In this study I’m going to be defending the following points
concerning the doctrine of justification:
1. At the present time, only believers have been justified. Unbelievers
are presently excluded from this blessing.
2. Every believer is justified when, upon believing the evangel,
he or she is given the spirit of God by the authority of Christ.
It will be further demonstrated that these truths concerning
justification are not merely “relatively true.” Rather, they’re true from God’s
perspective (just as much so as the truth that, for example, Christ is sitting
at God’s right hand, or the truth that believers have not yet been vivified in
Christ).
I’ll begin my defense of the first point with a consideration of
what Paul wrote in Romans 3:21-26. In these verses we read the following:
Yet now, apart from law, a righteousness of God is manifest (being
attested by the law and the prophets), yet a righteousness of God through Jesus
Christ's faith, for all, and on all who are believing, for there is no
distinction, for all sinned and are wanting of the glory of God.
Being justified gratuitously in His grace, through the deliverance
which is in Christ Jesus (Whom God purposed for a Propitiatory shelter, through
faith in His blood, for a display of His righteousness because of the passing
over of the penalties of sins which occurred before in the forbearance of God),
toward the display of His righteousness in the current era, for Him to be just
and a Justifier of the one who is of the faith of Jesus.
When Paul referred to “all who are believing” in v. 22, he had
in mind those who have been given the faith to believe the evangel with which he
was entrusted to herald among the nations (Gal. 2:2) – i.e., the evangel that he
referred to elsewhere as “the evangel of the Uncircumcision” (Gal. 2:7)
and “the evangel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24)[i] –
and who have thus become members of that company of saints referred to by
Paul elsewhere as “the body of Christ” (1 Cor. 12:12-13, 27; Rom.
12:4-5) and “the ecclesia which is [Christ’s] body” (Eph.
1:22-23; 4:4; 5:23-24, 30). It is on these individuals that the “righteousness
of God” referred to in Rom. 3:21-22 has come (i.e., the righteousness
that is said to be “for all, and on all who are
believing”).
It’s
further evident from what we go on to read in verse 24 that to be one on whom
this righteousness of God has come is to be “justified gratuitously in His grace.” As is clear from the English translation of the Greek words translated
“justification” and “justify” in Scripture
(dikaiósis and dikaioó), these words are derived from a
word meaning “just” or “righteous” (dikaios). The most commonly-accepted
definition of “justify” is simply, “to declare or pronounce just, or
righteous.” In support of this definition, consider Luke 7:29 (where we’re told
that the “entire people, even the tribute collectors, justify God”), and
compare this verse with Paul’s quotation of Psalm 51:4 in Rom 3:4.
Now, as is evident from what we read elsewhere (see, for example, Rom. 3:26, 30;
4:5; 8:30, 33; Gal. 3:8), it is God
who is the Justifier of those who are said to be “justified
gratuitously in His grace.” Moreover, since there is no one who has been
“justified gratuitously in [God’s] grace” who doesn’t have the ”righteousness of God” referred to in Rom. 3:21-22 – and since
this righteousness of God is “on all who are believing” – it follows that those
who have been “justified gratuitously in [God’s] grace” are those who have
believed Paul’s evangel.
It’s further evident from v. 22 that the righteousness of God/justification
that is “for all, and on all who are believing” is “through Jesus
Christ’s faith.”[ii] This is further confirmed by what
we read in Galatians 2:15-16:
We, who by nature are Jews, and not sinners of the
nations, having perceived that a man is not being justified by works of law, except alone through the faith of Christ
Jesus, we also believe in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by the faith of
Christ and not by works of law, seeing that by works of law shall no flesh
at all be justified.
According to what we read here, “the faith of Christ Jesus” can
be understood as the basis on which
God justifies those who have been (or who will be) justified. In other words,
“the faith of Christ Jesus” is why
God is able to justify sinners. Moreover, since Christ’s obedience ”unto death, even the
death of the cross” (Phil. 2:8) was the ultimate expression of his faith in God,
it’s this act of obedience that Paul
likely had in mind when he referred to justification as being “through the
faith of Christ Jesus.” And just as we read in Rom. 3:22 that the righteousness
of God that’s “through the faith of Christ Jesus” is “for all,” so we later read in Rom. 5:19 that
it’s “through the obedience of the One” that “the many shall be constituted just.” The “all” of Rom.
