|
|
Dr. John Owen
(1616-1683)
Contents [Below]
General
Considerations, previous unto the Explanation of the Doctrine of
Justification
First, The general
nature of justification--State of the person to be
justified
antecedently thereunto, Rom. 4:5; 3:19; 1:32; Gal. 3:10;
John
3:18,36; Gal. 3:22--The sole inquiry on that state--Whether it
be
any thing that is our own inherently, or what is only imputed
unto
us, that we are to trust unto for our acceptance with God--The
sum
of this inquiry--The proper ends of teaching and learning the
doctrine
of justification--Things to be avoided therein
Secondly, A due consideration
of God, the Judge of all, necessary unto
the
right stating and apprehension of the doctrine of
justification,
Rom.8:33; Isa. 43:25; 45:25; Ps. 143:2; Rom. 3:20--What
thoughts
will be ingenerated hereby in the minds of men, Isa. 33:14;
Micah
6:6,7; Isa. 6:5--The plea of Job against his friends, and
before
God, not the same, Job 40:3-5, 43:406--Directions for
visiting
the sick given of old--Testimonies of Jerome and Ambrose--
Sense
of men in their prayers, Dan. 9:7,18; Ps. 143:2, 130:3,4--
Paraphrase
of Austin on that place--Prayer of Pelagius--Public
liturgies
Thirdly, A due sense
of our apostasy from God, the depravation of our
nature
thereby, with the power and guilt of sin, the holiness of
the
law, necessary unto a right understanding of the doctrine of
justification--Method
of the apostle to this purpose, Rom.1,2,3--
Grounds
of the ancient and present Pelagianism, in the denial of
these
things--Instances thereof--Boasting of perfection from the
same
ground--Knowledge of sin and grace mutually promote each other
Fourthly, Opposition
between works and grace, as unto justification--
Method
of the apostle, in the Epistle to the Romans, to manifest
this
opposition--A scheme of others contrary thereunto--Testimonies
witnessing
this opposition--Judgment to be made on them--
Distinctions
whereby they are evaded--The uselessness of them--
Resolution
of the case in hand by Bellarmine, Dan. 9:18; Luke 17:10
Fifthly, A commutation
as unto sin and righteousness, by imputation,
between
Christ and believers, represented in the Scripture--The
ordinance
of the scapegoat, Lev. 16:21,22--The nature of expiatory
sacrifices,
Lev. 4:29, etc.--Expiation of an uncertain murder,
Deut.
21:1-9--The commutation intended proved and vindicated,
Isa.53:
5,6; 2 Cor. 5:21; Rom .8:3,4; Gal. 3:13,14; 1 Pet. 2:24;
Deut.21:23--Testimonies
of Justin Martyr, Gregory Nyseen,
Augustine,
Chrysostom, Bernard, Taulerus, Pighius, to that purpose-
-The
proper actings of faith with respect thereunto, Rom.5:11;
Matt.
11:28; Ps. 38:4; Gen. 4:13; Isa. 53:11; Gal. 3:1; Isa. 45:22; John
3:14,15--A
bold calumny answered
Sixthly, Introduction
of grace by Jesus Christ into the whole of our
relation
unto God, and its respect unto all the parts of our
obedience--No
mystery of grace in the covenant of works--All
religion
originally commensurate unto reason--No notions of natural
light
concerning the introduction of the mediation of Christ and
mystery
of grace, into our relation to God, Eph.1:17-19--Reason, as
corrupted,
can have no notions of religion but what are derived
from
its primitive state--Hence the mysteries of the gospel
esteemed
folly--Reason, as corrupted, repugnant unto the mystery of
grace--Accommodation
of spiritual mysteries unto corrupt reason,
wherefore
acceptable unto many--Reasons of it--Two parts of
corrupted
nature's repugnancy unto the mystery of the gospel:--1.
