The Reformed Doctrine of

Justification by Works:
Historical Survey and Emerging
Consensus

Rich Lusk

It is well known that the Protestant Reformation unearthed the

glorious biblical truth of justification by faith alone. But it is not as
well known that the early Calvinistic Reformers taught a “second
justification”1 by works, based on texts such as Mathew 25:31–46, 2
Corinthians 5:8–10, and James 2:14–26.2
This “justification not of the sinner but of the righteous,”
declared “in the recognition of inherent righteousness, by no means
perfect but nevertheless genuine,”3 has largely disappeared in
Protestant theology in our day, but it was a significant feature of the
Reformed doctrine for several generations. This doctrine was
remarkably different from the Roman Catholic conception of the place
of works (and merit) in justification. All of the theologians addressed
here, past and present, are undoubtedly committed to Jesus Christ as
the sole ground of forgiveness and vindication. They are all
unequivocally and indisputably committed to sola fide. But they do not
believe sola fide rules out a further phase of justification in which
works are taken into consideration as the fruit and evidence of a living
faith; indeed, their commitment to sola scriptura and tota scriptura

1
Heinrich Heppe, Reformed Dogmatics: Set Out and Illustrated from the Sources,
trans. G. T. Thomson (London: George Allen and Unwin, Ltd., 1950), 562f.
2
Romans 2:1-16 might deserve inclusion in this list of “second justification” texts,
except that the exegetical tradition is very uneven. Several early Reformed
commentators, such as John Calvin, took 2:1-11 as actual, and 2:12-16 as
hypothetical, with regard to eschatological justification. As we will note towards the
end of this essay, the best contemporary evangelical and Reformed biblical
theologians do not read any of the passage hypothetically; instead, they see it as
teaching an actual eschatological justification of faithful believers according to their
works.
3
Heppe, Reformed Dogmatics, 563.
2 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk

demand that they teach such a doctrine. As will be seen, these

justifying works are treated as a necessary condition of final
justification, but they are never regarded as meritorious in any way.
Rather, they are viewed from within the circle of faith and grace.
“Future justification according to deeds” was never treated as stand
alone doctrine, but as circumscribed and contextualized by (prior)
justification by faith and (more broadly) Spirit-wrought union with
Christ. In the Reformed doctrine of “double justification,” the second
justification by works presupposes and rests upon the first justification
by faith.4
It is my aim to show that some notion of “second justification”
according to works is well attested in the history of the evangelical
Protestant movement, even if receives precious little treatment in our
contemporary preaching and teaching. (Indeed, in many cases, it is
openly rejected as a compromise of the Reformational gospel! Nothing
could be further from the truth.) In my historical survey, I am not
attempting to be comprehensive, but representative. At the end of the
paper, I hope to demonstrate that this double justification doctrine
(initial justification by faith alone, followed by a second justification
according to works in the eschatological judgment) is re-emerging as a
“consensus position” among today’s leading evangelical and
Reformed biblical theologians.
Obviously, theologians develop their own peculiar
vocabularies and forms of expression. We do not approach our subject
searching for strict uniformity in formulation. In this paper, we are
looking for quotations of at least three sorts: [a] quotations that affirm
God’s merciful judgment of the works of his believing people in this
life and especially at the last day; [b] quotations that affirm that works
arising from faith play a non-meritorious but decisive role in the final
judgment, resulting in believers’ final acquittal; and [c] quotations that
affirm that the final judgment of God’s people is not merely about
rewards added to salvation, but salvation itself. A final caveat before
we begin our survey: Space does not permit a full analysis of the
quotations offered here, and readers should not assume the cited
authors are above criticism or that their formulations cannot be

4
Some theologians in the Reformed tradition, especially more recently, have been
much more comfortable speaking of a single justification that unfolds in two phases
(the “already” and the “not yet”), rather than multiple justifications, but this
difference is rather minor.
 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk 3

improved upon in various ways. But I have attempted to provide

enough context to leave the meaning of the quotations unmistakable.5

Vintage Reformed Theology

Our discussion begins where it must, with John Calvin.6 Calvin

believed a final judgment according to works could have a positive
outcome for the believer. Because God has already accepted our
persons in Christ, he may now accept our works in Christ as well.
Commenting on 2 Corinthians 5:10, Calvin says:

God in rewarding good deeds does not look to merit or

worthiness. For no work is so full and complete in all its
parts as to be deservedly well-pleasing to him, and farther,
there is no one whose works are in themselves well-
pleasing to God, unless he render satisfaction to the whole
law. Now no one is found thus to be perfect. Hence the
resource is in his accepting us through unmerited goodness,
and justifying us, by not imputing to us our sins. After he
has received us into favor, he receives our works also by
a gracious acceptance. It is on this that the reward hinges.
There is, therefore, no inconsistency in saying, that he
rewards, provided we understand that mankind,
nevertheless, obtains eternal life gratuitously.

In another place, commenting on Romans 3:22, Calvin writes:

Hence faith is said to justify, because it is the instrument by

which we receive Christ, in whom righteousness is
conveyed to us. Having been made partakers of Christ,
we ourselves are not only just, but our works also are
counted just before God, and for this reason, because
whatever imperfections there may be in them, are

5
In the quotations included in this paper, I have occasionally added my own
emphasis to draw attention to particular expressions that are especially notable.
6
Quotations from Calvin’s commentaries are taken from Calvin’s Commentaries:
Twenty-Two Volume Set (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, reprint, 1993).
Quotations from Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion taken from the
translation by Ford Lewis Battles (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1960).
4 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk

obliterated by the blood of Christ; the promises, which

are conditional, are also by the same grace fulfilled to us;
for God rewards our works as perfect, inasmuch as
their defects are covered by free pardon.

His analysis of Phinehas’ justification as described in Psalm

106:31 makes the same points. Calvin affirms a second imputation of
works as righteous:

It remains, therefore, that we affirm that the work of

Phinehas was imputed to him for righteousness, in the
same way as God imputes the works of the faithful to
them for righteousness, not in consequence of any
intrinsic merit which they possess, but of his own free
and unmerited grace…Besides, were our works strictly
examined, they would be found to be mingled with much
imperfection. We have, therefore, no other source then to
flee for refuge to the free unmerited mercy of God. And not
only do we receive righteousness by grace through faith,
but as the moon borrows her light from the sun, so does the
same faith render our works righteous, because our
corruption being mortified, they are reckoned to us for
righteousness. In short, faith alone, and not human
merit, procures both for persons and for works the
character of righteousness…But righteousness by works
is as it were subordinate (as they say) to the
righteousness just mentioned, while works possess no
value in themselves, excepting, as far as, out of pure
benevolence, God imputes them to us for righteousness.

God imputes his people as righteous in Christ; following this,

he imputes their good-but-imperfect, Spirit-wrought works as
righteous in Christ as well. For Calvin, even as justification by faith is
contained within union with Christ, so justification by works is
contained within justification by faith. Justification by works is a
subordinate, secondary aspect of justification by faith.
Calvin makes it clear that while God approves of and rewards
our Spirit-generated good works with eternal glory, they have no merit
in their own right. In his Institutes (3.15.4, 3.17.3), Calvin develops
this doctrine more fully:
 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk 5

[When God] examines our works according to his

tenderness, not his supreme right, he therefore accepts
them as if they were perfectly pure; and for this reason,
although unmerited, they are rewarded with infinite
benefits, both of the present life and also of the life to
come. For I do not accept the distinction made by
learned and otherwise godly men that good works
deserve the graces that are conferred upon us in this
life, while everlasting salvation is the reward of faith
alone. On the other hand, so to attribute to the merit of
works the fact that we are showered with grace upon grace
as to take it away from grace is contrary to the teaching of
Scripture . . . Whatever, therefore, is now given to the
godly as an aid to salvation, even blessedness itself, is
purely God’s beneficence. Yet both in this blessedness and
in those godly persons, he takes works into account. For in
order to testify to the greatness of his love towards us, he
makes not only us but the gift he has given us worthy of
such honor…

Finally, while they [the Sophists] repeatedly inculcate good

works, they in the meantime so instruct consciences as to
discourage all their confidence that God remains kindly
disposed and favorable to their works. But we, on the
other hand, without reference to merit, still remarkably
cheer and comfort the hearts of believers by our
teaching, when we tell them they please God in their
works and are without doubt acceptable to him . . .

[T]he promises of the gospel…not only make us

acceptable to God but also render our works pleasing to
him. And not only does the Lord adjudge them pleasing;
he also extends to them the blessings which under the
covenant were owed to observance of his law. I therefore
admit that what the Lord has promised in his law to the
keepers of righteousness and holiness is paid to the
works of believers, but in this repayment we must
always consider the reason that wins favor for these
works.
6 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk

Now we see that there are three reasons. The first is: God,
having turned his gaze from his servants’ works, which
always deserve reproof rather than praise, embraces his
servants in Christ, and with faith alone intervening,
reconciles them to himself without the help of works. The
second is: of his own fatherly generosity and loving-
kindness, and without considering their worth [used here in
the sense of “merit”], he raises works to this place of honor,
so that he attributes some value to them. The third is: He
receives these very works with pardon, not imputing the
imperfection with which they are all so corrupted that they
would otherwise be reckoned as sins rather than virtues.

And this shows how deluded the Sophists are, who thought
they had neatly got around all these absurdities by saying
that works of their own intrinsic goodness are of no avail
for meriting salvation but by reason of the covenant,
because the Lord of his own liberality esteemed them so
highly. Meanwhile they did not observe how far those
works, which they meant to be meritorious, were from
fulfilling the conditions of the promises unless preceded
by justification resting on faith alone, and by
forgiveness of sins, through which even good works
must be cleansed of spots. Of the three causes of
liberality, then, which make the works of believers
acceptable, they noted only one, and suppressed two – and
the chief ones at that!

Note that Calvin says our works are repaid with an eternal
reward (“everlasting salvation”), even though it is unmerited! Our
works have “value” (though not merit), because God judges us with a
certain fatherly tenderness. In a masterful synthesis of the biblical
material, he rejects the flawed doctrine of the Sophists, but without
losing theological balance.
In his Antidote to the Council of Trent, Calvin gives a careful,
precise delineation of the true doctrine of “justification of works”:

I say that it is owing to free imputation that we are

considered righteous before God; I say that from this also
 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk 7

another benefit proceeds, viz., that our works have the

name of righteousness, though they are far from having
the reality of righteousness. In short, I affirm, that not
by our own merit but by faith alone, are both our
persons and our works justified; and the justification of
works depends on the justification of the person, as the
effect on the cause. Therefore, it is necessary that the
righteousness of faith alone so precede in order, and be
so preeminent in degree, that nothing can go before it or
obscure it.7

In his commentary on Malachi 3:17, he explains how God

actually approves of the obedience of believers:

The second promise refers to another grace—that God

in his mercy would approve of the obedience of the
godly, though in itself unworthy to come into his
presence…It is therefore necessary, even when we strive
our utmost to serve God, to confess that without his
forgiveness whatever we bring deserves rejection rather
than his favor. Hence the Prophet says, that when God is
reconciled to us, there is no reason to fear that he will reject
us, because we are not perfect; for though our works be
sprinkled with many spots, they will yet be acceptable
to him, and though we labor under many defects, we
shall yet be approved by him. How so? Because he will
spare us; for a father is indulgent to his children, and
though he may see a blemish in the body of his son, he will
not yet cast him out of his house; nay, though he may have
a son lame, or squint-eyed, or singular for any other defect,
he will yet pity him, and will not cease to love him: so also
is the case with respect to God, who, when he adopts us as
his children, will forgive our sins. As a father is pleased
with every small attention when he sees his son submissive,
and does not require from him what he requires from a
servant; so God acts; he repudiates not our obedience,
however defective it may be…God also, though their

7
Quoted in Peter Lillback, The Binding of God: Calvin’s Role in the Development of
Covenant Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001), 188.
8 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk

works are unworthy of his favor, will yet count them as

acceptable, even through pardon, and not on the
ground of merit or worthiness.

Again, for Calvin, there is a “twofold acceptance” of believers

before God: first of our persons, second of our works. Calvin always
explains the latter in terms of the former (Institutes, 3.17.5):

This is the “acceptance” which Peter mentions [Acts

10:34; cf. 1 Pt. 1:17] whereby believers are, after their
call, approved of God also in respect of works [cf. 1 Pt.
2:5]. For the Lord cannot fail to love and embrace the
good things he works in them through his Spirit. But
we must always remember that God “accepts” believers
by reason of works only because he is their source and
graciously, by way of adding to his liberality, deigns
also to show “acceptance” toward the good works he
has himself bestowed . . . Whence, also, are these works
reckoned good as if they lacked nothing, save that the
kindly Father grants pardon for those blemishes and spots
which cleave to them? To sum up, by this passage he
means nothing else but that God’s children are pleasing
and lovable to him, since he sees in them the marks and
features of his own countenance. For we have elsewhere
taught that regeneration is a renewal of the divine image in
us. Since, therefore, wherever God contemplates his
own face, he both rightly loves it and holds it in honor,
it is said with good reason that the lives of believers,
framed to holiness and righteousness, are pleasing to
him.

The Father approves not only of the Son’s work for us, but the
Spirit’s work in us. According to Calvin, this means our works possess
a real righteousness, though apart from merit, since they are the
product of grace. When God judges the works of his people, they will
find his favor. This judgment of works presupposes justification by
faith and imputed righteousness/forgiveness. Again, from the Institutes
(3.17.8-10):
 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk 9

After forgiveness of sins is set forth, the good works that

now follow are appraised otherwise than on their own
merit. For everything imperfect in them is covered by
Christ’s perfection, every blemish or spot is cleansed
away by his purity in order not to be brought in
question at the divine judgment. Therefore, after the
guilt of all transgressions that hinder man from bringing
forth anything pleasing to God has been blotted out, and
after the fault of imperfection, which habitually defiles
even good works, is buried, the good works done by
believers are accounted righteous, or what is the same
thing, are reckoned righteousness [Rom. 4:22] . . .

