Introduction.
A short appraisal of the Reformed doctrine of justification by faith as the alone instrument is given in part below using the correctly defined notions of principle and secondary causes. Two examples are presented as part of a method to discuss some inherent problems with the notion of faith as an instrument. The first example of the poet writing the poem shows the sound and well formed causes of the poem. The second example presents the causes of the great exchange as taught by Reformed theologians and the Westminster confession. A discussion is then presented to define what a sound cause and a well formed cause is, to then provide the means by which the Reformed teaching on the instrumentality of faith in justification can be correclty evaluated. The causally sound and well formed example of the poet writing the peom is then used as a basis to expose the causation problems in the Reformed teaching of the great exchange as taught in the Reformed Confessions of faith.
Definitions
Cause – that which positively influences the being of another. For example, the sun causes the sun burn on the man. The sun is the cause of the being of the sun burn.
Principle Causes
Principal causes - efficient causes which by their own proper power operate to produce an effect proportionate to the nature of the agent are called principle causes. The effect is produced by the cause or is principally moved by the proper power of the agent, not by a motion received from another cause. Principle cause is divided as -
Prime Principal cause – God acting as first principle cause. For example, God as the prime cause, causes creatures as secondary causes to cause. God as the prime cause, causes man to exist as a secondary cause.
Secondary Principal cause - the secondary principle cause is moved materially (or applied to the actual exercise of its own power) by the prime cause (God). Such as a man is moved by God to carve a statue. God is the prime cause and the man is the principle, secondary cause.
Secondary Causes
Efficient cause – Acting cause given which the effect must be, and without which the effect cannot be or acting cause necessarily and primarily of an effect. The efficient cause as the fluid move of the chisel, causes the effect of the new shape in the marble statue.
Instrumental cause - the proper and formal reason why something is an instrumental cause consists in that it operates as moved by a principal agent, forasmuch as the whole power and reason of operating is received after the manner of a fluid entity from a principal cause. Instrumental cause, has being-moved as the precise cause of the instrument acting. Thereby the effect of the instrumental cause is not conformed to the instrument, but to the principle agent. Consequently, the instrumental cause always only ever has a transient causation when the fluid entity that moves the instrument to move as it is moved by the principle cause which acts upon the instrument. For example, the chisel is moved by the mason to carve wood. The chisel as moved by the mason is the instrumental cause of the carved statue.
Formal Cause – an act intrinsically determining and specifying a material cause. For example, the form of David is placed into the marble stone, to form a statue of David.
Material cause - A passive concurrence upon which act depends, whether as regards be or as regards be-informing; which concurrence consists in passion inferred by an agent, but as it is in the potency and from the potency. (Phys lect 5, n 601). For example, the stone as the material cause receives the form of David.
Final Cause - That on account of which something is done. For example, the statue is made for money.
Effect – that which is positively influenced regarding the being of the thing. For example, the statue of David as a substance is the effect of the formal, final, efficient and material causes.
Union of the Causes
The above causes are united to produce an effect. The union of the above causes may best be shown through an example of the mason and the statue. God as the prime principle cause, moves the mason as the secondary principle cause, to efficiently move the instrumental cause of the chisel, which places the formal cause of the form of David into the stone as the material cause for the final cause as the money attained. The effect is the statue of David. All the causes must work together to produce the effect. If the effect exits, then all of the causes must also exist at some time to produce the effect. Each cause has its own specific role to play among the other causes. If one or more causes are missing, or one or more causes do not cause 1) proportionately in accord with its causal power to influence another, or 2) cause in relationally to the other causes, there insufficient reason to account for the effect. The natural power within each cause to influence another and the organic union of the causes are two features of the causes that will allow as to correctly appraise the Reformed notion of faith as the alone instrument of justification.
Example 1. The Poet writes the Poem with a Pen.
For example, the pen as the instrument is moved by the poet as the principle cause, to write the poem. The motion of the pen caused by the poet is the fluid entity acting on the pen for the pen to act subordinate to the movement of the poet. The poem written is then not conformed to the pen, but to the poet as the author of the poem. Both the poet and the poem continue to exist as poet and poem after the pen has ceased to act as an instrument. The pen only acts as an instrument whilst the poet acts to write the poem.