3:22 refers to all mankind, and corresponds to “the many” of Rom. 5:19 (cf. v.
18, where it’s clear that “the many” is a reference to “all mankind”).
Now, concerning the nature of justification, we read the
following in Romans 4:5-8:
Yet to him who is not working, yet
is believing on Him Who is justifying the irreverent, his faith is reckoned for
righteousness. Even as David also is telling of the happiness of the man to whom God is reckoning righteousness
apart from acts: Happy they whose lawlessnesses were pardoned and whose
sins were covered over! Happy the man to whom the Lord by no means should be
reckoning sin!
Those to whom God is reckoning righteousness have been
justified by him (and vice-versa). It’s further evident that to be justified (or
declared just/righteous) by God is to be one “to whom the Lord by no means should be
reckoning sin.” It must be emphasized that, when God justifies sinners, it
doesn’t mean that God believes something that isn’t true about them. That is,
it doesn’t mean that God believes that those whom he has justified have never
sinned, or that they’re no longer sinners (for God can’t believe or affirm
anything that isn’t true). Instead, when God justifies sinners, it means he’s no longer reckoning their sins to them, and that the sinners are thus
no longer condemned (i.e., he regards them as no longer deserving of, or
liable to, the penalty of which they were formerly deserving). Thus, being
justified by God essentially means being freed from condemnation. This is
evident from Rom. 8:33-34, where we find Paul asking the following rhetorical
questions:
Who will be indicting God's chosen ones? God, the Justifier? Who is the Condemner? Christ Jesus, the One
dying, yet rather being roused, Who is also at God's right hand, Who is
pleading also for our sakes?
The implication in Paul’s contrast between “the Justifier” and
“the Condemner” is that justification and condemnation are opposite states. But what is the nature of the condemned state of those who haven’t yet been justified, and to whom
God is reckoning sin? Answer: In Romans 1:32, the
condemned state of unjustified sinners is described by Paul as follows: ”…those who,
recognizing the just statute of God, that those committing such things
are deserving of death, not only are doing them, but are endorsing, also,
those who are committing them.” In accord with the “just statute”
referred to in this verse, we read in Romans 6:22 that the “consummation” of
the things that people do as “slaves of sin” is “death.” And in the next verse,
Paul (personifying sin as if it were a human slave master) adds that “the ration of Sin is
death” – i.e., it is the “fixed portion” that sinners can expect
to receive as the judicial consequence of their sins.[iii]
Paul also makes it clear that there are some who, “in the day of
indignation and revelation of the just judgment of God,” will receive from
God “indignation and fury, affliction and distress” (Rom. 2:3-10).
That those who will be undergoing this adverse judgment from God will be
subject to it because of their sins is clear from what we go on to read in
verse 11: “For there is no partiality with God, for whoever sinned without law, without law also shall perish, and whoever sinned in law, through law will be judged.” This means that God
is going to be reckoning the sins of those who will be facing this adverse
judgment to them. In other words, those who must face this adverse judgment
(which will involve God’s indignation) will not have yet been justified by God.
In 1 Cor. 15:17-19, Paul wrote the following: “Now if Christ has not
been roused, vain is your faith – you are still in your sins! Consequently
those also, who are put to repose in Christ, perished.” For anyone to still be “in [their]
sins” means that God is still reckoning their sins to them. That this is the
case is evident from the fact that, in v. 18, it’s implied those who have died
while still being “in their sins” have “perished.” Since the saints to
whom Paul was referring in this verse were already dead at the time
he was writing, we can conclude that Paul was not using the word “perished” to
simply mean “died.” Rather, the word “perished” here communicates the idea of
dying in one’s sins (cf. John 8:21-24, where Christ told a group of unbelieving
Pharisees that, if they remained in unbelief, they would be “dying in [their]
sins”). Since dying in one’s sins means dying in a condemned state, we
can conclude that being “still in your sins” means remaining in a state of
condemnation (i.e., deserving of death).