They cannot deny that justification by faith is the

beginning, the foundation, the cause, the subject, the
substance, of works of righteousness, and yet they
conclude that justification is not by faith, because good
works are counted for righteousness. Let us have done
then with this frivolity, and confess the fact as it stands; if
any righteousness which works are supposed to possess
depends on justification by faith, this doctrine is not
only not impaired, but on the contrary confirmed, its
power being thereby more brightly displayed. Nor let us
suppose, that after free justification works are commended,
as if they afterwards succeeded to the office of justifying,
or shared the office with faith. For did not justification by
faith always remain entire, the impurity of works would be
disclosed. There is nothing absurd in the doctrine, that
though man is justified by faith, he is himself not only not
righteous, but the righteousness attributed to his works is
beyond their own deserts.

In this way we can admit not only that there is a partial

righteousness in works (as our adversaries maintain), but
that they are approved by God as if they were
absolutely perfect. If we remember on what foundation
this is rested, every difficulty will be solved. The first time
when a work begins to be acceptable is when it is
received with pardon. And whence pardon, but just
because God looks upon us and all that belongs to us as
10 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk

in Christ? Therefore, as we ourselves when ingrafted

into Christ appear righteous before God, because our
iniquities are covered with his innocence; so our works
are deemed righteous, because every thing otherwise
defective in them being buried by the purity of Christ is
not imputed. Thus we may justly say, that not only
ourselves, but our works also, are justified by faith
alone. Now, if that righteousness of works, whatever it be,
depends on faith and free justification, and is produced by
it, it ought to be included under it and, so to speak, made
subordinate to it, as the effect to its cause; so far is it from
being entitled to be set up to impair or destroy the doctrine
of justification…

Accordingly, we can deservedly say that by faith alone

not only we ourselves but our works as are justified.

This “works righteousness” is not some form of legalism or

covenant nomism (to use contemporary terminology): In Calvin’s
doctrine of justification, we “get in” by grace alone, but also “stay in”
by grace alone. Our works only find acceptance with God because our
persons are already accepted by God in Christ. Indeed, as Calvin says,
in Christ, even “our works also, are justified by faith alone.” Apart
from justification by faith in Christ, our persons and works would be
condemned.
Again, biblical passages which speak of believers being
“repaid” for their works are only describing the “inheritance”
promised to faithful sons (Institutes 3.18.2). “Nothing is clearer than
that a reward is promised for good works to relieve the weakness of
our flesh by some comfort but not to puff up our hearts with
vainglory. Whoever, then, deduces merit of works from this, or weighs
works and reward together, wanders very far from God’s own plan”
(Institutes 3.18.4). For Calvin, justification by faith paves the way for
justification by works; sola fide envelops, contains, and contextualizes
God’s favorable judgment of our deeds.8
Turning from Calvin to his close friend Martin Bucer, we find
the same doctrine of “double justification,” first of faith and imputed

8
A very helpful discussion of the role of good works in Calvin’s soteriology can be
found in Lillback’s fine volume, The Binding of God.
 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk 11

righteousness, second of works and inherent righteousness. Bucer was

the driving force, at least on the Protestant side, at the Regensberg
Colloquy in 1541. Calvin and Melancthon were also participants in the
meeting with Roman Catholic theologians, aimed at finding common
ground and reuniting a splintering Christendom. While the parties
actually achieved agreement on an article of justification, the Colloquy
itself failed when other doctrinal disagreements could not be settled.
Neither Martin Luther nor the Pope ultimately approved of its
proceedings. However, the portion of the Book of Regensberg on
justification remains historically important and instructive in showing
us what Bucer and his colleagues were comfortable with in terms of a
doctrine of justification.
The draft of the article on justification spoke of two kinds of
justification, distinguished yet inseparable:

For the sake of sound instruction, and in order that the

harmony of the Scriptures, which give the appearance of
being divided in this matter, may shine forth, we observe
that a double justification is set forth in the Scriptures:
one, which Christ calls regeneration, the Apostle Paul calls
the justification of the ungodly, which is due to none of our
preceding works or merits but is now received freely
through faith…

The second is the justification of works which arise out

of the root of the faith received, and of love, and which
brings faith itself to perfection, as St, James says. It
cleaves to the first [justification] as if by an indissoluble
bond and wholly depends upon it…this is also called
sanctification in the Scriptures…

When these things are considered in this way, the

Scriptures also speak and teach about that justification
which arises out of our zeal and good works, by which
the just man is increasingly justified, and by which the
righteousness of Christ increases in us daily, takes hold of
the increase and is perfected, but yet to be fulfilled in the
future life…
12 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk

Therefore, this is our daily renewal and reformation,

and the justification which arises from it for us before
God and man is always enlarged and promoted by good
works, but not by the works of the law or of death, but
truly by works of the Spirit which are love, joy, peace,
patience, long-suffering, goodness, kindness, gentleness,
faith, modesty, continence and chastity…

And therefore it is not absurd to say that the regenerate are

sanctified and justified through this kind of works of faith
and love, provided only that they be done in the faith
received in the first justification.9

The parties at Regensberg were simply following and building

upon Augustine, who described two kinds of righteousness, the first,
“the righteousness of God, wherewith he clothes man when he justifies
the ungodly,” the second, “the justification whereby we do what he
commands,” resulting in “a lesser righteousness belonging to this
life.”10
The final version of the Regensberg Book spoke, in more
Lutheranesque terms, of two kinds of righteousness, rather than a
double justification:11

Therefore, it is firm and sound doctrine that the sinner is

justified by a living and efficacious faith, for through it, we
are pleasing and acceptable to God for the sake of
Christ…This is so because faith which is truly justifying is
that faith which is efficacious through love…And yet,
however, he who is justified also receives and possesses
through Christ an inherent righteousness…Therefore, the
holy fathers employed [the expression] “to be justified”

9
See Phillip Pederson, “The Religious Colloquy of Regensberg (Ratisbon), 1541,”
an unpublished dissertation submitted to the faculty of the Divinity School at the
University of Chicago, 1978, especially 347–348, 376, 378, 382.
10
Pederson, “The Religious Colloquy of Regensberg (Ratisbon), 1541,” 243-4.
11
Pederson, “The Religious Colloquy of Regensberg (Ratisbon), 1541,” 244-5. Of
course, Luther rejected the Regensberg synthesis, ultimately dooming the influence
of the colloquy: “Luther’s opinion about the original form of the Regensberg articles,
while moderate in tone, was sufficiently negative to dampen hopes of winning the
reformer’s approval for the discussions at Regensberg” (97).
 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk 13

also in the sense of receiving inherent righteousness…And

so by faith in Christ we are justified or reputed just, that is
accepted, through his merits, not because of our worthiness
or works. And in addition, because of inherent
righteousness, we are called righteous because we do things
which are righteous, according to the statement of John,
“He who performs righteousness is righteous.”12

In his Common Places, Bucer unfolds his doctrine of

justification. Regarding the good works of believers, he writes,

Scripture says that God renders to every man according to

his works. Now because this is true, Augustine rightly
strove for its truth to be acknowledged, and also held that
an understanding of what James wrote, ‘Abraham was
justified by works, not by faith alone,’ was not irrelevant
here. But while on the one hand he regarded these very
works which he recompenses with honor and glory and
whereby he makes it manifest that his own are counted as
righteous in his sight, as the free gifts of God, he never
claims that they can be effective as the ground of our
acceptance before God, for unless we first believe that we
have been accepted by him on the basis of mercy alone, we
are unable to perform any good works…

For the very righteousness and the good works wrought in

us by the Spirit of Christ constitute the visible evidence of
that unmerited acceptance of ours in the sight of God. For
unless we ourselves are counted by God as good and
righteous nothing that belongs to us can be reckoned
good or righteous.13

12
Pederson, “The Religious Colloquy of Regensberg (Ratisbon), 1541,” 385, 386,
387.
13
Martin Bucer, The Common Places of Martin Bucer, trans. D. F. Wright
(Appleford, Abingdon, Berkshire, England: The Sutton Courtenay Press, 1972), 165,
166. Wright introduces Bucer’s section on justification with these words:

This extract clearly illustrates Bucer’s distinctive approach to the doctrine

of justification, viz., his refusal to separate the imputing from the imparting
of righteousness, that is, the gift of pardon and reconciliation from the
14 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk

Bucer goes on to say that in the matter of teaching a second

justification by evangelical works, “the early Fathers are at one with
us, and do not conflict either with Philip Melanchthon or with all the
others…”14
Because Bucer never gave a fully systematic and
comprehensive exposition of his doctrine of justification in one place,
it is easier to cite expert summaries than piece together excerpts from
the Reformer’s writings. Alister McGrath writes:

Bucer developed a doctrine of double justification: after a

‘primary justification,’ in which a man’s sins are forgiven
and righteousness imputed to him, there follows a ‘second
justification,’ in which man is made righteous: the
iustificatio impii, expounded by Bucer on the basis of St.
Paul, is followed by the iustificatio pii, expounded on the
basis of St. James. While Bucer is concerned to maintain a
forensic concept of primary justification, he stresses the
need for this to be manifested as good works in the
secondary justification. Although man’s primary
justification takes place on the basis of faith alone (sola
fide), his secondary justification takes place on the basis of
his works. While Bucer maintains the forensic nature of the
primary justification, he stresses the need for this to be

production of the godly life in us through the Holy Spirit. The latter is
God’s public attestation of the former. Bucer stresses, of course, that the
actual righteousness effected in us by the Spirit is never sufficient to merit
divine acceptance; we always stand in need of mercy, and so justification is
always ‘by faith.’ Nevertheless he is able to speak regularly of a twofold
justification, the one of remission of sins through faith, the other as God’s
rewarding of good works not as of payment due but by his gracious
honoring in man his own gifts, which is a decidedly Augustinian way of
speaking.
14
Bucer, Common Places, 167. Bucer is exactly right that to claim that this doctrine
of final justification by works is attested in the church fathers. Besides the well
known saying of Augustine, “When God rewards human works, he is not crowning
our merits, but his own gifts of grace, “ consider the words of St. Patrick’s “Lorica”
hymn, which comforts believers with the hope of hearing “the sweet ‘Well done’ in
judgment hour.” The church fathers did not always carefully distinguish initial and
final justification; that kind of precision became a key issue in the Reformation.
 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk 15

manifested in good works…Bucer clearly considers the

role of piety in the Christian life to be of sufficient
importance to require explicit incorporation into a doctrine
of justification…[In Bucer’s ordo salutis there is an] initial
justification by faith, and a subsequent justification by
works.15

From Reformed Orthodoxy to Late Puritanism16

The successors of the Protestant movement, the “Reformed

scholastics,” worked towards a Reformed consensus, seeking to
systematize, codify, and build upon the work of the magisterial
Reformers. On the whole, they maintained the double justification
doctrine of Calvin and Bucer, even citing those earlier theologians
with great frequency to prove the point. Later controversies would
obscure, marginalize, and prune out the doctrine, but it must still be
considered a part of the Reformed tradition. Major Reformed
theologians who taught some form of “second justification” from the
time of the Reformation to the waning of Puritanism include Philip
Melanchthon (1497-1560),17 George Major (1502-1574),18 Thomas

15
Alister MacGrath Iustitia Dei: A History of the Christian Doctrine of Justification,
Second Edition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), 223–224. An
excellent summary of “double justification” as taught in Calvin, Bucer, and
Regensberg is found in Anthony N. S. Lane’s Justification by Faith in Catholic-
Protestant Dialogue: An Evangelical Assessment (London and New York: T & T
Clark, 2002), 33–36, 49–60. Lane’s provides a quite positive assessment of the
Regensberg synthesis in his essay “Twofold Righteousness: A Key to the Doctrine of
Justification: Reflections on Article 5 of the Regensberg Colloquy” (1541), ch. 8 in
Justification: What’s at Stake in the Current Debates, eds. Mark Husbands and
Daniel Treir (Downers Grove, Ilinois: InterVarsity Press, 2004). Lane also explores
Regensberg in the essay, “A Tale of Two Imperial Cities: Justification at Regensberg
(1541) and Trent (1546-1547),” ch. 6 in Justification in Perspective: Historical
Developments and Contemporary Challenges, edited by Bruce L. McCormack
(Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006). See also Paul Rainbow, The Way of
Salvation: The Role of Christian Obedience in Justification (Waynesboro, Georgia:
Paternoster Press, 2005), 254ff.
16
I owe special thanks to Steven Wedgeworth for helping research and assemble
much of the historical data in this section. Additional quotations and discussion may
be found on Steven’s blog: http://wedgewords.wordpress.com/ and my forthcoming
paper, “Theologians in Pajamas.” Peter Sandlin 7/26/10 8:28 AM
17
See the discussion in Rainbow, The Way of Salvation , 250f. Formatted: Font:10 pt, No underline,
18
See the discussion in Rainbow, The Way of Salvation, 252f. Major spoke explicitly (Asian) Chinese (PRC)
16 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk

Cranmer (1489-1556),19 Richard Hooker (1554-1600),20 George

Downame (1560-1634),21 James Ussher (1581-1656),22 Richard Sibbes
(1577-1635),23 Richard Baxter (1615-1691),24 and Jonathan Edwards
(1703-1758).25 Of course, this list is representative, not comprehensive.

of a “twofold justification,” “one in this life and the other in eternal life.”
Justification begins in this life, but we are not “perfectly justified” until the last day.
19
See the discussion of the Book of Common Prayer in Rainbow, The Way of
Salvation, 257f.
20
See the discussion in Rainbow, The Way of Salvation, 257.
21
George Downame, The Christian’s Freedom (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Soli Deo
Gloria Publications, 1994), 70, 126ff:

[G]ood works are necessary to salvation…as necessary forerunners to

salvation, being undoubted badges of them that shall be saved, being the
way wherein we are to walk to everlasting life, being the evidence
according to which God will judge us at the last day…God covering our
imperfections, as an indulgent Father, with the perfect righteousness and
obedience of Christ, imputeth not our wants unto us, but accepteth of the
truth of our will and desire for the deed, and our sincere endeavour for the
perfect performance. And therefore, a Christian may, in respect of this
liberty, with comfort and cheerfulness perform obedience, according to the
measure of grace received, being assured that our defective and stained
obedience, will be accepted of God through the mediation and intercession
of Jesus Christ.