In summary - The causes are divided below to indicate the function of each cause and the organic relationships between the causes.
Principle causes
Prime Principle cause - God as prime mover, or prime cause.
Secondary Principle cause – Poet who writes the poem.
Secondary causes
Efficient cause – the fluid move in the pen from the poet. The fluid move is extrinsic to the poet, but intrinsic to the pen.
Instrumental cause – pen itself as a substance when the poet uses the pen as an instrument to write the poem. The pen as a thing moved by the primary and secondary principle causes to write the poem. The pen as an instrument of the poet is extrinsic to (outside) the poet.
Formal Cause – The form of poem received by the ink as written on the page.
Material cause – the ink and page which receive the form of poem.
Final Cause – the final end of the poem, such as beauty, goodness, money, etc.
Effect – The poem as a thing caused by the principle, efficient, instrumental, formal, material and final causes.
Causation is summarised as - God as prime principle cause moves the poet as the secondary principle cause, and the poet efficiently moves the pen as an instrument to cause the form of the poem in the matter of the ink and paper to produce the effect of the written poem.
Example 2. God justifies the Sinner by the Instrument of Faith alone.
We now apply the same understanding of the causes and effect to a reformed understanding of justification by faith as the alone instrument. According to the Reformed doctrine, the process of reconciliation occurs as a great exchange of sin and righteousness, as summarised by Professor Richard Lints from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
According to Luther, Calvin and the Westminster confession of faith, Christ acts as a penal substitute, to cause propitiation of sin. The Father 1) imputes men's sins to Christ at the cross and 2) imputes Christ's righteousness to men through the instrument of faith alone. The double imputation is performed within the context of a courtroom scene.
Section XI of the Westminster Confession of faith states -
In summary -
The summary given below includes the causes given in example (1) above to provide an ease of comparison. (1) indicates the causes of the poem in example 1. (2) indicates the causes involved in the Reformed teaching on justification by faith alone. The causes for (2) are derived from the quotes presented above from Reformed theologians and the Westminster confession of faith.
Principle Causes
Prime Principle cause - (1) God as prime mover, or prime cause.
(2) God as the prime cause is the Christian Trinity, or more particularly the action of 1) The Father who imputes Christ with sin and the sinner with righteousness. 2) Christ as the penal substitute cause of faith and righteousness. 3) The Holy Spirit within men to cause the habit and act of faith. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three prime principle causes in the great exchange.
Secondary Principle cause – (1) Poet who writes the poem.
(2) man is the secondary cause moved by the Holy Spirit to make the act of faith.
Secondary Causes
Efficient cause – (1) The fluid movement in the pen from the poet. The fluid move is extrinsic to the poet, but intrinsic to the pen.
(2i) The action of grace as the gift given by God to provide man with the habit of faith.
(2ii) The action of grace as the gift given by God to move man to make the act of faith.
Instrumental cause – (1) The pen itself as a substance when the poet uses the pen as an instrument to write the poem. The pen as a thing moved by the primary and secondary principle causes to write the poem. The pen as an instrument of the poet is extrinsic to (outside) the poet.
(2) Faith as an instrument.
Formal Cause – (1) The form of poem received by the ink as written on the page.
(2i) The form of sin legally imputed to Christ.
(2ii) The form of Christ's righteousness legally imputed to the sinners account.
Material cause – (1) The ink and page which receive the form of poem.
(2i) Christ, or Christ’s account, which receives the legal imputation of men’s sins.
(2ii) The sinner, or the sinner’s account, which receives the legal imputation of Christ’s righteousness.
Final Cause – (1) The final end of the poem, such as beauty, goodness, money, etc.
(2i) The glory of God as a motivation for the great exchange.
(2ii) The glorification of men as a motivation for the great exchange.
Effect – (1) The poem as a thing caused by the principle, efficient, instrumental, formal, material and final causes.
(2) The beatitude of the elect in heaven as the end product of the great exchange.
Causation is summarised as - God as the prime principle cause acts to cause the secondary principles causes, efficient, instrumental, formal, material, and final causes, and produce the effect of the great exchange. Because the principle and secondary causes are convoluted, the complete summary of the interaction of the causes will be exposed gradually in the thread below.
