, is not because they have faith; but
the reason why they have faith, is because they are justified; was there no
such blessing of grace as justification of life in Christ, for the sons of men,
there would be no such thing as faith in Christ bestowed on them; precious
faith is obtained through the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus
Christ, #2Pe 1:1 nor, indeed, would there be any room for it, nor any use of
it, if a justifying righteousness was not previously
provided. Agreeable to this are the reasonings and assertions of Twisse {6},
Maccovius {7}, and others. Now if faith is not the cause, but the effect of
justification; then as every cause is before its effect, and every effect
follows its cause, justification must be before faith, and faith must follow
justification.
2a2. Faith is
the evidence and manifestation of justification,
and therefore
justification must be before it; "Faith is the
evidence of
things not seen", #Heb 11:1 but it is not the
evidence of
that which as yet is not; what it is an evidence
of,
must be, and it must exist before it. The "righteousness
of God",
of the God-man and mediator Jesus Christ, "is
revealed from
faith to faith", in the everlasting gospel,
#Ro 1:17 and
therefore must be before it is revealed, and
before faith,
to which it is revealed: faith is that grace
whereby
a soul, having seen its guilt, and its want of
righteousness,
beholds, in the light of the divine Spirit, a
complete
righteousness in Christ, renounces its own, lays
hold off
that, puts it on as a garment, rejoices in it, and
glories of
it; the Spirit of God witnessing to his spirit,
that
he is a justified person; and so he is evidently and
declaratively
"justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and
by the Spirit
of our God", #1Co 6:11.
2a3. Faith adds
nothing to the "esse" only to the "bene esse" of
justification;
it is no part of, nor any ingredient in it;
it is a
complete act in the eternal mind of God, without the
being or
consideration of faith, or any foresight of it; a
man is as
much justified before as after it, in the account
of God; and
after he does believe, his justification does
not
depend on his acts of faith; for though "we believe not,
yet he abides
faithful"; that is, God is faithful to his
covenant
engagements with his Son, as their Surety, by whose
suretyship
righteousness they are justified; but by faith
men have a
comfortable sense, perception and apprehension of
their
justification, and enjoy that peace of soul which
results from
it; it is by that only, under the testimony of
the divine
Spirit, that they know their interest in it, and
can claim it,
and so have the comfort of it. But,
2a4.
Justification is the object, and faith the act that is
conversant
with it. Now every object is prior to the act
that is
concerned with it; unless when an act gives being to
the object,
which is not the case here; for faith, as has
been seen, is
not the cause, nor matter of justification;
what
the eye is to the body, that is faith to the soul: the
eye, by
virtue of its visive faculty, beholds sensible
objects, but
does not produce them; they are before they are
seen, and did
they not previously exist, the eye could not
behold them;
the sun is before it is seen; and so in
innumerable
other instances: faith is to the soul, as the
hand is to
the body, receives things for its use; but then
these things
must be before they are received; faith
receives the
blessing of justification from the Lord, even
that
righteousness by which it is justified, from the God of
its
salvation; but then this blessing must exist before
faith can
receive it, #Ps 24:5. Christ's righteousness, by
which men are
justified, is compared to a robe or garment,
which faith
puts on; but then as a garment must be wrought
and
completely made, before it is put on, so must the
justifying
righteousness of Christ be, before it can be put
on by faith.
2a5. All the
elect of God were justified in Christ, their Head
and
Representative, when he rose from the dead, and
therefore
they believe: Christ engaged as a Surety for all
his people
from eternity, had their sins imputed to him, and
for which he
made himself responsible; in the fulness of
time he made
satisfaction for them by his sufferings and
death, and at
his resurrection was acquitted and discharged:
now
as he suffered and died, not as a private, but as a
public
person, so he rose again, and was justified as such,
even as the
representative of his people; hence when he
rose, they
rose with him; and when he was justified, they
were
justified in him; for he was "delivered for their
offences,
and was raised again for their justification",
#Ro 4:25 1Ti
3:16 and this is the sense and judgment of many
sound and
learned divines; as, besides our Sandfords {8} and
Dr. Goodwins
{9}, the learned Amesius {10}, Hoornbeck {11},
Witsius {12},
and others. But,
2b. Secondly, Justification is
not only before faith, but it is from eternity, being an immanent act in the divine
mind, and so an internal and eternal one; as may be concluded,
2b1.
