TPW 94 Wilhelmus à Brakel on Justification

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This is Pastor Patrick Hines here at Cornell Heights Presbyterian Church on a
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Thursday afternoon, late in the afternoon, and I've just been doing a little studying today.
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I finished my morning sermon and I've got the manuscript for my evening sermon. I need to proofread it and edit it a little bit for tomorrow night.
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So one of the works I've always wanted to be more familiar with is
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Wilhelmus Abrakel's great four -volume set called The Christian's Reasonable Service, and I have the
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Kindle version of this, and our church library has the hardback, the four -volume set, and it's just marvelous stuff.
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I mean, this guy is just a brilliant theologian, is a really, really good writer. I really have enjoyed the sections of The Christian's Reasonable Service that I've been able to read.
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And just today, I've been reading the section on justification, chapter 34, so it's volume 2, page 341.
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The section on justification, and it looks like it's a fairly lengthy section, but there's so many...
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I mean, sometimes you read a theologian, and this book is first published in 1700, okay?
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So this is pretty old stuff, but he's definitely... He's not a first -generation reformer or Reformation, this is second, third -generation, after the 16th century, so this is...
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The 17th century is the 1600s, so this is the late 1600s when this stuff is written.
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So Abrakel here addressing the issue of justification, it's amazing how the errors that he was dealing with are the same ones that we deal with today, on the very heart of the gospel.
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And it's a rare thing that you read a theologian who is so bright and so clear in everything he's saying that you're just wanting to highlight almost everything he says, and that's been happening here all afternoon as I've been working through this excellent section.
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So I wanted to read a few sections of this and make some comments along the way, because I can't help but be reminded of The Federal Vision, I can't help but be reminded of Piper, I can't help but be reminded of Roman Catholicism and all of its errors on the gospel and on justification, and reading
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Abrakel here. And so I just want to read some of this and make some comments along the way, because it's so good, it's just right on the money, and the blessed doctrine of the justification of the sinner before God is such a precious truth, and it's one that every generation has to stand up and defend because, well, just listen to Abrakel, he explains exactly why it's so precious and why we have to defend it constantly.
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He says this, quote, Having discussed calling, regeneration, and faith, we shall now proceed to justification, which is the soul of Christianity and the fountainhead of all true comfort and sanctification.
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So he sees justification as the fountainhead of all comfort, of all assurance, and it's also the fountainhead of sanctification.
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So he's not going to confuse the two things, he's not going to confuse justification and sanctification. He sees that justification, the gospel, the heart and soul of Christianity, is the fountainhead from which flows our comfort and our growth in grace and sanctification.
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Abrakel continues, He who errs in this doctrine errs to his eternal destruction. Amen. The devil is therefore continually engaged in denying, perverting, and obscuring the truth expressed in this chapter, and if he does not accomplish this, to prevent exercise concerning this truth.
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When new errors appear on the horizon, even when they initially do not pertain to justification at all, they in time will eventually culminate in affecting this doctrine.
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One must therefore be all the more earnest to properly understand, defend, and meditate upon this doctrine.
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Yeah, even if the errors don't start out destroying justification, they will get there eventually.
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Like the Federal Vision, it was all about, well, we just want to recast the understanding of covenant theology, that's where the phrase
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Federal Vision, the term federal means covenant, so it's a covenant vision, we're just tweaking covenant theology a little bit, yeah but they ended up denying justification altogether, they ended up denying the heart of the gospel altogether in their theological meanderings.
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So listen to Abrakel here, he says, In our consideration of this doctrine, we shall first speak of the term, considering what is expressed by the words righteousness, righteous, and justification.
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Then we shall present the matter itself by considering the description, nature, and moving cause, that is, why justification either does or does not transpire, and mediate cause of justification, as well as the time when it occurs.
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The terms righteousness, righteous, and justification defined. Okay, so he's moving into the next section here.
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Concerning the term, it should first of all be noted that the word righteousness expresses conformity to the law.
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That's exactly right, that's what the Hebrew and the Greek terms mean, he's going to spell that out here.
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Righteousness, when we talk about what is righteousness, because righteousness is exactly what we don't have, and what we must have if we're going to end up in heaven.
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Because righteousness, biblically speaking, is conformity to the law of God. Now he goes on.
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Since there are civil and divine laws, there is likewise civil righteousness, as well as divine righteousness.
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It is the latter, divine righteousness, we shall discuss here. This can be either the righteousness of the law, or the righteousness of the gospel.