Downame does not use future or double justification language explicitly, but all the
ingredients of the doctrine are present.
22
In his A Body of Divinity (Birmingham, Alabama: Solid Ground Christian Books,
2007 reprint), 405, he writes that at the final judgment, there will be a difference in
the examination of the elect and reprobate, namely, “The Elect shall not have their
sins, for which Christ satisfied, but only their good works, remembered…Being in
Christ, they and their works shall not undergo the strict trial of the Law simply in
itself; but as the obedience thereof does prove them to be true partakers of the grace
of the Gospel.” In a sermon, he alluded to a doctrine of double righteousness and
double justification, though without developing it. See The Whole Works of the Most
Reverend James Ussher, Vol. 13 (no publication data), 248ff.
23
In The Fountain Opened in The Complete Works of Richard Sibbes, vol. 5
(Edinburgh: James Nichol, 1858, reprint), 492–493, Sibbes writes:

For our further instruction and comfort, let us consider, that in regard of
God likewise, we shall be ‘justified’ from our sins in our consciences here
and at the day of judgment, before angels and devils and men. As Christ
was ‘justified’ from our sins himself, and he will justify every one of us by
his Spirit, his Spirit shall witness to our souls that we are justified; and
likewise his Spirit shall declare it at the day of judgment; it shall be openly
 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk 17

Let us look in more detail at a few of theologians on this issue,

ranging from the sixteenth century to the nineteenth century. John
Diodati (1576-1649), a Genevan divine and author of the famed
Annotations of the Whole Bible, viewed James 2:14ff as a “second
justification” text:

We must of necessity distinguish the meaning of this word

justifie, which is used by St. Paul, for absolving a man as
he is in his natural state, bound to the law, and subject to
damnation for his sin, which God doth by a rigid act of

declared that we are so indeed. There is a double degree of justification: one

in our conscience now, another at the day of judgment. Then it shall appear
that we have believed in Christ, and are cleansed from our sins. When we
shall stand on the right hand of Christ, as all that cleave to Christ by faith
[will do], then it shall appear that by him we are ‘justified’ from all our sins
whatsoever.
24
See Hans Boersma, A Hot Pepper Corn: Richard Baxter’s Doctrine of
Justification in Its Sixteenth Century Context of Controversy (Vancouver: Regent
College Publishing, 2004) and C. Fitzsimons Allison, The Rise of Moralism: The
Proclamation of the Gospel from Hooker to Baxter (Vancounver: Regent College
Publishing: 2003, reprint) for detailed assessments of Baxter’s doctrine.
25
See the discussion in Rainbow, The Way of Salvation, 259ff; Gerald McDermott,
“Jonathan Edwards on Justification by Faith — More Protestant or Catholic?,” Pro
Ecclesia, vol. 17, no. 1, Winter 2008, 92–111; and Anri Morimoto, Jonathan
Edwards and the Catholic Vision of Salvation (University Park, Pennsylvania: The
Pennsylvania State University Press, 1995), 107ff. Edwards argued that justification
is, in some sense, in principle, suspended until the end upon obedient perseverance:
“God in the act of justification, which is passed on a sinner’s first believing, has
respect to perseverance, as being virtually contained in the first act of faith; and it is
looked upon, and taken by him that justifies, as being as it were a property in that
faith.” Elsewhere, he wrote,

It is no way impossible that God may bestow heaven’s glory wholly out of
respect to Christ’s righteousness, and yet in reward for man’s inherent
holiness, in different respects and in different ways…Believers having a
title to heaven by faith antecedent to their obedience, or its being absolutely
promised to them before, does not hinder but that the actual bestowment of
heaven may also be a testimony of God’s regard to their obedience though
performed afterwards.

Miscellany 847 makes a similar point: “Even after conversion, the sentence of
justification in a sense remains still to be passed, and the man remains still in a state
of probation for heaven.”
18 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk

justice, that requireth full satisfaction, which seeing he

could not get of man Rom. 8.2, he hath received at Christ’s
hand (who was the Surety) imputed to man by God’s grace,
and apprehended by a lively faith. Whereas St. James
takes the same word for the approving of man, in a
benigne and fatherly judgment, as he is considered in
the quality of God’s child, and living in the covenant of
grace, as having the two essentiall parts of that covenant
joined together, faith to receive God’s grace and
Christ’s benefit, and works to yield him the duties of
service and acknowledgement; and this justification is no
longer opposite to the condemnation of a sinner in generall,
but to the particular one of an hypocrite, who rending
asunder these two inseparable parts, sheweth that he hath
neither the one nor the other: see Luke 17.19.26

John Preston (1587-1628) took a slightly different approach,

but still insisted on a double justification doctrine, based especially on
texts such as Matthew 25:31ff, James 2:14ff and Romans 2:1ff. For
Preston, the link between initial justification by faith alone and a final
judgment according to works is found in the living, working quality of
true faith.

And last of all, good workes are required of necessity, as

the way to salvation: Ephes. 2.10. We are Gods
workmanship, created in Jesus Christ unto good workes,
which he hath ordained that we should walke in them.
Good workes are required of necessity; God judgeth us
according to our workes, Rom. 2. and at the last day the
reward is pronounced according to that which men
have done; When I was in prison you visited me, when I
was naked you clothed me, & c. Mat. 25.35, 36. And if they
be required for necessity, then it is not a dead, liveless,
workless faith, but a powefull, energeticall faith, a faith that
is stirring and active, a faith that is effectuall which God
requires, without which we cannot be saved. We come
now to make some use of what hath been said…

26
John Diodati, Pious and Learned Annotations upon the Holy Bible (London: James
Flesher for Nicholas Fussell, 1651).
 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk 19

It is true (saith hee) if you have a right faith, you shall bee
saved by it; but yet know this, that unlesse your faith be
such a faith as enableth you to doe what I say, it is a faith
that will doe you no good, it will not save you: for though
faith saveth you, yet it must be such a faith as worketh. And
that he proveth by many arguments; (it is a place worth the
considering, and fit for this purpose) I say hee useth some
arguments to prove, that that faith which is not effectuall,
will not save us…

Fourthly, if any man could bee justified by faith without

workes, Abraham might have beene so justified; but
Abraham was justified by his workes, that is, by such a
faith as had workes joined with it. And not Abraham
only, but Rahab (that is another example) for it might be
objected, Abraham indeed believed, and was justified by
workes, but Rahab had no workes, she was a wicked
woman, and therefore was justified by faith.

To this therefore he answereth, that she had workes, or else

she could not have been saved, unlesse she had such a
worke as that in sending away the Messengers, her faith
could not have justified her. Indeed that was a great worke,
for she adventured her life in it…

Ob. If they object that place of S. James, Wee are not

justified by faith, but by workes.

Ans. I answer, that there is a double justification; there

is a justification of the person: so was Abraham justified by
faith, as Saint Paul expresseth it, Rom. 4. But then there is
a second justification, a justification of the faith that
Abraham had, he justified his faith by his workes, he
shewed that hee had not a dead faith, a livelesse faith, a
faith without workes, but that he had a lively effectuall
faith: for hee added workes to his faith, his workes wrought
together with his faith. So that if the question be, Whether
Abraham was an hypocrite? His workes justified him that
hee was none. If the question be, Whether Abraham was a
sinner? His faith justified him, and shewes that he was
20 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk

made righteous through faith. So there is a justification of

the person, and a justification of the faith of the person: as
when a man is said to justifie such an action, or such a
cause, the meaning is not, that he will make that just which
was unjust before, but he will make it appear to be just: so
Abraham was declared to have a justifying faith, by that
power and efficacie it wrought in him, in offering up his
son.27

I would want to quibble a bit with Preston’s reading of James,

since I think the apostle is clear that persons, rather than faith, are the
object of God’s justifying verdict in context. But it also easy to see
how close Preston is to the other leading Reformed theologians we
have already cited. Preston teaches a “second justification” that flows
from and follows justification by faith and gives place to faith-
produced works.
Puritan Edward Polhil (1622-1694) explained the differences
between initial and final justification, and rooted his views in the
Reformed tradition:

There is a double justification; constitutive justification,

whereby God maketh us just in this life; sentential
justification, whereby God pronounces us just at death
and judgment. Constitutive justification is the
foundation of sentential, for the true God will not
pronounce us just unless we are such; and sentential
justification is the completure of constitutive: for here
there is sententia judicis, crowning us as righteous; the
query, then, being touching constitutive justification in this
life, I conceive, with worthy Mr. Baxter, that “God justifies
a believer by the moral agency of the gospel, by which, as
by his grand charter and law of grace, he doth make over
Christ and his righteousness to the believer:” neither need
this seem strange, every human instrument doth, moraliter
agere. A prince’s pardon conveys an impunity; a charter,
an estate; a law, a title or right; a testament, a legacy; and
shall not the gospel do as much to believers? God doth

27
John Preston, The Breast-Plate of Faith and Love (Carlisle, Pennsylvania: Banner
of Truth Trust, reprinted 1979), 170–177.
 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk 21

constitutive justify the believer by making him righteous,

and makes him righteous by making over to him the
righteousness of Christ, and that he makes over by the
gospel, which is his pardon, charter, law, and testament of
grace, conveying the same upon believing: no sooner doth a
man believe, but the conditional promise becomes absolute.
As the old covenant running, Do this and live, would have
justified upon perfect obedience; so the new, running,
Believe and be saved, doth justify upon believing; as man
sinning is condemned by the law of works, so man
believing is justified by the law of grace. Hence the gospel
is called, The ministration of righteousness, as the law is of
condemnation, (2 Cor. iii. 9); “The power of God to
salvation to the believer,” (Rom. i. 16); quia nos per
evangelium justificant Deus, because God justifies us by
the gospel, as reverend Calvin hath it on the 17th verse;
virga virtutis, a rod of strength (Psalm cx. 2), that is, in the
justification of men, saith the excellent Dr. Reynolds; and
the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, making us free
form the law of sin and death; as many divines interpret
that place (Rom viii.2) Upon which Pareus doth observe,
Liberatio a condemnatione legis, Deo, Christo, Evangelio
tribuitur; Deo ut authori, Christo ut Mediatori, Evangelio
ut organo: Freedom from the condemnation of the law, is
attributed to God as the author, to Christ as the mediator, to
the gospel as the instrument. God makes over Christ and
his righteousness unto the believer by the gospel, as by his
charter and law of grace. This is the transient act by which
God doth justify us in this life…

Such reviving refrigerations believers have sometimes

here; much more transcendant will their divine
refreshments be at the last day. The top-stone of
justification shall be then laid on to make it complete, as
may appear by the ensuing considerations.

First, Here the believer is justified privately by the

gospel, but then he shall be justified openly by the
solemn sentence of God before all the world; here he
hath the white-stone of absolution given in secret, but
22 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk

then it shall be brought forth to view, glittering in all

the orient colours of free-grace. It was a great honour
done to Mordecai, to be arrayed in royal apparel, and to
have it proclaimed before him, Thus shall it be done to the
man whom the king delighteth to honour. But oh! What
glory will be upon the believer at that day; when he
shall stand in the glorious righteousness of Christ, and
hear it proclaimed before men and angels, This is a
righteous man; when Christ shall confess him before his
Father and the holy angels, to be a piece of himself, of
his flesh and of his bones? As it was with the sons of
Jesse passing before Samuel; Eliah came and was refused,
Abinadab came and was refused, and so others; at last
David came, and the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him, for this
is he,” (1 Sam. xvi.) So it will be with the sons of men, at
the great day of judgment. The great potentate may
come and be rejected as a vile person; the rich Dives
may come and be put away as dross; the learned rabbi
may come, and be turned off as a fool; only when the
believer comes, God will say, This is he; this must reign
in glory for ever. This is a justification before God after
a most signal manner.