From eternal election: the objects of justification are
God's elect;
"Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's
elect? it is
God that justifies"; that is, the elect. Now if
God's elect,
as such, can have nothing laid to their charge;
but are by
God acquitted, discharged, and justified; and if
they
bore this character of elect from eternity, or were
chosen in
Christ before the world began; then they must be
acquitted,
discharged and justified so early, so as nothing
could be laid
to their charge: besides, by electing grace
men were put
into Christ, and were considered as in him
before
the foundation of the world; and if they were
considered as
in him, they must be considered as righteous
or
unrighteous; not surely as unrighteous, unjustified, and
in a state of
condemnation; for "there is no condemnation to
them which
are in Christ", #Ro 8:1 and therefore must be
considered
as righteous, and so justified:
"Justified
then we were, says Dr. Goodwin {13} when first
elected,
though not in our own persons, yet in our Head, as
he had our
persons then given him, and we came to have a
being
and an interest in him.''
2b2.
Justification may well be considered as a branch of
election; it
is no other, as one expresses it, than setting
apart the
elect alone to be partakers of Christ's
righteousness;
and a setting apart Christ's righteousness
for the elect
only; it is mentioned along with election, as
of the same date
with it; "Wherein", that is, in the grace
of God,
particularly the electing grace of God, spoken of
before,
"he hath made us accepted in the beloved", #Eph 1:6.
What
is this acceptance in Christ, but justification in him?
and this is
expressed as a past act, in the same language as
other eternal
things be in the context, he "hath" blessed
us, and he
"hath" chosen us, and "having" predestinated us,
so he hath
made us accepted; and, indeed, as Christ was
always
the beloved of God, and well pleasing to him; so all
given to him,
and in him, were beloved of God, well pleasing
to him, and
accepted with him, or justified in him from
eternity.
2b3.
Justification is one of those spiritual blessings wherewith
the elect are
blessed in Christ according to election-grace,
before the
foundation of the world, #Eph 1:3,4. That
justification
is a spiritual blessing none will deny; and if
the elect
were blessed with all spiritual blessings, then
with
this; and if thus blessed according to election, or
when elected,
then before the foundation of the world: and
this grace of
justification must be no small part of that
"grace
which was given in Christ Jesus before the foundation
of the world
was", #2Ti 1:9. We may say, says Dr. Goodwin
{14},
of all spiritual blessings in Christ, what is said of Christ,
that his
goings forth are from everlasting--in Christ we
were blessed
with all spiritual blessings, #Eph 1:3 as we are
blessed with
all other, so with this also, that we were justified
then in
Christ!
2b4. Christ
became a Surety for his people from everlasting;
engaged to
pay their debts, bear their sins, and make
satisfaction
for them; and was accepted of as such by God
his Father,
who thenceforward looked at him for payment and
satisfaction,
and looked at them as discharged, and so they
were in his
eternal mind; and it is a rule that will hold
good, as
Maccovius {15} observes,
``that as soon as one becomes
a surety for another, the other is immediately freed, if the
surety be accepted; ''
which is the
case here and it is but a piece of common
prudence,
when a man has a bad debt, and has good security
for it, to
look not to the principal debtor, who will never
be
able to pay him, but to his good bondsman and surety, who
is able; and
so Dr. Goodwin {16} observes, that God, in the
everlasting
transaction with Christ,
``told him, as it were, that
he would look for his debt and satisfaction of him, and that
he did let the sinners go free; and so they are in this respect, justified from
all eternity.''
2b5. The
everlasting transaction, the same excellent writer
thinks, is
imported in #2Co 5:19. "God was in Christ
reconciling
the world unto himself, not imputing their
trespasses
unto them". And the very learned Witsius {17} is
of opinion,
``that this
act of God may be called, the general justification of the elect.''
And, indeed,
since it was the determination of God, and the
scheme and
method he proposed to take in Christ for the
reconciliation
of the elect, not to impute their sins to
them, but to
his Son, their Surety; then seeing they are not
imputed
to them, but to him; and if reckoned and accounted to
him, then not
to them; and if charged to him, then they must
be discharged
from them, and so justified; and a
non-imputation
of sin to the elect, is no other than a
justification
of them; and thus the apostle strongly
concludes
the imputation of Christ's righteousness; which is
the
"formalis ratio", or the form of justification, from the
non-imputation
of sin, and the remission of it, #Ro 4:6-8.