That
which would reduce it unto the private reason of men--Thence
the
Trinity denied, and the incarnation of the Son of God; without
which
the doctrine of justification cannot stand--Rule of the
Socinians
in the interpretation of the Scripture--2. Want of a due
comprehension
of the harmony that is between all the parts of the
mystery
of grace--This harmony proved--Compared with the harmony in
the
works of nature--To be studied--But it is learned only of them
who
are taught of God; and in experience--Evil effects of the want
of
a due comprehension hereof--Instances of them--All applied unto
the
doctrine of justification
Seventhly, General
prejudices against the imputation of the
righteousness
of Christ: --1. That it is not in terms found in the
Scripture,
answered--2. That nothing is said of it in the writings
of
the evangelists, answered, John 20:30,31--Nature of Christ's
personal
ministry--Revelations by the Holy Spirit immediately from
Christ--Design
of the writings of the evangelists--3. Differences
among
Protestants themselves about this doctrine, answered--Sense
of
the ancients herein--What is of real difference among
Protestants,
considered
Eighthly, Influence
of the doctrine of justification into the first
Reformation--Advantages
unto the world by that Reformation--State
of
the consciences of men under the Papacy, with respect unto
justification
before God--Alterations made therein by the light of
this
doctrine, though not received--Alterations in the Pagan
unbelieving
world by the introduction of Christianity--Design and
success
of the first reformers herein--Attempts for reconciliation
with
the Papists in this doctrine, and their success--Remainders of
the
ignorance of the truth in the Roman church--Unavoidable
consequences
of the corruption of this doctrine
I.
Justifying faith; the causes and object of it declared
Justification by faith
generally acknowledged--The meaning of it
perverted--The
nature and use of faith in justification proposed to
consideration--Distinctions
about it waived--A twofold faith of the
gospel
expressed in the Scripture--Faith that is not justifying,
Acts
8:13; John 2:23,24; Luke 8:13; Matt. 7:22,23--Historical faith;
whence
it is so called, and the nature of it--Degrees of assent in
it--Justification
not ascribed unto any degree of it--A calumny
obviated--The
causes of true saving faith--Conviction of sin
previous
unto it--The nature of legal conviction, and its effects--
Arguments
to prove it antecedent unto faith--Without the
consideration
of it, the true nature of faith not to be understood-
-The
order and relation of the law and gospel, Rom.1:17--Instance
of
Adam--Effects of conviction--Internal: Displicency and sorrow;
fear
of punishment; desire of deliverance--External: Abstinence
from
sin; performance of duties; reformation of life--Not
conditions
of justification; not formal disposition unto it; not
moral
preparations for it--The order of God in justification--The
proper
object of justifying faith--Not all divine verity equally;
proved
by sundry arguments--The pardon of our own sins, whether the
first
object of faith--The Lord Christ in the work of mediation, as
the
ordinance of God for the recovery of lost sinners, the proper
object
of justifying faith--The position explained and proved, Acts
10:43;
16:31; 4:12; Luke 24:25-27; John 1:12; 3:16,36; 6:29,47;
7:38;
Acts 26:18; Col.2:6; Rom.3:24,25; 1 Cor.1:30; 2 Cor.5:21;
Eph.1:7,8;
2 Cor.5:19
II.
The nature of justifying faith
The nature of justifying
faith in particular, or of faith in the
exercise
of it, whereby we are justified--The heart's approbation
of
the way of the justification and salvation of sinners by Christ,
with
its acquiescency therein--The description given, explained and
confirmed:--1.
From the nature of the gospel--Exemplified in its
contrary,
or the nature of unbelief, Prov. 1:30; Heb. 2:3; 1 Pet. 2:7;
1
Cor. 1:23,24; 2 Cor. 4:3--What it is, and wherein it does consist.-
-2.
The design of God in and by the gospel--His own glory his
utmost
end in all things--The glory of his righteousness, grace,
love,
wisdom, etc.--The end of God in the way of the salvation of
sinners
by Christ, Rom. 3:25; John 3:16; 1 John 3:16; Eph. 1:5,6; 1
Cor.