Thus, apart from a change in their condemned status – that is,
apart from being declared righteous by God – everyone to whom God is reckoning
sins (and who are thus considered “deserving of death”) will, after
dying, remain deserving of death until they are “justified gratuitously in His grace.” It is for this
reason that those whose names will not be found “written in the scroll of life”
will be cast into “the lake burning with fire and sulfur, which is the second death” (Rev. 20:11-15;
21:8). Those whose names will not be found written in the scroll of life at the
time of this future judgment are not yet
justified by God, and will still be “deserving of death” (in accord with
God’s “just statute”). Rather than getting to enjoy eonian life on the new
earth (as will be the case for those whose names will be found
written in the scroll of life), these sinners must therefore die a second time
(and will remain dead until the
consummation when, in accord with 1 Cor. 15:22-26, death is abolished and all
are vivified in Christ).
Since the condemnation of which unjustified sinners are
deserving is death, it follows that God’s justification of sinners involves
declaring them undeserving of death. However, we know that, at the
consummation, all are going to be vivified in Christ (and will thus no longer
be deserving of death). In accord with this fact, we read in Romans 3:22 that
the blessing of justification is “for
all” (for it was procured for all through Christ’s death). This
means that all are going to be justified, eventually. Until then, the blessing
of justification is only “on all who are believing.”
In contrast with what we find affirmed in Rom. 3:22, there are
some who believe that the justification of all mankind actually occurred when Christ
died for our sins. But that’s contrary to what’s revealed in Scripture. As
noted earlier, when God justifies someone, they’re no longer condemned – i.e.,
they’re regarded by God as being no longer deserving of death (or any expression of divine indignation),
and are no longer among those whom we’re told will be facing “indignation and fury,
affliction and distress” in “the day of indignation and revelation of the just judgment of God” (Rom. 2:5-10).
Since there are many who will suffer the adverse judgment referred to here, it’s
evident that they have not yet been justified. Again, it’s clear from Romans
3:22 that the righteousness that one is declared to have when justified by God
is “on all who are believing” (which implies
that it’s not presently on unbelievers).
In addition to what we read in this verse, there are other
verses that make it clear that justification is not the present blessing of
all, but rather a blessing that, at the present time, is only being given to
those who believe the evangel. For example, in Rom. 3:27-31 we read the
following:
Where, then, is boasting? It is debarred! Through
what law? Of works? No! But through faith’s law. For we are reckoning a man to be justified by faith apart from works of
law. Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not of the nations also? Yes,
of the nations also, if so be that God is One, Who will be justifying the Circumcision out of faith and the
Uncircumcision through faith. Are we, then, nullifying law through faith? May it not be coming to
that! Nay, we are sustaining law.
Here it’s
evident that the faith of which Paul was writing – and which is the faith by
which one is justified “apart from works of law” – is the believer’s faith
(i.e., the faith that one has when one believes the evangel). This faith is the
God-given “channel” through which we receive the blessing of justification.
That Paul
had in mind the faith of the believer is further confirmed by what we go on to
read in Romans 4 (where Paul uses Abraham as an example of one who believed
God, and whose faith was consequently “reckoned for righteousness”). For
example, in verse 5 we read, “Yet to him who is not working, yet is believing on Him Who is justifying the irreverent, his faith is
reckoned for righteousness.” And in v. 11, Abraham
is referred to as “the father of all those who are believing through uncircumcision, for righteousness to be reckoned to them…” The
rest of this chapter (see verses 12-25) makes it abundantly clear that the
faith through which God reckons righteousness to (i.e., justifies) sinners is
the faith that they have when they
believe the evangel concerning the death and resurrection of Christ.
Although it’s certainly true that the believer’s faith has
been given to them by God (Rom 12:3; Phil 1:29),
it’s equally true that the faith we have when we believe the evangel (and by
virtue of which one can be called a “believer”) is the faith that God “reckons
for righteousness.” And for God to reckon the faith of the believer “for
righteousness” is equivalent in meaning to God’s justifying the believer (i.e.,
declaring him or her righteous).
