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3.) Faith adds nothing to the “esse” only to the “bene esse” of justification; it is no part of, nor any ingredient in it; it is a complete act in the eternal mind of God, without the being or consideration of faith, or any foresight of it; a man is as much justified before as after it, in the account of God; and after he does believe, his justification does not depend on his acts of faith; for though “we believe not, yet he abides faithful”; that is, God is faithful to his covenant engagements with his Son, as their Surety, by whose suretyship-righteousness they are justified; but by faith men have a comfortable sense, perception and apprehension of their justification, and enjoy that peace of soul which results from it; it is by that only, under the testimony of the divine Spirit, that they know their interest in it, and can claim it, and so have the comfort of it. 

John Gill 
Baptist Theologian

Faith does not add to the essence (esse) of Justification but only the sense of wellness (bene esse) that arises from being justified. This is what I was reaching for yesterday when I wrote of faith being the instrumental passive cause of subjective justification but not of objective justification.  Objective justification cannot be brought into being by faith since objective justification exists as an eternal and immanent act of God.

Faith is no part of Justification except for the part it plays in the realization that one is Justified apart from works. With this understanding faith cannot become a work which so commonly happens apart from embracing eternal justification.

Now as to Gill’s claim that a man is as justified before it is published to his consciousness as he is after the publication of it to his consciousness, this is just a matter of recognizing a reality. All the elect before they know their justification are pre-self aware justified ones. God does not know them as reprobate but as those who while currently in rebellion against God are those who being justified will soon enough become self-aware of their justification. Nothing will stop them from the appointed time when the Holy Spirit will publish it to their consciousness whereupon they will own it by responding upon regeneration in faith and so be subjectively justified. This is what Gill is getting at when he writes above,

by faith men have a comfortable sense, perception and apprehension of their justification, and enjoy that peace of soul which results from it; it is by that only, under the testimony of the divine Spirit, that they know their interest in it, and can claim it, and so have the comfort of it. 

Even’s God’s revelation of His anger toward the rebellious but justified one is a sign that the rebellious one is justified from eternity since God’s grace in making known his anger against sin only dawns on those who are justified from eternity. Nobody except those who are justified from eternity receive God’s grace to know God’s wrath upon them.

Gill introduces here the idea of Christ as the justified ones Surety. This is an older theological concept that is seldom talked about in the contemporary church. A person who provides suretyship is a person who undertakes a specific responsibility on behalf of another who remains primarily liable. A surety is one who makes himself liable for the default or miscarriage of another, or for the performance of some act on his part (e.g. payment of a debt, appearance in court for trial, etc.). Christ did not become our surety upon an act of faith on our part that made His suretyship our suretyship. Christ was our surety on the Cross and on the Cross the instantiation of our eternal Justification was accomplished.

“Our forces are not going to Europe to fight in Ukraine.”

Joe Bite-Me
Pervert in Chief

“Our forces are not and will not be engaged in a conflict with Russia in Ukraine.”

Joe Bite-Me
Pervert in Chief

Biden has reasserted several times now he has not intent to have our armed forces fighting in Ukraine. When I first heard the man say that I immediately concluded that it was only a matter of time until American boots would be on the ground in Ukraine. Now, to be sure, I may be wrong about this but I have more than sufficient reason to give Biden’s statement its exact opposite meaning. This kind of thing is an old game in this American “Republic.” We’ve covered this material before on Iron Ink but in order to give justification for my absolute resolve to conclude that Biden’s hair tasting tongue is lying I offer this reminder of previous promises coming from US Presidents on the same issue.

Our first example comes from the perhaps the greatest lying President of them all; the sainted and worshiped Abraham Lincoln who in his first inaugural address lied saying,

“In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. ”

Because Lincoln is genuflected before as a secular saint of the American civil religion most people don’t know that Lincoln started the Civil War by his deceptive work with the “Star of the West.” Lincoln, via Seward, was lying to Southern Representatives about possible peace pursuits all the while arranging for war by preparing the “Star of the West” to take aggressive action against Fort Sumter.

By examining this link one can readily see that it was in Lincoln’s hands that rested the momentous issue of civil war.