An Appraisal of Faith as an Instrument of Justification using the above two examples.
From the nature of causation, which dictates that 1) each cause has a proportionate power to influence another, and 2) each cause has an organic interrelationship with the other principle and secondary causes, we have a measure to determine if an act, or habit is correctly attributed to be a cause, and not something other than the attributed cause. For example, as with the poet writing the poem -
1) Natural Power According to Species of Causation - if we attributed a cause to the table as the formal cause, we could determine from the power of the table as a cause, that the table could not cause the form of the poem. The causal power of the table is not formal, but extrinsically efficient to provide support for the paper and pen. The table is then not a formal cause, but an efficient cause of the poem. The nature of the power of each species of cause is known by the effect of each species of cause. A disproportionate effect of a cause indicates a falsely attributed cause of the effect.
2) Causal Relationship - if we attributed the pen as the principle cause, we could analyse the relationship of the pen to the other causes to determine that the pen is not a principle cause, but an instrumental cause. If a cause has a not well formed relationship(s) to other causes, the cause is falsely attributed.
The above two-part method will be employed to examine faith as an instrumental cause of justification. If a cause fails either part 1 or part 2 of the method given above, the attribution of the cause is then concluded to be false. If false, the effect of the cause(s) is insufficiently accounted for. Consequently, if a cause is falsely attributed, the entire process, of say the poet writing the poem through the attributed causes does not account for the poem. Similarly, if cause(s) are falsely attributed in the theory of the great exchange, the theory does not account for justification of the sinner. Yet contrarily, because the causes of the poet writing the poem in example 1 satisfy 1) a proportionate causal power, and 2) have the correct causal relationships, the causes of the poem are all individually sound and together are well formed as an organic whole. The soundness and well-formed union of the causes in example 1 are then the benchmark example of how the causes act individually and in union with other causes.
The notion of faith as an instrument of justification involves many aspects as detailed above. A thorough appraisal of faith as an instrument would include an analysis of faith as the instrumental cause in relation to all the other principle and secondary causes presented above. Consequently, only a partial appraisal of the Reformed doctrine of justification by the instrumentality of faith alone is given in the OP, beginning with faith as both an act and habit. Further dscussion on other aspects of the great exchange theory will be presented as the thread unfolds.
Faith as an Act - is an act of the man (Gen 15:6, Rom 4:3), who believes in act what God has revealed. The act of faith is an act given to men by grace and the Holy Spirit as a transient act and cause of justification that passes after the act is completed. The act of faith is an efficient cause, intrinsic (from the inside) to the man who makes the act of faith.
The act of faith is now compared to the efficient cause of the motion of the pen in example 1. The efficient cause as the motion of the pen is caused by God and the poet as the principle causes, along with the pen as the instrumental cause. The pen motion is intrinsic to the pen acting as the instrument cause when moved by the principle causes. The motion of the pen as the efficient cause is both sound and well formed with the other principle and secondary causes.
1) Natural Power According to Species of Causation - Faith as an act has the power to move the man to give assent to the truths revealed by God under the direction of the will. The assent is made from both the intellect and the will, because the truths revealed are not evident to the man who has faith, but are known to be true without sufficient understandable proof of the divine truths to bind the intellect. The act of faith, made with the motion of the will infers faith is made along with an act of love. Faith acting with love unites the intellect and will of man to the true and good as known and loved by God. To make an act of faith, man is then united to God, by knowing and loving what God knows and loves. For example, when man believes God is a Trinity and loves God as a Trinity, man knows and loves God as God knows Himself and loves Himself as a Trinity.
The act of faith, made with love is the act by which 1) man correctly orders his knowledge about the greatest truths and 2) correspondingly correctly orders man’s loves, to that of God first, love of himself second, and thirdly, love of his neighbour as himself for the love of God. The effect of the act of faith made with the assent of the will as an act of love is to unite man’s intellect and will to that of God as the prime truth and prime good. The power of the act of faith made in union with love is proportionate to the effect of the acts of faith and love, which is the conformity of man’s intellect and will to that of God.
