Corruption Not the Condition of Guilt, The New Birth Not the Condition of Justification, by AA Hodge
The question is one as to order, not of time, but of cause
and effect. All agree (1) That the satisfaction and merit of Christ
are the necessary precondition of regeneration and faith as directly
as of justification; (2) That regeneration and justification are both
gracious acts of God; (3) That they take place at the same moment of
time. The only question is, What is the true order of causation?
Is the righteousness of Christ imputed to us that we may believe, or is it imputed to us because we believe? Is justification an analytic
judgment, to the effect that this man, though a sinner, yet being a
believer, is justified? Or is it a synthetic judgment, to the effect
that this sinner is justified for Christ’s sake. Our catechism
suggests the latter by the order of its phrases.
God justifies us, ‘only for the righteousness of Christ, imputed to us, and received by faith alone.’ The same seems to be included in the very act of justifying faith itself, which is the trustful recognition and embrace of Christ, who had previously ‘loved me, and given himself for me’ (Gal. 2:20).”
“By consequence, the imputation of Christ’s righteous to us is the
necessary precondition of the restoration to us of the influences of
the Holy Spirit, and that restoration leads by necessary consequence to our regeneration and sanctification.
“The notion that the necessary precondition of the imputation to us of Christ’s righteousness is our own faith, of which the necessary
precondition is regeneration, is analogous to the rejected theory that the inherent personal moral corruption of each of Adam’s descendants is the necessary precondition of the imputation of his guilt to them.
“On the contrary, if the imputation of guilt is the causal antecedent
of inherent depravity, in like manner the imputation of righteousness
must be the causal antecedent of regeneration and faith.”
From The Princeton Review —A. A. Hodge, “The Ordo Salutis”
Tags: AA Hodge, order of salvation, Richard Gaffin
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