Johannes Maccovius, Theological Distinctions XIII.
James Dodson
Chapter XIII
Of Justification
I. Justification is of one kind active, of another passive.
Verbals ending in -io are often taken in this way. For God justifies, and we are justified.
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II. Passive justification is posterior to faith.
It is posterior to passive faith, because by faith we receive the remission of sins. Acts 26:18.
III. God justifies us in one way; Christ the Mediator in another; the Holy Spirit in another; faith in another; good works in another.
God justifies us by in no way imputing sins, and by imputing the righteousness of Christ. Christ, by meriting; the Holy Spirit, by applying; good works, by declaring; faith, by receiving. The latter two are usually expressed by theologians thus: Faith justifies effectively; good works declaratively.
IV. Justification is a moral act of God, not a real one.
There is a twofold action of God in the sinner. One is moral, which is justification. The other is real, which is regeneration. The moral, as we have said, consists in this: that He does not impute sins to us, but imputes the righteousness of Christ. The real consists in the real removal of sin.
V. Our justification does not occur by degrees.
Because all our sins, together and once for all, were cast upon Christ. But this must be understood of active justification;—
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—for passive justification occurs as often as a man, repenting, apprehends the remission of sins by faith.
VI. In the Lord’s Prayer, when we ask for the remission of sins, we do not ask for the act itself, but for its application and sense.
The theologians dispute: if, they say, sins are remitted to us by one act, why then do we ask that remission be made in the Lord’s Prayer? Response. We ask with respect to application and sense, not with respect to the act.
VII. By our justification guilt is removed, but sin is not removed as to fact.
The Papists dispute whether guilt can be removed and yet not sin. Response. It is affirmed, because sin can be in a man, and yet the guilt of it not be imputed to him.
VIII. Faith alone justifies, not faith which is solitary.
There is a distinction between alone and solitary. Thus the eye alone sees, but it is not solitary when it sees; that is, it is not separated from the other parts and members. So the foot alone walks, but not solitarily.
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IX. Actual faith justifies, not habitual faith.
The Holy Spirit testifies this in Acts 26: “By faith,” He says, “we receive remission of sins and an inheritance among the saints.” Objection. But faith ceases in one who sleeps. Therefore justification will also cease. Response. This is denied. For faith is a moral act in justification; and a moral act need not be perpetually occurring, but it is sufficient that it has occurred or that it sometimes occurs.
X. Justification is never removed in believers, but the sense of it is sometimes removed, as happens in temptations.
It is often read in the Holy Scriptures that believers are so afflicted that they think themselves cast away from the face of God; that is, they are deprived of the sense of the grace of justification, which at length returns. For God does not allow His own to be tempted beyond what they are able to bear. 1 Corinthians 10:13.
XI. Justification imputed is one thing; putative justification is another.
When the Papists hear from us that our righteousness is nothing unless imputed, they slander us as though our righteousness were imaginary. But these are very distinct things, as anyone can see.
XII. Righteousness is imputed to us morally, not physically.
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It is asked whether righteousness is in us. Response. Not physically, that is, inherently; but morally, that is, by imputation.
XIII. Righteousness is one thing as righteousness of the person, another as righteousness of the cause.
The righteousness of the person is that by which we stand before the face of God. The righteousness of a cause is that which can even fall to reprobates; for someone can have a good cause who is nevertheless alien from the Church. Of this righteousness David speaks: “Lord, judge me according to my righteousness, and according to my integrity pronounce concerning me.”
XIV. Justification is a forensic act of God.
The Papists dispute with us what it is to justify, and they say that it is to make one righteous by infusion of righteousness. We deny this, and say that it signifies nothing other than to absolve from sin, as in Romans 4 and 5.
XV. Justification is such an act of God as is never revoked.
That is, he who has once been justified remains so forever. Objection from Matthew 18: where it is said that grace was withdrawn from him to whom it had been forgiven. Response. An argument is not to be drawn from parables except according to the scope.
XVI. Good works do not precede the one who is to be justified—
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—but follow the one justified.
This is Augustine’s rule, founded on Scripture: for he who is not justified is an evil tree, and an evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit. Matthew 7.