We go on to read the following in Rom. 5:1-2:
Being, then, justified
by faith, we may be having peace toward God, through our Lord, Jesus Christ,
through Whom we have the access also, by
faith, into this grace in which we stand, and we may be glorying in
expectation of the glory of God.
It’s only believers who have been “justified by faith,” and
who “may be having peace toward God.” Unbelievers can’t have “peace toward
God,” because they haven’t yet been justified by God. And it’s because they
haven’t yet been justified that, on them, “the
indignation of God is coming” (Eph. 5:6; Col. 3:5-7). In contrast,
believers are not appointed to God’s indignation (1 Thess. 5:4-11), and are
thus promised salvation from it. In Romans 5:8-9 we read the following:
“…yet God is commending this love of His to us, seeing that while
we are still sinners, Christ died for our sakes. Much rather, then, being now justified in His blood, we shall
be saved from indignation, through Him.”
Notice that it’s those who are “now
justified in [Christ’s] blood” who “shall be saved from indignation,
through [Christ].” The indignation of God that Paul had in view here is that
which will be manifested during the day of the Lord (1 Thess. 1:10; 5:4-11).
Since it’s only believers who shall
be saved from this coming indignation, we can conclude that those referred to
as having been “now justified in His
blood” are believers as well.
Even where it’s revealed by Paul that Christ’s faith is the
basis on which God is able to justify believers, Paul is equally clear that it
is those who believe in Christ who have been “justified by the faith of Christ.”
Here, again, is Galatians 2:15-16:
We, who by nature are Jews, and not sinners of the
nations, having perceived that a man is not being justified by works of law,
except alone through the faith of Christ Jesus, we also believe in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by the faith
of Christ and not by works of law, seeing that by works of law shall no
flesh at all be justified.
So the blessing of justification of which Paul was writing here
is not a blessing that unbelievers have received at this time. It is only
believers – those whom Paul said “believe in Christ Jesus” – who have been
“justified by the faith of Christ and not by works of law.” In Galatians 3:7-9
we read,
Know, consequently, that those of faith, these are sons of Abraham. Now the scripture,
perceiving before that God is justifying
the nations by faith, brings before an evangel to Abraham, that In you
shall all the nations be blessed. So that those
of faith are being blessed together with believing Abraham.
The blessing of which Paul wrote here is justification. And
according to Paul, this blessing is received “by faith” – i.e., the kind of
faith that Abraham had when he “believes
God, and it is reckoned to him for righteousness” (Gal. 3:6). Thus, while
Christ’s faith is the basis for our justification, it is our faith (the faith
God gives us when we believe the evangel) that is the channel through which the
blessing of justification is given.
The last passage I’ll consider in this section is
Romans 8:28-30:
Now we are aware
that God is working all together for the good of those who are loving God, who
are called according to the purpose that, whom He foreknew, He designates
beforehand, also, to be conformed to the image of His Son, for Him to be
Firstborn among many brethren. Now whom He designates beforehand, these He calls also, and whom He calls,
these He justifies also; now whom He justifies, these He glorifies also.
Contrary to what some believe
regarding when the justification of sinners takes place (or when it took place),
Paul is providing us with an absolute viewpoint here. It’s not merely
“relatively true” that God foreknew believers (i.e., singled them out in his
mind beforehand) and designated them beforehand to be conformed to the image of
Christ. Nor is it merely “relatively true” that the same ones who were
designated beforehand by God are subsequently called and justified by him.
Everything of which Paul wrote here is true from God’s perspective. Thus, just
as the glorification of those in the body of Christ is subsequent to our
justification, so our justification is subsequent to our being “called” by God.[iv]
Justified by the spirit of our God
In 1 Corinthians 6:11 Paul reveals how believers are justified:
“…but you are bathed off, but you are hallowed, but you
were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our
God.”
From this verse it’s evident that our justification is both “in the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ” (i.e., it occurs by his authority) and it’s “by the spirit of our God.”
