Covenant Engagements

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, (Rom. 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” (1 Cor. 6:11).

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,

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.

Eternal Justification and Romans 8.30

by Don Fortner

Without question there is a sense in which our justification by the grace of God is an eternal act. This is not just a logical inference drawn from the Scriptures. It is a doctrine plainly taught in the Word of God. In Romans 8:30 Paul is talking about the eternal purpose of God by which he rules all things in providence. His subject matter is not prophetic, but historic. In the purpose of God all his elect were justified from eternity in Christ.

We were “accepted in the Beloved” (Eph. 1:6) from everlasting. If we were accepted in him,we were consid- ered righteous in him. If God looked upon us as right- eous,he looked upon us as justified.The only righteous- ness we could have possessed was imputed righteousness.

Justification is one of those “all spiritual blessings” with which God’s elect were blessed in Christ before the world began (Eph. 1:3; II Tim. 1:9). The whole package of salvation was given to us in Christ in the covenant of grace before the foundation of the world. “We may say of all spiritual blessings in Christ what is said of Christ, that `his goings forth are from everlasting’” -(Thomas Goodwin).

Christ became our Surety in the everlasting covenant (Heb. 7:22). As soon as one man becomes surety for another the other is freed from all obligation and responsibility. Even so, when Christ struck hands with the Father as our Surety, before the worlds were made God said concerning his elect, “Deliver them from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom!”

The Lord Jesus Christ was, in the mind and purpose of God, “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8). If the Father looked upon the Son as the Lamb slain, he looked upon him as the propitiation, atonement, and satisfaction for the sins of his people; and he looked upon us as redeemed and justified by the blood of the Lamb.

Moreover, all the Old Testament believers were accepted of God and justified upon the basis of Christ’s promise to fulfill all righteousness (Rom. 3:25; Heb. 9:15). If God justified them upon the basis of Christ’s promise of satisfaction, why should anyone dispute the eternality of our justification upon grounds of that same promise? We were justified in the purpose of God from eternity!

It is not “got” but “given!”

John Brine writes in response to a Mr. Bragg:

The grace of faith, by which we apprehend our justification is of the operation of God, it is an effect of powerful and efficacious grace, and not the produce of human power, skill, or industry. It is not got, but given, as is evident from those words of the Apostle:

By grace are ye saved, through faith, that not of your selves, it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:9.).

And the grace of God is abundantly displayed, in working faith in our souls; over which, as I take it, a veil is drawn by our author in this exhortation of his, “With all your gettings, get faith.” Dead sinners, or such as are void of spiritual life, cannot act spiritually, and therefore it is not in their power to get faith; and as they have no ability to believe, they have no inclination to it, for their hearts are full of enmity agaist God. Besides, if faith is got or acquired by men, they make themselves to differ, and have whereof to boast, for then they have something which they did not receive as a gift of free grace; which is constantly denied in scripture, and will never be owned by the saints.

Again: It may as well be required of sinners to form divine and supernatural principles in their souls, or to create spiritual life in themselves, as to get faith, for the meaning is the same, which is a work proper to God. Moreover, such an exhortation is not likely to debase and humble proud sinners, or to convince them that they are impotent to good; but rather to swell their haughtiness and pride, and occasion them to Imagine they are possessed of a power which they are not: Thereby also, it is not improbable, but many saints, who are sensible of their weakness, and of the strength of unbelief, may be dejected in their souls, because they cannot, many times when they desire it, exercise that faith which is wrought in their hearts by the Spirit of God.

Justified from Eternity – Don Fortner

Justified from Eternity

by Don Fortner

Faith in Christ is the evidence and manifestation of our justification, but not the cause of it. God’s elect were justified in Christ from eternity. Justification is one of those “all spiritual blessings” with which God’s elect were blessed before the worlds were made (Ephesians 1:3). Christ stood as our Surety in the covenant of grace from eternity. In that covenant the Son of God voluntarily engaged to pay the debts of His elect and make full satisfaction for them. God the Father accepted Him as our Surety. “Thenceforward,” wrote John Gill, the Father “looked at Him for payment and satisfaction, and looked at them as discharged, and so they were in His eternal mind.” As soon as one person becomes surety for another, the debtor is freed and the surety is accepted. Thus all God’s elect were justified in eternity, as soon as Christ became our Surety (Romans 8:30).

Our justification did not commence in time, but in eternity. Paul, speaking of God’s eternal decree of predestination, declares that all God’s elect were justified in His eternal purpose of grace (Romans 8:30). John Gill wrote, “God’s will to elect is the election of His people; so also His will to justify them, is the justification of them.” From all eternity, God has looked upon His Son as our Substitute, and looking upon us in Christ, we are, and always have been, righteous in His sight. Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8). God set up His darling Son as our Surety, our Substitute, and our Redeemer before the world began; and as such, in His own mind, He looked upon Christ as having been slain for us from eternity.