Secondly, Here the believer stands justified, but, in the

midst of briers and thorns, remaining corruptions vex and
tear his righteous soul from day to day. He is in the land of
promise, but the Canaanite is not quite driven out; the relics
of sin, inmates in the same heart with grace, like the liars in
wait for Samson, are ready to make an assault upon him.
Hence the Jewish doctors say, That God calls no man saint,
or holy, till he be dead and in the grave; because the
concupiscential frame is not quite out of him before death,
but at that day there shall be nihil damnabile remaining in
him. Sin shall be no more: no more tumours of pride; no
more boiling up of concupiscence; no more spots or
wrinkles, or dark shades of infirmity; nothing but pure
spotless holiness: insomuch that divines say, that from
henceforth our justification shall be in another way
than by imputed righteousness; because, having perfect
 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk 23

inherent righteousness in ourselves, we shall need no

covering…

Fourthly, Here the believer is justified, but his comfort is

not always the same. Now the light of God’s countenance
breaks out like a clear sun upon him, and anon there is a
sad eclipse, leaving him in darkness; one day a banquet of
heavenly comforts is let down into his heart; and another,
all is drawn up into heaven again. His evidences may be
blurred; Satan may hold up his pardoned sins, as it were in
their old guilt; the arrows of God may stick fast in him, and
bring qualms and sick-fits upon his conscience: but at that
day his comforts shall be unvariable; a nightless day, and a
cloudless horizon; an eternal feast upon God and all things
in him; his evidences all clear, and, after but this once
shewing forth, an everlasting possession of the expected
happiness. The accuser, Satan, shall be struck dumb at
the blessed sentence of pardon and acceptance
pronounced by God before men and angels. God shall
never frown, or wound him any more, but wrap him up
in the arms of endless love and joy. This will be a day of
refreshing indeed.28

In another place, Polhill writes about the important role of

obedience in maintaining our justified status:

Obedience is necessary, though not to the first entrance

into justification, yet to the continuance of it; not indeed
as a cause, but as a condition…If a believer, who is
instantly justified upon believing, would continue
justified, he must sincerely obey God. Though his
obedience in measure and degree reach not fully to the
precept of the gospel; yet in truth and substance it
comes up to the condition of it; else he cannot continue
justified; this to me is very evident; we are at first
justified by a living faith, such as virtually is obedience;
and cannot continue justified by a dead one such as

28
Edward Polhill, “Precious Faith” in The Works of Edward Polhill (Morgan,
Pennsylvania: Soli Deo Gloria, 1998 reprint), 264–265, 269.
24 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk

operates not at all. We are at first justified by a faith

which accepts Christ as a Saviour and Lord; and cannot
continue justified by such a faith as would divide Christ,
taking his salvation from guilt, and by disobedience casting
off his lordship; could we suppose that which never comes
to pass, that a believer should not sincerely obey: How
should he continue justified? if he continue justified, he
must, as all justified persons have, needs have a right to
life eternal; and if he have such a right, how can he be
judged according to his works? no good works being
found in him after his believing, how can he be
adjudged to life? or how to death, if he continue
justified? These things evince, that obedience is a
condition necessary as to our continuance in a state of
justification: nevertheless it is not necessary, that
obedience should be perfect as to the evangelical
precept; but that it should be such, that the truth of
grace which the evangelical condition calls for, may not
fail for want of it: “Blessed are they that do his
commandments, that they may have right to the tree of
life, and may enter in through the gates into the city,”
(Rev. xxii.14.) The first fundamental right to heaven
they have by the faith of Christ only: but sincere
obedience is necessary that that right may be continued
to them: in this sense we may fairly construe that
conclusion of St James, “Ye see, then, how that by
works a man is justified, and not by faith only,” (Jam.
ii.24.) Faith brings a man into a justified estate; but may
he rest here? No, his good works must be a proof of his
faith, and give a kind of experiment of the life of it. Nay,
they are the evangelical condition, upon which his
blessed estate of justification is continued to him; in foro
legis, Christ and his righteousness is all; neither our
faith nor our works can supply the room of his
satisfaction to justify against us against the law: but in
foro gratiae, our obedience answers to the evangelical
condition, and is a means to continue our justified
estate…29

29
Polhill, “A View of Some Divine Truths” in The Works of Edward Polhill, 92–93.
 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk 25

All that to say: According to Polhill, initial justification by

faith is not the end of the matter. After that initial justification, works
become a subordinate condition of maintaining justification. No one
remains in a state of justification apart from ongoing obedience; no
one will be justified at the last day apart from lifelong obedience.
Puritan leader and Westminster divine Thomas Goodwin
taught a future justification of the godly at the last day. Goodwin saw
no more danger in speaking of final “justification by works” than in
the language of a final “judgment according to works” since the
expressions are equivalent:

And yet further, he herein prosecutes what he had said, ver.

12, that we should be judged by our works, and so speaks
this in relation thereunto. And look in what sense a man
may be said to be judged by his works at the latter day,
in the same sense, and that sense only, he intends this
his justification by works, and in no other; for all
judging and passing of sentence must have either a
justification or a condemnation, as the sentence of it in
the close. So as there is no more danger to say, a man at
the latter day shall be justified by his works, as
evidences of his state and faith, than to say he shall be
judged according thereto; and the one is to be taken in a
similar or like sense unto the other. Now, to be judged
‘according to works’ (when it is spoken of a good man), is
meant demonstratively, as they are evidence of his estate.
The apostle’s scope being also to shew, by God’s
approbation given Abraham, upon the story of his
offering up his son in his lifetime, what like approbation
or justification Christ will declare and hold forth
concerning true believers, when the story of their lives
and all the good they have done, or was wrought in
them, shall be ripped up: ‘I was naked, and ye clothed
me;’ and so gives them the testimony of his knowing
that they had done so. As, on the contrary, to them that
regarded not good works, he says, ‘I know you not,’
Mat. vii. 23. And David, speaking of standing in
judgment, useth the same phrase, Ps. i.5, 6, ‘The Lord
knows the way of the righteous,’ that is, justifies and
26 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk

approves; as in that speech God did Abraham, ‘Now I

know thou fearest me,’ &c.

And in relation to this outward judgment at the latter

day, our sentence of salvation is termed expressly a
justification; and this very thing is asserted by Christ
himself: Mat. xii. 36, 37, ‘I say unto you, that every idle
word that men shall speak, they shall give an account
thereof in the day of judg ment; for by thy words thou
shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be
condemned.’ Neither is it anywhere said, that God will
judge men according to their faith only; nor will it be a
sufficient plea at the latter day to say, Lord, thou
knowest I believed, and cast myself at thy grace. God
will say, I am to judge thee so as every one shall be able
to judge my sentence righteous together with me: 1 Cor.
iv. 5, ‘Therefore, show me thy faith by thy works;’ let
me know by them thou fearest me; for as I did judge
Abraham, and gave thereupon a testimony of him, so I
must proceed towards thee. And this God will do, to the
end that all the sons of Israel, yea, the whole world, may
know that he justified one that had true faith indeed.30

Thus, at the last day, Goodwin says God’s justification will be

by means of the evidence, as believers have proved their faith by their
deeds. This truly constitutes a type of “final justification by works.”
Perhaps the best known of the early Reformed scholastics,
Francis Turretin (1623-1687), was not as explicit about a doctrine of
“double justification” as his predecessors. However, in his Institutes of
Elenctic Theology, 31 he argues forcefully that good works are the
means to the end of eternal life, not as “a cause properly so called,” but
as “a relation of order and connection” (17.5.13). At the final judgment
“life is rendered to good works” (17.5.29). Turretin says in 17.4.12
that our good works

30
Thomas Goodwin, The Works of Thomas Goodwin, vol. 7 (Carlisle, Pennsylvania:
Banner of Truth Trust, 1985 reprint), 182.
31
All quotations from Francis Turretin, Institutes of Elenctic Theology, trans. George
Musgrave Giger (Phillipsburg, New Jersey: P & R Publishing, 1997 reprint).
 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk 27

are ordained to a reward, both from the condition of the

worker, who is supposed to be a believer (i.e., admitted into
the grace and friendship of God), and from the condition of
the works themselves, which although not having a
condignity to the reward, still have the relation of
disposition required in the subject for its possession. This
condition being fulfilled, the reward must be given as, it
being withheld, the reward cannot be obtained. For as
without holiness, no one shall see God and, unless renewed
by water and the Spirit, cannot enter the kingdom of heaven
(Jn 3:5; Heb 12:14); so, holiness being posited, glory is
necessarily posited from the inseparable connection
existing between them.

Turretin says our good works are “in view” at the

eschatological judgment, when we receive final acquittal. Our good
works, gratuitously worked in us by God, will be crowned at the last
day (17.5.34). Again, Turretin hesitates to call this “justification,” but
the overall shape of his doctrine is very similar to others we have
examined.
Elsewhere, Turretin asserts that good works are “required as
the means and way for possessing salvation” (17.3.3). “Although
works may be said to contribute nothing to the acquisition of salvation,
still they should be considered necessary to the obtainment of it, so
that no one can be saved without them” (17.3.4). “Although God by
his special grace wishes these duties of man to be his blessings (which
he carries out in them), still the believer does not cease to be bound to
observe it, if he wishes to be a partaker of the blessings of the
covenant” (17.3.7). He deals with these themes extensively (17.3.12;
17.1.17; 17.3.14):

This very thing is no less expressly delivered concerning

future glory. For since good works have the relation of the
means to the end (Jn. 3:5, 16; Mt. 5:8); of the ‘way’ to the
goal (Eph. 2:10; Phil 3:14); of the ‘sowing’ to the harvest
(Gal. 6:7,8); of the ‘firstfruits’ to the mass (Rom. 8:23); of
‘labor’ to the reward (Mt. 20:1); of the ‘contest’ to the
crown (2 Tim. 2:5; 4:8), everyone sees that there is the
highest and an indispensable necessity of good works for
28 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk

obtaining glory. It is so great that it cannot be reached

without them (Heb. 12:14; Rev. 21:27).

It is not sufficient that Christ died and lives for us, unless
he also mortifies the old man in us after the likeness of his
own death and vivifies the new man, so that what was done
in the head is done in the members.

Works can be considered in three ways: either with

reference to justification or sanctification or glorification.
They are related to justification not antecedently, efficiently
and meritoriously, but consequently and declaratively.
They are related to sanctification constitutively because
they constitute and promote it. They are related to
glorification antecedently and ordinatively because they are
related to it as the means to the end.

Again, unlike other Reformed theologians, Turretin is not

entirely comfortable calling the outcome of final judgment a “second
justification,” but he does includes final open acquittal as a part of the
doctrine of justification. Regarding the sense in which justification is a
singular act, with multiple dimensions/applications, in 16.9.2, he says:

Hence it is evident in what sense justification can be called

an undivided act; not on our part and with respect to the
sense of it (which is produced by various and repeated acts
according as this sense can be interrupted; or increased or
diminished, by reason of interfering sins); but on the part of
God, not only by reason of his decree (by which our
justification was decreed) and by reason of his merit (by
which he obtained it), but also by reason of the application
when the absolving sentence is intimated to us. This is done
by a unique act, not by many successive acts, just as
inherent righteousness is wont to be infused into us
(although this act is often applied to particular everyday
sins).

For Turretin, the main difference between initial justification

and final justification is the public nature of the declaration made at
the end. But that public declaration is also the culmination of salvation
 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk 29

and the declaration is pronounced over the entirety of our lives.

Turretin views good works as a means to the end of that final
glorification, which includes the sentence of divine approval.
Benedict Pictet (1655-1724), Turretin’s nephew and fellow
minister in Geneva was very forthright regarding “double
justification”:

We have spoken of the justification of man as a sinner;

we must now speak of his justification as a righteous
man, i.e. that by which he proves that he is justified and
that he possesses a true justifying faith. Now this
justification is by works, even in the sight of God, as well
as of men; and of this James speaks when he declares
that “by works a man is justified and not by faith only”
(Jam 2:24). To illustrate this, we must remark that there is a
twofold accusation against man. First, he is accused before
God’s tribunal of the guilt of sin, and this accusation is met
and done away by the justification of which we have
already treated. Secondly, the man who has been justified
may be accused of hypocrisy, false profession and
unregeneracy; now he clears himself from this accusation
and justifies his faith by his works-this is the second
justification; it differs from the first; for in the first a sinner
is acquitted from guilt, in the second a godly man is
distinguished from an ungodly. In the first God imputes
the righteousness of Christ; in the second he
pronounces judgment from the gift of holiness bestowed
upon us; both these justifications the believer obtains,
and therefore it is true that “by works he is justified
and not by faith only.”

From these remarks it is plain that James is easily

reconciled with Paul, especially if we consider, that Paul
had to do with judiciaries, who sought to be justified by the
law, i.e. by their own works, but James had to deal with a
sort of Epicureans, who, content with a mere profession,
neglected good works; it is no wonder then, that Paul
should insist upon faith, and James upon works. Moreover,
Paul speaks of a lively and efficacious faith, but James of a
faith without works. Paul also speaks of the justification
30 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk

of the ungodly or sinner, James of that justification, by

which a man as it were justifies his faith and proves
himself to be justified. For it is his design to show that it
is not enough for a Christian man to glory in the
remission of sins, which is unquestionably obtained only
by a living faith in Christ, but that he must endeavor to
make it manifest by his works that he is truly renewed,
that he possesses real faith and righteousness, and lives
as becomes a regenerate and justified person. Hence it is
plain, that Abraham is properly said to have been
justified, when he offered up Isaac, because by this he
proved that he had real faith, and cleared himself from
every charge of hypocrisy, of which he might have been
accused. In this sense that passage is explained: “He
that is righteous, let him be righteous still” (Rev 22), i.e.
let him show by his works that he is justified... 32

Puritan giant John Owen (1616-1683) is an interesting case.

Volume 5 of his collected works includes the treatise The Doctrine of
Justification by Faith. Owen does not want to speak of multiple
justifications, because he fears confusion with the Roman doctrine.
However, he acknowledged there were orthodox, Reformed brethren
who did not share his scruples. These Reformed theologians taught an
evangelical justification according to works at the last day. On pages
159-160, Owen wrote,

Suppose a person freely justified by the grace of God,

through faith in the blood of Christ, without respect unto
any works, obedience, or righteousness of his own, we do
freely grant,—

(1.) That God doth indispensably require personal

obedience of him; which may be called his evangelical
righteousness. Peter Sandlin 7/26/10 8:33 AM
Formatted: Font:10 pt, (Asian) Chinese
(PRC)Sandlin 7/26/10 8:33 AM
(2.) That God does approve of and accept, in Christ, this Peter
righteousness so performed. Formatted: Font:10 pt, (Asian) Chinese
(PRC), Not Superscript/ Subscript
Peter Sandlin 7/26/10 8:33 AM
32
Benedict Pictet, Christian Theology, quotations available from Mark Horne at Formatted: Font:10 pt, No underline,
http://www.hornes.org/theologia/content/benedict_pictet/pictet_on_justification.htm. (Asian) Chinese (PRC)
 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk 31

(3.) That hereby that faith whereby we are justified is

evidenced, proved, manifested, in the sight of God and
men.

(4.) That this righteousness is pleadable unto an acquitment

against any charge from Satan, the world, or our own
consciences.

(5.) That upon it we shall be declared righteous at the

last day, and without it none shall so be. And if any
shall think meet from hence to conclude unto an
evangelical justification, or call God’s acceptance of our
righteousness by that name, I shall by no means
contend with them. And wherever this inquiry is made, —
not how a sinner, guilty of death, and obnoxious unto the
curse, shall be pardoned, acquitted, and justified, which is
by the righteousness of Christ alone imputed to him – but
how a man that professeth evangelical faith in Christ,
shall be tried, judged, and whereon, as such, he shall be
justified, we grant that it is, and must be by his own
personal, sincere obedience.33

Herman Witsius (1636-1708) continues to be widely revered

and read down to our own day. Witsius clearly articulates a Calvinian
doctrine of future justification that is both public in nature and
declared according to faithful obedience. In his Economy of the
Covenants, Witsius writes:

The fifth and last [justification] is at the last day, which

is therefore called the day of judgment, Mt. 12:36, when
the elect shall be publicly justified, and, in the view of
the whole world, declared heirs of eternal life...

