Justification may well be considered as a branch of election; it is no other, as one expresses it, than setting apart the elect alone to be partakers of Christ’s righteousness; and a setting apart Christ’s righteousness for the elect only; it is mentioned along with election, as of the same date with it; “Wherein”, that is, in the grace of God, particularly the electing grace of God, spoken of before, “he hath made us accepted in the beloved”, #Eph 1:6. What is this acceptance in Christ, but justification in him? and this is expressed as a past act, in the same language as other eternal things be in the context, he “hath” blessed us, and he “hath” chosen us, and “having” predestinated us, so he hath made us accepted; and, indeed, as Christ was always the beloved of God, and well pleasing to him; so all given to him, and in him, were beloved of God, well pleasing to him, and accepted with him, or justified in him from eternity.
Dr. John Gill
18th century Baptist Minister
Justification, like Election is completely extra nos (outside of us) and as completely outside of us I can’t understand why Reformed people would get upset over when the “completely outsidedness” of Justification occurs. If Justification is completely outside of us (and it is) and if we do not contribute in one scintilla (and we don’t) to our Justification then why could it possibly matter whether or not Justification is from eternity or whether Justification is after the subjective work within us of regeneration? Never mind that positing regeneration prior to Justification in the ordo salutis finds the Holy Spirit inhabiting a unholy thing (person) who has not yet (in this scheme) been declared righteous before God strikes one as distinctly problematic.
Gill appeals to the Ephesians 1 passage we touched on yesterday;
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.
I don’t know how justification from eternity could be made any more clear than what the Holy Spirit inspired St. Paul does here? In vs. 3 the elect are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Is Justification not a spiritual blessing? How could we be holy and without blame before Him in love if we were not Justified from eternity? How could we be predestined to be adopted without first be predestined to be Justified? Clearly, all this occurs when we were made accepted in the Beloved and the text teaches explicitly that we were made accepted in the Beloved upon being chose in the Beloved from the foundation of the world.
I honestly don’t understand how this is controversial in the least.