2b6. It was
the will of God from everlasting, not to punish sin
in
the persons of his elect, but to punish it in the person
of Christ;
and that it was his will not to punish it in his
people, but
in his Son, is manifest from his setting him
forth in his
purposes and decrees, to be the propitiation
for sin; and
from his sending him forth in the likeness of
sinful
flesh, to condemn sin in the flesh; and from his
being made
sin and a curse, that his people might be made
the righteousness
of God in him. Now, as has been often
observed, no
new will can arise in God; God wills nothing in
time, but
what he willed from eternity; and if it was the
eternal
will of God not to punish sin in his people, but in
his Son, then
they were eternally discharged, acquitted from
sin, and
secured from everlasting wrath and destruction; and
if they were
eternally discharged from sin, and freed from
punishment,
they were eternally justified: Dr. Twisse {18}
makes
the very quiddity and essence of justification and
remission of
sin, which he takes to be the same, to lie in
the will of
God not to punish; and asserts, that this will
not to
punish, as it is an immanent act, was from eternity.
2b7.
It deserves regard and attention, that the saints under the
Old
Testament, were justified by the same righteousness of
Christ, as
those under the New, and that before the
sacrifice was
offered up, the satisfaction given, and the
everlasting
righteousness brought in; for Christ's blood was
shed
for the remission of sins that were past, and his death
was for the
redemption of transgressions under the first
Testament,
#Ro 3:25 Heb 9:15. Now if God could, and actually
did, justify
some, three or four thousand years before the
righteousness
of Christ was actually wrought out, taking his
Son's
word and bond as their Surety, and in a view of his
future
righteousness; why could he not, and why may it not
be thought he
did, justify all his elect from eternity, upon
the word and
bond of their Surety, and on the basis of his
future
righteousness, which he had engaged to work out, and
which
he full well knew he would most certainly work out?
and if there
is no difficulty in conceiving of the one,
there can be
none in conceiving of the other.
There are
many objections made to this truth; some are so
trifling
as to deserve no notice; a few of the more
principal
ones I shall briefly answer to, and chiefly those
made, for the
most part, by the learned Turretine {19}.
2b7a. It is objected,
that men cannot be justified before they
exist;
they must be, before they can be justified; since
"non
entis nulla sunt accidentia", &c. of a nonentity
nothing can
be said, nor anything ascribed to it. To which
I answer,
whatever is in this objection, lies as strongly
against
eternal election, as against eternal justification;
for
it may as well be said, how can a man be elected before
he exists? he
must be before he can be chosen, or be the
object of
choice. I own, with Maccovius {20}, that this is
true of
non-entities, that have neither an "esse actu", nor
an "esse
cognitum", that have neither an actual being, nor
is
it certain, nor known that they shall have any future
being: but
though God's elect have not an actual being from
eternity, yet
it is certain, by the prescience and
predetermination
of God, that they shall have one; for
"known
unto God are all his works from the beginning", or
from
eternity, #Ac 15:18. And besides this, they have an
"esse
representativum", a representative being in Christ;
which is more
than other creatures have, whose future
existences
are certain; even such a being as makes them
capable of
being chosen in Christ, and blessed in him before
the
foundation of the world, and of having grace given them
in him before
the world was; and why not then of being
justified in
him? #Eph 1:3,4 2Ti 1:9. Moreover, as the same
writer {21}
observes,
``Justification
is a moral act, which does not require the existence of the subject together with
it; but it is enough that it shall exist some time or other.''
2b7b. It is
further objected, that if God's elect are justified
from
eternity, then they were not only justified before they
themselves
existed, but before any sin was committed by
them; and it
seems absurd that men should be justified from
sins before
they were committed, or any charge of them
brought
against them. To which may be replied, that it is no
more absurd
to say, that God's elect were justified from
their
sins before they were committed, than it is to say,
that they
were imputed to Christ, and he died for them,
and made
satisfaction for them before committed; which is
most
certainly true of all those that live, since the coming
and death of
Christ: such that believe the doctrines of the
imputation
of sin to Christ, and of his satisfaction for it,
ought never
to make this objection; and if they do, they,
ought to be
fully content with the answer. As for the charge
of sin
against God's elect, that is not first made when
brought to
the conscience of an awakened sinner; justice
brought
the charge against all the elect, in the eternal
transactions
between the Father and the Son; or how came
Christ to be
bail and Surety for them? or how otherwise
could there
be a transfer of the charge from them to Christ?
and where is
the grace of a non-imputation of sin to them,
and
of an imputation of it to Christ, if it was not
imputable to
them, and chargeable on them?
