WSC Q&A #33

Q: What is justification?
A: Justification is an act of God's free grace, wherein he pardons all our sins, and accepts us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone. 
Romans 5:19 For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. 

The first benefit that we receive, as the elect, in this life is justification. It's a term we throw around a lot in Christianity, but I wonder how many of us can really explain what justification means? As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, I've been leading the Proclamation youth through the book of Galatians this summer. The first week as we were discussing the major themes of Galatians, I asked the youth, "who can tell me what justification means?" The question, not surprisingly, was met with silence. Does that mean the youth didn't know what justification means? No, probably not. But what it does show is that there are words that we, as Christians, can take for granted. There are words that we know, in essence, what they mean but we fail to define succinctly and clearly when pressed to do so. This is where a tool like the catechism can be quite helpful!

The catechism gives us a beautiful statement here of what justification is. Look at what it says. First, it is an act of God's free grace. Grace is a word which many of us can easily define. Simply put, it is getting what we do not deserve. So justification is something we do not deserve, yet God gives it to us freely. Secondly, we see here that justification is the act whereby God forgives all of our sins and declares us righteous. Talk about receiving something we don't deserve! Who could imagine that the holy, just God would ever forgive wretched sinners and declare them righteous! Thirdly, though, we see how it is that God, who is perfectly holy and perfectly just, could shower this wonderful, free grace upon us poor, wretched sinners. It is because of the righteousness of Jesus Christ imputed (that is, put on or credited) to us. This is the great exchange. Jesus Christ, having willingly taken on our sin when he suffered the wrath and curse of God for sin on the cross, gives us and cloths us in his righteousness. And fourthly, we see that we become participants in this great exchange by receiving the work of Christ on our behalf by faith alone. This is why Paul would write in Galatians 2:16, "yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ", and later in Galatians 3:11, "the righteous shall live by faith" (quoting Habakkuk 2:4). 

Is it any wonder why we can struggle at times to succinctly  define the word "justification"? It's a rich and amazing truth with many layers to it. But it is a truth that we as Christians should be able to understand and explain, because at the heart of justification is the very gospel itself. Here, in the doctrine of justification, do we see our hope for salvation, that we, depraved, fallen sinners have been, by the righteousness of Jesus Christ, made clean before a perfect and holy God. We will praise God forever for this great and glorious truth!

WSC Q&A #32

Q: What benefits do they that are effectually called partake of in this life? 
A: Those that are effectually called do in this life partake of justification, adoption, and sanctification, and the several benefits that in this life do either accompany or flow from them.
Romans 8:30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. 

The catechism, over the next several weeks, will begin to unpack these terms of justification, adoption, sanctification, and will explore the other benefits which accompany or flow from these benefits. But for now, I want us to see that these benefits are not only a future hope (they do give us abounding hope for our eternal future), but they are benefits for right here and right now. We not only have a future hope, but we partake of these benefits, as the catechism says, in this life.

And what does that mean for us? It means this. That while we may still be liable to the miseries of this life, and to death itself, we are still partaking of the benefits of being part of God's covenant people. You, right now, if you call on Christ by faith, are justified! You are, right now, adopted as sons and daughters into the family of God! You are, even now in the middle of your battle against indwelling sin, in your battle against the old nature, being sanctified! This is your reality right here and right now. And while we will see this fully consummated at the second coming of Christ when all things are made new, do not miss the fact that this is our present reality. Notice Paul's language in Romans 8:30. What tense of verbs are being used in this verse? "Those whom he predestined, he also called. Those whom he called, he also justified. Those whom he justified, he also glorified." Called, predestined, justified, and glorified. All past tense forms of the verbs, all stating the fact that this is a finished work! It is not only a future hope for us, brothers and sisters, but it is a present reality! Let this grand and glorious truth strengthen you daily, minister to your soul, and lead you to praise our great God, who is indeed mighty to save!

WSC Q&A #30&31

#30
Q: How does the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ?
A: The Spirit applies to us the redemption purchased by Christ, by working faith in us, and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling. 
John 15:5: I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 

#31:
Q: What is effectual calling?
A: Effectual calling is the work of God's Spirit, whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he does persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the gospel.
Ephesians 1:17-18: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints. 