Ft. Sumter

The Newspaper the “Jersey City American Standard” said at the time;

“ …this unarmed vessel (Star of the West) is a mere decoy to draw the first fire from the people of the South, which act by the pre-determination of the government is to be the pretext for letting loose the horrors of war.”

Lincoln promised that he would not be the aggressor. He said that the decision of war was in the hands of the South. It was all lies.

Lincoln gives us example #1 of why we should not believe Bite-me’s promises.

Example #2 comes from Woodrow Wilson who in the 1916 made the centerpiece of His presidential campaign, “He kept us out of war.” The man won the White House on the center-piece reminder that “He kept us out of war,” which implied a promise that Wilson was going to continue to keep us out of war. In the election Wilson’s campaign put out campaign buttons saying “Europe at War; America at Peace. God Bless Wilson”

By this slogan the incumbent President eked out a narrow victory over Charles Evans Hughes in November 1916. No sooner was Wilson elected to his second term upon the slogan that “He kept us out of war,” Wilson began to accelerate his plotting and conniving to get us into the damn European war.

Example #3 comes from the lying liar who lied with every breath, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Listen to Roosevelt’s promises regarding potential involvement of the US in a European war under his administration. In 1939, upon the beginning of European hostilities FDR went to Congress asking for the repeal of the embargo on the sales of arms to belligerent powers, which was part of the existing neutrality legislation. FDR based his appeal on the argument that this move would help to keep the United States at peace. His words on the subject were:

Let no group assume the exclusive label of the “peace bloc.” We all belong to it … I give you my deep and unalterable conviction, based on years of experience as a worker in the field of international peace, that by the repeal of the embargo the United States will more probably remain at peace than if the law remains as it stands today … Our acts must be guided by one single, hardheaded thought — keeping America out of the war.

In the 1940 Presidential campaign FDR was everywhere promising Americans that they would not become involved in another damn European war.

October 30: “I have said this before, but I shall say it again and again and again: Your boys are not going to be sent into any foreign wars.”

The same thought was expressed in a speech at Brooklyn on November 1: “I am fighting to keep our people out of foreign wars. And I will keep on fighting.”

The President told his audience at Rochester, New York, on November 2: “Your national government … is equally a government of peace — a government that intends to retain peace for the American people.”

On the same day the voters of Buffalo were assured: “Your President says this country is not going to war.”

And he declared at Cleveland on November 3: “The first purpose of our foreign policy is to keep our country out of war.”

And this is only a Whitman’s sampler.

So, when a President tells me like Biden is telling me that no American forces will be sent to fight in Ukraine you will excuse me if my cynicism radar is buried in expectation that we will soon enough have American boots on the ground in Ukraine.

After all… Biden’s ability to lie is no less than Lincoln’s, Wilson’s, and FDR’s.

First, It (Justification) does not begin to take place in time, or at believing, but is antecedent to any act of faith.

1. Faith is not the cause, but an effect of justification; it is not the cause of it in any sense; it is not the moving cause, that is the free grace of God; “Being justified freely by his grace”, #Ro 3:24 nor the efficient cause of it; “It is God that justifies”, #Ro 8:33 nor the meritorious cause, as some express it; or the matter of it, that is the obedience and blood of Christ, #Ro 5:9,19 or the righteousness of Christ, consisting of his active and passive obedience; nor even the instrumental cause; for, as Mr. Baxter {5} himself argues, “If faith is the instrument of our justification, it is the instrument either of God or man; not of man, for justification is God’s act; he is the sole Justifier, #Ro 3:26 man doth not justify himself: nor of God, for it is not God that believes”: nor is it a “causa sine qua non”, as the case of elect infants shows; it is not in any class of causes whatever; but it is the effect of justification: all men have not faith, and the reason why some do not believe is, because they are none of Christ’s sheep; they were not chosen in him, nor justified through him; but justly left in their sins, and so to condemnation; the reason why others believe is, because they are ordained to eternal life, have a justifying righteousness provided for them, and are justified by it, and shall never enter into condemnation: the reason why any are justified, is not because they have faith; but the reason why they have faith, is because they are justified; was there no such blessing of grace as justification of life in Christ, for the sons of men, there would be no such thing as faith in Christ bestowed on them; precious faith is obtained through the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ, #2Pe 1:1 nor, indeed, would there be any room for it, nor any use of it, if a justifying righteousness was not previously provided. Agreeable to this are the reasonings and assertions of Twisse {6}, Maccovius {7}, and others. Now if faith is not the cause, but the effect of justification; then as every cause is before its effect, and every effect follows its cause, justification must be before faith, and faith must follow justification.