Christ the judge... will pronounce two things concerning

his elect. 1st. That they are truly pious, righteous and
holy. And so far this justification will differ from the

33
John Owen, The Works of John Owen, vol. 5 (Carlisle, Pennsylvania: The Banner
of Truth Trust, 1990 reprint).
32 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk

former [justification]; for by that [justification] the

ungodly is justified… 2dly. That they have a right to
eternal life, Mt. 20:35.

The ground of the former declaration is inherent

righteousness, graciously communicated to man by the
Spirit of sanctification, and good works proceeding
therefrom. For on no other account can any person be
declared pious and holy, but because he is endowed
with habitual holiness, and gives himself to the practice
of godliness…

The foundation of the latter can be no other than the

righteousness of Christ the Lord, communicated to them
according to the free decree of election, which is succeeded
by adoption, which gives them a right to take possession of
the inheritance...

Meanwhile in this respect too, there will be room for

mentioning good works for they shall be produced, 1st.
As proofs of faith, of the union of believers with Christ, of
their adoption, and of that holiness, without which none can
see God, and of friendship with God, and brotherhood with
Christ. 2dly. As signs of that sacred hunger and thirst with
which they desired happiness, and of that strenuous
endeavor, by which…they had sought the kingdom of
heaven and its righteousness… 3dly. As effects of divine
grace, to which, the communication of divine glory will
answer in the most wise proportion, when it shall come to
crown his own gifts... And in this sense, we imagine, it is
so often said in Scripture, that every one shall be
recompensed according to his works, not that these
works are, on any account, the cause of any right they
will have, to claim the reward; but as they are evidences
of our adoption and of our seeking the chief good, and
as they shew that proportion of grace, according to
which the proportion of future glory will be dispensed...

In this judgment, therefore, there will also be grace

mixed with justice. Justice will appear because none will
 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk 33

be admitted to the possession of the kingdom of heaven,

but who can shew by undoubted evidences, that he is a
partaker of Christ and his righteousness. Grace also will
appear, because eternal happiness will be adjudged to him,
who has done nothing to acquire right to it; because works,
stained with so many infirmities, as justly make
believers themselves blush, will then be celebrated with
so great an encomium by the Judge…

Whence it appears, that they do not speak right, who

affirm, that in the last justification mere justice will
take place without any mixture of grace…

As God will justly inflict his punishments on the

impenitent, so in like manner, agreeably to his justice, he
will distribute rewards, and shew grace to the
godly…Justice and grace are here not to be opposed but
joined together…

Nor will the righteousness of the judgment of that day

in the least be diminished, though the works of
believers, by which they shall be judged, are imperfect.
For, they will not be mentioned as the causes of their
right to claim the reward, to which perfection is
requisite; but as effects and signs of grace, and of union
with Christ, and of a living faith, and of justification by
faith, and of a right to life: for which their unfeigned
sincerity is sufficient. We therefore conclude, that the
justification in the next world is not to be very much
distinguished from the justification in this world.34

In a very real sense, Witsius acknowledges multiple

justification events, and in doing so, believes he is upholding the
classic Reformed position:

XXI. Thus much for the declaration of God concerning

the actions of men. On the other hand, his declaration as to

34
Herman Witsius, The Economy of the Covenants Between God and Man, vol. 1
(Escondido, California: The den Dulk Foundation, 1990 reprint), 418–421, 424.
34 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk

their state is of several kinds. For either God considers

them as they are in themselves, according to inherent
qualities, either vicious through corrupt nature, or holy and
laudable through reforming grace; or as they are reputed in
Christ the surety.

XXII. God can neither consider nor declare men to be

otherwise than as they really are. For “his judgment is
according to truth,” Rom. ii. 2. and therefore they, who
are still under the dominion of sin, and walk with
delight, according to their depraved lusts, are judged
and declared by God to be unregenerate, wicked, and
slaves of the devil, as they really are; for, “by no means
does he clear the guilty,” Exod. xxxiv. 7 but they who
are regenerated by his grace, created anew after his
image, and heartily give themselves up to the practice of
sincere holiness, are by him absolved from the sin of
profaneness, impiety, and hypocrisy, and are no longer
looked upon as dead in sins, slaves to the devil, children
of the world; but as true believers, his own children,
restored to his image, and endowed with his life. It was
thus he justified his servant Job, declaring, “that there
is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright
man one that feareth God and escheweth evil,” Job i. 8.

XXIII. And this is still the case of all believers. The devil
indeed, who is the accuser of the brethren, frequently
charges them with hypocrisy before God, as if they did not
serve him in sincerity; and he not only thus accuses them
before God, but he also disquiets their conscience, as if all
their faith and piety were only a mask and outward shew,
by which they have hitherto imposed not only on others,
but also on themselves. In order to calm the consciences of
believers, when thus shaken by the false accuser, they have
need to be absolved from this accusation, and justified from
this false testimony before God; which God also daily does,
assuring the elect of the sincerity of their conversion, by the
testimony of his Spirit, and thereby shewing, that “the
praise of a true Jew is of him.” Rom. ii. 29. This
justification is indeed very different from that other, of
 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk 35

which we shall presently treat, wherein the person is

absolved from sins, whereof he is really guilty, and which
are forgiven him on Christ’s account. In this we are
speaking of he is acquitted of sins, which he is not
chargeable with, and is declared not to have committed.

XXIV. The foundation of this justification can be

nothing but inherent holiness and righteousness. For, as
it is a declaration concerning a man, as he is in himself:
by the regenerating and sanctifying grace of God, so it
ought to have for its foundation, that which is found in
man himself: He that doth righteousness is righteous, says
John, 1 John iii. 7. and Peter says, Acts x.34, 35. “of a
truth, I perceive, that in every nation he that feareth him
and worketh righteousness is accepted with God.” And
Luke in the name of God, gives this testimony to the
parents of John the Baptist, that “they were righteous
before God, walking in all the commandments and
ordinances of the Lord blameless,” Luke i.6. But yet
inherent righteousness is not the foundation of his
justification, from its own worthiness, or because it is a
holiness exactly commensurate with the rule of law, but
because it is the work of the Holy Spirit in the elect,
which God cannot but acknowledge and delight in as his
own, and because the failings with which it is always
stained in this world are forgiven for Christ’s sake.

XXV. In this sense we think the apostle James speaks of

justification in that much controverted passage, James
ii. 21, 24. where he declares, that “Abraham was not
justified by faith only, but also by works,” and insists upon
it, that every man ought to be justified in this manner. For
the scope of the apostle is to shew, that it is not sufficient
for a Christian to boast of the remission of his sins, which
indeed is obtained by faith only, but then it must be a living
faith on Christ; but that besides he ought to labour after
holiness, that being justified by faith only, that is, acquitted
from the sins he had been guilty of, on account of Christ’s
satisfaction, apprehended by faith, he may likewise be
justified by his works, that is declared to be truly
36 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk

regenerated, believing and holy: behaving as becomes those

who are regenerated, believing and holy. Thus our father
Abraham behaved, who having been before now
justified by faith only, that is, obtained the remission of
his sins, was afterwards also justified by his works. For,
when he offered up his son to God, then God said to him,
“no I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou has not
withheld thy son, thine only son, from me,” Gen. xxii. 12.
And James insists upon it, that this last justification is
so necessary to believers, that, if it be wanting, the first
ought to be accounted only vain and imaginary.

XXVI. These things are evident from scripture: but lest

any after the manner of the world should ridicule this, I
inform the more unskillful, that this is no invention of
mine, but that the most celebrated divines have, before
me, spoken of such a “justification according to
inherent righteousness and of works.” Bucerus in altero
Colloquio Ratisbonensi, p. 313. says, “we think that in this
begun righteousness is really a true and living
righteousness, and a noble excellent gift of God; and that
the new life in Christ consists in this righteousness, and that
all the saints are also righteous by this righteousness, both
before God and before men, ‘and that on account thereof
the saints are also justified by a justification of works,’ that
is, are approved, commended and rewarded by
God.” Calvin teaches much the same, Instit. Lib. iii. c 17.
§viii. which concludes with this words, “The good works
done by believers are counted righteous, or which is the
same, are imputed for righteousness.” The very learned
Ludovicus de Dieu has at large explained and proved this
opinion, in Comment. Ad Rom. viii. 4. And he quotes, as
agreeing with him herein, Daniel Colonius, formerly regent
or professor of the French college at Leyden. The same is
also maintained by the Rev. Dr. Peter de Witte, that very
able defender of the truth, in Controversia de justificatione
adversus Socinianos. And Triglandius explains the passage
of James to the same purpose with us, making use of the
 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk 37

very same distinction, Examine Apologiae

Remonstrantium, c. 21. p. 316.35

In another place, Witsius points to the absolute necessity of

good works as the “way” in which we travel towards final justification
and eternal life. In his exposition of the Apostles’ Creed, Witsius
restates many of the things said in the quotations above. He says that at
the last day a “two-fold sentence” will be pronounced, absolution for
believers and condemnation for unbelievers. “Each sentence will
contain a public commemoration of the works, whether good or bad,
as well an assignation of the reward or the punishment.” The
graciousness of the absolution is seen in that when God evaluates the
works of his people, “though [they are] stained with numerous
blemishes, [they] will receive so high a commendation from the Judge,
that the saints themselves will not hear it without being astonished,
that God should put such a great value on services which to themselves
appear so inconsiderable.” Later, on pages 479-480, Witsius echoes
the same point again,

God indeed has freely promised that future bliss to his

people. It is ‘the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Our title to eternal life is not founded on any merit of our
own works, but solely on the satisfaction which Christ hath
made in our stead. Let none, however, expect to obtain
the possession of it otherwise than in the way of good
works. The Apostle’s earnest exhortation to all is, ‘Work
out your own salvation with fear and trembling.’ The
attainment of so great a felicity is no easy or common
matter. ‘The righteous’ himself ‘is scarcely saved.’ We
must ‘strive to enter in at the strait gate.’ The heavenly
Jerusalem must be taken by a holy violence, nor can it be
otherwise obtained. ‘The kingdom of heaven suffereth
violence, and the violent take it by force.’ God ‘will
render to every man according to his deeds’; and he will
adjudge eternal life to none but “them who by patient
continuance in well-doing, seek for glory, honor and
immortality.’36

35
Witsius, The Economy of the Covenants Between God and Man, 399ff.
36
Herman Witsius, Sacred Dissertations on the Apostles Creed in Two Volumes
38 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk

Jumping continents and centuries for one last example,

Southern Presbyterian theologian Robert Louis Dabney (1820-1898)
saw final justification (manifested in the resurrection of the body) as
the consummation and completion of our initial justification. Dabney,
using language most Reformed theologians today would find
problematic, grounds the open nature of the final verdict in the
publicly manifested works of believers. The final verdict is
pronounced not only over faith, but over works that spring from faith.
Thus, Dabney refers to works as the “ground” of this final declaration
of acquittal. Final justification is not by faith alone, according to
Dabney; it is also according to works. Thus, Dabney asserted dual
criteria with respect to the final judgment. There is a very real sense in
which we are not justified by faith alone at the last day. In Dabney’s
Lectures in Systematic Theology, we find:

There are two qualified senses, in which we are said to be

justified at the judgment-day. See Acts 3:19-21; Mt. 12:36-
37. Indeed, a forensic act is implied somehow in the
very notion of a judgment-day. First: Then, at length, the
benefits of the believer’s justification in Christ will be fully
conferred, and he will, by the resurrection, be put into
possession of the last of them, the redemption of his body.
Second: There will be a declaration of the sentence of
justification passed when each believer believed, which
God will publish to His assembled creatures, for His
declarative glory, and for their instruction. See Malachi
3:17-18. This last declarative justification will be
grounded on believers’ works (Mt. 25) and not on their
faith, necessarily; because it will be addressed to the
fellow-creatures of the saints, who cannot read the
heart, and can only know the existence of faith by the
fruits.37

(Escondido, CA: The den Dulk Foundation, 1993 reprint), vol. 2, 288–289, 479–480.
37
Robert L. Dabney, Lectures in Systematic Theology (Carlisle, Pennsylvania:
Banner of Truth Trust, 1985 reprint), 645. While Dabney stresses that the
justification of believers by works at the last day is in the eyes of their fellow
creatures, it is still a verdict declared by God as the Judge.
 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk 39

None of the evidence cited in this paper thus far proves that
“double justification” is the Reformed position, although it should be
considered at least a significant strand in the tradition. The fact that it
has become a minority position does not negate its historical
importance. Sadly, too many of our so-called historical theologians
today gerrymander the tradition around their own positions, rather than
admitting the breadth and diversity of historic Reformed theology.
Apart from honesty and accountability in a scholarly community, it is
all too easy for those with clout to redefine the boundaries of the
tradition to suit their own purposes (which all too often have to do
with playing church politics rather than pursuing biblical truth).

Contemporary Biblical Theologians:

An Emerging Consensus?

