The Battle for "Justification by Faith!" - Part 1

As you look over the landscape of Christian history there is one doctrine that has created more debate, more controversy, and more revolution than any other – it is the doctrine of “Justification by Faith.” This one little doctrine was the starting point of the Reformation. It was the central doctrine of Luther, Calvin, Edwards, and Spurgeon. It is on this little doctrine that we see the major fault-lines of debate in almost all Christian circles.

Martin Luther will describe its importance this way: “This doctrine is the head and cornerstone. It alone begets, nourishes, builds, preserves, and defends the church of God; and without it the church of God cannot exist for one hour.”

John Calvin has this to say on the topic: “Wherever the knowledge of it (justification by faith) is taken away, the glory of Christ is extinguished, religion abolished, the Church destroyed, and the hope of salvation utterly overthrown.”

So, what does this simple doctrine mean? Justification means that we are justified before God through the vehicle of faith.

So, I would like to take a minute and break down the aspects of this doctrine:

First we need to understand the word Justification. Justification is a verdict delivered by God in a moment in which He declares that we are “NOT GUILTY” before Him! Justification is the theological term that declares that we are saved and will spend an eternity in heaven.

As orthodox Christians we believe that we are justified (declared not guilty) through faith in Jesus Christ and what He did for us on the cross. But, from where does that faith come? Is faith my gift to God in salvation? Or is faith God’s gift to me in salvation? How strong does my faith have to be before it is strong enough to be saving (or justifying) faith? Does faith have to be focused on Christ alone or can I be saved by faith in some other savior as long as I am absolutely sincere in my faith in that savior? These are all questions that must be tackled if we are to embrace fully this simple yet powerful doctrine.

I am fearful of this becoming an academic exercise, but I do not want to avoid it merely because it is difficult and requires deep thinking. Over the next several days we are going to take a longer view of the doctrine of Justification by Faith and we are going to attempt to embrace it as the central doctrine of the journey of faith with Jesus Christ. We are going to head down some winding roads, but I believe that both the journey and the destination are glorious! See you back here tomorrow!