1:24; Eph. 3:10; Rom. 1:16; 4:16; Eph. 3:9; 2 Cor. 4:6--3. The
nature
of faith thence declared--Faith alone ascribes and gives
this
glory to God.--4. Order of the acts of faith, or the method in
believing--Convictions
previous thereunto--Sincere assent unto all
divine
revelations, Acts 26:27--The proposal of the gospel unto
that
end, Rom.10:11-17; 2 Cor.3:18,etc.--State of persons called to
believe--Justifying
faith does not consist in any one single habit
or
act of the mind or will--The nature of that about which is the
first
act of faith--Approbation of the way of salvation by Christ,
comprehensive
of the special nature of justifying faith--What is
included
there in:--1. A renunciation of all other ways,
Hos.14:2,3;
Jer.3:23; Ps.71:16; Rom.10:3.--2. Consent of the will
unto
this way, John 14:6--3. Acquiescency of the heart in God, 1
Pet.1:21.--4.
Trust in God.--5. Faith described by trust--The
reason
of it--Nature and object of this trust inquired into--A
double
consideration of special mercy--Whether obedience be
included
in the nature of faith, or be of the essence of it--A
sincere
purpose of universal obedience inseparable from faith--How
faith
alone justifies--Repentance, how required in and unto
justification--How
a condition of the new covenant--Perseverance in
obedience
is so also--Definitions of faith
III.
The use of faith in justification; its especial object farther
cleared
Use of faith in justification;
various conceptions about it--By whom
asserted
as the instrument of it; by whom denied--In what sense it
is
affirmed so to be--The expressions of the Scripture concerning
the
use of faith in justification; what they are, and how they are
best
explained by an instrumental cause--Faith, how the instrument
of
God in justification--How the instrument of them that do
believe--The
use of faith expressed in the Scripture by
apprehending,
receiving; declared by an instrument--Faith, in what
sense
the condition of our justification--Signification of that
term,
whence to be learned
IV.
Of justification; the notion and signification of the Word in
Scripture
The proper sense of
these words, justification, and to justify,
considered--Necessity
thereof--Latin derivation of justification--
Some
of the ancients deceived by it --From "jus", and "justum";
"justus
filius", who--The Hebrew "nitsdik"--Use and signification
of
it--Places where it is used examined, 2 Sam. 15:4; Deut. 25:1;
Prov.
17:15; Isa. 5:23; 50:8,9; 1 Kings 8:31,32; 2 Chron. 6:22,23;
Ps.
82:3; Exod. 23:7; Job 27:5; Isa. 53:11; Gen. 44:16; Dan. 12:3--The
constant
sense of the word evinced--"Diakaio-oo", use of it in
other
authors, to punish--What it is in the New Testament,
Matt.11:19;
12:37; Luke 7:29; 10:29; 16:15; 18:14; Acts 13:38,39;
Rom.2:13;
3:4--Constantly used in a forensic sense--Places seeming
dubious,
vindicated, Rom. 8:30; 1 Cor. 6:11; Tit. 3:5-7; Rev. 22:11--
How
often these words, "diakaio-oo" and "dikaioumai", are used in
the
New Testament--Constant sense of this--The same evinced from
what
is opposed unto it, Isa. 1:8,9; Prov. 17:15; Rom. 5:116,18;
8:33,34--And
the declaration of it in terms equivalent, Rom. 4:6,11;
5:9,10;
2 Cor. 5:20,21; Matt. 1:21; Acts 13:39; Gal. 2:16, etc.--
Justification
in the Scripture, proposed under a juridical scheme,
and
of a forensic title--The parts and progress of it--Inferences
from
the whole
Distinction of a first
and second justification--The whole doctrine of
the
Roman church concerning justification grounded on this
distinction--The
first justification, the nature and causes of it,
according
unto the Romanists--The second justification, what it is
in
their sense--Solution of the seeming difference between Paul and
James,
falsely pretended by this distinction--The same distinction
received
by the Socinians and others--The latter termed by some the
continuation
of our justification--The distinction disproved--
Justification
considered, either as unto its essence or its
manifestation--The
manifestation of it twofold, initial and final--
Initial
is either unto ourselves or others--No second justification