These two questions really do belong together because they're answering two sides of the same question: How are sinful men saved?
The first thing the catechism wants to put before us is that it is by faith that we are united to Jesus Christ, and therefore benefit from the redemption that he has accomplished. By faith alone, by our acceptance, reliance, full trust in what Christ has done for us, in Christ's perfect obedience and righteousness, in Christ's life, death, resurrection, and future coming, are we united to him. And the key word here is "trust". Faith is not simply knowing and believing in Christ. As James would say, "even the demons believe"! Rather, faith is that trust that says, "no merit of my own, His anger to suppress, my only hope is found in Jesus' righteousness". Faith is a trust, it is a reliance upon the righteousness of Christ because true faith recognizes that we are absolutely wicked and condemned before a holy and righteous Judge. 

Okay, fine. We are united to Christ by faith, but we have a problem! We spent all these weeks talking about the fall of man, man's depravity, man being in an estate of sin and misery, man being dead in sins and trespasses. So how can man possibly even have faith? Where does this faith come from? If we are enemies of God, if, in our natural state, we hate the things of God, if Paul is right in Romans 3 that, "no one understands; no one seeks for God", then how can we ever trust and rely upon the work of Jesus Christ? And this is the second aspect of salvation that the catechism is addressing in these two questions. Mankind comes to faith in Jesus Christ by effectual calling.

Effectual calling is part of God's eternal decrees. It's the Holy Spirit's work in regenerating those who the Father has elected to eternal salvation. It's the work of the Spirit in raising dead men to life, giving them the faith they need to call on Christ. This is how dead sinners have faith in Christ! They have faith because the Holy Spirit gives them new hearts! They have faith because faith itself is a gift from God! Notice the language here. The writers of the catechism want to be very careful to preserve man's free will. The Spirit convinces us of our sin and misery. The Spirit persuades and enables us to embrace Christ. But make no mistake about it. Those who the Father have called WILL be convinced of their sin and misery, and they WILL embrace Christ in faith. It is a guaranteed outcome. It is "effectual"!

All of this runs contrary to the thoughts of many concerning salvation. Often, many Christians teach and believe that first we have faith, and then we are regenerated and brought to new life in Jesus. But that order of salvation does not take into account how utterly wicked men are. It doesn't take our sin and depravity as seriously as it needs to be taken. It doesn't put much stock into the words of Paul in Romans 3, and therefore never addresses the question of, "how do dead, evil men come to faith in the first place?" The catechism though, and Scripture itself, teaches otherwise. Here we see, it is not our faith that leads to regeneration, but just the opposite. Brothers and sisters, it is because the Holy Spirit has raised us from the dead, because he has regenerated us, because he has given us new hearts that we are able to say, "Jesus Christ is Lord!" Even our faith is a gracious and merciful act from a gracious and merciful Father! 

WSC Q&A #29

Q: How are we made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ?
A: We are made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ, by the effectual application of it to us by his Holy Spirit.
Titus 3:4-7 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 

I apologize for not offering up a blog post last week (which means you'll get two throughout this week, the second to come probably on Thursday or Friday). I set aside time each week to work on this blog, but sometimes writer's block hits me hard, even when the subject of the weekly blog is already provided to me by the Westminster Shorter Catechism. Last week was one of those weeks where I just stared at the confession, and couldn't come up with anything to write.

This summer I have the privilege of leading our youth at Proclamation in a study through the book of Galatians. Galatians is a wonderful book that really helps us put the law and the gospel into perspective. Today I was preparing a lesson on chapter 3, which begins by Paul famously writing, "You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?" And why would Paul write this? It comes down to the very issue which the catechism addresses this week. Paul writes this because the Galatians were looking to the flesh, to their own righteousness by following ceremonial elements of the law, for their justification. They were being deceived by a false gospel of works righteousness, and Paul was dumfounded by how easily they were swayed. See, when Paul was among the Galatians, he had preached the gospel of grace-that justification comes by faith in Christ's righteousness. But now, false teachers had come in and deceived the Galatians, teaching them that in order to truly become Christians, they must first convert to Judaism and follow the ceremonial law, particularly, that they must be circumcised. They were, in essence, saying that the redemption that Christ purchased was applied by works of the flesh, by man's righteousness. And Paul, in his response to all this in chapter 3, asks a series of questions. These questions climax with Paul asking, "Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and work miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith...?" Paul's point, of course, is that Christ's redemption is applied by the Holy Spirit. It is by a work of the Holy Spirit that men come to faith in Christ.

