Justification by Faith

But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. ROMANS 4:5

Wesley’s opponents in the Church of England often accused him of neglecting good works. His Calvinist friends sometimes accused him of teaching that we are saved by them. Both were wrong, and the sermon that shows it most clearly is Justification by Faith, the fifth in his collected sermons. It is a calm, closely argued piece, and its answer to the oldest question of religion — how can a sinner be right with God? — is as clear as anything the Reformers wrote.

Two Adams

Wesley begins where Paul begins, with the two heads of the human race. By the sin of the first Adam, who was the father and representative of us all, we all fell short of the favour of God and became children of wrath. In the fullness of time Christ was made man, “a second general Parent and Representative of the whole human race.” He bore our sins in His own body on the tree, and by His sacrifice God has given the world a new covenant, whose plain condition being met, there is no more condemnation.

For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. ROMANS 5:19

This is the ground of the whole doctrine. We are not justified by our own obedience, but by the obedience of Another. Everything that follows depends on what Christ has done.

What justification is not

Wesley then clears away confusions, and it is characteristic of him that he spends as much time on what justification is not as on what it is.

It is not, first, the being made actually just and righteous. That is sanctification. Sanctification, he says, is indeed the immediate fruit of justification, but it is a distinct gift of God and of a totally different nature. Justification is what God does for us through His Son; sanctification is what He works in us by His Spirit. The two are never separated in experience, but they must not be confused in thought. If they are confused, people begin to think that God accepts them because they are becoming holy, and then they have lost the gospel.

Nor, secondly, does justification mean that God is deceived about us. It does not mean that He thinks us to be what we are not, or counts us righteous while pretending not to see our sin. God judges truly. He does not confuse us with Christ.

What justification is

What then is it? Wesley’s answer is plain: “The plain scriptural notion of justification is pardon, the forgiveness of sins.” It is that act of God the Father by which, for the sake of the propitiation made by the blood of His Son, He shows forth His righteousness by the remission of sins that are past. To the one who is justified, God will not impute sin. His sins are covered and blotted out, and he is accepted as though he had never sinned.

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. PSALM 32:1–2

This definition is deliberately simple. Wesley was suspicious of elaborate theories, and he wanted his hearers to grasp the main thing. When God justifies a sinner, He forgives him, fully and freely, and receives him into His favour.

Who are justified: the ungodly

The third question is the most startling. Who are the people God justifies? Wesley answers from his text: the ungodly. Not the good, not the religious, not those who have begun to reform themselves, but the ungodly of every kind and degree, and none but the ungodly.

This, he says, is why so many miss the gospel. They think they must first become holy and then be forgiven. But it is the sick who need a physician, and the lost whom the Shepherd seeks. It is not a saint whom God justifies, but a sinner. Holiness is the fruit of justification, not its condition.

They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. MATTHEW 9:12

Wesley is careful here, because he knew the charge that such preaching encourages sin. But he would not soften the point. Whoever comes to God for pardon must come as a mere sinner, bringing nothing but ungodliness and pleading nothing of his own but sin and misery.

On what terms: faith alone

The fourth question is how the ungodly are justified, and the answer is: by faith alone. Justifying faith, Wesley says, is not only a conviction that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, but “a sure trust and confidence that Christ died for ‘my’ sins, that he loved ‘me,’ and gave himself for ‘me.’” The personal pronouns carry the weight; he even marks them in the text. It is not enough to believe that Christ died for the world. The justified sinner trusts that He died for me.

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. GALATIANS 2:20

The moment God gives such faith, it is counted for righteousness. Faith is not a work that earns pardon; it is itself the gift of God. And why did God fix faith as the only condition? Wesley suggests one reason: to hide pride from man. Pride, he reminds us, destroyed the angels. God has chosen a way of salvation in which no one can boast.

The appeal

The sermon ends with one of Wesley’s great appeals, and it is worth hearing in its own voice. “Thou ungodly one, who hearest or readest these words! thou vile, helpless, miserable sinner! I charge thee before God, the Judge of all, go straight unto him, with all thy ungodliness.” Plead no works, he says, no righteousness of your own, no humility, contrition or sincerity. Plead only the blood of the covenant, the ransom paid for your proud, stubborn soul.

Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. JOHN 1:29

Where to read with care

Some readers in the Reformed tradition have felt that Wesley was vague about the imputation of Christ’s righteousness, and he did at times hesitate over that phrase, fearing it could be used to excuse sin. His later sermon The Lord Our Righteousness shows that he held the substance of it, even if he was cautious about the language. And some of his followers were later less careful than he was in keeping justification distinct from sanctification. On the main question, though, this sermon stands with Paul, Augustine, Luther and the Anglican Homilies: we are accounted righteous before God only for the merit of our Lord Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our own works or deservings.

FOR REFLECTION AND ACTION

1. Wesley says God justifies the ungodly. Do you still think you must become better before God will forgive you? Bring that thought to Him.

2. Write out Galatians 2:20 and underline every me. Pray it back to God as your own.

3. Distinguish in your own mind what God does for you in Christ and what He does in you by His Spirit. Thank Him for both.

4. Is there anything — your sincerity, your church-going, your repentance — that you have been pleading before God instead of Christ? Lay it down.

5. Read Justification by Faith in the Sermons on Several Occasions, and then read The Lord Our Righteousness beside it.

A PRAYER

Holy God, I come to You as I am, ungodly and with nothing to plead. I bring no works, no righteousness and no sincerity of my own.

I plead only the blood of Jesus, who was delivered for my offences and raised again for my justification.

Thank You that for His sake You forgive all my sins and receive me into Your favour. Let me not forget that He loved me and gave Himself for me.

Hide pride from me, and let all my boasting be in the Lord. Amen.