Protestant theology teaches that Christ's merited righteousness cannot tolerate any human addition. All our works are a stench in God's nostrils in terms of meriting any righteousness in His holy sight (Isaiah 64:6). Neither our sweetest experiences of God's love and grace, nor our faith itself granted by the Holy spirit can add one stitch of merit to the white robe of Christ's spotless righteousness. Nothing will satisfy the justice of God except the eternally valid righteousness of Christ Jesus. We are "justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:24; cf. Job 25:4-6).
Roman Catholicism argues for the mixing of grace and works in justification. Both are required in preparation for justification and in the justification event itself. The Council of Trent stressed both the role of grace in the believer's merits and that merits are to be considered the believer's own and true merits, due to free will and inherent grace. Scripture and Protestantism assert that justification is by sovereign grace only through faith without any merit on the believer's part (Jonah 2:9). The ultimate foundation of our justification is God's sovereign election: "Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his" (2 Timothy 2:19). God's eternal decree to justify is worked out through His eternal covenant of grace which in turn is grounded in Christ's meritorious satisfaction — satisfaction which the elect sinner receives through the means of grace by faith (Romans 9-10).
Justification by Faith Alone
(The Relation of Faith to Justification)
Dr. Joel R. Beeke
Joel R. Beeke (born 1952) is an American Christian pastor and theologian. He is a minister of the Heritage Netherlands Reformed Congregation in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and President of Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, where he is also the professor of Systematic Theology and Homiletics.
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