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Many have admitted that the Justification of sinners is connected with the Mediatorial work of Christ, as its meritorious cause; while they have denied that it rests on His righteousness as its immediate and only ground. They have not ventured to set aside His merits altogether, or to say that His redeeming work had no influence in procuring our pardon and acceptance, with God; on the contrary, they have professed to do signal homage to the merits of Christ, by acknowledging both their indispensable necessity, and their certain efficacy, but only as a means of procuring for us those terms of salvation, and that measure of grace, which render it possible for us to be justified by our personal obedience; while they have utterly rejected the idea that His righteousness is, or can be, imputed to us. Others, again, have admitted a real and important, but partial and imperfect, imputation of His righteousness; and have restricted it to the merits of His passive, as distinguished from that of His active, obedience,—thereby leaving our Justification to rest, partly on His atoning sacrifice, and partly on our personal holiness in heart and life. It is necessary, therefore, to show that His righteousness,—considered as the entire merit of His whole Mediatorial work,—is not only the meritorious cause, but also the immediate ground, of our Justification; and for this end, to inquire—What that righteousness is by which alone we can be justified,—why it is said to be the righteousness of God, or the merit of Christ,—and how it becomes ours, so as to be available for our Justification?
So "Why?" some may ask are we adding yet another article on the doctrine of justification? The answer is very simple... NECESSITY!! The necessity is due to the promulgation of various heresies within the church which for the most part go unnoticed. And when such heresies are detected, they are rarely if ever dealt with by the majority of denominations or individual churches. What are these heresies which are being taught, both at the local level and in once orthodox seminaries? They are known by various names, e.g., Federal Vision, NPP (New Perspectives on Paul), Shepherdism, etc.

One of the main tenets that is being taught has to do with the imputation of Christ's active obedience. Terms, as is typically done by those espousing heresy, are redefined but rarely is the redefining openly stated. In this case, the term "imputation" is sometimes denied but most often it is redefined to mean something other than what the Church has understood and taught it to mean. But most serious is the blatant denial that justification is grounded upon the imputation of Christ's active obedience which is the ONLY SUFFICIENT ground for justification of a sinner by God. This imputation of Christ's active obedience is a ONCE FOR ALL declaration of God that the sinner is not guilty of both the imputed guilt of Adam's sin but also of any actual sin committed. In short, the sinner is clothed in Christ's righteousness and thus acceptable before God and even adopted as a son and guaranteed eternal life from the moment the sinner is united to Christ by a true living faith.

There is no subsequent justification that allegedly takes place at the final judgment where God takes into account the sinner's faith AND any good works, aka: obedience to the covenant, the keeping of God's moral law. And upon the basis of both of these elements is either pronounced justified or guilty. Thus, it is imperative that every true child of God understand this doctrine as thoroughly as possible and pray for discernment as given by the Spirit to be kept from being led astray as did the Galatians in Paul's day. It is hoped that this article along with all the others that are available on The Highway will serve as a means to that end.

You can read this month's article here: Justification: Its Immediate and and Only Ground, the Imputed Righteousness of Christ.

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simul iustus et peccator

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