            Because God looked upon Christ as one already sacrificed for us before the world was, all the blessings of grace were given to us in Him (Ephesians 1:3-7; 2 Timothy 1:9). The Holy Spirit tells us plainly that “all spiritual blessings” were bestowed upon all God’s elect in Christ before the world began. All the blessings of salvation and grace were irrevocably given to us in Christ our covenant Surety in eternity, according to the purpose of God in election. Astonishing grace! Adoption, acceptance with God, redemption, forgiveness, and an eternal inheritance in Christ, all were given to us in Christ, because He agreed to pay our debt and became totally responsible for all our obligations as our Surety in eternity. Thomas Goodwin wrote. “We may say of all spiritual blessings in Christ what is said of Christ Himself, that ‘His goings forth are from everlasting.’ In Christ we are blessed with all spiritual blessings (Ephesians 1:3). As we are blessed with all others, so with this also, that we were justified then in Christ.” Goodwin goes on to say that God the Father, in that everlasting transaction of grace with His Son, “told Him, as it were, that He would look for our debt and satisfaction from Him and He did let the sinners go free. So they are in this respect justified from all eternity.”

      In addition to the plain statements of Holy Scripture, two facts compel us to look upon justification as an eternal act of God. 1^st Had it not been for the fact that God looked upon His elect as being righteous and justified in Christ from eternity, He would have destroyed our race as soon as Adam sinned. Just as the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were preserved for Lot’s sake, so the human race is preserved for the sake of those the Father has chosen and justified in his Son from eternity. 2^nd The Old Testament saints were justified by Christ, just as we are today. Their justification was just as full, complete, and perfect as ours (Hebrews 9:15, 22; Romans 3:25). If they were justified before Christ came, it could not be upon any grounds except the fact that they, like us, were justified by the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the earth.

Spurgeon: Justificaiton From Eternity

Mr Spurgeon on the topic,

But there are one or two acts of God which, while they certainly are decreed as much as other things, yet they bear such a special relation to God’s predestination that it is rather difficult to say whether they were done in eternity or whether they were done in time. Election is one of those things which were done absolutely in eternity; all who were elect, were elect as much in eternity as they are in time. But you may say, Does the like affirmation apply to adoption or justification?

My late eminent and now glorified predecessor, Dr. Gill, diligently studying these doctrines, said that adoption was the act of God in eternity, and that as all believers were elect in eternity, so beyond a doubt they were adopted in eternity. He further than that to include the doctrine of justification and he said that inasmuch as Jesus Christ was before all worlds justified by his Father, and accepted by him as our representative, therefore all the elect must have been justified in Christ from before all worlds.

Now, I believe there is a great deal of truth in what he said, though there was a considerable outcry raised against him at the time he first uttered it. However, that being a high and mysterious point, we would have you accept the doctrine that all those who are saved at last were elect in eternity when the means as well the end were determined. With regard to adoption, I believe we were predestined hereunto in eternity, but I do think there are some points with regard to adoption which will not allow me to consider the act of adoption to have been completed in eternity.

For instance, the positive translation of my soul from a state of nature into a state of grace is a part of adoption or at least it is an effect at it, and so close an effect that it really seems to be a part of adoption itself: I believe that this was designed, and in fact that it was virtually carried out in God’s everlasting covenant; but I think that it was that actually then brought to pass in all its fullness. So with regard to justification, I must hold, that in the moment when Jesus Christ paid my debts, my debts were cancelled — in the hour when he worked out for me a perfect righteousness it was imputed to me, and therefore I may as a believer say I was complete in Christ before I was born, accepted in Jesus, even as Levi was blessed in the loins of Abraham by Melchisedec; but I know likewise that justification is described in the Scriptures as passing upon me at the time I believe. “Being justified by faith,” I am told “I have peace with God, through Jesus Christ.”

I think, therefore that adoption and justification, while they have a very great alliance with eternity, and were virtually done then, yet have both of them such a near relation to us in time, and such a bearing upon our own personal standing and character that they have also a part and parcel of themselves actually carried out and performed in time in the heart of every believer. I may be wrong in this exposition; it requires much more time to study this subject than I have been able yet to give to it, seeing that my years are not yet many; I shall no doubt by degrees come to the knowledge more fully of such high and mysterious points of gospel doctrine. But nevertheless, while I find the majority of sound divines holding that the works of justification and adoption are due in our lives I see, on the other hand, in Scripture much to lead me to believe that both of them were done in eternity; and I think the fairest view of the case is, that while they were virtually done in eternity, yet both adoption and justification are actually passed upon us, in our proper persons, consciences, and experiences, in time, — so that both the Westminster confession and the idea of Dr. Gill can be proved to be Scriptural, and we may hold them both without any prejudice the one to the other.

from Mr Spurgeon’s sermon “Adoption”, Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Vol. 7

Justification From Eternity : Purpose and Time

REPOST!

Against Duty Faith blog has a ton of great information and I found two worth while sermons posted there tonight.

Purpose & Time of Justification 1 – Part 4 [Download MP3]
Time of Justification 2 – Part 5 [Download MP3]

Download the entire 22 Part sermon series on Justification HERE

Justification From Eternity

Justificaiton from Eternity: a sermon from Bill McDaniel

More Sermon Details:

The doctrine of justification (legal declaration of righteousness) is essential to understanding Christian salvation. The eternal plan of God includes the Lamb, Jesus Christ, slain before the foundation of the world.