hence
ensues--Justification before God, legal and evangelical--
Their
distinct natures--The distinction mentioned derogatory to the
merit
of Christ--More in it ascribed unto ourselves than unto the
blood
of Christ, in our justification--The vanity of disputations
to
this purpose--All true justification overthrown by this
distinction--No
countenance given unto this justification in the
Scripture--The
second justification not intended by the apostle
James--Evil
of arbitrary distinctions--Our first justification so
described
in the Scripture as to leave no room for a second--Of the
continuation
of our justification; whether it depend on faith
alone,
or our personal righteousness, inquired--Justification at
once
completed, in all the causes and effects of it, proved at
large--Believers,
upon their justification, obliged unto perfect
obedience--The
commanding power of the law constitutes the nature
of
sin in them who are not obnoxious unto its curse--Future sins,
in
what sense remitted at our first justification--The continuation
of
actual pardon, and thereby of a justified estate; on what it
does
depend--Continuation of justifications the act of God; whereon
it
depends in that sense--On our part, it depends on faith alone--
Nothing
required hereunto but the application of righteousness
imputed--The
continuation of our justification is before God--That
whereon
the continuation of our justification depends, pleadable
before
God--This not our personal obedience, proved:--1. By the
experience
of all believers--2. Testimonies of Scripture--3.
Examples--The
distinction mentioned rejected
V.
The distinction of a first and second justification examined--The
continuation
of justification:--whereon it does depend
Distinction
of a first and second justification--The whole doctrine of
the
Roman church concerning justification grounded on this distinction--
The
first justification, the nature and causes of it, according unto the
Romanists--The
second justification, what it is in their sense--Solution
of
the seeming difference between Paul and James, falsely pretended by
this
distinction--The same distinction received by the Socinians and
others--The
latter termed by some the continuation of our justification--
The
distinction disproved--Justification considered, either as unto its
essence
or its manifestation--The manifestation of it twofold, initial
and
final--Initial is either unto ourselves or others--No second
justification
hence ensues--Justification before God, legal and
evangelical--Their
distinct natures--The distinction mentioned derogatory
to
the merit of Christ--More in it ascribed unto ourselves than unto the
blood
of Christ, in our justification--The vanity of disputations to this
purpose--All
true justification overthrown by this distinction--No
countenance
given unto this justification in the Scripture--The second
justification
not intended by the apostle James--Evil of arbitrary
distinctions--Our
first justification so described in the Scripture as to
leave
no room for a second--Of the continuation of our justification;
whether
it depend on faith alone, or our personal righteousness,
inquired--Justification
at once completed, in all the causes and effects
of
it, proved at large--Believers, upon their justification, obliged unto
perfect
obedience--The commanding power of the law constitutes the nature
of
sin in them who are not obnoxious unto its curse--Future sins, in what
sense
remitted at our first justification--The continuation of actual
pardon,
and thereby of a justified estate; on what it does depend--
Continuation
of justifications the act of God; whereon it depends in that
sense--On
our part, it depends on faith alone--Nothing required hereunto
but
the application of righteousness imputed--The continuation of our
justification
is before God--That whereon the continuation of our
justification
depends, pleadable before God--This not our personal
obedience,
proved:--1. By the experience of all believers--2. Testimonies
of
Scripture--3. Examples--The distinction mentioned rejected
VI.
