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“Them He Also Justified”

Romans 8:30

Being called the sons of God in the eternal decree of God, we were justified in Christ then, in God’s eternal decree. All who were called were, at the same time, by the same decree, justified freely by the grace of God through the redemption of Christ’s blood as the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world. We were declared just with God, absolved of all sin and guilt, forgiven of all iniquity, made righteous and accepted as perfectly righteous in the Beloved, in Christ our Surety, before God spoke the world into being!

Finished before Time Began

Try to get hold of Paul’s doctrine if you can. If this won’t put a “Hallelujah” in your soul, I don’t know what will. ― When the Lord God predestinated us to be conformed to the image of his Son, he called us his sons and justified us in his eternal decree, looking on us in his dear Son! The whole work was finished before time began. Our sins were canceled before they were committed. Our debt was paid before it was incurred. The curse was removed before it came. The law was mended before it was broken. Justice was satisfied before it was offended. We were justified in Christ before we were fallen in Adam. We were accepted in Christ before we were banished in Adam!

Yes, redemption was done when God looked upon Christ as our Surety and accepted his sacrifice as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Isaiah 53:4-10).

Bible Doctrine

Without question, there is a sense in which our justification by the grace of God is an eternal act. That is Bible doctrine, not the doctrine of a man made creed or confession, but the doctrine of God. This is not just a logical inference drawn from the Scriptures. It is a doctrine plainly taught in the Word of God, stated precisely in the very language of your Bible. In Romans 8:30 Paul is talking about the eternal purpose of God by which he rules all things in providence. His subject matter is not prophetic, but historic. When God the Holy Ghost speaks prophetically in Holy Scripture, he speaks in the future tense. When he speaks of something already done, he speaks in the past tense. In the purpose of God all his elect were justified from eternity in Christ.

We were “accepted in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:6) from everlasting. If we were accepted in him, we were righteous in him. If God looked upon us as righteous, he looked upon us as justified. The only righteousness we could have possessed was a divinely bestowed righteousness.

Justification is one of those “all spiritual blessings” with which God’s elect were blessed in Christ before the world began (Ephesians 1:3; 2 Timothy. 1:9). The whole package of salvation was given to us in Christ in the covenant of grace before the foundation of the world. As Thomas Goodwin put it, “We may say of all spiritual blessings in Christ what is said of Christ, that ‘his goings forth are from everlasting.’”

Don Fortner

Pastor Fortner’s