   John Gill
   
   1.) The point that is being aimed at here is that as Justification is an eternal and immanent act of God being internal to the mind of God, Justification is not an act which arises anew in God each time someone has Justification applied to their consciousness. This is why Gill can say that “justification does not begin to take place in time.”

   2.) In light of this we might well divide Justification into Objective Justification and Subjective Justification. Justification in its objective sense would be the immanent and eternal act of God the Father whereby He did decree from all eternity the Justification of the elect entering into eternal covenant with the Son to the end that the Son would accomplish the requisite work of atonement in order to effectuate the eternal and immanent Justification decree whereby the many would be declared righteous. Subjective Justification then would be the Spirit’s work of taking from the Father and the Son to apply to the consciousness of the elect all that was decreed from eternity and effectuated at and in the Cross. This application in the ordo salutis would follow regeneration and faith.

   2.) We might be better served therefore to say not only that we are justified by faith alone but also that we are faithed by justification alone.

   3.) Note the Aristotelian categories of causation that Gill lays out

   a.) Moving cause of Justification =  Free Grace of God

   ^{Romans 3:24} being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus

   b.) Efficient cause of Justification = God

   Romans 8:33 It is God who justifies.

   c.) Meritorious cause = Blood of Christ / Obedience of Christ

   ^{Romans 5:9} Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!

   ¹⁹ For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

   This obedience of the glorious Son includes His active obedience (fulfilling all the law on our behalf) and His passive obedience (receiving the penalty of the law on our behalf).

   E.) Instrumental cause

   Here I will depart from Gill insisting that faith in subjective justification is the instrumental cause. Regeneration produces faith and faith receives and owns the subjective application of the objective justification from eternity.

   On this score we must be reminded again that Justification by or through faith in no way contradicts justification from eternity. Here we must distinguish again between the eternal and immanent acts of God and His transient gifts. We must distinguish between what happens in eternity and how this is manifested in time. God declares a person to be just by equipping him with justifying faith. Whom God calls he equips. That faith is a gift of God. Faith can have no causal influence on Justification nor does it add anything to its being. In other words faith receives the blessing of justification and the enjoyment of it. Faith is the passive instrument that God gives us to accept the application of His Justification which is from eternity.

   So, we are saying that faith is the instrumental cause of subjective justification without implying that faith is the instrumental cause of objective Justification. Faith receives and owns the Spirit’s application of subjective Justification but is not creating the reality of objective Justification. Inasmuch as faith is not creating the reality of Justification as an immanent and eternal act of God in that sense it is not instrumental. However that very faith, like the objective Justification it passively receives was won for the elect sinner in the finished work of Christ. In this way we see that faith has no causal influence on the Objective work of Justification as a eternal and immanent act of God accomplished in time by the finished work of Jesus Christ.

   Briefly reviewing then, faith is not in any class of causes whatever in terms of objective Justification — that is the Justification that remains an eternal and immanent act of God. However, faith is the passive instrumental cause of subjective Justification in rejoicing over what is published to the consciousness of the elect one. In this sense faith is an effect of objective Justification that logically leads in regeneration to being a passive instrumental cause unto subjective Justification. We are justified by faith alone because we were faithed by Justification alone.

   The previous paragraph allows us to still agree with Gill when he notes that
   the reason why any are justified, is not because they have faith; but the reason why they have faith, is because they are justified; was there no such blessing of grace as justification of life in Christ, for the sons of men, there would be no such thing as faith in Christ bestowed on them; precious faith is obtained through the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus.

   In the arrangement above we also partially agree with Gill when he writes;

   “then as every cause is before its effect, and every effect follows its cause, justification must be before faith, and faith must follow justification.”

