Informe Anual 2014
TRANSPLANTADAS TORTUGUILLOS LIBERADOS
CHAPTER vine enabling, but does the Bible teach that when I believe
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I am simply giving God’s gift back to Him? To protect the The Saving biblical teaching on salvation by grace through faith alone, Work of must we insist that the faith is not really mine, but God’s? Christ Some cite certain verses as evidence for such an opinion. J.I. Packer says, “God is thus the author of all saving faith (Eph. Phil. H. C. Thiessen states that there is “a divine and human side of faith,” and then goes on to say, “Faith is a gift God (Rom. 2 Pet. 1: 1 sovereignly given by the Spirit of God (1 Cor. cf. Gal. Paul speaks of the whole aspect of salvation as being a gift of God (Eph. and surely that includesBut the question needs to be asked: Do all the references cited unequivocally refer to “saving” faith? That does not seem to be the case with Romans and 1 Corinthians and certainly not with Galatians The faith in view in these verses refers to faith (or faithfulness) in the ongoing experience of believers. The verse in Ephesians is question- able, because the genders of “faith” and of the pronoun “this” are different. Ordinarily a pronoun will agree in gender with its antecedent. Paul means that the whole matter of our being saved is God’s gift, as distinct from achieving it by works. The other two verses (Phil. and 2 Pet. 1 come closest to suggesting that faith as a gift of God follows regeneration. Louis Berkhof says, “True saving faith is a faith that has its seat in the heart and is rooted in the regenerate life.” Could we, however, look at these verses differently? For example, “Faith is man’s response. Faith is made possible by God, but the faith, the believing, is not God’s but Faith is not a work but an outstretched hand that reaches out to accept God’s gift of salvation.“’
REGENERATION
When we respond to God’s call and the drawing of the Spirit and the Word, God performs sovereign acts that bring us into His kingdom family: He regenerates those who are dead in trespasses and sins; He justifies those who stand con- demned before a holy God; and He adopts those who are children of the enemy. Although these occur simultaneously in the believing person, we can look at them separately.
1. Packer, “Faith,” in
269.
Systematic Theology, 503. Williams, Theology, vol. 2, See chap. 12, pp. 401, 414, 417-18.
Regeneration is the decisive and instantaneous action of the Holy Spirit in which He recreates the inner nature. The noun for “regeneration” (Gk appears just twice in the New Testament. Matthew uses it in reference to the end times. Only in Titus does the word refer to the spiritual renewing of an individual. Although the Old Testa- ment has national Israel primarily in view, the Bible uses different images to describe what takes place. The Lord will “remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh” (Ezek. 11: 19). God says, ‘I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will give you a new heart and a new spirit in you. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees’ (Ezek.
God will put His law “in their minds and write it on their hearts” He will circumcise their hearts so that they may love Him (Deut.
The New Testament has the image of being created anew (2 Cor. and of renewal (Titus but the most com- mon image is that of “being born” (Gk. “beget” or “bear”). Jesus said, ‘I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again’ (John Peter states that through God’s great mercy He “has given us new birth into a living hope” ( 1 Pet. It is a work that God alone does. Being born again speaks of a radical transforma- tion. But a maturing process is still needed. Regeneration initiates us into growing in our knowledge of God, in our experience of Christ and the Spirit, and in our moral
JUSTIFICATION
If regeneration effects a change in our nature, justification effects a change in our status with God. The term refers to that act by which, on the basis of the infinitely righteous and satisfactory work of Christ on the cross, God declares con- demned sinners to be free from all the guilt of sin and from its eternal consequences and declares them to be fully righ- teous in His sight. The God who detests “acquitting the guilty” (Prov. maintains His own justice while justifying the guilty because Christ has already paid the full penalty for sin
also John 1: 13; Pet. 1 John
See chap. 16, pp. 559-61, for a discussion of the relation of water baptism to regeneration. Billy Graham, (Garden City, N.Y.:
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The Saving Work of
Christ
Systematic Theology: A Pentecostal Perspective
(Rom. l-26). We, therefore, can and do stand before God fully acquitted.