If however, faith is an instrument of justification as the Reformers taught, then faith must act to cause the Father to impute Christ’s righteousness to the sinners account as an act of alien or extrinsic, legally imputed righteousness performed within a court room scene. For faith to act as an instrument, the act of faith must cause both the Father, and the Son to act as principle causes, caused to act through faith acting as an instrumental cause. Yet, as an instrumental cause only has the power to cause a proportionate effect, like the pen as an instrument causes the poem, the Reformed notion of faith as an instrument has a power disproportionate to instrumental cause. For instrumental cause cannot have an effect on the principle cause, but only the principle cause can have an effect on the instrumental cause. The disproportionate power of faith as an instrumental cause infers the Reformed notion of faith as an instrument is unsound, and thereby false.
2) Causal Relationship - Just as the motion of the pen is an act (efficient cause) of the pen as an instrument, the act (efficient cause) of faith requires another cause other than the act of faith as the instrumental cause. For just as the act of the pen's motion is not the same cause as a pen (as an instrument), then so too, the act of faith cannot be both simultaneously the efficient (moving) and instrumental (moved thing) cause. For if the act of faith is both an efficient and instrumental cause, faith is then 1) the act of faith as an efficient cause (like the motion of the pen), 2) faith as the instrument (thing like the pen) moved efficiently by the act of faith (like the motion of the pen), 3) faith as a thing (like the pen) which can be moved by faith efficiently as an act.
Points 1, 2 and 3 are mutually exclusive of each other, for no cause can be both simultaneously its own efficient and instrumental cause. For the species of causes are all diverse, and mutually exclude each cause from acting as another cause. For example, the formal cause is never the material cause, and the efficient cause is never the final cause. Similarly, the efficient cause as the fluid motion of the instrument is never the instrumental cause. Consequently, the notion of faith as an instrument is incompatible with faith as an act. Faith as an instrument is therefore false according to a false attribution of instrumental causation, contrary to the act faith as an efficient cause of justification.
Faith as a Habit - A similar evaluation of faith as a habit may be made to show the habit of faith is only a disposition in the intellect to allow the human intellect to act easily to make the act of faith. Both the act and habit of faith do not 1) have the proportionate power as an instrument, nor 2) correspond well with the Reformed notion of faith as an instrument in relation to the Father and the Son acting as principle causes. Consequently, the habit of faith also concludes to the false attribution of faith as an instrument.
Further discussion on other aspects of faith as an instrument will be presented below.
JM
A short appraisal of the Reformed doctrine of justification by faith as the alone instrument is given in part below using the correctly defined notions of principle and secondary causes. Two examples are presented as part of a method to discuss some inherent problems with the notion of faith as an instrument. The first example of the poet writing the poem shows the sound and well formed causes of the poem. The second example presents the causes of the great exchange as taught by Reformed theologians and the Westminster confession. A discussion is then presented to define what a sound cause and a well formed cause is, to then provide the means by which the Reformed teaching on the instrumentality of faith in justification can be correclty evaluated. The causally sound and well formed example of the poet writing the peom is then used as a basis to expose the causation problems in the Reformed teaching of the great exchange as taught in the Reformed Confessions of faith.
Definitions
Cause – that which positively influences the being of another. For example, the sun causes the sun burn on the man. The sun is the cause of the being of the sun burn.
Principle Causes
Principal causes - efficient causes which by their own proper power operate to produce an effect proportionate to the nature of the agent are called principle causes. The effect is produced by the cause or is principally moved by the proper power of the agent, not by a motion received from another cause. Principle cause is divided as -
Prime Principal cause – God acting as first principle cause. For example, God as the prime cause, causes creatures as secondary causes to cause. God as the prime cause, causes man to exist as a secondary cause.
Secondary Principal cause - the secondary principle cause is moved materially (or applied to the actual exercise of its own power) by the prime cause (God). Such as a man is moved by God to carve a statue. God is the prime cause and the man is the principle, secondary cause.
Secondary Causes
Efficient cause – Acting cause given which the effect must be, and without which the effect cannot be or acting cause necessarily and primarily of an effect. The efficient cause as the fluid move of the chisel, causes the effect of the new shape in the marble statue.
