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Question
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When is a sinner counted "not guilty"? |
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Question
(full):
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Does justification by faith change God or does it change the believing sinner? or What happens when a sinner truly believes?
John MacArthur (and most evangelical Christians I've read) in his commentary to the Romans p.208 says, "Dikaioo (justified) means to declare the rightness of something or someone. Justification is God's declaration that all the demands of the law are fulfilled on behalf of the believing sinner through the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Justification is a wholly forensic, or legal, transaction, God imputes the perfect righteousness of Christ to the believer's account, then declares the redeemed on fully righteous. Justification must be distinguished from sanctification, in which God actually imparts Christ's righteousness to the sinner. While the two must be distinguised, justification and sanctification can never be separated. God does not justify who He does not sanctify."
If justification (God's act of declaring one righteous) comes (and only begins) when I believe, does this mean that God changes his whole view of me just because of something I did (to believe)? Does it mean that God has a totally different way of seeing me while in unbelief and then changes his way of seeing me now that I believe? Such concept seem to suggest that by believing I am able to cause God to see me differently. How does this makes sense to you?
If by Christ's death He legally justified all men (Romans 5:18) and does not impute the world's sins against them (2 Cor. 5:19), doesn't this mean whether you're a believer or unbeliever, God counts you as one who never sinned, because all your sins were counted against Christ and legally cancelled even before you were born, before you even knew God, repented of your sins, believed and obeyed?
Is it possible that justification by faith isn't primarily about God's act of declaring a believing sinner righteous or "not guilty" (which seems to imply that God changes his whole view of the sinner when he believes) since the verdict of a legal, forensic, objective justification is already true for all men, once and for all BUT INSTEAD primarily about the believing sinner's actual and personal salvific experience upon discovery of God's justified and forgiven view of him (because of Christ's finished work for all, including unbelievers) even before he exercised the gift of faith, while in the state of unbelief?
Again, is justification by faith about God changing his view of the believing sinner or more about the believing sinner having a salvation experience (not because God changed his view of him, for all the while, God sees him as his forgiven, justified child even while still in unbelief) but because genuine trust allowed the sinner to be connected to the God whom to know is Life Eternal.
In other words, does justification by faith change God, or does it change us? or am I missing something? Up until now it never made sense to me how a forever loving God would change his whole view of me just because I did something, like believing.
Please understand I do not subscribe to Universalism. I believe many people will still be eternally lost but the reason, so far as I understand, is not that they were not forgiven by God or counted like they never sinned at all (justified) but because they tragically chose to willfully reject a loving God who has already forgiven them.
I would truly appreciate your feedback and comments.
Blessings,
Jaccal2000
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