Justification from Eternity: Objections Answered

Tonight while reading articles online I found some objections to justification from eternity answered here by Job Hupton.

Object. 6th. “The apostle Paul does not say whom he justified them he also called, but whom he called them he also justified. Rom. viii. 30.”

This objection is founded upon a notion that the Sovereign Disposer of all things has, in his wise and wonderful counsel, arranged spiritual blessings exactly in the same order in which they are mentioned in the revelation of them. But this notion cannot be right; because the holy scriptures do not always mention the same things, in the same order ; and therefore, not always in the order in which they stand, in the divine economy, in which there can be no variation. In Rom. viii. 29, 30, predestination, the same with election, is mentioned before calling; but in 1 Peter i. 10, and again in Rev. xvii. 14, calling stands in order before election ; yet nothing is more evident than, the priority of election to calling : the former took place in eternity, the latter takes place in time ; and, indeed, the above notion, if admitted, will effectually confute your favorite opinion, and establish justification before faith ; for we are told, that God bath saved us, and called us. Here salvation is mentioned before calling, and you know that, as there is no faith without calling, so there is no salvation without justification. Though the apostle in the place referred to, does say, ,whom he called them he also justified,” nothing can be concluded from his words, hostile to eternal justification ; for the construction of them does not make it necessary, to understand him as speaking of justification, as subsequent to calling, though, perhaps, the connexion in which they stand does ; therefore, it is best to interpret them as meaning justification in the conscience, which takes place when we believe, and is perfectly consistent with eternal justification in Christ: for the former is, in fact, nothing but the latter shining into the heart, in the rays of the gospel, and the beams of the divine Spirit.

Quotes from the ol’ Salty Dog, John Brine

“This divine Act of Election was eternal: According as he hath chosen us in him, before the Foundation of the World. From the Beginning, and before the foundation of the world mean the same. And, there never was an instant, wherein the Church was not the object of a gracious choice unto salvation, or the enjoyment of eternal life. A learned Writer hath been pleased to distinguish upon eternity, a parteante, or that duration, which was before the existence of the world, or things created, and speaks of a first, and an after date therein. The first date respects, he says, God’s existence, which was eternal, and had no beginning: The after date refers unto his decrees, or acts within himself relating unto Christ and the Church, which he affirms had beginning: He sums up what he had before more largely, expressed, and pleaded for, in this assertion, viz. God himself was before the conceptions and thoughts which he entertained of his Works: Before, besure in order of nature; but how long before, the Thing neither speaks nor the Word declares.”

“The divine decrees are of the same date with the existence of God. His Being is not of one date, and his purposes of another, a later date. Besides, to suppose, that there was an everlasting, or a duration, before the existence of a creature, that really had a beginning, or commencement, is to imagine, that there was a duration, which was neither eternal, nor temporary; but something between both, which is an highly absurd imagination.”

“If there was a duration before the production of the world, which had commencement, why may there not be a duration, after the dissolution of it, which will have an end? And if the former is called everlasting, tho’ it had beginning, why may not the latter be so called, tho’ it should have an end? As some imagine it will; but both are foolish dreams and alike untrue. Farther, if this Liberty may be taken in interpreting the Scripture… “

The full sermon is here.

A God that doesn’t change His mind…

If a King gives a condemned man a pardon but the pardon doesn’t reach the condemned man for a few days, or even months, when does the pardon actually take place? Does the pardon depend on the decree from the King to pardon or the condemned man’s apprehension of it? Just a thought.

“There is no succession in the knowledge of God. The variety of successions and changes in the world make not succession, or new objects in the Divine mind; for all things are present to him from eternity in regard of his knowledge, though they are not actually present in the world, in regard of their existence. He doth not know one thing now, and another anon; he sees all things at once; “Known unto God are all things from the beginning of the world” (Acts 15:18); but in their true order of succession, as they lie in the eternal council of God, to be brought forth in time. Though there be a succession and order of things as they are wrought, there is yet no succession in God in regard of his knowledge of them. God knows the things that shall be wrought, and the order of them in their being brought upon the stage of the world; yet both the things and the order he knows by one act. Though all things be present with God, yet they are present to him in the order of their appearance in the world, and not so present with him as if they should be wrought at once. The death of Christ was to precede his resurrection in order of time; there is a succession in this; both at once are known by God; yet the act of his knowledge is not exercised about Christ as dying and rising at the same time; so that there is succession in things when there is no succession in God’s knowledge of them. Since God knows time, he knows all things as they are in time; he doth not know all things to be at once, though he knows at once what is, has been, and will be. All things are past, present, and to come, in regard of their existence; but there is not past, present, and to come, in regard of God’s knowledge of them, because he sees and knows not by any other, but by himself; he is his own light by which he sees, his own glass wherein he sees; beholding himself, he beholds all things.”

Stephen Charnock

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