Evangelical personal righteousness, the nature and use of it--Final
judgment,
and its respect unto justification
Evangelical personal
righteousness; the nature and use of it--Whether
there
be an angelical justification on our evangelical
righteousness,
inquired into--How this is by some affirmed and
applauded--Evangelical
personal righteousness asserted as the
condition
of our righteousness, or the pardon of sin--Opinion of
the
Socinians--Personal righteousness required in the gospel--
Believers
hence denominated righteous--Not with respect unto
righteousness
habitual, but actual only--Inherent righteousness the
same
with sanctification, or holiness--In what sense we may be said
to
be justified by inherent righteousness--No evangelical
justification
on our personal righteousness--The imputation of the
righteousness
of Christ does not depend thereon--None have this
righteousness,
but they are antecedently justified--A charge before
God,
in all justification before God--The instrument of this
charge,
the law or the gospel--From neither of them can we be
justified
by this personal righteousness--The justification
pretended
needless and useless--It has not the nature of any
justification
mentioned in the Scripture, but is contrary to all
that
is so called--Other arguments to the same purpose--Sentential
justification
at the last day--Nature of the last judgement--Who
shall
be then justified --A declaration of righteousness, and an
actual
admission into glory, the whole of justification at the last
day--The
argument that we are justified in this life in the same
manner,
and on the same grounds, as we shall be judged at the last
day,
that judgement being according unto works, answered; and the
impertinency
of it declared
VII.
Imputation, and the nature of it; with the imputation of the
righteousness
of Christ in particular
Imputation, and the
nature of it--The first express record of
justification
determines it to be by imputation, Gen.15:6--Reasons
of
it--The doctrine of imputation cleared by Paul; the occasion of
it--Maligned
and opposed by many--Weight of the doctrine concerning
imputation
of righteousness, on all hands acknowledged--Judgment of
the
Reformed churches herein, particularly of the church of
England--By
whom opposed, and on what grounds--Signification of the
word--Difference
between "reputare" and "imputare"--Imputation of
two
kinds:--1. Of what was ours antecedently unto that imputation,
whether
good or evil--Instances in both kinds--Nature of this
imputation--The
thing imputed by it, imputed for what it is, and
nothing
else. --2. Of what is not ours antecedently unto that
imputation,
but is made so by it--General nature of this
imputation--Not
judging of others to have done what they have not
done--Several
distinct grounds and reasons of this imputation:--1.
"Ex
justitia"; --(1.) "Propter relationem foederalem;"--(2.)
"Propter
relationem naturalem;"--2. "Ex voluntaria sponsione"--
Instances,
Philem. 18; Gen. 43:9--Voluntary sponsion, the ground of
the
imputation of sin to Christ. --3. "Ex injuria", 1 Kings 1:21. -
-4.
"Ex mera gratia," Rom. 4--Difference between the imputation of
any
works of ours, and of the righteousness of God--Imputation of
inherent
righteousness is "ex justitia"--Inconsistency of it with
that
which is "ex mera gratia," Rom.4--Agreement of both kinds of
imputation--The
true nature of the imputation of righteousness unto
justification
explained--Imputation of the righteousness of Christ-
-The
thing itself imputed, not the effect of it; proved against the
Socinians
VIII.
Imputation of the sins of the church unto Christ--Grounds of it--
The nature of his suretiship--Causes
of the new covenant--Christ and
the church one mystical
person--Consequents thereof
Imputation of sin unto
Christ--Testimonies of the ancients unto that
purpose--Christ
and the church one mystical person--Mistakes about
that
state and relation--Grounds and reasons of the union that is
the
foundation of this imputation--Christ the surety of the new
covenant;
in what sense, unto what ends--Heb. 7:22, opened--Mistakes
about
the causes and ends of the death of Christ--The new covenant,
in
what sense alone procured and purchased thereby --Inquiry
whether
the guilt of our sins was imputed unto Christ--The meaning
of
the words, "guilt," and "guilty"--The distinction of "reatus
culpae",
and "reatus poenae", examined--Act of God in the
imputation
of the guilt of our sins unto Christ--Objections against
it
answered--The truth confirmed
IX.