2b7c. It is urged,
that strictly and accurately speaking,
it cannot be
said that justification is eternal, because the
decree
of justification is one thing, and justification
itself
another; even as God's will of sanctifying is one
thing, and
sanctification itself another; wherefore, though
the decree of
justification is eternal, and precedes faith,
that itself
is in time, and follows it. To which it may be
answered,
that as God's decree and will to elect men to
everlasting
life and salvation, is his election of them; and
his will not
to impute sin to them, is the non-imputation of
it; and his
will to impute the righteousness of Christ unto
them, is the
imputation of it to them; so his decree, or
will
to justify them, is the justification of them, as that
is an
immanent act in God; which has its complete essence in
his will, as
election has; is entirely within himself, and
not transient
on an external subject, producing any real,
physical,
inherent change in it, as sanctification is and
does;
and therefore the case is not alike: it is one thing
for God to
will to act an act of grace concerning men,
another thing
to will to work a work of grace in them; in
the former
case, the will of God is his act of
justification;
in the latter it is not his act of
sanctification;
wherefore, though the will of God to
justify, is
justification itself, that being a complete act
in his
eternal mind, without men; yet his will to sanctify,
is not
sanctification, because that is a work wrought in
men, and not only
requires the actual existence of them but
an
exertion of powerful and efficacious grace upon them: was
justification,
as the papists say, by an infusion of
inherent
righteousness in men, there would be some strength
in the
objection; but this is not the case, and therefore
there is none
in it.
2b7d. It is
observed, that the apostle, reckoning up in order,
the benefits
which flow from the love of God to the elect,
in his famous
chain of salvation, sets calling before
justification,
as something antecedent to it, #Ro 8:30 from
whence
it is concluded, that calling is in order of time,
before
justification. To which I reply, that the order of
things in
scripture is frequently inverted. The Jews have a
saying {22},
that there is nothing prior and posterior in
the law; that
is, that the order of things is not strictly
observed;
to put that first which is first, and that last
which is
last; but the order is changed, and therefore
nothing
strictly can be concluded from thence; even the
order of
persons in the Trinity is not always kept to,
sometimes the
Son is placed before the Father, and the Holy
Spirit
before them both; which, though it may be improved
into an
argument for their equality, yet not to destroy the
order among
them; and so with respect to calling, it may be
observed,
that it is sometimes placed before election,
#2Pe 1:10 but
none but an Arminian would argue from thence,
that
it is really before it in order of time, or that men are
not elected until
they are called: on the other hand, salvation
is placed
before calling, #2Ti 1:9. "Who hath saved us, and
called
us", &c. from whence we might, with as great
propriety,
argue, that salvation, and so justification,
precedes
calling; as to argue, from the other text in
Romans, that
calling precedes justification, in order of
time. Indeed,
nothing is to be concluded with certainty, one
way or
another, from such modes and forms of expression.
Justification,
as a transient act, and declarative, follows
calling;
but as an immanent act in God, it goes before it,
of which we
are only speaking, as ought always to be
remembered.
2b7e. It is
affirmed, that those various passages of scripture,
where
we are said to be justified through faith, and by
fairly, have
no other tendency than to show that faith is
something
prerequisite to justification, which cannot be
said if
justification was from eternity. To which the answer
is, that
those scriptures which speak of justification,
through
and by faith, do not militate against, nor disprove
justification
before faith; for though justification by and
before faith
differ, yet they are not opposite and
contradictory.
They differ, the one being an immanent act in
God; all
which sort of acts are eternal, and so before
faith;
the other being a transient declarative act,
terminating
on the conscience of the believer; and so is by
and through
faith, and follows it. But then these do not
contradict
each other, the one being a declaration and
manifestation
of the other. What scriptures may be thought
to
speak of faith, as a prerequisite to justification,
cannot be
understood as speaking of it as a prerequisite to
the being of
justification; for faith has no causal
influence
upon it, it adds nothing to its being, it is no
ingredient in
it, it is not the cause nor matter of it; at
most,
they can only be understood as speaking of faith as a
prerequisite
to the knowledge and comfort of it, and to a
claim of
interest in it; and this is readily allowed, that
no man is
evidentially and declaratively justified until he
believes;
that is, he cannot have the knowledge of it, nor
any
comfort from it; nor can he claim his interest in it,
without
faith; and this being observed, obviates another
objection,
that if justification is before faith, then faith
is needless
and useless. It is not so; it is not of use to
justify men,
which it is never said to do; but it is of use
to
receive the blessing of justification, and to enjoy the
comfort of
it.