The “double justification” doctrine of Calvin, Bucer, and the

early Puritans eventually fell into disfavor. It is not within the scope of
this paper to explore why the shift away from a second justification by
works took place in Reformed dogmatics. Nor will we catalog the
problems that such a truncating of classic Reformed teaching created.38
But in recent times, the doctrine, in various shapes, has begun to re-
emerge, especially among Reformed and evangelical biblical
theologians. Those who are interacting most directly with the text of
Scripture are rediscovering the insights of classic Reformed theology.
Scholars who have advocated some form of “double
justification” or “final justification” in recent times include Herman
Ridderbos,39 Markus Barth,40 Leon Morris,41 C. E. B. Cranfield,42

38
See, e.g., S. M. Hutchens, “Getting Justification Right,” in Touchstone: A Journal
of Mere Christianity, July/August 2000, 41ff. Hutchens points out some of the
dualisms that the modern (as opposed to classic) Reformed doctrine of justification
has created: “The Protestant, concerned with justification by faith alone apart from
works, has always been plagued by dichotomies of act from belief, of body from
mind, of sacred from secular.” This is a large reason why modern, evangelical
Protestants have struggled to develop an integrated worldview, a coherent public
theology, an embodied concern for the poor, a robust sacramental and liturgical
theology, etc., and have all too easily turned the gospel into an intricate, sectarian
ideology.
39
Herman Ridderbos, Paul: An Outline of His Theology, trans. John Richard DeWitt
(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975), ch. 4. Ridderbos insists on works as the criterion
of the final judgment. The link between justification by faith and justification to
doers of the law is found in the inseparability of faith and works.
40 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk

40
Markus Barth, Justification (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eermans, 1971). Barth
argues that Paul’s doctrine of justification according to works is not a leftover from
Judaism, but a fully Christological doctrine. See 74ff:

Paul’s statements about the coming judgment according to works (2 Thess.

1:5-10; Gal. 6:5, 7-10; 1 Cor. 3:13-15; 2 Cor. 5:10; 11:15; Rom. 2:5-13;
Eph. 6:8; cf. 2 Tim. 4:7-8, etc.) are sometimes looked on as being
incompatible with his doctrine of justification by grace and faith alone
without works of the law…But according to 2 Thess. 1:7; 1 Cor. 4:5; 2 Cor.
5:10; Phil. 4:4-6; Rom. 2:16; Col. 3:4…it is none other than “our Lord Jesus
Christ,” the “slaughtered lamb,” the “true witness” who “appears in glory”
and who, “before God’s judgment seat,” brings that “righteous judgment of
God” to completion, which, according to Rom. 2:5; 14:10, is God’s own
judgment. Since Paul explicitly asserts that the judgment according to
works is placed in the hand of the (crucified and risen) Jesus Christ, it is
impossible to hold the position that Paul’s assertions about the Last
Judgment are directly derived from “Jewish” imagery and not influenced by
his faith in Jesus the Messiah…

Calvin…held that a man’s person is accepted in the justification effected by

the cross and Easter, and the Last Judgment supplements this first
justification with a second in which, by grace alone, the works of the
justified persons are accepted by God. [Barth is doubtful this is the best way
to express Pauline teaching, but his own view comes quite close.]…

All works and all men must, indeed, go through the fire of the verdict of
Jesus Christ. This Judge certainly will so judge that hidden things come to
light. Men who did not know when and how they really had accepted and
honored Christ will now discover to their amazement that Christ knew them
well and accepted their service. The “good works” for which men have been
made anew by God are distinguished from “works of the law” by a
humbling criterion: no man can or will boast about them…

The Last Judgment is the guarantee that “in the Lord your labor is not in
vain.” God justifies his work of creation and salvation to the embarrassment
of all who had disbelieved in theodicy. He justifies himself by showing he
is pleased with the man he has created anew. Resurrection, glorification,
clothing over, renewal, changing a fleshly into a spiritual body – all these
are designations for one and the same event: the public, glorious,
incontestable, and irrevocable justification of man through God’s grace.
41
Leon Morris, The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
1965, reprint), 256ff, 260ff, 270, 283.
42
C. E. B. Cranfield, A Shorter Commentary on Romans (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
1985), 45ff. Cranfield argues the “doers of the law” who will be justified in Romans
2:13 are Gentile Christians.
 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk 41
43 44 45
Sinclair Ferguson, Richard Gaffin, C. K. Barrett, Thomas
Schreiner,46 Ardel Caneday,47 Peter Lillback,48 Scott Hafeman,49 Kent

43
Sinclair Ferguson, The Holy Spirit (Downers Grove, Illinois: Inter-Varsity, 1996),
103:

But there is an eschatological (‘already/not yet’) structure to each aspect of

soteriology . . . And while it requires carefully guarded statement, it is also
true that justification is an already accomplished and perfect reality, but
awaits consummation…Similarly, while believers have already been
justified with irreversible finality, they will appear before the judgment seat
of Christ to receive what is due them (2 Cor. 5:10).
44
Richard B. Gaffin, Resurrection and Redemption (Phillipsburg, New Jersey:
Presbyterian and Reformed, 1987 reprint), 133–134. In his more recent statements,
Gaffin seems to be pulling back from a doctrine of future justification according to
grace-enabled works, but it was certainly present in his earlier writings.
45
C. K. Barrett, Freedom and Obligation: A Study of the Epistle to the Galatians,
64-65 (Philadelphia; Westminster Press, 1985). Barrett speaks of “two justifications,
two acts of acquittal” in Pauline theology.
46
Thomas Schreiner, Paul: Apostle of God’s Glory in Christ (Downers Grove,
Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2001), 279ff. Schreiner rejects the hypothetical view of
Romans 2:13, instead arguing,

Therefore Paul means what he says in asserting that “doers of the law will
be justified” (Rom. 2:13). Such keeping of the law for justification,
however, is to be distinguished from righteousness by works of the law
(Rom. 3:20)…[W]hen Paul says the doers of the law will be justified, he
has something else in mind. He contemplates the result of the Spirit’s work,
not the attempt of human beings to be right in God’s eyes by virtue of their
own works…Paul does not dismiss the idea that our lives must be changed
in order to be vindicated at the last day…Paul insists that one must do good
works to receive eschatological vindication (Gal. 6:4-5; 2 Cor. 5:10). The
reward in these texts is eternal life, entrance into the kingdom of
God…[G]ood works are an essential part of salvation. They are evidence of
genuine salvation and the means by which salvation is obtained on the last
day.
47
Thomas Schreiner and Ardel Caneday, The Race Set Before Us: A Biblical
Theology of Perseverance and Assurance (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity
Press, 2001), 78f, 160ff, 187:

Believers are righteous now, yet they still await the gift of righteousness
that will be theirs on the day of redemption…So judgment according to
one’s deeds is not alien to Paul’s gospel but an essential element of it…In
Romans 2, Paul makes one thing clear: God’s promise of salvation is
conditional. On the day of judgment God will award eternal life to those
42 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk

L. Yinger, James T. Dennison, Jr.,51 Klyne Snodgrass,52 Mark

50

Seifrid,53 Don Garlington,54 Knox Chamblin,55 Michael Bird,56 N. T.

who persevere in good works (Rom. 2:7, 10), because God does not justify
hearers of the law but doers of the law (Rom. 2:13). Praise from God
belongs to all who keep the requirements of the law, to all who obey from
hearts circumcised by the Spirit (Rom. 2:26, 29)…[T]here is an irrevocable
connection between what we are in the present age and what we shall be in
the age to come (1 Jn. 3:2-3).
48
Lillback, Binding of God. See also his testimony in the trial of John Kinnaird,
available at http://www.trinityfoundation.org/day2_session_2B.php.
49
Scott Hafemann, The God of Promise and the Life of Faith (Wheaton, Illinois:
Crossway Books, 2001), 179ff, 216ff, 246.
50
Kent L. Yinger, Paul, Judaism, and Judgment According to Deeds (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1999), 4, 16, 290–291. Yinger provides one of the most
comprehensive expositions of eschatological justification available. See especially
175, 284ff, 288ff. But see also the critique of Yinger in Michael Bird, The Saving
Righteousness of God, (Waynesboro, Georgia: Paternoster, 2007), 172ff.
51
James T. Dennison, Jr., “The Eschatological Aspect of Justification,” available at
http://www.kerux.com/documents/KeruxV10N1A2.asp. Dennison says nothing
about the place of works, but he certainly stresses the “not yet” aspect of
justification:

Well then, why do we appear in the final judgment at Christ’s second

coming? Certainly not to jeopardize the eschatological character of his
justification and our justification in him. Rather we will be, together with
Christ, the justification of God, for we shall reveal that we are the
righteousness of God in Christ Jesus on that great day. He was raised for
our justification—we have now been justified and yet will be justified. He
was raised for our justification—we have now been raised up and yet will
be raised up.
He was raised for our justification—we have now been seated in heavenly
places and yet will be seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
52
Klyne Snodgrass, “Justification by Grace – to the Doers of the Law: An Analysis
of the Place of Romans 2 in the Theology of Paul,” New Testament Studies 32
(1986), 72-93. In a seminal article for this discussion, Snodgrass unfolds the claim
that justification by works presupposes justification by faith.
53
Mark Seifrid, Christ Our Righteousness: Paul’s Theology of Justification
(Downers Grove, Illinois: Apollos, 2000), 179ff.
54
Don Garlington, Faith, Obedience, and Perseverance: Aspects of Paul’s Letter to
the Romans (Tubingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1994). Garlington argues with keen exegetical
insight that the link between present justification by faith alone and final justification
according to works is “the obedience of faith.” See, e.g., 44:

While Paul is adamant that it is faith alone which justifies here and now, he
 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk 43
57 58
Wright, and, of course, Norman Shepherd. Of course, this list is by
no means comprehensive and could easily be expanded even further.

is equally insistent that it is the “doers of the law,” Rom 2:13, who will be
justified in the eschatological judgment. As Cosgrove rightly stresses,
justification, not simply judgment, belongs not only at the beginning of life
in Christ but also at its final consummation: there are, in fact, two moments
of justification. In addressing the problem, we shall argue that it is none
other than “faith’s obedience” which bridges the gap between these
seemingly polar opposites.
55
Knox Chamblin, “The Law of Moses and the Law of Christ,” in Continuity and
Discontinuity: Perspectives on the Relationship Between the Old and New
Testaments, ed. by John S. Feinberg (Westchester, Illinois: Crossway, 1988), 194-
195:

Whereas obedience is the response to grace, grace is the consequence of law

keeping. The merciful will be shown mercy (Matt. 5:7). In response to his
children’s obedience, the Father gives yet more grace. The righteousness for
which believers hope (Gal. 5:5) is no less a gift than that which has
embraced them in the gospel (Rom. 1:17; 3:21). At the Final Judgment,
those who obey the law will indeed be declared righteous (Rom. 2:13), not
as a basis for forgiveness, but as the Father’s glad acceptance and approval
of what they have done in response to grace (cf. 1 Cor. 4:5; Mt. 25:21; Jas.
2:14:26).
56
Bird, The Saving Righteousness of God,, 51, 155ff. Bird takes a rather restrained
view of the place of works in the final judgment because he fears shifting the ground
of justification from Christology to pneumatology. Further, he is not satisfied with
the language of “double justification.” Nevertheless, he is very explicit in applying
the already/not yet paradigm to the doctrine of justification and stresses the necessity
of works as the evidential fruit of faith. He rejects the hypothetical interpretation of
Romans 2:13, arguing that 2:1-29 as a whole describes Gentile Christians who fulfill
the true meaning of Torah through faith in Christ and life in the Spirit. See 161, 167,
177:

Paul really did believe in judgment by works and salvation to those who
live obediently…However, obedience itself is a result of God’s
activity…Paul agrees with Judaism that there is indeed a judgment
according to deeds but he offers a wholly different conception of the basis
of acquittal at the final recompense. Obedience to Torah is replaced by faith
in Christ as the means for deliverance…If obedience is the fruit of faith, and
if faith is necessary to keep the believer in communion with God, then
obedience is required for maintaining the status of justification – after all,
no one will be justified if they do not persist and persevere in faithfulness.
57
N. T Wright “The Law in Romans 2” in Paul and the Mosaic Law, ed. James D.
44 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk

To illustrate the newly emerging consensus, we will take three

representative theologians, Simon Gathercole, Alan Stanley, and Paul
Rainbow. 59 As we will see, these theologians are well within the
Reformed tradition, even if they seek to refine it by being more
faithful to the language of the biblical text. As the works of these
scholars are published by reputable book houses and are growing in
popularity, they seem fit choices to illustrate the rising viewpoint.
Simon Gathercole is one the leading voices in current NT
scholarship. He clearly affirms an orthodox view of initial justification
based on the imputed righteousness of Christ, received by faith alone.
But that does not exhaust the meaning of the doctrine of justification.
In his book, Where Is Boasting?, Gathercole makes compelling
exegetical arguments for a final justification according to works from
Romans 2 and James 2. In view of Romans 2, Gathercole says that
Paul does not disagree with the view of Second Temple Judaism that
final judgment will be according to works; “Indeed, he cheerfully
affirms it.” Gathercole summarizes the matter this way:

G. Dunn (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001), 131–150; What Saint Paul Really Said
(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 129; Paul: Fresh Perspectives (London: SCPK,
2005), 57, 148.
58
Technically, one could object to the inclusion of Norman Shepherd in this list
since he does not make use of a double justification formula. Indeed, in private
correspondence, he has expressed reservation about applying the already/not yet
construction to the doctrine of justification for fear of lapsing into scholasticism.
Nevertheless, the content of Shepherd’s doctrine of justification certainly makes
eternal weal or woe at the last day in some sense dependent upon works. According
to Shepherd, this is not a denial of justification by faith alone, but an affirmation that
the faith that justifies is always an obedient, working faith. Justifying faith is never
solitary; it is always the fruit of the Spirit’s work in us, along with repentance and
obedience, all of which have their source together in our union with Christ. Shepherd
does not believe works have merit, and does not believe works play a role in our
transition from condemnation to acquittal. Nevertheless, grace-effected good works
must never be severed from faith and justification. Shepherd believes the
justification by works spoken of by Apostle James is an eschatological justification,
taking place at the last day. For these reasons, he belongs in our list.
59
By no means are all these theologians on exactly the same page with regard to
justification by works. They have different concerns, exegete particular texts
differently at times, use different language, etc. But there is certainly enough of a
family resemblance to lump them all together. Likewise, none of them simply repeat
the viewpoints of earlier Reformed theologians, such as those we have already
surveyed. But there are obvious similarities with the traditional doctrine of “double
justification,” and quite a few of these contemporary theologians acknowledge that
link and their debt to previous generations of Reformed scholarship.
 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk 45