Instrumental cause - the proper and formal reason why something is an instrumental cause consists in that it operates as moved by a principal agent, forasmuch as the whole power and reason of operating is received after the manner of a fluid entity from a principal cause. Instrumental cause, has being-moved as the precise cause of the instrument acting. Thereby the effect of the instrumental cause is not conformed to the instrument, but to the principle agent. Consequently, the instrumental cause always only ever has a transient causation when the fluid entity that moves the instrument to move as it is moved by the principle cause which acts upon the instrument. For example, the chisel is moved by the mason to carve wood. The chisel as moved by the mason is the instrumental cause of the carved statue.
Formal Cause – an act intrinsically determining and specifying a material cause. For example, the form of David is placed into the marble stone, to form a statue of David.
Material cause - A passive concurrence upon which act depends, whether as regards be or as regards be-informing; which concurrence consists in passion inferred by an agent, but as it is in the potency and from the potency. (Phys lect 5, n 601). For example, the stone as the material cause receives the form of David.
Final Cause - That on account of which something is done. For example, the statue is made for money.
Effect – that which is positively influenced regarding the being of the thing. For example, the statue of David as a substance is the effect of the formal, final, efficient and material causes.
Union of the Causes
The above causes are united to produce an effect. The union of the above causes may best be shown through an example of the mason and the statue. God as the prime principle cause, moves the mason as the secondary principle cause, to efficiently move the instrumental cause of the chisel, which places the formal cause of the form of David into the stone as the material cause for the final cause as the money attained. The effect is the statue of David. All the causes must work together to produce the effect. If the effect exits, then all of the causes must also exist at some time to produce the effect. Each cause has its own specific role to play among the other causes. If one or more causes are missing, or one or more causes do not cause 1) proportionately in accord with its causal power to influence another, or 2) cause in relationally to the other causes, there insufficient reason to account for the effect. The natural power within each cause to influence another and the organic union of the causes are two features of the causes that will allow as to correctly appraise the Reformed notion of faith as the alone instrument of justification.
Example 1. The Poet writes the Poem with a Pen.
For example, the pen as the instrument is moved by the poet as the principle cause, to write the poem. The motion of the pen caused by the poet is the fluid entity acting on the pen for the pen to act subordinate to the movement of the poet. The poem written is then not conformed to the pen, but to the poet as the author of the poem. Both the poet and the poem continue to exist as poet and poem after the pen has ceased to act as an instrument. The pen only acts as an instrument whilst the poet acts to write the poem.
In summary - The causes are divided below to indicate the function of each cause and the organic relationships between the causes.
Principle causes
Prime Principle cause - God as prime mover, or prime cause.
Secondary Principle cause – Poet who writes the poem.
Secondary causes
Efficient cause – the fluid move in the pen from the poet. The fluid move is extrinsic to the poet, but intrinsic to the pen.
Instrumental cause – pen itself as a substance when the poet uses the pen as an instrument to write the poem. The pen as a thing moved by the primary and secondary principle causes to write the poem. The pen as an instrument of the poet is extrinsic to (outside) the poet.
Formal Cause – The form of poem received by the ink as written on the page.
Material cause – the ink and page which receive the form of poem.
Final Cause – the final end of the poem, such as beauty, goodness, money, etc.
Effect – The poem as a thing caused by the principle, efficient, instrumental, formal, material and final causes.
Causation is summarised as - God as prime principle cause moves the poet as the secondary principle cause, and the poet efficiently moves the pen as an instrument to cause the form of the poem in the matter of the ink and paper to produce the effect of the written poem.
Example 2. God justifies the Sinner by the Instrument of Faith alone.
We now apply the same understanding of the causes and effect to a reformed understanding of justification by faith as the alone instrument. According to the Reformed doctrine, the process of reconciliation occurs as a great exchange of sin and righteousness, as summarised by Professor Richard Lints from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
At the heart of the Protestant consensus about the Gospel for the last 500 years is claim that our sins are imputed to Christ, and Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us. This is “double imputation”. Others have called it the “Great Exchange”. Christ has died in our place, and in exchange we have been given new life in Christ. Scratch below the surface though and an interesting question emerges. Is there a transfer of righteousness – from one bank account to another in this process? This is to ask, what gets “exchanged” in the Great Exchange?