2b7f. It is
asserted, that justification cannot be from eternity,
but only in
time, when a man actually believes and repents;
otherwise
it would follow, that he who is justified, and
consequently
has passed from death to life, and is become a
child of God,
and an heir of eternal life, abides still in
death, and is
a child of wrath, because he who is not yet
converted,
and lies in sin, abides in death, #1Jo 3:14 and
is
of the devil, #1Jo 3:8 and in a state of damnation,
#Ga 5:21 but
this latter especially cannot be admitted of,
with respect
to God's elect, even while unconverted. And now,
to remove
this seeming difficulty, let it be observed, that the
elect of God
may be considered under two different "heads",
Adam
and Christ, and as related to two covenants at one and
the same
time; as they are the descendants of Adam, they are
related to
him as a covenant head, and as such, sinned in
him, and
judgment came upon them all to condemnation and
death, and so
they are, by nature, children of wrath, even
as
others. But as considered in Christ, they are loved with
an
everlasting love, chosen in him before the world was, and
always viewed
and accounted righteous in him, and so secured
from
everlasting wrath and damnation; hence it is no
contradiction
to say, that the elect of God, as in Adam, and
according
to the covenant of works, are under the sentence
of
condemnation; and that as in Christ, and according to the
covenant of
grace, and the secret transactions thereof, they
are
justified, and saved from condemnation. This is no more
a
contradiction, than that they were loved with an
everlasting
love, and yet are children of wrath, at one and
the same
time, as they most certainly are; nor than that
Jesus Christ
was the object of his Father's love and wrath
at the same
time, he sustaining two different capacities,
and standing
in two different relations, when he suffered in
the
room and stead of his people; as the Son of God he was
always the
object of his love; as the Surety of his people,
bearing their
sins, and suffering for them, he was the
object of his
wrath, #Ps 89:38.
2b7g.
It is urged what the apostle says, #1Co 6:11. "Now ye are
justified";
as if they were not justified before; but the
word now is
not in the text; and was it, and admit that to
be the sense
of it, it does not follow that they were not
justified
before: for so they might be "in foro dei", in the
court
of God, and in his account from eternity, and in
Christ their
Head and Surety, and especially when he rose
from the
dead, before now; yet not till now be justified in
"foro
conscientiae", in their own consciences, and by the
Spirit of
God; which is the justification the apostle is
there
speaking of. In a word, the sentence of justification
pronounced on
Christ, the representative of his people, when
he rose from
the dead, and that which is pronounced by the
Spirit of God
in the consciences of believers, and that
which will be
pronounced before men and angels at the
general
judgment, are only so many repetitions, or renewed
declarations,
of that grand original sentence of it,
conceived in
the mind of God from all eternity; which is the
eternal
justification pleaded for; and is no other than what
many eminent
divines of the highest character for learning
and
judgment, have asserted, as before observed; and it is
to such as
these Dr. Owen {23} refers, when he replied to
Mr. Baxter,
who charged him with holding eternal
justification;
``I
neither am, nor ever was of that judgement; though as it may be explained, I
know better, wiser, and more learned men than myself, (and he might have added,
than Mr. Baxter,)that have been, and are.''
{3} Medulla Theologiae, l. 1.
c. 28. s. 2, 3.
{5} Aphorism, 56.
{6} Vindiciae Gratiae, l. 1.
par. 2. s. 25. p. 197.
{7} prwton qeudov, Arminian,
c. 10.
{8} De Descensu Christi. l. 3.
s. 30. p. 59.
{9} Work,
vol. 4. part 1. p. 105, 106.
{10} Medulla ut supra.
{11} Summa Controvers. l. 10.
p. 705.
{12} Animadv. Irenic c. 10. s.
2. see the words of these authors at length, and of others before referred to,
in my treatise on Justification.
{14} Ibid.
{15} Theolog. Quaest. loc. 31.
qu. 6.
{16} Ut supra.
{17} Ut supra.
{19} Institut. Theolog. tom.
2. loc. 16. qu. 9. s. 3.
{20} Loc. Commun. c. 69. p.
609.
{21} Theolog. Ouaest. loc. 31.
{22} T. Bab. Pesachim: fol. 6.
2.
{23}
Doctrine of Justification vindicated from the animadversions of R. B. p. 9. see
also