Redemption—Accomplished and Applied - Dordt College Homepages

are universal calls, exhortations, and commands to repent. With regard to the latter, we see the
following. “The sufficiency of his [Christ’s] saviourhood rests upon the work he accomplished once for
all when he died upon the cross and rose again in triumphant power…It is not the possibility of salvation
that is offered to lost men but the Saviour himself and therefore salvation full and perfect.” Second,
Murray looks at the nature of faith. There are three aspects of faith: knowledge, conviction and trust.
We must have a knowledge of Christ and his work; we must assent to the truth about Christ and have a
conviction “that Christ’s sufficiency as Saviour meets the desperateness and hopelessness of our sin and
misery”; and we must place our trust in the person of Christ.
Repentance
Murray quotes the Westminster Shorter Catechism: “Repentance unto life is a saving grace, whereby a
sinner out of a true sense of his sin, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, doth, with grief and
hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God, with full purpose of, and endeavor after new obedience” (Q. 87).
“It is impossible to disentangle faith and repentance.” Repentance is “turning from sin unto God,” and
faith is “believing in Christ for salvation from sin.” “Repentance consists essentially in change of heart
and mind and will.” We repent of our own particular sins and come to the cross of Christ for forgiveness
and cleansing.
Chapter 5: Justification
Since the wrath of God is the just recompense for man’s sin, we must ask, “How can sinful man be right
with God?” “Justification is the answer and justification is the act of God’s free grace.” It is God and
not us who justifies us. Justification does not make a person righteous; rather, it is the declaration that
the person, as respecting the law, is righteous. Justification is judicial; it “is a judgment of God with
respect to us.” How can God thus do something it would be sinful for us to do—justify the ungodly? In
the act of justification, God not only pronounces us righteous, but also constitutes us righteous: he
imputes the righteousness of Christ to us. Faith precedes justification, and we are justified by faith
alone. Faith is a gift of God, and faith “receives and rests upon…Christ and his righteousness.” Thus
justification is, once again, entirely of God’s grace.
Chapter 6: Adoption
“By adoption the redeemed become sons and daughters of the Lord God Almighty; they are introduced
into and given the privileges of God’s family.” Adoption is inseparable from regeneration and
justification. “Adoption is, like justification, a judicial act.” It is a change in status, not a change of our
nature. “Those adopted into God’s family are also given the Spirit of adoption whereby they are able to
recognize their sonship and exercise the privileges which go with it.” Murray finds from Scripture that it
is “specifically God the Father who is the agent of this grace” of adoption.
Chapter 7: Sanctification
Sanctification is closely related to both effectual calling and regeneration. In those who have been
effectually called and regenerated, sin no longer has power and dominion. This does not mean that