And this is the greatest of all miracles that the Holy Spirit does. He revives the dead man, resurrects him, opens his eyes and ears, and brings him to saving faith in Jesus Christ. It is the Holy Spirit who applies the redemption purchased by Christ to us, by faith (more on how it is applied by faith in the next blog post). And it is not by our own righteousness, it's not our ability to keep the law, it's not by anything that we do, have done, or ever could do, that applies the redemption of Christ to our lives. It is purely a work of the Holy Spirit. As Paul would prove through his questioning, it is a work that is begun by the Spirit, not by works of the flesh.

Paul is, in Galatians, addressing the bigger issue of how we're justified. But what is interesting about the Judaizer heresy is not that they were denying the person and work of Christ, it is that they were trying to add to it. And in doing so, they were denying that redemption is applied to someone by the work of the Spirit. This is the trap we can fall into as well. We can easily forget that Christ's redemption applied is a supernatural work. It is a work that no human can accomplish. We can't accomplish it for ourselves, and we can't accomplish it for anyone else. We must trust in the work of the Holy Spirit.

Notice this too. The Catechism has just given us, through the last dozen or so questions, a wonderful doctrine of the Trinity as God works in salvation. The Father has chosen the Elect. The Son is the Redeemer of the Elect. And as we see now, it is the Holy Spirit who applies the redemption of the Son to the Elect. Salvation truly belongs to God! He is personally and fully invested in all the steps of bringing a depraved, dead sinner to new life. He is fully involved in restoring our communion to him. The great, holy, Triune God not only begins the work of salvation, but carries out the means to accomplish it. It truly is a redemption, as John Murray said, "accomplished and applied".

WSC Q&A #28

Q: Wherein consists Christ's exaltation?
A: Christ's exaltation consists in his rising again from the dead on the third day, in ascending up into heaven, in sitting at the right hand of God the Father, and in coming to judge the world at the last day.
Hebrews 1:3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. 

This question, along with last week's question, really do serve as a wonderful summary of the gospel. Last week we looked at Christ's humiliation, at what he suffered for the sake of God's people. This week, our hearts are lifted in glorious hope as we look at Christ's supreme victory. It's a supreme victory over sin and death. The fact that God, by the power of the Holy Spirit, raised the Son from the dead reminds us that the Father received the payment of Christ's death as satisfactory. The debt of sin has been paid for the people of God. There is nothing else owed. The resurrection is evidence of it! It is the assurance of our own salvation, our own victory over sin and death. It is the assurance that we too will be raised with Christ. 

Christ, then, was not only raised from the dead, he also ascended into heaven. He was glorified. He is seated at the right hand of the Father. He upholds and rules all things. There is no greater seat of honor than the one in which Christ sits. He truly is the King of kings and Lord of lords. He upholds and reigns over the entire universe. And it is this glorious King, this Lord who humbled himself, who allowed hands that he created to put him to death, who submitted to a corrupt government and system of justice, it is he who will one day return to judge the world. Then the kings and queens, prime ministers, dictators, presidents, congressmen, judges, and every single person who believes they are sovereign over their own lives will see Jesus for who he is. They will truly see who is Lord, and it will be terrible for them. 

But brothers and sisters, we will see him as well, and for us, what a glorious, wonderful day it will be. For us, it will be the grand day of the return of the King. It will be the day when God's kingdom is fully restored. It will be the day when we are no longer aliens in a strange world. It will be the day when Jesus Christ, our risen Lord and King, will make his reign and rule known forever. Satan and all who have followed him will be thrown into the great pit forever, and sin and death will be no more. The pains and sufferings of this life will be wiped out of our memories forever. It will be the full measure of Christ's exaltation, and we, brothers and sisters, will be glorified with him! Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!