"Justification by faith alone" was Martin Luther's great spiritual and theological breakthrough. It did not come easily. He had tried everything from sleeping on hard floors and fasting to climbing a staircase in Rome while kneeling in prayer. Monasteries, masses, disciplines, confessions, absolutions, good works — all proved fruitless. Peace with God eluded him. The thought of the righteousness of God pursued him. He hated the very word righteousness which he believed provided a divine mandate to condemn him. Light finally dawned for Luther as he meditated on Romans 1:17, "For therein is the righteousness of God re­vealed from faith to faith: as it is writ­ten, The just shall live by faith." He saw for the first time that the righteous­ness Paul had here in mind was not a punitive justice which condemns sinners, but a perfect righteousness which God freely grants to sinners on the basis of Christ's merits, and which sinners receive by faith. Luther saw that the doctrine of justification by grace alone (cola gratia) through faith alone (per solam fidem) because of Christ alone (solus Christus) was the heart of the gospel and became for him "an open door into paradise, . . . a gate to heaven."

The phrase "justification by faith alone" was the key which unlocked the Bible for Luther.¹ Each of these four words he came to understand in relation to the others by the light of Scripture and the Spirit. In this series of articles I wish to focus on the second word of Luther's four-word discovery, namely, by. My task of expounding "by" may appear at first glance to be ele­mentary, but around this deceptively simple preposition the heart of the Romanist-Protestant debate has raged. Let's ask and answer several pertinent questions with regard to this critical preposition, which will serve to highlight the relationship of faith to justification. We will consider the preposition ''by" from four per­spectives: first, scripturally, by consid­ering the basic teaching of justification by faith, together with exegetical and etymological implications of the prepo­sition; second, theologically, by grap­pling with the issue of faith as a possible "condition" of justification; third, experientially, by addressing how a sinner appropriates Christ by faith; fourth, polemically, by defending the Protestant view of justification "by" faith against the views of Roman Ca­tholicism, Arminianism, and Anti­nomianism. Only the first of these questions will be addressed this month.

First, where does the Bible teach jus­tification by faith and what is actually entailed in the preposition "by'?⤒🔗

The Old Testament affirms that jus­tification is "by faith." Of Abraham's faith, Genesis 15:6 states, "And he be­lieved in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness." Roman Catholics have traditionally appealed to this verse to support their doctrine of justification by grace-empowered works, but not one word is mentioned here of work or merit. Rather, in Gene­sis 15:6 God grants righteousness to Abraham as a free gift. Paul confirms in Romans 4 and Galatians 3:6-14 that the imputed (i.e. reckoned) righteous­ness of Genesis 15:6 is to be under­stood in terms of "by or through faith." The Hebrew verb in Genesis 15:6 is rendered as "was counted" in Romans 4:3. This verb most often indicates "what a person, considered by himself, is not, or does not have, but is reckoned, held or regarded to be, or to have."² It is clear then that when Abraham was justified by his faith, the righteousness which was reckoned or "charged to his account" was a righteousness not his own but that of another, namely, the righteousness of Christ (Gal. 3:16).

But the objection may be raised: Does not the preposition eis as used in Romans 4:5, 9, 22 (Abraham's "faith is counted for righteousness . . . faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness ...it was imputed to him for righteous­ness") imply that the act of believing is imputed to the believer for righteous­ness? In these verses the Greek preposition eis does not signify "in the stead of," but always means "with a view to" or "in order to." It could be trans­lated "towards" or "unto." Its meaning is clear from Romans 10:10, "with the heart man believeth unto [es] right­eousness" — i.e. faith moves toward and lays hold of Christ Himself.³ J.I. Packer summarizes well:

When Paul paraphrases this verse [Gen. 15:61 as teaching that Abra­ham's faith was reckoned for right­eousness (Rom. 4:5, 9, 22), all he intends us to understand is that faith — decisive, wholehearted reliance on God's gracious promise (vss. 18ff.) ­was the occasion and means of right­eousness being imputed to him. There is no suggestion here that faith is the ground of justification.⁴

Expounding Romans 4, Theodore Beza comments:

Abraham was not justified, and made the father of the faithful, by any of his own works, either preceding or follow­ing his faith in Christ, as promised to him; but merely by faith in Christ, or the merit of Christ by faith imputed to him for righteousness. Therefore all his children become his children and are justified, not by their works, either preceding or following their faith; but by faith alone in the same Christ.⁵

A second major Old Testament text supporting justification by faith is Habakkuk 2:4: "the just shall live by his faith," or as some scholars would read, "The just by faith shall live." Paul makes clear that this verse, quoted in Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, and Hebrews 10:38, is ultimately fulfilled in the right­eousness that comes by faith in the gospel of Christ, for which the law itself teaches us to look (Rom. 3:21-22; 10:4). Paul's explanation of Habak­kuk has inspired not only Martin Luther but countless other believers to place their faith in a righteousness not their own but that of Jesus Christ who is called "THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS" (Jer. 23:6).