The exchange is an exchange of verdicts rather than an exchange of moral character. Christ is “declared a sinner” at the cross. He is not actually a sinner nor is there any transfer of our sins to him. Whatever else one might want to say about Christ’s moral character, he has remained steadfastly faithful to his Father in heaven and was obedient to the point of death. Christ receives the verdict of death because he stands “in our place” at the cross. This is the meaning of the “imputation of sin”. So by contrast, we are “declared righteous” not because we are actually righteous or faithful, but because we stand in Christ’s place before God. The imputation of Christ’s righteousness is not to participate in one of God’s essential attributes but rather to be the beneficiaries of Christ’s messianic work.
There is no “transfer” of righteousness in salvation but rather a declaration that sinners are all that Christ is – not that sinners actually are all that Christ is.
The exchange is an exchange of verdicts rather than an exchange of moral character. Christ is “declared a sinner” at the cross. He is not actually a sinner nor is there any transfer of our sins to him. Whatever else one might want to say about Christ’s moral character, he has remained steadfastly faithful to his Father in heaven and was obedient to the point of death. Christ receives the verdict of death because he stands “in our place” at the cross. This is the meaning of the “imputation of sin”. So by contrast, we are “declared righteous” not because we are actually righteous or faithful, but because we stand in Christ’s place before God. The imputation of Christ’s righteousness is not to participate in one of God’s essential attributes but rather to be the beneficiaries of Christ’s messianic work.
There is no “transfer” of righteousness in salvation but rather a declaration that sinners are all that Christ is – not that sinners actually are all that Christ is.
Section XI of the Westminster Confession of faith states -
1. Those whom God effectually calleth, He also freely justifieth: not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous; not for any thing wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ’s sake alone; nor by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them, as their righteousness; but by imputing the obedience and satisfaction of Christ unto them, they receiving and resting on Him and His righteousness by faith; which faith they have not of themselves, it is the gift of God.
2. Faith, thus receiving and resting on Christ and His righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification: yet is it not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces, and is no dead faith, but worketh by love.
3. Christ, by His obedience and death, did fully discharge the debt of all those that are thus justified, and did make a proper, real, and full satisfaction to His Father’s justice in their behalf. Yet, in as much as He was given by the Father for them; and His obedience and satisfaction accepted in their stead; and both, freely, not for any thing in them; their justification is only of free grace; that both the exact justice, and rich grace of God might be glorified in the justification of sinners.
4. God did, from all eternity, decree to justify all the elect, and Christ did, in the fulness of time, die for their sins, and rise for their justification: nevertheless, they are not justified, until the Holy Spirit doth, in due time, actually apply Christ unto them.
2. Faith, thus receiving and resting on Christ and His righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification: yet is it not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces, and is no dead faith, but worketh by love.
3. Christ, by His obedience and death, did fully discharge the debt of all those that are thus justified, and did make a proper, real, and full satisfaction to His Father’s justice in their behalf. Yet, in as much as He was given by the Father for them; and His obedience and satisfaction accepted in their stead; and both, freely, not for any thing in them; their justification is only of free grace; that both the exact justice, and rich grace of God might be glorified in the justification of sinners.
4. God did, from all eternity, decree to justify all the elect, and Christ did, in the fulness of time, die for their sins, and rise for their justification: nevertheless, they are not justified, until the Holy Spirit doth, in due time, actually apply Christ unto them.
The summary given below includes the causes given in example (1) above to provide an ease of comparison. (1) indicates the causes of the poem in example 1. (2) indicates the causes involved in the Reformed teaching on justification by faith alone. The causes for (2) are derived from the quotes presented above from Reformed theologians and the Westminster confession of faith.
Principle Causes
Prime Principle cause - (1) God as prime mover, or prime cause.
(2) God as the prime cause is the Christian Trinity, or more particularly the action of 1) The Father who imputes Christ with sin and the sinner with righteousness. 2) Christ as the penal substitute cause of faith and righteousness. 3) The Holy Spirit within men to cause the habit and act of faith. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three prime principle causes in the great exchange.
