...I was persuaded and convinced that "prerequisite" is an acceptable term to state that repentance and faith must come forth in order to be justified
Dear Pilgrim,
Am thankful to the Father of lights, that, by His grace, this discussion is being carried on in the spirit of charity.
May the God of all wisdom grant us of His light on this subject.
As to the substance, to wit, whether faith precedes justification. Consider, again, Romans 4:25:
who was delivered up because of our offences, and was raised up because of our being declared righteous (YLT Ro.4:25). I quote Young's Literal Translation here, because this version highlights something, that is not so obvious in the KJV, namely, that Christ was delivered through our offences and was raised
through our justification. According to this text, Christ was raised from the dead BECAUSE, or THROUGH our justification. The justification of the church is a done deal, objectively. It took place in a definite time period, sometime, between Christ's death on the cross and the early dawn of His bodily resurrection. Your personal act of faith had NOTHING to do with it. The whole body of the elect was justified by His blood.
Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him (Ro.5:9). Justification by Christ's blood has nothing to do with your faith. When Christ offered His body, He, by one offering, made perfect forever those who are sanctified.
Faith cannot precede justification, for it would mean that a person, in his sins, unjust, alienated, in the state of enmity with God, produces something, which only a righteous person can produce - faith. Recall, that without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb 11:6). But to say, that out of an unjustified state a person can bring forth something that pleases God and brings about their justification? Is the blood of the Atonement applied to the person SUBSEQUENT to their faith? How can they be born again, without being justified by Christ's blood first? For without first being washed in Christ's blood and renewed by His spirit, a new heart, washed and clean, cannot be given. It is out of this new heart that faith then proceeds. But there can be no new heart without a powerful application of Christ's blood to create it:
Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do [them].
(Ez.36:25-27), which sprinkling of clean water (The Holy Spirit) presupposes that the receiver of a new heart, is first cleansed by Christ's blood, which cleansing is, among other benefits, JUSTIFICATION. In other words, a person cannot be cleansed, without being justified, for there is no purification without expiation, but expiation means that the sins are COVERED and so those for whom the Atonement has been made are JUSTIFIED by the blood of the Sacrifice.
IMHO, personal faith is instrumental for a
conscious entrance into the knowledge of justification which is ours, in Christ's blood, shed for us. Personal faith is the means through which the hears of the promise come to "know" of their salvation / justification in Christ Jesus: To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins,(Lk.1:77)He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God [is] with him, and the shout of a king [is] among them (Nu.23:21).
God does not see any iniquity in Jacob, neither has He seen perverseness in Israel, because, decretally, eternally, all of Israel's iniquities have been imputed to Christ and His righteousness imputed to them and objectively, all of their iniquities have been propitiated for by Christ on the tree. And since His oblation was received with favor and He was raised from the dead, this means that the sins of Israel were fully expiated and all Israel (the sum of all elect of course) has been JUSTIFIED by Him. That's why personal faith, however important and indispensable, cannot be placed teleologically and chronologically BEFORE justification.
Renat
