 |
| Herman Bavinck (1854-1921). |
Disclaimer: in spite of its length, what follows is only a small part of a much longer discussion that Herman Bavinck (1854–1921) offers on the topic of justification. For Bavinck's fuller treatment, see Chapter 3 of the work referenced at the end of the quotation.
"It [is] possible for us to regard faith as simultaneously a receptive organ and an active power. If in every respect justification comes after faith, faith becomes a condition, an activity that has to be performed in advance and cannot be purely receptive. But if the righteousness on the basis of which we are justified exists completely outside of us in Christ Jesus, it can naturally be appropriated by us only because we accept it in childlike faith. 'The forgiveness of sins is a thing promised for Christ's sake. Therefore it can be accepted only by faith, since a promise can be accepted only on faith' (Apology of the Augsburg Confession, art. 4, pars. 40-47). Faith, therefore, is not the material or formal cause of justification; it is not even a condition or instrument (instrumental cause) of justification, for it does not relate to justification as, for example, the eye to seeing or the ear to hearing. Faith is not a condition on which, and not an instrument or organ by which, we receive this benefit, but the very act of accepting Christ and all his benefits as he by his Word and Spirit offers himself to us, and faith therefore includes the consciousness that he is my Lord and that I am his possession. Faith therefore is not an instrument in the true sense, one that serves as the means by which a person accepts Christ, bur is a sure knowledge and firm confidence that the Holy Spirit works in one's heart and by which he [the Spirit] persuades and assures people that, despite all their sins, they share in Christ and all his benefits.
But if this is saving faith, it cannot be a 'knowledge of history' or a 'bare assent' to certain truths; then it is by in very nature a living and active faith, and it is nor in every respect antithetical to all work. It constitutes a contrast to the works of the law in a double sense, that is, in the fact that the latter can neither be the material nor the instrumental cause of justification. It is also antithetical to the works of faith (infused righteousness, obedience, love) the moment these are in even the slightest degree regarded as a ground for justification, as constituting in part or in whole the righteousness on the basis of which God justifies us. For that is Christ and Christ alone. Faith itself is not a ground for justification; neither, therefore, are the works that proceed from it.
But faith is not opposed to working if by it one should mean that only a dead inactive faith can justify us. For the dispute between Rome and the Reformation was not about whether we are justified by an active or an inactive faith, by a living or a dead faith. But the question was, as it was for Paul, whether faith with its works justifies us before God or in our conscience, or whether faith justifies apart from works. Nor is faith opposed to the works of faith insofar as these works, as the fruits of faith, are used by the Holy Spirit to assure believers of the genuineness of their faith and thus of their salvation. In this sense faith itself is even a work (John 6:29), the best work and the principle of all good works. The Reformed therefore also said that indeed, 'it is faith alone that justifies: nevertheless the faith that justifies is not alone,' and spoke, in addition to 'the justification of the sinner' also of a 'justification of the righteous.' In this sense Paul and James are also in agreement. Granted, it is not correct to say that Paul speaks only of the 'justification of the sinner' whereas James speaks of the 'justification of the righteous.' Bur both deny that the ground of our justification consists in the works of the law, and both acknowledge that faith, that is, living faith, the faith that includes and produces good works, is the means by which the Holy Spirit assures us of our righteousness in Christ. In this connection the only difference is that Paul fights against dead works while James wages a campaign against a dead faith. The faith that justifies is the certainty—produced in our hearts by the Holy Spirit—of our righteousness in Christ. Therefore, not the more passive but the more lively and forceful it is, the more it justifies us. Faith, accordingly, is active along with works and is 'brought to completion by the works' (James 2:22)."
Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics: Vol. 4: Holy Spirit, Church, and New Creation (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2008), 221-223.