Secondary Principle cause – (1) Poet who writes the poem.
(2) man is the secondary cause moved by the Holy Spirit to make the act of faith.
Secondary Causes
Efficient cause – (1) The fluid movement in the pen from the poet. The fluid move is extrinsic to the poet, but intrinsic to the pen.
(2i) The action of grace as the gift given by God to provide man with the habit of faith.
(2ii) The action of grace as the gift given by God to move man to make the act of faith.
Instrumental cause – (1) The pen itself as a substance when the poet uses the pen as an instrument to write the poem. The pen as a thing moved by the primary and secondary principle causes to write the poem. The pen as an instrument of the poet is extrinsic to (outside) the poet.
(2) Faith as an instrument.
Formal Cause – (1) The form of poem received by the ink as written on the page.
(2i) The form of sin legally imputed to Christ.
(2ii) The form of Christ's righteousness legally imputed to the sinners account.
Material cause – (1) The ink and page which receive the form of poem.
(2i) Christ, or Christ’s account, which receives the legal imputation of men’s sins.
(2ii) The sinner, or the sinner’s account, which receives the legal imputation of Christ’s righteousness.
Final Cause – (1) The final end of the poem, such as beauty, goodness, money, etc.
(2i) The glory of God as a motivation for the great exchange.
(2ii) The glorification of men as a motivation for the great exchange.
Effect – (1) The poem as a thing caused by the principle, efficient, instrumental, formal, material and final causes.
(2) The beatitude of the elect in heaven as the end product of the great exchange.
Causation is summarised as - God as the prime principle cause acts to cause the secondary principles causes, efficient, instrumental, formal, material, and final causes, and produce the effect of the great exchange. Because the principle and secondary causes are convoluted, the complete summary of the interaction of the causes will be exposed gradually in the thread below.
An Appraisal of Faith as an Instrument of Justification using the above two examples.
From the nature of causation, which dictates that 1) each cause has a proportionate power to influence another, and 2) each cause has an organic interrelationship with the other principle and secondary causes, we have a measure to determine if an act, or habit is correctly attributed to be a cause, and not something other than the attributed cause. For example, as with the poet writing the poem -
1) Natural Power According to Species of Causation - if we attributed a cause to the table as the formal cause, we could determine from the power of the table as a cause, that the table could not cause the form of the poem. The causal power of the table is not formal, but extrinsically efficient to provide support for the paper and pen. The table is then not a formal cause, but an efficient cause of the poem. The nature of the power of each species of cause is known by the effect of each species of cause. A disproportionate effect of a cause indicates a falsely attributed cause of the effect.
2) Causal Relationship - if we attributed the pen as the principle cause, we could analyse the relationship of the pen to the other causes to determine that the pen is not a principle cause, but an instrumental cause. If a cause has a not well formed relationship(s) to other causes, the cause is falsely attributed.
The above two-part method will be employed to examine faith as an instrumental cause of justification. If a cause fails either part 1 or part 2 of the method given above, the attribution of the cause is then concluded to be false. If false, the effect of the cause(s) is insufficiently accounted for. Consequently, if a cause is falsely attributed, the entire process, of say the poet writing the poem through the attributed causes does not account for the poem. Similarly, if cause(s) are falsely attributed in the theory of the great exchange, the theory does not account for justification of the sinner. Yet contrarily, because the causes of the poet writing the poem in example 1 satisfy 1) a proportionate causal power, and 2) have the correct causal relationships, the causes of the poem are all individually sound and together are well formed as an organic whole. The soundness and well-formed union of the causes in example 1 are then the benchmark example of how the causes act individually and in union with other causes.
The notion of faith as an instrument of justification involves many aspects as detailed above. A thorough appraisal of faith as an instrument would include an analysis of faith as the instrumental cause in relation to all the other principle and secondary causes presented above. Consequently, only a partial appraisal of the Reformed doctrine of justification by the instrumentality of faith alone is given in the OP, beginning with faith as both an act and habit. Further dscussion on other aspects of the great exchange theory will be presented as the thread unfolds.
