“Justification means something God does. Indeed, it means a very specific thing God does.” It is true that God also regenerates, sanctifies, and glorifies; but these are not the same as justification. “Justification has a distinct meaning.” What is this meaning? The noun usually translated “justification” is dikaiosis; the verb “to justify” is dikaioo. These terms are from the same word family as “righteous” (dikaios) and “righteousness” (dikaiosyne), which suggests that justification has something to do with righteousness. The problem is to identify the proper connection between them.
In Christian theology since the Reformation there have been two main competing views of the meaning of justification as it relates to righteousness. One is that justification means that God declares us righteous by imputing righteousness to us; the other is that justification means that God makes us righteous by imparting righteousness to us.
You are leaving out a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very important point. Stop leaving it out. The righteousness is imputed..... on the basis of our being able to stand before God to plead the case for salvation. We do not plead our own case. That is not what I am saying. We do stand before God. No one can stand before God and live. Those God justifies can stand before God. To those God justifies he imputes righteousness.
Justification is not the same thing as imputing righteousness; they are intrinsically related, not identical.
Herein lies one of the major differences between classic Roman Catholicism and Reformation Protestantism. To most Protestants this view of justification is seriously wrong and is a major stumbling block to a proper overall understanding of salvation and to a Christian life of peace and assurance. They understand God’s act of justification to be not the impartation of righteousness, but the imputation of righteousness. “To justify” means not to make righteous, but to declare righteous, to count or accept as righteous. The state of justification is not an ever-increasing holiness of character, but a complete right legal standing before the law of God and a freedom from the law’s penalty. This is generally the Reformation (Protestant) understanding. I am presenting it here as the biblical view. That justification means to declare righteous rather than to make righteous is seen in the use of the verb dikaioo in Luke 7:29, which says literally that the people who heard Jesus’ teaching about John the Baptist “justified God” (KJV). Obviously this cannot mean that the people made God righteous; they were simply declaring or acknowledging him to be righteous. Thus the NASB translates this as “They acknowledged God’s justice,” and the NIV says they “acknowledged that God’s way was right.”
The NIV is wrong and you're still not being clear. Re-read that paragraph. You did not specify the "
They..." Is it RCC or Prots who understand justification is the
impartation of righteousness, and not
imputation? Can you see how you were not clear there? Can you also see this is a red herring because no one is talking about the RCC view? If you and I share a Prot view and the Prot view is imputation, then you and I do not need to waste a single sentence talking about what someone who is not here believes. We can and should be focusing on the one single, solitary, lone point I broached way back at Post #126.
In synergist soteriology justification does not occur at the same time as salvation, which is exactly what Post 126 states.
That is correct; justification is not synonymous with salvation. However, justification occurs at the very same instant of salvation. Here, I take salvation to mean that point in the life of the penitent believer when God changes him from being a lost sinner to being a saint and given eternal life. There are several different words and phrases that point to that instant in the life of the one who has been saved. Those different words and phrases are not always present in every instance the subject is broached, but always implied.
There are only two options here: Either 1) You're not synergist, or 2) You're contradicting your own synergist doctrine of salvation. That is the crux of the issue and nothing else. Post 150 is a lengthy avoidance of that one single, solitary, lone point. You picked one sentence out of Post #116 and qualified it to say justification occurs at the same time as salvation. I was telling Buff justification, not salvation, is by faith. Buff posted salvation is
by faith. Scripture never states any such thing. Scripture states justification is by faith. You affirm the latter but then say justification and salvation co-occur.
They cannot co-occur if faith precedes regeneration.
Post 150 wasted both our time because it does not address that problem. Most of Post 150 are points that are not in dispute between us, but they contradict some of you own posts so I am telling you to take more time, be clearer, and make sure you are not contradicting yourself our your own synergist soteriology.
Grace is a gift from God. Faith is a gift from God. Salvation by grace through faith is a gift from God. The whole thing. Not one part only or another part only; the whole clause. The plain reading is very much disputed with a portion reading the Ephesians 2 passage to say only grace is gifted, others to say only the salvation is gifted, and still others to say everything before "gift" is the gift. The faith
through which salvation occurs is a gift; it is not of ourselves. Salvation is not by faith, Salvation is through faith. Justification occurs by faith, but not salvation.
Therefore, when you say justification and salvation co-occur, they are different by co-occur, and you ALSO say, "
The 'through faith' is the means whereby one gains access to that particular aspect of God's grace," you're making the same mistake Buff made. This is undeniable if you also believe, "
Every competent person has the will to either believe in God and His son—or reject them," as Buff claimed.
- Justification is by faith.
- Salvation is through faith, the means whereby one gains access to that particular grace.
- Justification and salvation are different.
- Justification and salvation co-occur.
- Salvation is a gift.
That is what you have posted. The problem is synergism teaches
faith precedes regeneration. To be wholly accurate, synergism teaches it is the fleshly faith of the unregenerate, sinfully dead and enslaved sinner working apart from the Spirit gifting faith that saves, and competent sinner has the will to believe. The sinner asserts his ungifted faith and thereby gains access to at least one of the particulars of God's grace.
That's just a fancy way of saying salvation is
by faith.
That is not what scripture teaches.
This cannot possibly 
