There is a third passage which I believe uses the verb, to justify, to refer to the justification of the believer and his faith by his works. This passage is Romans 2:13: “for it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified.” Since I hope to respond to Lee Irons’ paper on Romans 2:13 in some detail, I will defer the discussion of this passage.
In this blog I wanhttp://www.netflix.com/WiPlayer?movieid=70141379&trkid=1166207t to discuss the use of the noun, righteousness, with regard to the day of judgment. I want simply to point at a number of passages which clearly teach that in the day of judgment we need not only the imputed righteousness of Christ, but also an imparted righteousness from Christ. Of course, we need these two rigtheousnesses in quite different respects. We need the imputed righteousness as the basis or ground of our acceptance before God. We need the imparted righteousness from Christ as the divinely appointed vindication that our faith in Christ is genuine.
There are a number of passages which require the possession of such righteousness in connection with the day of judgment as the vindication of a genuine and saving faith. Here I leave aside all the passages which plainly teach that such a righteousness is one of the vindications of a genuine faith even in this life. I have in mind when I say this passages like the following.
1 John 2:29 If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him.
1 John 3:7 Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous;
1 John 3:10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.
I also leave aside several passages which use the noun to refer to the imputed rigtheousness of Christ. Romans 4:3 uses the noun to refer to this righteousness as possessed now by faith. Romans 4:3: For what does the Scripture say? “ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.”
Philippians 3:9 is an important use of the noun because it is one of the few passages which speak of the importance of imputed righteousness in the context of the day of judgment.
Philippians 3:9: and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.
There are, however, several passages which use the noun in connection with a status conferred in connection with imparted righteousness eschatologically or in the day of judgment. They are the following: Matthew 5:20, Galatians 5:5-6, 2 Timothy 4:7-8, and Hebrews 11:7. I want to discuss these passages one at a time. In the blogs that follow.
Dr. Sam Waldron is the Academic Dean of CBTS and professor of Systematic Theology. He is also one of the pastors of Grace Reformed Baptist Church in Owensboro, KY. Dr. Waldron received a B.A. from Cornerstone University, an M.Div. from Trinity Ministerial Academy, a Th.M. from Grand Rapids Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. From 1977 to 2001 he was a pastor of the Reformed Baptist Church of Grand Rapids, MI. Dr. Waldron is the author of numerous books including A Modern Exposition of the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith, The End Times Made Simple, Baptist Roots in America, To Be Continued?, and MacArthur’s Millennial Manifesto: A Friendly Response.