The formal cause of justification, or the righteousness on the
account
whereof believers are justified before God--Objections
answered
Principal controversies
about justification:--1. Concerning the nature
of
justification, stated--2. Of the formal cause of it--3. Of the
way
whereby we are made partakers of the benefits of the mediation
of
Christ--What intended by the formal cause of justification,
declared--The
righteousness on the account whereof believers are
justified
before God alone, inquired after under these terms--This
the
righteousness of Christ, imputed unto them--Occasions of
exceptions
and objections against this doctrine--General objections
examined--Imputation
of the righteousness of Christ consistent with
the
free pardon of sin, and with the necessity of evangelical
repentance--Method
of God's grace in our justification --Necessity
of
faith unto justification, on supposition of the imputation of
the
righteousness of Christ--Grounds of that necessity--Other
objections,
arising mostly from mistakes of the truth, asserted,
discussed,
and answered
X.
Arguments for justification by the imputation of the righteousness of
Christ.
The first argument from the nature and use of our own personal
righteousness
Arguments for justification
by the imputation of the righteousness of
Christ--Our
own personal righteousness not that on the account
whereof
we are justified in the sight of God--Disclaimed in the
Scriptures,
as to any such end--The truth and reality of it
granted--Manifold
imperfection accompanying it, rendering it unmeet
to
be a righteousness unto the justification of life
XIV.
The exclusion of all sorts of works from an interest in
justification--What
is intended by "the law," and the "works" of it,
in the epistles
of Paul
All works whatever
are expressly excluded from any interest in our
justification
before God--What intended by the works of the law--
Not
those of the ceremonial law only--Not perfect works only, as
required
by the law of our creation--Not the outward works of the
law,
performed without a principle of faith--Not works of the
Jewish
law--Not works with a conceit of merit--Not works only
wrought
before believing, in the strength of our own wills--Works
excluded
absolutely from our justification, without respect unto a
distinction
of a first and second justification--The true sense of
the
law in the apostolical assertion that none are justified by the
works
thereof--What the Jews understood by the law--Distribution of
the
law under the Old Testament--The whole law a perfect rule of
all
inherent moral or spiritual obedience --What are the works of
the
law, declared from the Scripture, and the argument thereby
confirmed
--The nature of justifying faith farther declared
XV.
Faith alone
Of faith alone
XVI.
The truth pleaded farther confirmed by testimonies of Scripture.--
Jer.
23:6
Testimonies of Scripture
confirming the doctrine of justification by
the
imputation of the righteousness of Christ--Jer. 23:6, explained
and
vindicated
XVII.
Testimonies out of the evangelists considered
Testimonies out of
the evangelists considered--Design of our Saviour's
sermon
on the mount--The purity and penalty of the law vindicated
by
him--Arguments from thence--Luke 18:9-14, the parable of the
Pharisee
and publican explained and applied to the present
argument--Testimonies
out of the gospel by John, chap. 1:12; 3:14-
18,
etc.
XVIII.
The nature of justification as declared in the epistles of St.
Paul,
in that unto the Romans especially.--Chap. 3 [4,5,10; 1
Cor.1:30;