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See how clean that distinction is in his thinking? He's getting that right out of scripture. He's getting that right out of Romans chapter 10, he's getting it right out of Philippians chapter 3, he's getting it right out of the
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New Testament. There are only two kinds of righteousness. There is righteousness which is our obedience to the law itself, or there is the righteousness of the gospel, that which is achieved by a covenant surety,
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Jesus Christ, in the stead and place of sinners, and legally transferred or imputed to their ledger before God.
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So those are the only two types of divine righteousness that there are. There's righteousness of the law, and there's the righteousness of the gospel.
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He continues, the righteousness of the law pertains to a man's perfect conformity to the divinely ordained law as far as his disposition, deeds, objectives, and manners are concerned.
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Romans 10, 5, for Moses describes the righteousness which is of the law, that the man which does those things shall live by them.
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They're quoting from Leviticus 18, 5, and Paul's citation of it there, just again as another footnote.
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I still haven't figured out how any of that's relevant to baptism, but I have well given up ever being told by my
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Baptist friends what Leviticus 18, 5 and Paul's usage of it there has to do with baptism, since no authors on either side that I've ever read have thought that it was.
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But anyway, the righteousness of the law pertains to man's perfect conformity to the divinely ordained law as far as his disposition, deeds, objectives, and manners are concerned.
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Moses describes the righteousness which is of the law, that the man which does them shall live by them. That's the righteousness which is of the law.
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So if you and I want to get to heaven ourselves, we have to obey perfectly
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God's law. The man who does the things in the law shall live by them. They will be justified by them.
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They can get into heaven by them. So that's the righteousness which is of the law. Now on the other side of that is the righteousness of the gospel, which of course is our only hope of going to heaven.
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The righteousness of the gospel pertains to perfect conformity to the law, which becomes man's portion by righteous divine imputation.
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Okay, listen to that again. So there's the righteousness of the law, which is based on man's works, which is impossible for us, and then there's the righteousness of the gospel, pertains to perfect conformity to the law, which becomes man's portion, it becomes my possession, by righteous divine imputation.
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That means God legally transfers the righteous conformity to the law of Christ to my account before him, so that I am seen as righteous in his sight.
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Listen to what Abrakel says. This next sentence is just glorious. The surety Jesus Christ.
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That word surety is very important. Hebrews 7 .22 speaks of it. Christ is the surety of a better covenant.
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Surety simply means a legal representative. One who takes on the legal responsibility of another.
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In fact, the New Oxford American Dictionary defines surety as a person who takes responsibility for another's performance of an undertaking.
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I mean, that's exactly what Jesus does. He takes on the legal responsibility for my performance, my obedience to the law of God, and does it for me.
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In that definition in the New Oxford American Dictionary, for example, they're appearing in court or the payment of a debt.
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That's exactly what the term surety refers to in Hebrews 7 .22.
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Hebrews 7 .22 says, this makes Jesus the surety of a better covenant.
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And that term surety, yeah, enguas. Enguas there means, let's see, in BDAG, it means to assurance for the fulfillment of something under good security, enguas, also a guarantor, yes, a surety, one who takes on legal responsibility.
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That is what Jesus does for us. Because of the broken covenant of works that we can't keep because we're in Adam, and Adam failed as our surety, as our representative.
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He failed. Christ enters into that same covenant and takes on all of its legal responsibilities for us.
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That's what justification is all about. The righteousness of the law has got to be fulfilled by someone, and it's fulfilled by Jesus Christ.
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That's what the whole of biblical revelation is telling us.
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The surety of Jesus Christ has merited this righteousness in the believer's stead by bearing the punishment and fulfilling the law.
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Exactly right. Abrakel just nails it. He gets the gospel so clearly. He continues, this righteousness, the gospel righteousness, the righteousness that we don't perform but it's performed for us in the gospel by Christ, this righteousness, upon being offered in the gospel, is embraced by faith.
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This righteousness will be as valid in the righteous judgment of God as the righteousness of the law.
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See what he's saying? That Christ's righteousness, his conformity to the law, is accepted by God as my own, and it's just as valid as if I had actually kept it all myself.
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Listen to that again. This gospel righteousness will be as valid in the righteous judgment of God as the righteousness of the law.
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Now Romans 3, 21 and 22, great text, he quotes it here. But now, the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe.
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Now that comes right on the heels of Paul's summary statement in Romans 3, 20, therefore by the deeds of the law, no flesh shall be justified in his sight, rather through the law we become conscious of sin.
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So since justification by law righteousness, by obedience righteousness, since that's not possible for us, no flesh will be justified in his sight by the law, by obeying the law.
