Not a Momentary Act

Norm Shepherd:

Further, justifying faith is not a momentary act. It is not the act of single moment. It is not a mathematical point without a time dimension. Justifying faith is an ongoing reality in the life of the believer. That is why the believer is called a believer. He believes and keeps on believing.

The suspicious are already hyperventilating because they only understand justification in the narrow sense (which is one helpful sense, just not to the exclusion of others that do not contradict it) that a man is justified once and for all in Jesus. He goes on:

We cannot say that we enter into a justified state by faith and then we remain in that state by works. We enter into a justified state by means of a living faith and we remain in a justified state by means of a living faith. This is to say that the sinner whose sin is forgiven and who has been transformed into the likeness of Christ–all by faith–perseveres in that faith and so remains in a right relationship with God.

James says Abraham’s “faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God and is was counted to him as righteousness”–and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.” “For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead.”

What Protestant is comfortable saying, I mean quoting (Scripture), “Abraham’s faith was completed by his works”? Very few which tells us we either distort Scripture or guard our doctrine in ways the Lord’s own brother did not. Justification is by faith alone, in Paul’s language, but faith is never alone–it’s alive, loving and obeying God. And this obedient faith continues throughout the believer’s life.

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