In Titus 3:4-7, Paul wrote the following concerning the
connection between our justification and the holy spirit:
Yet when the kindness and fondness for humanity of
our Savior, God, made its advent, not for works which are wrought in
righteousness which we do, but according to His mercy, He saves us, through the bath of renascence and renewal of holy spirit,
which He pours out on us richly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, that, being
justified in that One's grace, we may be becoming enjoyers, in expectation, of
the allotment of life eonian.
Notice that the holy spirit by which we’re justified is said to
be poured out on us richly “through
Jesus Christ, our Savior.” In other words, Christ is the agent
through whom God gives us the holy spirit (which is in accord with the fact
that our justification is in Christ’s name – i.e., it occurs by his authority).
Moreover, those whom Paul described as being saved “through the bath of
renascence and renewal of holy spirit” are believers. That is, Paul was referring to those of whom we read the
following in 1 Cor. 12:13: “For in one spirit also we all are baptized into one body whether Jews
or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and all
are made to imbibe one spirit.”
And it’s the very same people on whom the holy spirit has been
richly poured out through Christ who have been ”justified
in that One's grace,” that “we may be becoming enjoyers,
in expectation, of the allotment of life eonian.”
Another passage in which the connection between our
justification and the spirit of God is made clear is Galatians 3:5-9. In these
verses we read the following:
“…did you get the spirit by works of law or by the hearing of faith, according as
Abraham believes God, and it is reckoned
to him for righteousness? Know, consequently, that those of faith, these
are sons of Abraham. Now the scripture, perceiving before that God is justifying the nations by faith, brings
before an evangel to Abraham, that In you shall all the nations be blessed. So that
those of faith are being blessed together with believing Abraham.”
The answer to Paul’s question is that those to whom he wrote had
received the spirit “by the hearing of faith” (and not “by works of law”). In
other words, it was by hearing and believing the evangel that they received the
spirit (just as, in the case of Abraham, it was by hearing and believing God’s
promise to him that righteousness was reckoned to him; cf. Rom. 4:1-5, 16-22).
In Galatians 3:13-14, Paul went on to refer to the obtaining of
“the promise of the spirit” as if it were inseparable from “the blessing of
Abraham” (which, in the previous verses, is identified as justification by
faith):
“Christ reclaims us from the curse of the law, becoming a curse for
our sakes…that the blessing of Abraham
may be coming to the nations in Christ Jesus, that we may be obtaining the promise of the spirit through faith.”
The
“spirit” to which Paul was referring in these verses (and which the Galatian
believers are said to have received “by the hearing of faith”) is, of course,
the spirit of God by which we’re justified (and which is poured out on us
through Christ). This spirit is obtained “through faith” – i.e., through faith
in the evangel that was entrusted to Paul to herald among the nations.
In Romans 8:1 we read that, “Nothing,
consequently, is now condemnation to
those in Christ Jesus.” In other words, after having
received the spirit of God, there is nothing that
“those in Christ Jesus” (i.e., believers) can do that can result in our
being condemned. For we who are in the body of Christ, it’s impossible for our
sins (past, present or future) to result in condemnation. The reason for this is
provided in the next verse: “For the spirit's law of
life in Christ Jesus frees you from the law of sin and death.”
The “law of sin and death” refers to the fact that sin results
in condemnation (being deserving of death). In accord with this fact, we read
in 1 Cor. 15:56 that “the sting of Death is sin, yet the power of sin is the law.” When Paul wrote
that the “sting of death is sin,” he was essentially saying that sin is what
gives death the ability to injure us. Death is the judicial consequence of
sin. However, since those who are “in Christ Jesus” have received the spirit of
God (and have thus been justified), we have been set free from this “law of sin
and death.” Although we still sin in these mortal bodies, our sins cannot make us deserving of death.