2 Cor.5:21; Gal.2:16; Eph. 2:8-10; Phil. 3:8,9.]
Testimonies out of
the Epistles of Paul the apostle--His design in the
fifth
chapter to the Romans--That design explained at large, and
applied
to the present argument--Chap.3:24-26 explained, and the
true
sense of the words vindicated--The causes of justification
enumerated--Apostolical
inference from the consideration of them--
Chap.4,
design of the disputation of the apostle therein Analysis
of
his discourse--Verses 4, 5, particularly insisted on; their true
sense
vindicated--What works excluded from the justification of
Abraham--Who
it is that works not--In what sense the ungodly are
justified--All
men ungodly antecedently unto their justification--
Faith
alone the means of justification on our part--Faith itself,
absolutely
considered, not the righteousness that is imputed unto
us--Proved
by sundry arguments
Rom. 5:l2-21--Boasting
excluded in ourselves, asserted in God--The
design
and sum of the apostle's argument--Objection of Socinus
removed--Comparison
between the two Adams, and those that derive
from
them--Sin entered into the world--What sin intended--Death,
what
it comprises, what intended by it--The sense of these words,
"inasmuch,"
or, "in whom all have sinned," cleared and vindicated--
The
various oppositions used by the apostle in this discourse:
principally
between sin or the fall, and the free gift; between the
disobedience
of the one, and the obedience of another; judgment on
the
one hand, and justification unto life on the other--The whole
context
at large explained, and the argument for justification by
the
imputation of the righteousness of Christ, fully confirmed
Rom.10:3,4, explained
and insisted on to the same purpose
1 Cor.1:30--Christ,
how of God made righteousness unto us--Answer of
Bellarmine
unto this testimony removed--That of Socinus disproved--
True
sense of the words evinced
2 Cor.5:21--In what
sense Christ knew no sin--Emphasis in that
expression--How
he was made sin for us--By the imputation of sin
unto
him--Mistakes of some about this expression--Sense of the
ancients--
Exception of Bellarmine unto this testimony answered,
with
other reasonings of his to the same purpose--The exceptions of
others
also removed
Gal.2:16
Eph.2:8-10--Evidence
of this testimony--Design of the apostle from the
beginning
of the chapter--Method of the apostle in the declaration
of
the grace of God--Grace alone the cause of deliverance from a
state
of sin--Things to be observed in the assignation of the
causes
of spiritual deliverances--Grace, how magnified by him--
Force
of the argument and evidence from thence--State of the case
here
proposed by the apostle--General determination of it, "By
grace
are ye saved"--What is it to be saved, inquired into--The
same
as to be justified, but not exclusively--The causes of our
justification
declared positively and negatively--The whole secured
unto
the grace of God by Christ, and our interest therein through
faith
alone--Works excluded--What works?--Not works of the law of
Moses--Not
works antecedent unto believing--Works of true
believers--Not
only in opposition to the grace of God, but to faith
in
us--Argument from those words--Reason whereon this exclusion of
works
is founded--To exclude boasting on our part--Boasting,
wherein
it consists--Inseparable from the interest of works in
justification--Danger
of it--Confirmation of this reason, obviating
an
objection--The objection stated--If we be not justified by
works,
of what use are they? answered
Phil.3:8,9--Heads of
argument from this testimony--Design of the
context--Righteousness
the foundation of acceptance with God--A
twofold
righteousness considered by the apostle--Opposite unto one
another,
as unto the especial and inquired after--Which of these he
adhered
unto, his own righteousness, or the righteousness of God;
declared
by the apostle with vehemency of speech--Reasons of his
earnestness
herein--The turning point whereon he left Judaism--The
opposition
made unto this doctrine by the Jews--The weight of the
doctrine,
and unwillingness of men to receive it--His own sense of
sin
and grace--Peculiar expressions used in this place, for the
reasons
mentioned, concerning Christ; concerning all things that
are
our own--The choice to be made on the case stated, whether we
will
adhere unto our own righteousness, or that of Christ's, which
are
inconsistent as to the end of justification--Argument from this
place--Exceptions
unto this testimony, and argument from thence,
removed--Our
personal righteousness inherent, the same with respect
unto
the law and gospel --External righteousness only required by
the
law, an impious imagination--Works wrought before faith only
rejected--The
exception removed--Righteousness before conversion,
not
intended by the apostle
XIX.