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Now in the gospel, the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed. This is the gospel righteousness that's achieved by our covenant surety, the one who did it in our behalf, in our place.
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He bears the penalty of our having broken the law, and he achieves the perfect righteous conformity to the law for us.
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Abrako continues, this righteousness is generally referred to as the righteousness of faith, it being a righteousness received in response to it being offered.
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Both law and gospel righteousness have in common that they fully conform to the law.
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They differ, however, in that the first, that is, law righteousness, requires perfection from man himself, and the latter, that's gospel righteousness, is merited by the surety becoming man's possession by imputation and acceptance.
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Man, that is just perfectly stated. He sees the gospel, this guy gets it so clearly, much clearer than many writers today.
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And then he says this, and he quotes Philippians 3 .9, great text, and listen to Abrako's use of it here.
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They are mentioned together, that is, law righteousness and gospel righteousness. Paul contrasts them in the strongest way possible.
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Listen to Abrako. The law righteousness versus gospel righteousness are mentioned together in Philippians 3 .9,
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where we read, quote, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law.
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See what he's saying? I am not going to be found, as a Christian, having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.
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See how clean those categories are in Paul's thinking? What's going to get you into heaven when you die? It is only gospel righteousness, achieved by the covenant surety
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Jesus Christ, the one who has conformed perfectly to the demands of the law, both in achieving its righteous requirements as well as bearing its divine sanctions in our place at Calvary's cross.
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That is the only righteousness that is available to us. The righteousness which is of the law is impossible.
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By the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. Abrako continues. Secondly, a person who fully conforms to the law is considered righteous, this being true either in himself or in the surety.
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After the fall, listen carefully now, after the fall, no one can be righteous before God by the righteousness of the law.
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You hear that? It's exactly right. And he quotes, listen, Romans 3, 19 and 20, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God.
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Therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
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So justification, getting into heaven by law righteousness is not possible any longer.
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The law of God's requirements can only be met by our covenant surety, Jesus Christ, and Christians locate the whole of their hope of getting into heaven and of being justified on the day of judgment before the law of God solely and only in Jesus Christ and nothing else.
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Abrako continues. Although no one can personally be righteous before God, one can nevertheless be innocent in a matter whereof he is accused by man, so that in this respect he can say, judge me,
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O Lord, according to my righteousness and according to mine integrity that is in me. Psalm 7, verse 8.
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That's relevant there. Yes, there's a sense in which we can say at times, judge me according to my righteousness when
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I'm accused falsely by men of being guilty of something of which I am not guilty. That was a passage that Peter Lightheart liked and wrote an essay about it.
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Judge me, Lord, according to my righteousness. Lightheart quotes from King Solomon's prayer at the dedication of the temple in I think it was 1
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Kings 8 .32 where he says, and Lord, give to every man according to his righteousness. Lightheart actually said that, yeah, we got to revise the section on justification in the
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Westminster Confession because this is talking about justification. Really? Really? Giving to a person according to the judicial law, according to his deeds, that has something to do with our justification before God?
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No, it's a total category error. Complete and total category error. Judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness. Is that the psalmist saying, yes,
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Lord, I'm righteous enough to get into heaven? Where do these people learn how to do exegesis? My goodness.
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Okay, listen to what Bracco continues on here. Therefore, in order for someone to be righteous before God, he must be righteous by way of the righteousness of the gospel.
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This is true for believers, 2 Corinthians 5 .21, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
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He continues, we shall next consider the word to justify or to make righteous. The meaning of these words must be derived from the original text.
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In Hebrew, we have the term, I'm actually, I'm not sure what the transliteration thing is here, but the term in Hebrew for righteousness, the way it's transliterated is not correct.
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It's actually tzedakah. In Greek, it's tekaiosune, that's the noun. In Latin, justificare, of which we are, which are translated into our language as to justify or to make righteous.
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The Latin and Dutch words could be interpreted to mean to change someone, that is, to change him from a sinful to a virtuous person.
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This resembles the word sanctificare, that is, to sanctify or to make holy.
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In Greek, that would be hagiazo. And glorificare, that is, to glorify or to make glorious.
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Listen closely now to what he says next. However, the words in the original text of the
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Bible never refer to the infusion of righteousness, that is, to the transformation of someone from being ungodly to being virtuous.
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Hear that? The word justified, to justify, the infinitive, the noun, the verb, never refer to making someone inherently righteous, ever.
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It is a forensic judicial term. Listen to what Abrakel says. Instead, its meaning is of a legal nature, and that's what forensic means, a legal nature, and it is therefore frequently translated as to justify.