We go on
to read in Romans 8:9-11 what’s in store for those who, because of “the
spirit’s law of life,” have been freed “from the law of sin and death”:
Yet you are not in flesh, but in spirit, if so be
that God’s spirit is making its home in
you. Now if anyone has not Christ's spirit, this one is not His. Now if
Christ is in you, the body, indeed, is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is life because of
righteousness. Now if the spirit of
Him Who rouses Jesus from among the dead is making its home in you, He Who
rouses Christ Jesus from among the dead will also be vivifying your mortal
bodies because of His spirit making its home in you.[v]
It’s only believers (and not unbelievers) in whom “the spirit of Him Who
rouses Jesus from among the dead is making its home.” And because this
spirit is making its home in
believers, God is going to “be vivifying [our] mortal bodies,” just as he roused
Jesus from among the dead (cf. Phil. 3:21, where we read that Christ “will transfigure the
body of our humiliation, to conform it to the body of His glory”). We’re thus told
that “the spirit is life because of righteousness.” That is, the
spirit to which Paul is referring in the immediate context (i.e., God’s spirit)
is a source of life for us because of the fact that it’s making its home in us
(which, again, is how we’re
justified/made righteous by God, and thus made undeserving of death).
In accord with what we read of the future vivifying work of the
indwelling spirit in this passage, Paul went on to refer to this spirit given
to believers as follows in verses 22-23:
For we are aware that the entire creation is
groaning and travailing together until now. Yet not only so, but we ourselves also, who have the
firstfruit of the spirit, we ourselves also, are groaning in ourselves, awaiting the sonship, the deliverance of
our body.
Here it’s implied that having “the firstfruit of the spirit” is
what will result in believers receiving “the sonship, the deliverance of our
body” (i.e., the vivification/glorification of our body). In accord with this
understanding, we read the following in Ephesians 1:13-14:
“In Whom you also–on hearing the word of truth, the evangel of your
salvation–in Whom on believing also, you
are sealed with the holy spirit of promise (which is an earnest of the enjoyment of our allotment, to the
deliverance of that which has been procured) for the laud of His glory!”
Later, Paul referred to this spirit as “the holy spirit of
God by which [we] are sealed for the day of deliverance” (Eph. 4:30) –
i.e., the day when we receive “the deliverance of our body,” and are thus
glorified/conformed to the image of Christ (Rom. 8:29-30; see also 2 Cor. 1:22
and 5:1-6, where Paul used the expression “the earnest of the spirit” in connection
with our being made immortal).
Being justified by faith and being sealed with the holy spirit
of promise when believing the evangel are not two different blessings; rather,
Paul was simply referring to the same blessing in two different ways. Being
sealed with the holy spirit of promise is how
the believer is justified/declared righteous by God (for it is by this spirit – which is “the spirit
of our God” – that we’re justified).
That our justification takes place when we receive the holy spirit is further evident from the fact
that, when we believe the evangel, we’re sealed
with this spirit “for the day of deliverance.” Since everyone who receives this
spirit will necessarily be vivified
by Christ at the appointed future time referred to by Paul in 1 Cor. 15:50-55
and 1 Thess. 4:14-18, it necessarily
follows that everyone who has this
spirit has been justified (i.e., is no longer condemned/deserving of death),
and everyone who has been justified has
this spirit. And because we’re “sealed” with the spirit for this “day of
deliverance,” it follows that the justification of everyone in the body of
Christ is permanent. It cannot be undone by anything we do or fail to do.
[i] In 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 we read the following concerning the elements of this evangel:
Now I am making known to you, brethren, the evangel which I bring to you, which also you accepted, in which also you stand, through which also you are saved, if you are retaining what I said in bringing the evangel to you, outside and except you believe feignedly. For I give over to you among the first what also I accepted, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that He was entombed, and that He has been roused the third day according to the scriptures…
To believe that “Christ died for our sins” is to believe that Christ died so that our sins would be eliminated/taken away. That is, Christ died so that our sins would cease to be reckoned to us by God, and we would thus be justified. This means that the sins for which Christ died – which include the sins of all mankind – shall be (and not merely “can be,” or “may be”) eliminated as a source of condemnation.