Faith as an Act - is an act of the man (Gen 15:6, Rom 4:3), who believes in act what God has revealed. The act of faith is an act given to men by grace and the Holy Spirit as a transient act and cause of justification that passes after the act is completed. The act of faith is an efficient cause, intrinsic (from the inside) to the man who makes the act of faith.
The act of faith is now compared to the efficient cause of the motion of the pen in example 1. The efficient cause as the motion of the pen is caused by God and the poet as the principle causes, along with the pen as the instrumental cause. The pen motion is intrinsic to the pen acting as the instrument cause when moved by the principle causes. The motion of the pen as the efficient cause is both sound and well formed with the other principle and secondary causes.
1) Natural Power According to Species of Causation - Faith as an act has the power to move the man to give assent to the truths revealed by God under the direction of the will. The assent is made from both the intellect and the will, because the truths revealed are not evident to the man who has faith, but are known to be true without sufficient understandable proof of the divine truths to bind the intellect. The act of faith, made with the motion of the will infers faith is made along with an act of love. Faith acting with love unites the intellect and will of man to the true and good as known and loved by God. To make an act of faith, man is then united to God, by knowing and loving what God knows and loves. For example, when man believes God is a Trinity and loves God as a Trinity, man knows and loves God as God knows Himself and loves Himself as a Trinity.
The act of faith, made with love is the act by which 1) man correctly orders his knowledge about the greatest truths and 2) correspondingly correctly orders man’s loves, to that of God first, love of himself second, and thirdly, love of his neighbour as himself for the love of God. The effect of the act of faith made with the assent of the will as an act of love is to unite man’s intellect and will to that of God as the prime truth and prime good. The power of the act of faith made in union with love is proportionate to the effect of the acts of faith and love, which is the conformity of man’s intellect and will to that of God.
If however, faith is an instrument of justification as the Reformers taught, then faith must act to cause the Father to impute Christ’s righteousness to the sinners account as an act of alien or extrinsic, legally imputed righteousness performed within a court room scene. For faith to act as an instrument, the act of faith must cause both the Father, and the Son to act as principle causes, caused to act through faith acting as an instrumental cause. Yet, as an instrumental cause only has the power to cause a proportionate effect, like the pen as an instrument causes the poem, the Reformed notion of faith as an instrument has a power disproportionate to instrumental cause. For instrumental cause cannot have an effect on the principle cause, but only the principle cause can have an effect on the instrumental cause. The disproportionate power of faith as an instrumental cause infers the Reformed notion of faith as an instrument is unsound, and thereby false.
2) Causal Relationship - Just as the motion of the pen is an act (efficient cause) of the pen as an instrument, the act (efficient cause) of faith requires another cause other than the act of faith as the instrumental cause. For just as the act of the pen's motion is not the same cause as a pen (as an instrument), then so too, the act of faith cannot be both simultaneously the efficient (moving) and instrumental (moved thing) cause. For if the act of faith is both an efficient and instrumental cause, faith is then 1) the act of faith as an efficient cause (like the motion of the pen), 2) faith as the instrument (thing like the pen) moved efficiently by the act of faith (like the motion of the pen), 3) faith as a thing (like the pen) which can be moved by faith efficiently as an act.
Points 1, 2 and 3 are mutually exclusive of each other, for no cause can be both simultaneously its own efficient and instrumental cause. For the species of causes are all diverse, and mutually exclude each cause from acting as another cause. For example, the formal cause is never the material cause, and the efficient cause is never the final cause. Similarly, the efficient cause as the fluid motion of the instrument is never the instrumental cause. Consequently, the notion of faith as an instrument is incompatible with faith as an act. Faith as an instrument is therefore false according to a false attribution of instrumental causation, contrary to the act faith as an efficient cause of justification.
Faith as a Habit - A similar evaluation of faith as a habit may be made to show the habit of faith is only a disposition in the intellect to allow the human intellect to act easily to make the act of faith. Both the act and habit of faith do not 1) have the proportionate power as an instrument, nor 2) correspond well with the Reformed notion of faith as an instrument in relation to the Father and the Son acting as principle causes. Consequently, the habit of faith also concludes to the false attribution of faith as an instrument.
Further discussion on other aspects of faith as an instrument will be presented below.
JM
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