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Sorry about that brief interruption. My daughter was knocking on my door. My eldest is engaged.
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And the ring that her fiancé got her didn't fit her finger, so they had to send it back and get it resized.
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And she's got it on, so she just came bursting into my door and wanted to talk, wanted to show me her ring. So I'm delighted.
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I love the young man that's marrying her, and we're very blessed with that.
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So we'll see. We'll see. Who knows? Maybe my little kids will end up being aunts and uncles when they're like two and three years old.
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So that'll be funny. If that happens. We'll see. So anyway. It would have been good if it had been translated as such at every occurrence.
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It would be better expressed. It would better express the meaning of the original text and avoid all ambiguity.
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I agree completely. Eustafakare in Latin is not a good translation of dikaio in Greek.
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It's just not. Because the Greek terms mean to pronounce righteous, to declare righteous.
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They don't mean to make righteous. It's sad, but that's what is at the heart of a lot of, like even
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Augustine doesn't fully understand the forensic nature of justification because of that very issue.
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But anyway. So that's the heart of justification before God, and there's a lot more in here.
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He talks about here a little bit further. How here, listen to this part here.
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How relevant is this justification, not infusion of holiness, but a divine judicial act.
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The act of justification is attributed to God as judge. He either acquits or condemns man.
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This raises the following question. Does the word justify when attributed to God ever mean to repent, to sanctify or to infuse holiness?
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Answer. The papists answer in the affirmative and we answer in the negative. They will admit that to justify occasionally means to acquit and is the antonym of to condemn.
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However, they deny that this applies to the doctrine of justification. They maintain that to justify refers to the act of transforming a man from being ungodly to being virtuous and thus refers to the infusion of righteousness.
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They make a distinction between a first and second justification. Is he talking about their
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Roman Catholicism, Roman Catholicism, but first and second just get initial justification and things like that.
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Where's that? Where's that Piper quote? I've got some of that here. Uh, there it is. Okay. Piper does speak about initial justification.
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Let's see. Let's get it here. Initial justification. There we go. Um, this is in a
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Piper's article does James contradict Paul. He says, quote, only faith obtains the verdict, not guilty.
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When we've become Christians, works of any kind are not acceptable in the moment of initial justification, right?
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Because we, we have this idea of future justification, future grace or future salvation, final salvation, whatever terminology you want to use.
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Abrakel is denying it here. What's his point? Justification is the final eschatological verdict.
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And if you don't think that, then what do you think Jesus was suffering at the cross? What do you think he was enduring when he died at the cross and when he lived his life of obedience?
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What does that achieve? Well, that just achieves the initial step towards salvation. And then you've got to complete it by your own works.
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No. At the cross, Jesus saved his people from their sins in his life. Jesus saved his people from their sins.
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They, the papists, make a distinction between a first and second justification. The first would occur at man's translation from his fallen state in Adam to a regenerate state and the second pertains to the progression in godliness, which is sanctification.
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You see what Abrakel was saying? If you believe that there's this first and second justification, he is saying, by necessity, you are conflating those two things.
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You are saying that justification is sanctification, which is exactly what the Council of Trent said.
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They define justification as not merely the remission of sins, but the inward renewal of the person.
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The renewal of the inward man. So they define justification as sanctification. Listen to Abrakel.
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Listen. Listen. Listen. We maintain, however, that nowhere in scripture does the infinitive to justify have this meaning.
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And I would maintain that too. It doesn't. And then he finishes. Rather, it always pertains to the act of a judge and is the antonym of to condemn.
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It thus means to acquit or to declare righteous. Right on.
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He's got it. And that is referring to the final judgment. At the last day. When Christ returns.
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Okay. And there's a lot more here, but I'm going to cut it off there. I might do another program and press on here.
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I need to keep reading this and highlight a few more things here. Because I can tell just from kind of glancing forward here, there's a lot more here.
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So hope this has been helpful. I'm going to try to do more frequent podcasts a little bit shorter and not post as many sermons.
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Although I'll still keep doing that. But thanks for watching or listening. This is
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Pastor Patrick Hines of Bridwell Heights Presbyterian Church, located at 108 Bridwell Heights Road in Kingsport, Tennessee.
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And you've been listening to the Protestant Witness Podcast. Please feel free to join us for worship any
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Sunday morning at 11 a .m. sharp, where we open the word of God together, sing his praises and rejoice in the gospel of our risen
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Lord. You can find us on the web at www .bridwellheightspca .org
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and may the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.