Paul’s theology of final judgment according to obedience,

then, exhibits both continuity and discontinuity in relation
to other Jewish texts: continuity as to obedience being a
criterion for the final judgment, discontinuity as to the
character of the obedience [since for Paul, unlike Judaism,
true obedience is empowered by the Spirit of Christ]. 60

Gathercole argues that this reading of Romans 2 is reinforced

by what we find elsewhere in Paul’s writings (e.g., Rom. 6:21-22; Gal.
6:8; Col. 3:23-25). Against Judaism, Paul redefines obedience in
Christocentric terms, and says such obedience is the means and way to
final justification and eternal salvation. As Gathercole explains,

Paul expresses a symmetrical judgment where salvation

and condemnation are according to deeds: condemnation is
a “measure for measure” judgment, and salvation is (with
something of a mixing of metaphors!) an inheritance that is
repaid…[O]ne’s actions determine one’s destiny…[Paul]
affirmed the importance of final salvation according to
works as part of his theology, and it also has an important
place in New Testament theology as a whole.61

When Gathercole turns his attention to focus on James 2, we

find the same truths. Gathercole argues convincingly that works are
not merely evidential in this passage since James uses the same
instrumental language for works as for faith. Gathercole concludes:

James does describe works as the means to

eschatological justification… [We must see] James as in
some continuity with his Jewish background on the issue.
Thus works have a genuine instrumental role in

60
Simon Gathercole, Where Is Boasting? Early Jewish Soteriology and Paul’s
Response in Romans 1-5 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002), 124, 133. Of course, the
distinction between works as “evidence” and works as “instrument” is a thin line at
best. The artificial nature of this distinction is seen if we consider the fact that any in
courtroom setting, evidence is instrumental in reaching the verdict.
61
Gathercole, Where Is Boasting?, 130–131.
46 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk

eschatological justification for the believers James is

addressing.62

Gathercole pinpoints the problem with so much modern

exegesis of Paul:

These emphases are appreciated properly neither by the

New Perspective nor by Lutheran exegesis. The New
Perspective, as I have been maintaining, has tended to
remove works from any positive functional role in Jewish
eschatology and soteriology. Lutheran theology, however,
has tended to neglect the role of works in the soteriology of
the NT and has so stressed the role of faith that it has
swallowed up the area of initial and final justification and
excluded works from both.63

In another place, Gathercole stresses the role of works in the

final judgment, over against certain inadequate treatments of Pauline
theology, especially Romans 2:

Finally, if the law-abiding Gentiles in 2:14-15 are

Christians, then the statement of 2:13 can by no means be
dismissed as merely hypothetical or ad hominem. Rather, in
the company of statements about the reward of eternal life
for obedience in 2:7, 10, 26-27 and 29, Romans 2:13-16
must point to a stronger theology of final vindication on
the basis of an obedient life than is evident in most
analyses of Pauline theology.64

In his essay, “The Doctrine of Justification in Paul and

Beyond,” Gathercole synthesizes and summarizes the NT data,
showing that a present justification by faith alone followed by a final
justification by works, cuts across the various strata of the canon:

62
Gathercole, Where Is Boasting?, 116–118.
63
Gathercole, Where Is Boasting?, 119.
64
Quoted in Bird, Saving Righteousness of God, 172.
 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk 47

[O]ther voices in the New Testament, however, force us to

acknowledge that the biblical concept of justification is not
a monolithic one…

In [Matthew] 12:37 the reference to justification is clearly

in the context of an eschatological acquittal; it stands in
contrast with condemnation, and both future tenses
certainly refer to the eschatological future of the day of
judgment. Here words are the fruit that are referred to as
the reason for justification. It is dangerous to attempt to
be more orthodox than Jesus by insisting that ‘fruit’ [of
faith] cannot be described as an instrumental cause of
eschatological justification…

[T]he description of justification that we saw in the

Matthean saying is, mutatis mutandis, very close to what
we see in the Epistle of James.

James, as is well known, makes the point very explicitly

that justification is not by faith alone but by works (James
2:24). As the context makes clear, James understands
justification to be linked to future salvation, much as in
Matthew’s gospel. Consequently, scholars who have
attempted to solve the Paul/James tension by focusing on
James’s concern with eschatological justification [such as
Douglas Moo] have hit on an important point. Other have
tried to address (or perhaps circumvent) the problem by
arguing that faith and works have very different senses in
Paul and James: Paul contrasts trust in God (faith) with
meritorious legalism (works of the law), whereas James
contrasts nominal monotheism (faith alone) with works of
charity. And there is a good deal of merit in those
observations as well.

The question needs to be addressed, however, from within

the context of James’s formulations; we have no references
to justification in James beyond the statements in 2:21-
25…
48 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk

Three points are particularly relevant to the discussion of

James here. First James understands justification
predominantly as eschatological, although his usage cannot
be confined to this sphere. Although his discussion is
framed by the concern with what kind of faith avails
eschatologically, he also brings in the examples of
Abraham and Rahab, where the sense is not of
eschatological justification. Second, James does not – as is
perhaps commonly thought – confuse faith and works. He
regards faith as working together with works (2:12) and
“made perfect by works” (2:22). Third, James, crucially,
regards future salvation as having pastoral implications for
those who are resting on their doctrinal laurels. The
pastoral situation must be seen as the setting for James’s
formulations…

The problem of the apparent differences between James

and Paul has long been a crux interpretum, but it needs to
be remembered that (as we have seen) the James/Paul
tension is merely a manifestation a generation or so later of
a Jesus/Jesus tension. Already in Jesus’ teaching there is
clear indication that God accepts sinners but that at the
final judgment, vindication is for the righteous who
have produced fruit…

Furthermore, it is also a Paul/Paul tension: Paul, too, can

use the language of justification to describe the final
vindication of God’s people on the basis, from one
angle, of their obedience. In Romans 2:13 Paul talks of
justification as for the doers…It will not do to write this off
as a hypothetical reference to an empty set of “the
righteous,” for Paul goes on directly afterward to provide
instances of these doers of the law who will be justified: the
Gentiles who have the law written on their hearts…If this
interpretation is correct, then it is not simply within the
New Testament more broadly that we find this tension, but
even within Paul…

Can this diversity, even within Paul himself, be accounted

for?...The New Testament does not offer two ways of
 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk 49

salvation, one by faith and one by works. Rather, the

category of those who are justified by faith is
coextensive with those who will be justified on the final
day after a whole life of perseverance. The two groups
are identical…For Paul, the categories of “those of
faith” (Gal. 3:7) and “all who do good” in Romans 2:10
(cf. Rom. 2:7, 13, 26-27) are one and the same…65

Another evangelical scholar who has extensively examined the

place of works in NT theology is Alan P. Stanley. In his books, Did
Jesus Teach Salvation by Works? and Salvation Is More Complicated
Than You Think, he explores the place of works in the biblical plan of
salvation. After decisively ruling out any salvific role for pre-
conversion (or meritorious) works, Stanley explores the relationship of
obedience to salvation in several different areas, including
discipleship, perseverance, how we treat others, how we use money,
and so on. Stanley is especially concerned to focus on the teaching of
Jesus in the gospels because he believes the church has muzzled and
muted the challenge of Jesus’ words. Stanley wants to show that the
gospel is indeed found in the gospels – but that the gospel is not at all
at odds with the demands of holiness. Indeed, as Stanley points out,
the necessity of works is integral to the evangelical message: “At the
end of every of Matthew’s five discourses Jesus teaches judgment by
works and the judgment in each case applies to eternal salvation (7:24-
27; 10:40-42; 13:47-50; 18:32-35; 25:31-46)…Therefore these
passages are key to understanding Jesus’ view on the role of works in
salvation and admission requirements to heaven.”66
We are particularly concerned with a recovery of the Protestant
doctrine of (second) justification by works, so our survey of Stanley’s
writings will focus on those places where he takes up the NT’s

65
Gathercole, “The Doctrine of Justification in Paul and Beyond,” in Justification in
Perspective: Historical developments and Contemporary Challenges, ed. Bruce L.
McCormack (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006), ch.10, 232-234. In a footnote
on James, Gathercole adds: “The context leading up to the discussion of justification
in James 2:14-26 is concerned with final salvation (see 2:12-13), and the meaning of
the ‘save’ word group in James probably refers consistently to eschatological
salvation.”
66
Alan Stanley, Did Jesus Teach Salvation By Works? The Role of Works in
Salvation in the Synoptic Gospels (Eugene, Oregon: Pickwick Publications, 2006),
319.
50 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk

teaching on justification. Stanley lays out the basic issues in these

terms:

To be saved Jesus lays down definitive conditions that must

be fulfilled…Jesus tells his disciples in advance the
criterion He will use to determine where people will spend
eternity. In the final analysis those who are not merciful
will go away to eternal punishment while those who are
merciful will go to eternal life (Mt. 25:34-46).

So — did Jesus teach salvation by works?...In the Synoptic

Gospels there are many passages that appear to teach a
direct relationship between works and salvation. Simply
put the presence or absence of “works” plays a significant
role (in the final judgment) in determining where one
spends eternity. That is, if works are present, one can
expect to spend eternity with God in heaven; if works are
absent, one can expect to spend eternity without God in
hell.

If this thesis is correct, how do we reconcile this with what

has become the hallmark of evangelical Christianity:
“Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone”? Of
course some might prefer to pose the question in another
way—”How does one reconcile Jesus’ teaching on
salvation with Paul’s doctrine of justification by grace
through faith and not by works?” Yet even to pose the
question in this way perhaps betrays more our
understanding of where any incongruity lies than the
Bible’s understanding of where it might lie. The
incongruity, we assume, must lie with Jesus. Yet why is it
that Jesus must be reconciled to Paul as if Paul were the
benchmark? If anyone should be the benchmark, should it
not be Jesus himself?...

[W]e cannot deny that Jesus demanded obedience to enter

into eschatological life. In Matthew 7:21 Jesus said “only
those do the will of my Father” will enter the kingdom of
heaven. The Father’s will in Mathew is expressed in 5:20
as “surpassing righteousness,” which itself is defined and
 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk 51

described in vv. 21-48 as not getting angry with a brother,

not looking lustfully sat a woman, loving one’s enemy, etc.
In other words, Jesus demands very real and concrete
obedience in order for one to enter into the kingdom and
thus eternal life (see esp. 25:34-46).67

After noting the similarities between Jesus’ teaching and

Romans 2:13, Stanley continues:

In case this sounds something close to salvation by works

we should remember two things: first, Jesus does not
expect anyone to obey commandments to enter into a
relationship with Himself for he did “not come to call the
righteous, but sinners” (Matt. 9:13; Mark 2:17; Luke 5:32).
However He does say that it will be the righteous who will
enter the kingdom (e.g., Matt. 5:20; 13:43, 49; 25:34-46).
Second, Jesus told his disciples that it is impossible for
anyone to enter the kingdom. We may conclude from this
that any righteousness that admits anyone into eternity is
due completely to the work of God and His grace (cf. esp.
Gal. 5:22-23; 6:8). This is a theological truism…68

Stanley provides a detailed look at what it means to the life

of the kingdom at the last day. What is at stake in the final
judgment according to deeds is not merely one’s degree of
reward, but salvation itself.69

Elsewhere, Stanley notes the similarities between the teaching

of Jesus and James:

James 2:21-26…most likely explicates Matthew’s teaching

on the last judgment…James 2:14 is speaking of
eschatological and eternal salvation. Of interest to us now
is James’ teaching on justification by works in vv. 21, 24-
25. James insists that Abraham was justified by works

67
Stanley, Did Jesus Teach Salvation By Works?, 2–3, 196–197.
68
Stanley, Did Jesus Teach Salvation By Works?, 197–198; cf. 328.
69
Stanley, Did Jesus Teach Salvation By Works?, see especially ch. 10, as well as
pages 307-8.
52 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk

subsequent to offering Isaac on the altar (v. 21). From here

James is able to make his main point: “You see a person is
justified by works and not by faith alone” (v. 24; cf. v.
25)…

If little else is clear it is clear that Paul and James

cannot be speaking about the same justification. Paul
means justification as an entry point into salvation
whereas James evidently means justification at some
point subsequent to entry…In all probability, James is
speaking of Paul’s justification as an acquittal or
declaration of righteousness, not as the entry point to
salvation but the end point, that is, final justification at
the future judgment (cf. Isa. 43:9; 45:25; 50:8)…

Thus the evidence suggests that James’ justification is a

reference to the eschatological judgment associated with
the second Coming, the outcome of which concerns eternal
salvation. Two things confirm this. First, James’ entire
concern is expressed in 2:14: faith without works cannot
save—in the eschatological sense—someone eternally (v.
14)…

Second, James is obviously familiar with Matthew’s

teaching on eschatological judgment. He utilizes material
from Matthew 25:35-36 (in Jas 2:15-16) and has evidently
drawn on Jesus’ words in Matthew 12:33-35 in his
exposition of the tongue in James 3. What is striking is that
in Matthew 12:36 Jesus makes reference to the “day of
judgment” when all men will give an account for what they
have spoken (as in Jas 2:12). Jesus finishes by saying that
“from your words you will be justified and from your
words you will be condemned” (Matt 12:37). Clearly
Jesus knows of a justification that will take place in the
“day of judgment” and it is likely James is speaking of
the same judgment, that is, all people will be judged on
the basis of their works vis-à-vis their eternal destiny.

