Imputation

For those who believe that God does not accept and account a person righteous by imputing to them faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience, as the Westminster Confession contends, a passage like Romans 4:3 is hard to understand. Not because of the grammatical...

Among professing Christians in America, there is perhaps no word, and the reality to which it refers, more used and abused than grace . Space only allows us to glance at the subject, but understand this: There is an application of God’s grace that actually saves the people whom he chooses to save...

On October 31, 2017, many Christians celebrated the 500 th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. My church held a service where several pastors spoke on the theological importance of this historical event, namely the recovery of the doctrine of justification by faith alone through grace alone...

Charles Spurgeon’s famous quip goes something like this, “I love to proclaim these strong old doctrines, that are called by nickname Calvinism, but which are surely and verily the revealed truth of God as it is in Christ Jesus.” We might say something similar about justification. We may describe it...

When I found that Banner of Truth was slated to reissue nineteenth-century Scottish pastor Horatius Bonar’s exposition of the doctrine of justification The Everlasting Righteousness [1] this year, I was inordinately delighted. That’s because, outside of Scripture, The Everlasting Righteousness is...

It shouldn’t surprise Protestant readers that our Roman Catholic friends (or maybe they’re not your friends) really do believe that God justifies sinners. When they read Romans 3:19-26 they also say “Amen!” But of course, it’s what is meant by the term justify that needs careful clarification. In...

Justification has been described in various ways by Reformers we respect and admire. Luther spoke of it as the foundation of the church and Calvin said it was the main hinge on which religion turned. However, we say it the doctrine is central. What is more, it’s as beautiful as it is ministerial...