Objections against the doctrine of justification by the imputation
of
the righteousness of Christ--Personal holiness and obedience not
obstructed,
but furthered by it
Objections against
the doctrine of justification by the imputation of
the
righteousness of Christ--Nature of these objections--Difficulty
in
discerning aright the sense of some men in this argument--
Justification
by works, the end of all declension from the
righteousness
of Christ--Objections against this doctrine derived
from
a supposition thereof alone--First principal objection:
Imputed
righteousness overthrows the necessity of a holy life--This
objection,
as managed by them of the church of Rome, an open
calumny--How
insisted on by some among ourselves--Socinus'
fierceness
in this charge--His foul dishonesty therein--False
charges
on men's opinions making way for the rash condemnation of
their
persons--Iniquity of such censures--The objection rightly
stated--Sufficiently
answered in the previous discourses about the
nature
of faith, and force of the moral law--The nature and
necessity
of evangelical holiness elsewhere pleaded--Particular
answers
unto this objection--All who profess this doctrine do not
exemplify
it in their lives--The most holy truths have been abused-
-None
by whom this doctrine is now denied exceeds them in holiness
by
whom it is formerly professed, and the power of it attested--The
contrary
doctrine not successful in the reformation of the lives of
men--The
best way to determine this difference--The one objection
managed
against the doctrine of the apostle in his own days--
Efficacious
prejudices against this doctrine in the minds of men--
The
whole doctrine of the apostle liable to be abused--Answer of
the
apostle unto this objection--He never once attempts to answer
it
by declaring the necessity of personal righteousness, or good
works,
unto justification before God--He confines the cogency of
evangelical
motives unto obedience only unto believers--Grounds of
evangelical
holiness asserted by him, in compliance with his
doctrine
of justification:--1 Divine ordination--Exceptions unto
this
ground removed--2. Answer of the apostle vindicated--The
obligation
of the law unto obedience--Nature of it, and consistency
with
grace--This answer of the apostle vindicated--Heads of other
principles
that might be pleaded to the same purpose
XX.
The doctrine of the apostle James concerning faith and works--Its
agreement
with that of St Paul
Seeming difference,
no real contradiction, between the apostles Paul
and
James, concerning justification--This granted by all--Reasons
of
the seeming difference--The best rule of the interpretation of
places
of Scripture wherein there is an appearing repugnancy--The
doctrine
of justification according unto that rule principally to
be
learned from the writings of Paul--The reasons of his fulness
and
accuracy in the teaching of that doctrine--The importance of
the
truth; the opposition made unto it, and abuse of it--The design
of
the apostle James-- Exceptions of some against the writings of
St.
Paul, scandalous and unreasonable--Not, in this matter, to be
interpreted
by the passage in James insisted on, chap.2.--That
there
is no repugnancy between the doctrine of the two apostles
demonstrated--Heads
and grounds of the demonstration--Their scope,
design,
and end, not the same--That of Paul; the only case stated
and
determined by him--The design of the apostle James; the case
proposed
by him quite of another nature--The occasion of the case
proposed
and stated by him--No appearance of difference between the
apostles,
because of the several cases they speak unto--Not the
same
faith intended by them--Description of the faith spoken of by
the
one, and the other--Bellarmine's arguments to prove true
justifying
faith to be intended by James, answered--Justification
not
treated of by the apostles in the same manner, nor used in the
same
sense, nor to the same end--The one treats of justification,
as
unto its nature and causes; the other, as unto its signs and
evidence--Proved
by the instances insisted on--How the Scripture
was
fulfilled, that Abraham believed in God, and it was counted
unto
him for righteousness, when he offered his son on the altar--
Works
the same, and of the same kind, in both the apostles--
Observations
on the discourse of James--No conjunction made by him
between
faith nor works in our justification, but an opposition--No
distinction
of a first and second justification in him--
Justification
ascribed by him wholly unto works--In what sense--
Does
not determine how a sinner may be justified before God; but
how
a professor may evidence himself so to be--The context opened
from
verse 14, to the end of the chapter
Return to Jesus Institute Forum home
page.
Dr. John Owen's classic
may also be found through another
site.