The New Testament is abundantly clear in asserting justification by faith: "Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe" (Rom. 3:22). "Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith" (Rom. 3:30). "Thou standest by faith" (Rom. 11:20). "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justi­fied by faith" (Gal. 3:24).

But if Scripture clearly affirms the doctrine of justification by faith, what then is the precise relationship of faith to justification? How does faith effect or accomplish the believer's justification? The answer lies in what is entailed in the preposition "by."

"Few things are more necessary for a correct understanding of the New Testament," wrote J. Gresham Machen, "than a precise acquaintance with the common prepositions."⁶ The New Testament writers commonly employ three expressions: pistei, eh pisteos, and dia pisteos. The Christian is justified "by faith" (pistei or eh pisteos) or "through faith" (dia pisteos). For ex­ample, pistei is used in Romans 3:28: "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law" Eh pisteos is used in Romans 5:1: "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Dia pisteos is used in Ephesians 2:8: "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is-the gift of God."

Each of these three usages has its own special emphasis or significance. The use of the simple dative (pistei) calls attention to the necessity and im­portance of faith. The use of the preposition dia ("through" or "by means of") describes faith as the instrument of jus­tification, that is, the means by which the righteousness of Christ is received and appropriated by the sinner unto justification. The use of the preposition ek ("from," "out of," or "by") describes faith as the occasion of justification, though never as the efficient or ulti­mate cause of justification.⁷ It is critical to note that in none of these cases, nor anywhere else in Scripture, is faith (or any other grace) represented as constituting some ground of merit for justification. And this is all the more remarkable when one considers that dia with the accu­sative would mean "on the ground of or "on account of." Thus, dia ten pistin would convey the notion of "on the ground of or on account of faith," thereby making faith the meritorious reason for the believer's acceptance with God. Yet such is the precision of the Spirit's oversight of the New Testa­ment scriptures that nowhere does any writer ever slip into using this preposi­tional phrase. On every occasion faith is presented as the means of justifica­tion. Justification by faith alone is never justification on account of faith, but always justification on account of Christ, i.e. on account of the blood-satisfaction of the Lamb of God being graciously imputed to and received by an unde­serving sinner (Gal. 3:6; James 2:23). Ultimately, the ground of justification is Christ and His righteousness alone8⁸

In the Reformed tradition, various theological terms or expressions have been used to capture this Biblical rela­tionship of faith to justification. For ex­ample, the Belgic Confession of Faith (1561, Article 22) and the Westminster Confession of Faith (1647, Chapter 11.2) denominate faith as "only an instrument" and "the alone instrument of justifica­tion."⁹ Faith is not an agent (i.e. an efficient cause), but an instrument (i.e. a means) of justification. It is the be­liever's sole means by which he receives justification. This means is not me­chanical as the word "instrument" un­fortunately implies; rather, this means is itself the saving work of the Holy Spirit through the Word whereby a sin­ner is brought into a living, personal relationship with the triune God.

The Heidelberg Catechism (1563, Question 61) states that there is "no other way" (nicht anders) than faith by which Christ's righteousness becomes ours. God did not ordain faith to be the instrument of justification because of some peculiar virtue in faith, but be­cause faith is self-emptying and has no merit in itself: "Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace" (Rom. 4:16).

John Calvin compares faith to an empty vessel: "We compare faith to a kind of vessel; for unless we come empty and with the mouth of our souls open to seek Christ's grace, we are not capable of receiving Christ''¹⁰ The ves­sel cannot be compared in value to the treasure it contains (2 Cor. 4:7).

Puritan Thomas Goodwin uses strong and active language: "Faith is eyes, and hands, and feet, yea, and mouth, and stomach, and all."¹¹ And nine­teenth-century Bishop J. C. Ryle writes: "Saving faith is the hand... the eye ... the mouth ... and the foot of the soul."¹² Yet faith lives by the Living Bread alone, not by the mouth that feeds on the bread (Jn. 6:35-58). Strictly speaking, the sinner is justi­fied by Christ's sacrifice alone, not by his act of feasting upon or believing in that sacrifice by faith.