I say poor girl because she is either woefully blind to her sin, or she can have no peace. Either way, it wasn't a very pleasant experience for either one of us. I felt bad for her. If someone sees themselves as being under that kind of “legal pressure” with God, and knows but the half of their sin, it will be more than they can bear. Only when someone understands the doctrine of justification, that is, of sins being totally out of the picture, like Hebrews 10 presents, can they have the “assurance” and “clean conscience” to which Hebrews 10:22 speaks. If you're still under the threat of the law, you're in trouble, and it doesn't feel good.
Where does one even begin then? This “temporary justification” idea falls so short on so many levels. Perhaps just a few comments.
First, this whole thing can be cleared up by examining the definition of a Christian's justification, with probably the most thorough biblical treatment being in the first few chapters of Romans. Romans uses justify in the sense of “to declare righteous.” Obviously this person would naturally stand condemned on their own, but (to summarize Romans) God sees and declares them righteous because of the ground of Christ's atonement and through the instrument of their faith. He has not made them righteous, he declares them to be righteous. That is, they are still referred to as ungodly (as seen in 4:5, and 5:6). Were they to try and stand on their own works they would fall, because justification doesn't make you a perfect or even a good person, it is rather a legal matter where God declares you to be righteous in his sight. So God, in effect, as the judge, slams down the gavel and says, “Righteous!” All this is done apart from your sinfulness or goodness. You owe your justification to God. And this is precisely why you can no longer work your own condemnation by the sins you commit after having been justified (Rom. 8:1). It would have to be an act of God to slam down the gavel again and say, “Guilty.” And just what would be the basis of that? Sin? Not hardly. He's already seen you as bad as you could ever be, hating God, wicked and ungodly. That will not make him change his mind. Show me one place in the bible where a sinner is justified, unjustified, rejustified, unjustified...etc. It's nonsense.
Furthermore, Romans shows that being justified by God graciously removes you out from underneath things such as law, and condemnation, and works. Consider Romans 4:15. After having said that your sins will never be taken into account (4:8) we are reaffirmed with:
Rom. 4:15 – for the law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no violation. ..
This verse shows that being justified in Christ moves you out of the realm of being condemned by the law. This idea continues on in Romans. Justification is bigger than just forgiving a select number of sins. You're not just acquitted and somehow on neutral terms with God. Justification gives you the very righteousness of Christ as a gift to where God is not only not mad at you, but is pleased with you and loves you. It moves you entirely out of the realm of Law and works and condemnation (Rom. 3:21, 4:5-8, 6:14, 7:4, 8:1-2). You are moved into a state of grace. This grace is so free that some men would even raise the objection to Paul “then why not continue in sin” if that's the case and it is really that free and gracious?” (Rom. 6:1). If one understood justification to be temporary you could never anticipate that objection. Paul would be on a totally different page.
The only conceivable danger at this point then, would be to lose faith in Christ, and thus lose the instrument that applies the atonement of Christ to you. And yes, the bible does have real warnings on letting faith slip away and ending up in hell, just read Hebrews. But even here it is important to note that to lose your “faith” is to actually show that you never had true faith to begin with (1 John 2:18). For someone to lose true saving faith is an impossibility and can only be discussed in the hypothetical. Thus it does no harm to the doctrine of justification in the “once for all" sense. When God gives someone true saving faith, he keeps them believing to the end. "Those whom he justified he also glorified!"
- - - - -
What could also clear this whole thing up is a proper understanding of eternal life. That is, it's not just something Christians get when they die (though that's true). In a very important sense, Christians have eternal life right now (John 10:28). It's eternal, they are placed in the hand of God, and cannot be removed. There are many verses in John that show this present tense eternal salvation (John 3:36, 5:24, 6:47, 6:54). Specifically John 5:24 says we have passed out of death and into life. But I suppose here I have veered away from the strict term of “justification.”
Either way, I'm happy thinking about it all again. I side with Paul and David, “How blessed is the man...!”
- - - - -
Love cannot from its post withdraw;
Nor death, nor hell, nor sin, nor law,
Can turn the Surety’s heart away;
He’ll love His own to endless day.
- Gadsby
