Systematic Theology, by Louis Berkhof - New Leaven

ighteousness, that faith, namely, as including the entire religious life of the believer, —
his evangelical obedience. On this view faith is no more the mere instrument of the
positive element of justification, but the graciously admitted ground on which it rests.
Justification, then, is not a judicial but a sovereign act of God.
5. THE BARTHIAN VIEW. While Barth does speak of justification as a momentary act,
yet he does not regard it as an act accomplished once for all, and which is then followed
by sanctification. According to him justification and sanctification go hand in hand all
along the line. Pauck says that according to Barth justification is not a growth or an
ethical development; it occurs ever anew, whenever man has reached the point of
complete despair as to the beliefs and values upon which he has built his life.
Thurneysen also rejects the view that justification takes place once for all, calls it the
view of Pietism, and claims that it is fatal to the doctrine of the Reformation.
QUESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY: What does the verb dikaio-o mean in classical Greek?
Is justification a creative or a declarative act? Is it possible to think of justification with
respect to past sins in any other sense than that of a judicial acquittal? Should
justification be thought of exclusively as something objective and external to man?
What is meant in theology by the formal cause of justification? How do the Romanists
and Protestants differ on this point? Is the justification of the Roman Catholics by the
fides formata really a justification by faith, or a justification by love under the guise of
faith? What is the Antinomian doctrine of justification from eternity? Is the distinction
made by Buchanan and Cunningham between active and passive justification as being
actual and declarative justification correct or not? Can we say that in declarative
justification (passive justification) God simply declares the sinner to be what he is?
What becomes of the doctrine of justification in Schleiermacher, Ritchl, and modern
liberal theology?
LITERATURE: Bavinck, Geref. Dogm., IV, pp. 182-245; Kuyper, Dict. Dogm., De Salute,
pp. 45-69; ibid., Het Werk van den Heiligen Geest II, pp. 204-232; Comrie, Brief over de
Rechtvaardigmaking; Hodge, Syst. Theol. III, pp. 114-212; Shedd, Dogm. Theol. II, pp.
538-552; Dick, Theology, Lectures LXXI-LXXIII; Dabney, Syst and Polem. Theol., pp.
618-650; Mastricht, Godgeleerdheit VI. 6 and 7; Buchanan, The Doctrine of Justification;
Owen, On Justification; Litton, Introd. to Dogm. Theol., pp. 259-313; Girardeau, Calvinism
and Evangelical Arminianism, pp. 413-566; Pieper, Christl. Dogm. II, pp. 606-672; Vos, Geref.
Dogm. IV., pp. 154-210; Schmid, Doct. Theol. of the Ev. Luth. Church, pp. 430-448;
Valentine, Chr. Theol. II, pp. 214-241; Strong, Syst. Theol., pp. 849-868; Dorner, Syst. of Chr.
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