Institutes 3.11.3 — OF JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. BOTH THE NAME AND THE REALITY DEFINED.

CON treatise-section · status:draft · license:PD

**OF JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. BOTH THE NAME AND THE REALITY DEFINED.**

In confirmation of this there are many clear passages of Scripture. First, it cannot be denied that this is the proper and most usual signification of the term. But as it were too tedious to collect all the passages, and compare them with each other, let it suffice to have called the reader’s attention to the fact: he will easily convince himself of its truth. I will only mention a few passages in which the justification of which we speak is expressly handled. First, when Luke relates that all the people that heard Christ “justified God,” ( Luke 7:29 ), and when Christ declares, that “Wisdom is justified of all her children,” ( Luke 7:35 ), Luke means not that they conferred righteousness which always dwells in perfection with God, although the whole world should attempt to wrest it from him, nor does Christ mean that the doctrine of salvation is made just: this it is in its own nature; but both modes of expression are equivalent to attributing due praise to God and his doctrine. On the other hand, when Christ upbraids the Pharisees for justifying themselves ( Luke 16:15 ), he means not that they acquired righteousness by acting properly, but that they ambitiously courted a reputation for righteousness of which they were destitute. Those acquainted with Hebrew understand the meaning better: for in that language the name of wicked is given not only to those who are conscious of wickedness, but to those who receive sentence of condemnation. Thus, when Bathsheba says, “I and my son Solomon shall be counted offenders,” she does not acknowledge a crime, but complains that she and her son will be exposed to the disgrace of being numbered among reprobates and criminals ( 1 Kings 1:21 ). It is, indeed, plain from the context, that the term even in Latin Latin, “etiam dum Latine legitur.”—French, “mesme en Grec et en Latin;” even in Greek and Latin

Source

• source-manifest/institutes — Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, tr. Beveridge 1845 (PD)
• evidence_grade: D_doctrinal_textbook