Jonathan Edwards & Justification by Faith

Most baptists would affirm the reformed doctrine of justification by faith. We traditionally define this doctrine as, one doesn't have to do good works to receive salvation from God. This view is usually held against the Roman Catholic (RC) view of salvation, in which protestants claim that RCs hold to salvation by works, i.e. people have to do things to earn their salvation. This is clearly a charicature of RC theology. If you examine the RC beliefs and doctrines they actually assert that grace comes from God to allow us to do good works, but in the end, for a RC salvation comes from the grace of God.

The view that most anti-calvinist baptist pastors hold to is similar to the RC view. Baptists will claim that you have to 'accept Jesus' into your heart. Or they will claim that you need to 'choose God'. Often these pastors and preachers act as if salvation hinges upon an individual making a choice, namely that of choosing to accept Christ. I think that this would need more elaboration, but it seems true that arminian or anti-calvinist pastors have more in common with RC than they do with Calvinist protestants.

Jonathan Edwards viewed justification by faith as a calvinistic doctrine. The only way that one can avoid salvation by works is to hold to the belief that salvation is solely the act of God. If we have to choose God in order to be saved, then it seems that we must do something in which to facilitate our salvation. For Edwards and other calvinists, calvinism defends the doctrine of justification by faith.

This has always seemed to be self-evident to me from the scriptures. I'm glad to know that I stand in the same camp with the greatest American theologian - Jonathan Edwards. This is also a humbling doctrine for many to believe. If there is nothing that we have done to facilitate our salvation, then how much more do we owe thanks to God? Most often, people are just too proud to admit that they would have accepted Christ without intervention by God in the person of the Holy Spirit.