Special Issue—Justification by Faith: A Historical Evaluation

Download or read book Special Issue—Justification by Faith: A Historical Evaluation written by Various and published by Living Stream Ministry. This book was released on 2024-12-01 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this issue of Affirmation & Critique we depart from our usual collection of articles and departments and instead present a condensation of a recently published evaluation of justification by faith across the various historical Christian traditions. The two-volume evaluation, entitled "Challenging the Traditional Interpretations of Justification by Faith," looks at the teaching of justification by faith from the early church to modern times in light of the Scriptures and the ministry of Watchman Nee (1903-1972) and Witness Lee (1905-1997). While the truth concerning justification by faith may seem to be basic and hardly contestable, the fact is, few believers have more than a rudimentary understanding of this matter in God's full salvation, and many believers fail to appreciate the importance of coming to a full knowledge of this foundational truth. Indeed, many believers today seem stranded on the shores of traditional understandings of this truth and are therefore held back from the full benefit of their justification before God. By examining these traditional interpretations, one by one and in their historical contexts, the shortcomings and the advances in understanding are easily perceived, and we are greatly helped in our appreciation and apprehension of the truth concerning justification by faith. What seemed to be basic and unworthy of our attention now becomes a vital foundation for our whole Christian life, giving us great boldness for the progress and joy of our faith. While being justified by God is something at the beginning of our complete salvation--following the forgiveness and the washing of our sins (Eph. 1:7; Heb. 1:3)--it is impossible to progress in our full salvation without the assurance and without the security that come with a proper realization and experience of justification by faith. The faith that joins us to Christ as righteousness for our justification is the very faith that permeates and operates throughout all of God's salvation work in His believers (1 Tim. 1:4), and thus, a proper understanding of justification by faith sets us on the right path to the full salvation of our entire being. Our hope is that in reading these accounts of the church's advancing understanding of justification by faith across the millennia, our readers will come to the same appreciation and the same boldness that we have arrived at in writing these accounts.