Henry Krabbendam - James - World Evangelical Alliance

this Topical Focus is to lay out the constituent elements of the Doctrine of Justification.
However one construes the relationship that the three aspects of the Gospel sustain
to each other, none of these constituent elements may be violated in the process.
1. Essence: Justification is an act of God in which He declares ungodly, guilty
and polluted sinners forgiven of their sins and counted as righteous, accepts them and
treats them as such (Rom. 4:5; 5:1).
2. Basis: Justification is based on the blood and righteousness of the Savior.
Through the shed blood (payment of the penalty of sin), sins are forgiven. Through his
righteous life (obedience to the law) righteousness is credited to the sinners (Rom.
3:24-26; 2 Cor. 5:21). Only on this basis can God be just when he justifies the ungodly
(Rom. 3:26).
3. Source: Justification flows forth from the sovereign and free grace of God. It
is a gift and can never be earned. At its core is the obedience of Christ, negative (payment
for sin) and positive (provision of righteousness), and not the obedience of man.
There is no one righteous, no not one (Rom. 3:10, 23-30)!
4. Nature: Justification is instantaneous and irreversible. The pronouncement that
someone is both “not-guilty” and “righteous before God” is a once-and-for-all occurrence,
and once made, neither can nor will ever be withdrawn or changed anymore
(Lk. 18:13-14; Rom. 5:1, 8:30-34), rooted as it is in the immutable God!
5. Instrument: Justification is received by faith (Rom. 3:20, 28; 4:6; Gal. 2:16;
3:11). The word instrument is not altogether adequate. The best way to show the centrality
of faith is with the following biblical phrase, “to believe is tantamount to being
justified.” This is the meaning of Genesis 15:6, as I argue extensively below. The reverse
side of faith is righteousness. The one cannot be without the other.
6. Evidence: The faith that justifies is alive and active, and will produce fruit,
good works. It cannot be any different. From this perspective, the reverse side of faith
is holiness. Thus to believe is not only to have imputed righteousness, but also to have
imparted righteousness. In other words, the reverse side of faith is not only the righteousness
of Christ in justification, but also the holiness of Christ in sanctification.
From the larger vantage point of a full-orbed biblical systematic theology, as I argue
below, the first prong is the emphasis of Paul, the second one that of James.
In these six constituent elements there are indicators that justification is inseparable
from both regeneration and sanctification. After all, faith is evidence of regeneration,
just as good deeds, that are inseparable from faith, are evidence of sanctification.
At the same time justification may not be confused with either regeneration or sanctification.
This can only be prevented when it is recognized that all three result from
union with Christ, since all three flow forth from him. The new heart in regeneration
originates in him. So does the new righteousness in justification and the new holiness
in sanctification. None of the three originate in man. As I have mentioned already,
there is no such thing as a “good will” in the area of regeneration, “good works” in the
area of justification, or “good efforts” in the area of sanctification, to which we owe
our salvation in whole or in part. It is all of grace! According to Scripture, the concate-
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