It is my opinion that the troublesome James 2:14-26

passage teaches judgment on the basis of
 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk 53

works…Matthew’s last judgment scene (Matt 25:31-46)

is James’ salvation/justification by works (note esp. Jas.
2:15-16 par. Matt 25:35-36) although I have not explored
this here (cf. also Rom 14:10-12; 2 Cor 5:10; 2 Thess. 1:6-
10; Rev. 20:11-13; 22:12). Thus we may legitimately speak
of salvation by works though what I mean of course is
eschatological salvation by works.70

Stanley states the basic principle that drives the NT doctrine of

double justification:

When the focus is on the beginning of salvation God’s

initiative is highlighted (e.g., grace, calling, election, etc.).
But when the focus is on the end of salvation the works of
individuals are emphasized (e.g., Matt 16:27; 25:31-46;
John 5:28-29; Rom 2:6-8).71

This is why Scripture so repeatedly links our final destiny to

deeds, such as the words we speak and how we treat the poor.
Finally, Stanley gives a summary of Jesus’ teaching, as it is
contextualized by the rest of the NT:

So did Jesus teach salvation by works? We have seen

clearly that indeed He did. However, we must remember to
carefully define our terms. If by salvation we mean
conversion and something akin to Paul’s justification by
faith; and if by works we mean works prior to conversion
and thus originating from ourselves then it is clear—Jesus
did not teach salvation by works. If however we mean
final or eschatological salvation and post-conversion
works originating from God Himself then, yes, Jesus did
teach salvation by works—in the same way James
taught justification by works…Paul says no one is
justified by means of works; James [along with Jesus]
says that we are. They are simply speaking from
different perspectives. Both are correct.

70
Stanley, Did Jesus Teach Salvation By Works?, 308–311, 333.
71
Stanley, Did Jesus Teach Salvation By Works?, 312.
54 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk

Eschatological salvation then, in the Synoptic Gospels, is

indeed by works. But we must remember—also in the
Synoptic Gospels—that it is impossible for anyone to enter
into the kingdom. Thus Jesus is—and must be—the One
who calls, since with God “all things are possible.” He
alone can get the camel through the eye of the needle. Only
those who are poor in spirit are blessed and enter the
kingdom. Thus Jesus calls sinners only. All this points to
the priority of God’s grace. By priority I mean even
conversion is not possible apart from God’s call. It follows
that works—works that save—are not possible unless God
enables them. Hence those who enter into eternal life have
been blessed by God and enter into something prepared by
God (Matt 25:34)…Thus, even though works are necessary
for salvation, the works themselves are only possible “with
God.” Works then are, as we saw…from John Calvin,
“inferior causes.” The possession of eternal life, says
Calvin, “is by means of good works…eternal life [is] a
consequence of works.” We can rightly say with Augustine
that at the time of final salvation God will “crown not so
much thy merits as His own gifts.”72

Paul Rainbow’s erudite book The Way of Salvation is crucial to

the re-emergence of the classic Reformed “double justification”
doctrine for several reasons. While critical of the Reformation at
points (often unfairly, in my opinion), Rainbow holds to a doctrine of
the imputation of Christ’s active obedience. He also does extensive
exegetical and theological work on the issues at hand, patiently
building a cohesive case. Rainbow boils the issue down to one basic
question: “Many of the problems,” facing us in this discussion,
“revolve around the single question whether the fruit of the Spirit
counts towards a finalizing of justification.”73 Rainbow argues that
while the church has picked up on Paul’s antitheses between old
covenant vs. new, law vs. grace, and works of the law vs. faith, we
have not noticed the antithesis pitting works of the law vs. good
works.74 Works done by Adam’s offspring in their own strength are

72
Stanley, Did Jesus Teach Salvation By Works?, 333–334.
73
Rainbow, The Way of Salvation, 46.
74
Rainbow, The Way of Salvation, 79.
 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk 55

worthless, but Spirit-empowered works performed by regenerate

believers truly find favor in God’s sight.75 He explains: “In every
instance where Paul plays faith and works off against each other, the
works he has in mind are those of fallen humanity apart from Christ.
Yet Paul never treats faith and ‘good’ works as opposites…What
prevails for future justification is ‘faith working through love’ (Gal.
5:6).”76 Thus, “Whenever Paul says that works of the law form no part
of the basis on which God accepts sinners, he means that fallen
humanity can do nothing to merit God’s favor,” but this does not rule
out a place for good works done by believers “which God will approve
at the last day.”77 Rainbow faults many Protestants for having an
inadequate doctrine of justification that covers only part of the Pauline
material. It certainly captures Paul’s main emphasis on the
inauguration of the justified state when the subject is first transferred
from the old covenant to the new. But several passages in Paul either
apply the verb ‘to be justified’ to an unfinished goal towards which we
move throughout the Christian life (Gal. 2:17; cf. 5:4-5), or point to
the last assize as the setting for its attainment (Rom. 2:13; 8:33; 1 Cor.
4:4). ‘Impute’ can also refer to judgment day (Rom. 2:26; 2 Tim.
4:16).78

Rainbow fleshes out the justification/sanctification relationship

in terms of the “already” and the “not yet” of NT eschatology:
Sanctification is situation between the initial and final phases of
justification:

Insofar as justification is already inaugurated, it preceded

sanctification and had an independent formal cause in the
perfect righteousness of Christ attributed to our faith. At the
same time, however, it is by lumping individuals with
Christ that God justifies them. More precisely, God has
justified Christ; those who belong to Christ are counted
righteous only insofar as they participate in his status as the
Justified One. In this union with the Lord, no one is

75
Rainbow, The Way of Salvation, 79ff.
76
Rainbow, The Way of Salvation, 82.
77
Rainbow, The Way of Salvation, 82–83.
78
Rainbow, The Way of Salvation, 115.
56 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk

justified whom God does not also destine for conformity to

his Son (Rom. 5:18-19; 8:29).

But insofar as justification remains to be concluded at

the final judgment, our increase in sanctity precedes
that event and supplies one aspect of the basis for a
favorable verdict (Rom. 8:1-2). What will weigh with
the judge in that day is our faith operative in deeds of
love wrought through God’s Spirit (Gal. 5:5-6).79

Rainbow explores in great theological and exegetical detail the

place of works in this final justification/imputation in chapters 12-17
of his book. He catalogs numerous texts that use judicial language in
an unmistakably eschatological way. Rainbow also painstakingly
demonstrates that what is at stake in the final judgment is not merely
rewards, but salvation itself, and the key criterion in the judgment will
be deeds.

[W]e must establish the temporal framework of

justification. Not everything Paul has to say about it
pertains to the present. He is also concerned about how
believers will fare at the last judgment. Paul paints his
gospel on the canvas of time, which progresses under
divine providence toward the end appointed for all things
by God. The justification of God’s elect is an important
part of the denouement…

[J]ustification occurs in two phases. The righteousness God

gave us when we turned to him, he actuates in another
dimension before he admits us into the everlasting state. …

God will decide each one’s portion by reference to what

that one has done. Paul can state this generally. God ‘will
render to every man according to his works’ (Rom. 2:16).
‘Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap’ (Gal.
6:7)…Eternal life will be the outcome of ‘patience in well-
doing’ (Rom. 2:7), of ‘righteousness’ (Rom. 5:21), of
slavery to God and sanctification (Rom. 6:22), of putting to
79
Rainbow, The Way of Salvation, 186–187.
 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk 57

death the deeds of the body by the Spirit (Rom. 8:13), of

‘godliness’ (1 Tim. 4:8; Tit. 1:11-2), of fighting the good
fight of the faith (1 Tim. 6:12), of doing good and being
rich in good deeds (1 Tim. 6:19)…

We cannot locate a statement anywhere in Paul’s writings

to the effect that at the last judgment God will look upon
the faith of believers instead of their deeds. Since deeds
express faith and are the index of faith’s genuineness, deeds
will be the criterion… Specifically, good deeds done by
believers through God’s grace will the criterion for
their final justification.

I have marshaled data from the Pauline epistles to prove

that what will be at stake for believers at the last judgment
is their eternal destiny, not just the secondary issue of
rewards; and that the decision will be based on the criterion
of their deeds as having demonstrated the reality of their
union with Christ by faith. That perspective on justification
is by no means foreign to Paul, which sees the prevenient
grace of God as bringing forth good works in the lives of
believers to be recognized and rewarded with eternal life on
the last day. This actual righteousness does not run on a
mundane plane entirely separate from imputed
righteousness, but it an integral aspect of that rounded out
righteousness by which we shall stand before our final
judge…

All this amounts to a double justification doctrine first by faith,

then according to works. Rainbow unpacks the meaning of second
justification:

The second critical moment of justification will occur at the

end of the world. Our union with Christ is not merely a
legal concept in the divine mind. That union also
assimilates us into God’s progamme to conform his elect to
the image of his Son (Rom. 8:29), and unleashes in us
God’s power (Rom. 8:2) to bring forth the fruit of the Spirit
(Gal. 5:22) so that we fulfill the just requirement of the law
(Rom. 8:4). Since God is ultimately the one who is at work
58 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk

in us both to will and to perform his good pleasure, we co-

labor in the sphere of his grace toward our final salvation
(Phil. 2:12-13; 2 Thess. 1:11-12). At the last judgment,
God’s operative grace, manifest is acts of love done by the
living faith of his people, will prevail with him (Gal. 5:5-6),
and those who have done the law will be justified (Rom.
2:13).

How do works fit into dual scenario? It depends on whether

we are talking about the moral efforts of Adamic humanity,
which Paul calls works of the law, or about those of
Christ’s members, called good works or the works of faith.
From the inaugural moment of justification Paul rigorously
excludes works of the law (the work of faith is, of course,
not an issue before a person comes to faith)…From the
final moment of justification, however, Paul not only does
not exclude good works, but he positively identifies good
works as the criterion by which the saving faith of the elect
will be proven and they justified….

Obviously obedience does not take the fundamental role [in

our justification], for Paul makes faith the end as well as
the beginning of our duty under the new covenant (Gal.
3:2-3; Rom. 1:17). In the inaugural moment of justification,
one who has been unregenerate up to that point has no
acceptable works to contribute. God freely imputes the
righteousness of the Last Adam to his corporate members
through their empty and receptive faith. He also imparts his
Spirit to liberate them from sin’s reign, regenerate them and
stir them in the service of God. Until that happens,
evangelical obedience does not even arise. Therefore good
works are secondary to faith, both temporally and logically.

After we are made partakers of Christ’s righteousness and

of his Spirit, however, salvation remains a goal to be
attained in the future (Rom. 5:9-10), righteousness in the
fullest sense is still a matter of hope (Gal. 5:5). The dual
condition for finishing well is perseverance in faith (Col.
1:23) and in doing good (Rom. 2:7, 10, 13, 26; 6:22; 8:13),
or, expressed as a single compound condition, ‘faith
 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk 59

working through love’ (Gal. 5:6) or the ‘work of faith’ (1

Thess. 1:3; 2 Thess. 1:11). Because faith is the primary
instrument by which we accede to divine grace – which is
itself dynamic and sets us in action as we journey toward
the end – good deeds are, on the one hand, the
demonstration of saving faith and the sign of the
righteousness which God has already given; and, on the
other, good deeds are instrumental in meeting the
outstanding condition for being justified finally. Christian
obedience may be called a sub-condition for the
culminating moment of justification. It is a second
condition in its own right besides faith, because God
requires holiness just as surely as he requires faith for
salvation, and will use good works at the judgment as the
index of faith’s authenticity. It is subordinate, because
obedience is a fruit of grace, its divine root, and therefore
deeds do not form a separate condition wholly independent
of faith.

This account of Christian obedience in justification is

an attempt to unify various strands of Paul’s teaching on the
subject…

Rainbow believes he is integrating the best of Luther with the

best of Augustine:

Paul’s teaching about inaugural justification feeds into

the Lutheran doctrine of justification by faith alone. What Paul
says about final justification is identical with Augustine’s view
of justification by works of grace. We are going to have to find
a way to integrate the biblical truths behind these two
systems…How to think of justification inaugurated and
consummated, of imputed justice and actual justice, as being
related to each other, is a pressing systematic question.80

80
See Rainbow, The Way of Salvation, 155, 174, 193, 194, 203, 205-6, 212. Along
the lines of synthesis, Rainbow does a fine job drawing together Paul and James on
justification in ch. 16, and integrating the biblical material as a whole in ch. 17.
60 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk

Rainbow’s book is not above significant criticisms. Indeed,

where the older Reformed theologians might serve to bolster his case
is in their explanation of how God accepts our imperfect-but-good
works through the mediation of Christ. In what sense is even final
justification “by faith”? Rainbow does not sufficiently develop the
place of forgiveness at the last day, nor does he adequately explain the
theological relationship between initial and final justification. Still, his
book is important step forward in the present discussion.
Rainbow’s thoughts on the state and direction of the best
evangelical NT scholarship form an apropos conclusion to this article:

There is a very broad consensus among many New

Testament scholars in the conclusion that Christians are
justified in one sense, but still need to delivered from
the judicial wrath of God to come (Rom. 5:1-11). If
Protestantism is to live up to its radical claim to derive
its doctrines from the Bible, then its doctrine of
justification needs to [incorporate all the biblical data].
Paul’s epistles provide no warrant for the typical
Protestant view that the plenary pardon which God
advances to a repentant sinner constitutes justification,
while the judicial review of the same person at the end
of his or her earthly sojourn belongs under some other
rubric. Paul uses the same language and conceptuality
in reference to both events. Therefore both belong to the
doctrine of justification.

It seems natural to apply to the two phases of justification

the same terminology that scholars have adopted for New
Testament eschatology in general. We are ‘already’
justified, but we are ‘not yet’ justified. Now in the present
we have tasted of our future justification. The justification
of God’s people has been inaugurated; it has yet to be
consummated.81
81
Rainbow, The Way of Salvation, 174. See also 206ff for a survey of the
contemporary scholarship. Bird, Saving Righteousness of God, 172, makes the same
point about the direction of contemporary scholarship, though he does not
necessarily agree with it in toto:

Within this “Christian” interpretation of Romans 2, some believe that the

 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk 61

role of the Spirit in the life of the believer solves the incongruity about
justification by faith and judgment according to works. A solution that has
received increasing popularity (though it is hardly new) is to advocate that
God indeed requires works as the basis of final justification, but God
himself produces in the believer through the Spirit the works that he
requires.

“Basis” (or “ground”), though used by some theologians, is not the best choice of
terminology, and is bound to create unnecessary confusion and objections. But the
essential view that the NT teaches works are a conditional means in our final
acquittal at judgment day is now (once again!) widely embraced in evangelical and
Reformed scholarship.
62 The Reformed Doctrine of Justification by Works - Lusk