   Our only difference is that we are saying that Objective Justification is the cause of faith which in turn is the passive instrumental cause of Subjective Justification as the Spirit applies the faith and Objective Justification that was won for the elect one in the accomplished Justification work of Christ.

   In such a way faith is prevented from becoming objectively causal which would, if allowed, turn faith into a work, and thus deny the completely Theocentric and gracious character of our great salvation.

    

Justification is an act of God’s grace, flowing from his sovereign good will and pleasure; the elect of God are said to be “justified by his grace”; and as if that expression was not strong enough to set forth the freeness of it, the word “freely” is added elsewhere; “Being justified freely by his grace”, #Tit 3:7 Ro 3:24. Justification is by many divines distinguished into active and passive. Active justification is the act of God; it is God that justifies. Passive justification is the act of God, terminating on the conscience of a believer, commonly called a transient act, passing upon an external object. It is not of this I shall now treat, but of the former; which is an act internal and eternal, taken up in the divine mind from eternity, and is an immanent, abiding one in it; it is, as Dr. Ames {4} expresses it, “a sentence conceived in the divine mind, by the decree of justifying.”

     Now, as before observed, as God’s will to elect, is the election of his people, so his will to justify them, is the justification of them; as it is an immanent act in God, it is an act of his grace towards them, is wholly without them, entirely resides in the divine mind, and lies in his estimating, accounting, and constituting them righteous, through the righteousness of his Son; and, as such, did not first commence in time, but from eternity.

 John Gill

Recently, I preached on Eternal Justification and in order to answer questions that naturally arise I’ve decided to take John Gill’s work paragraph by paragraph over a series of posts to answer those questions.

It must be kept in mind that though we are looking at the Baptist Gill there have been more than a few traditional Reformed who have held some form of the doctrine. The first prolocutor of the Westminster Assembly held to eternal Justification. The Scottish Divine Robert Traill held to this doctrine. The Dutch Reformed Abraham Kuyper held to Eternal Justification. Others had glimmerings of the doctrine in their works.

We gladly concede that the embrace of this doctrine has been a minority opinion in Reformed Church history and while that does give me some pause it does not move me to full stop. Truth does not come from counting noses and so we press on.

As to the quote above what should be drawn out is the difference between an immanent act of God and a transient act of God. To say that Justification is an immanent act of God is to say that the act of justifying was eternal and in the mind of God as decretal reality. To say that justification is a transient act of God is to say that the decretal reality of justification immanent and eternal as it is in the mind of God is is published to the consciousness of the one who was eternally justified so that they now are conversant with that divine reality.

Much of this debate gets roiled in the issue of time. All orthodox Reformation believers understand and embrace that eternity conditions time and not time eternity. That is all justification from eternity argues for in what it embraces. It is the recognition that what God has decreed as an immanent and eternal act in His mind is a irresistible reality that time is only scrambling to catch up to in order to instantiate.  Scripture gives us hints of this when it is said of the Lord Jesus Christ in Revelation 13:8;

 the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

If the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world then it is no stretch to insist that the saints elected in Christ stood justified likewise from the foundation of the world. Their corporeal mortal lives only awaited the time when that eternal and immanent act of God of justification would become a transient act once the Spirit applied what was accomplished on the Cross being a certitude from eternity.

To insist on eternal Justification is only to agree with the Scripture that
God calleth those things which be not as though they were (Rmns. 4:17).

To believe that God was gracious to His people before He was gracious to His people is a concept we find throughout Scripture;

^{Ephesians 1:3} Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:  ⁴ According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: ⁵ Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, ⁶ To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

Notice just as earlier the Lord Christ is slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8) so God’s people are chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. Notice also the language “having predestined us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself.” In light of that statement is it really so difficult to see that justification comes with adoption? Especially when it is said in Ephesians 1 that we have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Is not Justification a spiritual blessing?

Notice finally, the last sentence that notes that Justification did not first begin in but from eternity. No Reformed believer holds that Justification only becomes a real reality when someone is converted as if the decree and cross are waiting for their activation from someone saying the magical words “Jesus please come into my heart.”