To describe God’s action of justifying us, the terms used by both the Old Testament (Heb. Exod. Deut. 25: 1; 1 Kings Prov. 17: 15) and the New Testament (Gk. Matt. Rom. suggest a judicial, forensic setting. We must not see it, however, as a legal fiction in which it is are righteous when in fact we are not. Because we are in Him (Eph. Jesus Christ has be- come our righteousness (1 Cor. God credits, reckons, (Gk. His righteousness to our account; it is im- puted to us.
In Romans Paul uses two Old Testament examples to argue for imputed righteousness. Of Abraham it was said that he “believed the and he credited [Heb. it to
him as righteousness” (Gen. This occurred before Abra- ham had obeyed God in relation to the covenant sign of circumcision. In perhaps an even more dramatic way, Paul quotes Psalm in which David pronounces a blessing on “the man whose sin the does not count against him” see also 2 Cor. To put to one’s account the righ- teousness of another apart from any good a person may do is glorious enough. But to not hold the person accountable for his or her sins and evil acts is more glorious still. In justifying us God has graciously-and justly, because of Christ’s sacrifice---done both.
How does justification take place with reference to the believer? The Bible makes two things abundantly clear. First, it is not because of any good work on our part. In fact, “Christ died for nothing” if righteousness comes by obedience to the Law (Gal. Any person who seeks to be righteous by obeying the Law stands under a curse (Gal. has been “alienated from Christ,” and has “fallen away from grace” (Gal. Anyone who believes he or she is more justified after serving the Lord for five or fifty-five years or who thinks good works gain merit with God fails to understand this biblical teaching.
Second, at the very heart of the gospel stands the truth that justification finds its source in the free grace of God (Rom. and its provision in the blood Christ shed on the cross (Kom. and we receive it through faith (Eph. Very commonly, when the idea of justification occurs in the New Testament, faith (or believing) can be found joined to it (cf.
Acts Rom. Gal. Faith
is never the ground of justification. The New Testament never
The Order of Salvation 367
says justification is diapistin, “on account of faith,” but always CHAPTER
pisteos, “through faith.” The Bible does not regard faith
as meritorious, but rather as merely a hand outstretched to
receive God’s free gift. Faith has always been the means of The Saving
justification, even in the case of the Old Testament saints (cf. Work of
Gal. Christ
Having been justified by grace through faith we do and will experience great benefits. We “have peace with God” (Rom. and preservation “from God’s wrath” (Rom. We have the assurance of final glorification (Rom. and pres- ent and future freedom from condemnation (Rom.
see also 8: 1). Justification leads to our becoming “heirs ac- cording to the hope of eternal life” (Titus NRS). In praise of justification, Charles Wesley wrote:
No condemnation now I dread; I am my Lord’s and He is mine; Alive in Him, my living Head, And clothed in righteousness divine.“’
ADOPTION
God does more, however, than give us right standing with himself. He also brings us into a new relationship; He adopts us into His family. A legal term, “adoption” is that act of sovereign grace by which God gives all the rights, privileges, and obligations of being in His family to those who receive Jesus Christ. Although the term does not appear in the Old Testament, the idea does (Prov. The Greek word “adoption,” appears five times in the New Tes- tament, only in Paul’s writings, and always with a religious sense. In becoming the children of God we do not, of course, become divine. Deity belongs only to the one true
The New Testament teaching on adoption takes us from eternity past, through the present, and to eternity future (if such an expression is appropriate). Paul says that God “chose us in him [Christ] before the creation of the world” and
the hymn, “And Can It Be?” in Sing His Praise (Springfield, MO.:
Gospel Publishing House, 199 1 294.
‘The teaching exists that, because of creation, all people arc children of God. Although there is a sense in which that is true, in the New Testament only those who are “in Christ” are the adopted children of God, with the full rights of being heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. McConnell, A Different Gospel. Especially chapter 7, Doctrine of Identification,”