The causa, the inward impellant motive or ground of justification, is the free grace of God: ‘being justified freely by his grace.’ Ambrose expounds this, as ‘not of the grace wrought within us, but the free grace of God.’ The first wheel that sets all the rest running is the love and favour of God; as a king freely pardons a delinquent. Justification is a mercy spun out of the bowels of free grace. God does not justify us because we are worthy, but by justifying us makes us worthy.
Thomas Watson, 1620-1686, A Body of Divinity, 6. The Application of Redemption, 3. Justification, (p. 164)
Why is it important that salvation should be by grace even though we are not worthy? How should this affect our lives?
Saying “Humbug!” without Ever Uttering the Word
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