I Am Barabbas
This past Monday night I spoke with my Roman Catholic friend (the Catechesis for Catholic Parish on campus), Gerald, about the doctrine of salvation. It was a wonderful night and those who attended were very engaged and asked several great questions!
I began the discussion with an illustration that I referred back to throughout the talk, which tried to differentiate the reformed position of justification by faith and sanctification by faith. We see these as two separate things. I stated that we are saved — a declaration of innocence at the moment of our salvation — and we are being saved — a continual growth in the holiness that is already ours, in Christ. The illustration I used was… Mickey Mouse.
Underneath the most famous costume in the world — prancing around at Disney World — are normal people who are loved and adored not for themselves (so to speak) but because they are covered in Mickey Mouse. This is our justification — we are declared righteous before God, and we are loved and adored, because we are covered in the righteousness of Christ.
The second half of this illustration is about our sanctification. I pointed out that once you’re in the costume, it would be a horrible experience to go on a hike up a mountain. This is depicted as our sin — when Christians live in a way that is no longer true of them— because we are in Christ! So Christians are clothed with Mickey and then spend their life learning the wave and the dance and the squeal. We learn to live as Mickey, but we already ARE Mickey, and no matter how bad we are at the wave, we are adored by the kids at Disney because we’re in the costume. The same is true of our justification! No matter how “bad” we are as living as Christians, we are loved and adored by God because we are covered in the righteousness of Christ.
Gerald then asked me a few questions, one of which I want to address:
— How does this declaration work? How can I be declared righteous if God knows that I am not righteous? —
Our confession states justification this way:
Those whom God effectually calls he also freely justifies (Rom. 8:30); not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous: not for anything wrought in them, or done by them, but by imputing the obedience and satisfaction of Christ unto them, in which they receive and rest on him and his righteousness by faith; which faith they have not of themselves, it is the gift of God.
We see this demonstrated in Zechariah 3:1–5
Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. 2 And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?” 3 Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. 4 And the angel said to those who were standing before him, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.” 5 And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the Lord was standing by.
This is us, in Christ ^ ^ (Jesus’ name is Joshua in Hebrew)
We also see this demonstrated in the story of the younger prodigal son, in Luke 15:18–24:
(after making a wreck of his life, he decides to return home to his father…) I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.” ’ 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.
If you look closely you’ll see that the son had three parts of his rehearsed speech:
- I have sinned against heaven and before you.
- I am no longer worthy to be called your son.
- Treat me as one of your hired servants.
But after seeing the prodigal love of his Father he realizes he cannot work his way back into His love, but that it is fully there. He leaves off the third part of his speech, ‘Treat me as one of your hired servants.’ And in a moment, he is clothed with the best robe. This is our justification. “Accepted as righteous.” We are not brought in or brought back as “hired servants.”
This is what Paul concludes in 2 Corinthians 5:17–21:
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
We are a new creation, in Christ. The Mickey Mouse suit is on! There is a change of status: New Creation. And how does this happen? Because Christ became our sin AND we became the righteousness of God.
That’s how.
One more example for you… the story of Barabbas. His story is my story. The wages of my sin is death. I was standing on death row as an enemy of God and Christ stood in my place and let me go. Therefore the punishment I deserve has been absolved, and I went free. Therefore, Paul says, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
I am Barabbas now living in the grace of my release, with a grateful heart and with a desire to please my Savior in all that I do. But I am ALREADY released. I can’t go back on trial. My punishment was already served.
…
St. Hilary of Poitiers (AD 315–368) says in his commentary on Matthew 9:6, This (paralytic) man was forgiven by Christ through faith, because the Law could not yield, for faith alone justifies.
St. Origen says, “A man is justified by faith. The works of the law can make no contribution to this” on his commentary to Luke 23:43.
St. Basil the Great says, — as recorded in a homily of his — “For this is perfect and pure boasting in God, when one is not proud on account of his own righteousness but knows that he is indeed unworthy of the true righteousness and has been justified solely by faith in Christ.
Chrysostom, Jerome, Clement, and others all believed in justification by faith alone. Luther and the Reformers did not invent the doctrine, they just brought back to life what had died. It’s good news, truly and stands in more than a semantical contrast to the Roman Catholic belief.
R.C. Sproul says it this way, “The Roman view of the gospel, as expressed at the Council of Trent, was that justification is accomplished through the sacraments. Initially, the recipient must accept and cooperate in baptism, by which he receives justifying grace. He retains that grace until he commits a mortal sin. Mortal sin is called “mortal” because it kills the grace of justification. The sinner then must be justified a second time. That happens through the sacrament of penance, which the Council of Trent defined as “a second plank” of justification for those who have made shipwreck of their souls.
The fundamental difference was this: Trent said that God does not justify anyone until real righteousness inheres within the person. In other words, God does not declare a person righteous unless he or she is righteous. So, according to Roman Catholic doctrine, justification depends on a person’s sanctification. By contrast, the Reformers said justification is based on the imputation of the righteousness of Jesus. The only ground by which a person can be saved is Jesus’ righteousness, which is reckoned to him when he believes.”
This is an important doctrine with a lot at stake. Let’s keep the conversation going.
- Caleb
