Inner and Outer of Justification

Put negatively, there is no place in Paul for a justification that (a) would fall outside of union with the exalted Christ by faith, that is, would not be a benefit given with that union; (b) would not be qualified by the “inner”—“outer” anthropology of 2 Corinthians 4:16; and so (c) would fall outside of the already/not yet pattern of receiving salvation that qualifies that union. In other words, a future justification of the Christian at Christ’s return, in the resurrection of the body and at the final judgment as we will see, is a “good and necessary consequence,” fully consonant with Paul’s teaching. To argue the contrary is faced with a difficulty, substantial, if not insuperable in my judgment. It must show how isolating justification from the already-not yet structure of receiving salvation, in particular its “not yet” aspect, would be compatible with or coherent within Paul’s soteriology centered on union with Christ and involving the “inner”—“outer” anthropology reflected in 2 Corinthians 4:16.

 

Richard Gaffin, By Faith, Not by Sight: Paul and the Order of Salvation (Waynesboro, GA: Paternoster Press, 2006), 83