Moreover, the evangel that Paul heralded among the nations (and which essentially includes the truth that “Christ died for our sins”) should be distinguished from the evangel that was entrusted to, and heralded by, the apostle Peter (for a defense of this point, see the following three-part study: http://thathappyexpectation.blogspot.com/2019/10/revisiting-two-evangels-controversy.html). The evangel heralded by Peter (the “evangel of the Circumcision”) is a message that was being heralded to Israel before Paul was called to be an apostle (and before the body of Christ came into existence), and is a message that concerns Jesus’ Messianic identity and the kingdom that is going to be restored to Israel (hence it is also referred to as “the evangel of the kingdom”).
[ii] For a defense of the translation “through Jesus Christ’s faith,” see my remarks in the fourth footnote for the following article: https://thathappyexpectation.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-golden-chain-of-salvation-study-on_21.html.
[iii] That Paul had in mind literal death here in Romans 6:22 is evident from the contrast made in v. 23 (where we read that “the ration of Sin is death, yet the gracious gift of God is life eonian, in Christ Jesus, our Lord”). Because eonian life involves being literally alive during the eons to come (i.e., the “oncoming eons” referred to by Paul in Eph. 2:7), so the alternative fate – i.e., death – involves being dead during these future periods of time.
[iv] We know that it’s through the evangel that God calls those whom he has
designated beforehand (Gal. 1:6-7; 2
Thess. 2:13-14). However, the “calling” that Paul had in mind in these verses
is not a general “calling” that one can choose to ignore or fail to respond to.
It is, instead, a calling from God that invariably results in the justification
of those whom he calls. This is evident from v. 30, where we find that the same individuals who are called by God
are justified by God also. It’s not simply the case that all who are justified
were also called (which might imply that only some who are
called end up being justified). Rather, everyone that Paul referred to as being
called by God end up justified as well. Thus, the nature of this calling must
be such that it involves a person’s meeting the conditions necessary to being
justified. And since only those who believe Paul’s gospel are presently being
justified, the “calling” which Paul had in view must involve one’s
being given the faith necessary to being justified.
Paul referred to this special “calling” in 1 Corinthians 1:21-29:
For since, in fact, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom knew not God, God delights, through the stupidity of the heralding, to save those who are believing, since, in fact, Jews signs are requesting, and Greeks wisdom are seeking, yet we are heralding Christ crucified, to Jews, indeed, a snare, yet to the nations stupidity, yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God, for the stupidity of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For you are observing your calling, brethren, that there are not many wise according to the flesh; not many powerful, not many noble, but the stupidity of the world God chooses, that He may be disgracing the wise, and the weakness of the world God chooses, that He may be disgracing the strong, and the ignoble and the contemptible things of the world God chooses, and that which is not, that He should be discarding that which is, so that no flesh at all should be boasting in God's sight.
Notice that, according to Paul’s use of the word “call,” those who are called are not merely those to whom his evangel is heralded. Among those to whom Paul and his co-laborers heralded the evangel, only some were “called.” Thus, being “called” involved more than simply hearing the evangel. It involved believing it as well. Although those who were called by God were called through the heralding of Paul’s evangel, their being called necessarily involved being given the faith to believe. And so it is for those in the body of Christ today. It is through the evangel that we’re called by God, but our calling involves more than simply having the evangel presented to us. It involves being given the faith to believe it.
[v] Some have understood “God’s spirit” to be distinct from “Christ’s spirit” in this passage. However, we know that God’s spirit can be referred to in different ways depending on what it’s function is (see the following article from BiblicalUnitarian.com for a defense of this point: https://www.biblicalunitarian.com/verses/1-peter-1-11). It should also be kept in mind that (1) Christ is the first man in whom this spirit has “made its home” and permanently indwells, and (2) Christ is the one through whom God gives the spirit to the believer. This being the case, I see no good reason why the same spirit of God couldn’t be referred to by Paul as both “God’s spirit” and “Christ’s spirit” in this passage. This doesn’t, of course, mean that Christ doesn’t have his own personal spirit (i.e., the spirit that he committed to God right before he died); it’s simply that we need not understand Paul to have been referring to this spirit in this passage.
