The Highway Forums General Discussion Open Forum Gill a Hyper-Calvinist?

We must also firmly reject Antinomian or hyper-Calvinistic tendencies which adhere to a justification from eternity that negates the need for actual justification in time by becoming personal partakers of Christ by faith. For example, Abraham Kuyper went beyond the Synod of Dort in describing justification by faith as merely "becoming conscious" of the fact that we were already justified by God from eternity and in the resurrection of Christ. William Gadsby, J. C. Philpot and most of the Strict Baptists speak similarly by affirming that the believer is justified in time only with respect to his own conscience by the Spirit's witness. This erroneous view already existed in Puritan times among those with Antinomian tendencies, as Thomas Goodwin's apt response to it reveals: "It is vain to say I am justified only in respect to the court of mine own conscience. The faith that Paul and the other apostles were justified by, was their believing on Christ that they might be justified (Galatians 2:15, 16), and not a believing they were justified already."

The view that an actual justification by faith in time does not exist for the believer faces three additional obstacles: First, it is contrary to Romans 4:6-8 which clearly affirms the imputation of Christ's righteousness in time. Second, time itself would then be a mere parenthesis, for God's people would not be viewed prior to regeneration as being "children of wrath, even as others" (Ephesians 2:3). If justification by faith does not transfer a sinner from the state of wrath to that of grace, and is merely a recognition of justification from eternity, all historical relevance of justification by faith alone is swept away. Third, if justification by faith is not a personal and historical necessity, the fruits of justification in deadness to sin and aliveness to Christ would likewise be a matter of indifference. One could then ask in all seriousness, "Shall we not sin, that grace may abound?" (Romans 6:2). This Paul strenuously opposes in Romans 6. We have shown that the absence of works is impossible for a true Christian. That faith which justifies is a working faith. "Faith without works is dead" (James 2:21) — yes, dead, not just sick or dying. Saving faith does not exist where it is not accompanied by good works. A fruitless Christian is a misnomer. Where Christ saves, He will also exercise His lordship. Contrary to the primary tenet of Antinomianism — the believer may disregard the law altogether (anti=against: nomos=law) since he is freed from its demands as a means of salvation — Christ sends the saved believer, who was condemned by the law prior to being justified by faith, back to the law to live out of gratitude under His lordship in obedience to His Word. Luther said that the law was like a stick: "God first used it to beat me, but later I used it to walk with."