"When we say that salvation is 'by faith, not by works', we are not substituting one kind of merit ('faith') for another ('works'). Nor is salvation a sort of cooperative enterprise between God & us, in which he contributes the cross & we contribute faith. No, grace is non-contributory, & faith is the opposite of self-regarding. The value of faith is not to be found in itself, but entirely & exclusively in its object, namely Jesus Christ & him crucified." p.117
As Richard Hooker... "God justifies the believer--not because of the worthiness of his belief, but because of his (sc. Christ's) worthiness who is believed." p.118
"Christianity, by contrast, is not in its essence a religion at all; it is a gospel, the gospel, good news that God's grace has turned away his wrath, that God's Son has died our death & borne our judgment, that God has mercy on the undeserving & that there is nothing left for us to do, or even contribute. Faith's only function is to receive what grace offers." p.118
"Non-Christian systems think of 'the self-movement of man' towards God. Luther called speculation 'climbing up the majesty on high'. Similarly, mysticism imagines that the human spirit can 'soar aloft towards God'. So does moralism. So does philosophy. Very similar is 'the self-confident optimism of all non-Christian religion'. None of these has seen or felt the gulf which yawns between the holy God & sinful, guilty human beings. Only when we have glimpsed this do we grasp the necessity of what the gospel proclaims, namely 'the self-movement of God', his free initiative of grace, his 'descent', his amazing 'act of condescension'. To stand on the rim of the abyss, to despair utterly of ever crossing over, this is the indespensable 'antechamber of faith'." p.118
A few additional resources on justification (as cited by Stott):
- Luther, Commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians (1531; James Clarke, 1953).
- Hooker, "Definition of Justification", being chapter xxxili of his Ecclesiastical Polity (1593).
- Emil Brunner, The Mediator (1927; Westminster, 1947), pp.291ff.
Thanks for this post, Ben!
ReplyDeleteI have a quote by Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones on my desk at work that serves to remind me of the true source of my salvation...
"The man who has faith is the man who is no longer looking at himself, and no longer looking to himself. He no longer looks at anything he once was. He does not look at what he is now. He does not [even] look at what he hopes to be as the result of his own efforts. He looks entirely to the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work, and he rests on that alone. He has ceased to say,'Ah yes, I have committed terrible sins but I have done this and that...' He stops saying that. If he goes on saying that, he has not got faith...Faith speaks in an entirely different manner and makes a man say,'Yes, I have sinned grievously, I have lived a life of sin...yet I know that I am a child of God because I am not resting on any righteousness of my own; my righteousness is in Jesus Christ, and God has put that to my account.'"
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast." Ephesians 2:8-9
Hallelujah!!!!