Henry Krabbendam - James - World Evangelical Alliance

Second, without (necessarily) dismissing the imputed righteousness of Christ as
the (exclusive) ground of the believer’s justification, their simultaneous and categorical
insistence upon the inclusion of his good works in the process of justification
leaves us only with a twofold possibility. Either the so-called imputed righteousness of
Christ is a misnomer and basically an infused righteousness, in which the obedience of
Christ and the believer merge. Or justification, rather than being instantaneous, is a
continuing state in which the righteousness of Christ constitutes the indisputable
starting point, but the obedience of the believer is required to ensure continuation in
this state.
Third, without doing away with the doctrine of sanctification as an entity in its
own right and with its own jurisdiction, the obedience of the believer is so intertwined
with justification that the majestic contours and intricate content of this doctrine seem
altogether lost in a fog (For the documentation of most of this, see also Waters, 207-
211). Indeed, the fog of debilitating confusion envelops the total ordo salutis. Baptism
swallows up regeneration, and ends up twisting both. Similarly, justification swallows
up sanctification, and turns both into a loser.
Where in all this is the glory of the full-orbed New Covenantal Gospel with its
profundity in simplicity and its simplicity in profundity? Where is the message of the
bankruptcy of mankind in terms of its rebel heart, guilty record, and offensive life,
signed, sealed and delivered in mankind’s willful participation in original sin, and exposed
in God’s “merciless mercy” by the old covenant, its grievous history, and its
lamentable impotence? Where is the message of the New Covenant with its glorious
threefold message that contains the perfect remedy for the threefold bankruptcy of
mankind, namely the grace of Christ’s heart in regeneration, Christ’s righteousness in
justification and Christ’s holiness in sanctification, promised by the Father and implemented
by the Holy Spirit? Both the biblical diagnosis and the biblical cure are truncated,
twisted or both.
532
This does and must have a number of dire consequences.
(1) The proponents of a so-called Reformed “Christian nomism,” whether it is
designated covenantal faithfulness or otherwise, rob themselves of the opportunity
forthrightly and clearly to respond to the threat that the New Perspective on Paul poses
to the health of the Church. Even if do not deny their heritage in as many words, they
have no functional defense or offense vis-à-vis its adherents with their disdain for
“original sin,” as taught by Calvin, “biblical grace,” as championed by Augustine, and
“imputed righteousness,” as emphasized by Luther. With either the Trojan horse of the
New Perspective or a close replica thereof “safely” (sic!) within their walls, their defensive
as well as offensive arsenal cannot but be spiked!
(2) They put themselves, their offspring and their churches on a slippery slope.
When baptism for all practical purposes spells union with Christ, and by implication
salvation with all its components of regeneration, justification and sanctification, there
is basically no longer a need for the preaching of the Gospel in the Church. After all,
virtually 100% of Church attendees (in a paedo-baptist setting) are baptized, and
thereby virtually saved. All that covenant children (as well as adults) need is “(covenant)
nurture,” a term chosen in conscious divergence from, if not opposition to, the