THE JOURNAL of The Master’s Seminary PUBLISHED SEMI-ANNUALLY VOLUME 32 � NUMBER 1 Spring 2021 THE MASTER’S SEMINARY 13248 Roscoe Boulevard, Los Angeles, California 91352 THE MASTER’S SEMINARY JOURNAL published by THE MASTER’S SEMINARY Sam Horn, President Nathan A. Busenitz, Dean of Faculty Edited for the Faculty: Lucas Alemán Carl Hargrove Bryan J. Murphy Brian Biedebach Sam Horn Roberto Sánchez Nathan A. Busenitz Brad Klassen Paul Twiss Austin Duncan Steven J. Lawson Michael J. Vlach F. David Farnell John MacArthur Iosif J. Zhakevich Josiah Grauman James R. Mook Mark Zhakevich Michael A. Grisanti Kevin D. Zuber by Peter Sammons Managing Editor Kevin D. Zuber Production Supervisor Jack Smith Editorial Consultant Anastasia Prinzing Style Guide Consultant The views represented herein are not necessarily endorsed by The Master’s Seminary, its administration, or its faculty. The Master’s Seminary Journal (TMSJ) is published semiannually and distributed electronically. 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ISSN #1066-3959 Volume 32 Spring 2021 Number 1 THE MASTER’S SEMINARY JOURNAL CONTENTS Editorial ................................................................................................................ 1 John MacArthur Imputed Righteousness: The Apostle Paul and Isaiah 53 ........................................ 5 J. V. Fesko Imputation and Its Images in the Preaching of Charles Haddon Spurgeon ................................................................................... 21 Tom J. Nettles In My Place Obedient He Lived: Imputed Righteousness in Romans 5:18–19 ......................................................... 39 Peter Sammons God Freely Justifieth by Imputing Christ’s Active and Passive Obedience ................................................................ 61 James M. Renihan The Substance of Sola Fide: Justification Defended from Scripture in the Writings of the Reformers .......................................................................... 77 Nathan Busenitz Benjamin Keach’s Doctrine of Justification ......................................................... 93 Tom Hicks Paul’s Use of Genesis 15:6 in Romans 4:3 ......................................................... 115 Sam Waldron Contending for Doctrinal Language in Missions: Why Imputation and Sola Fide Are Good News for Karma-Background Christians ................................................. 131 E. D. Burns Reviews ............................................................................................................ 159 Advances in the Study of Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic: New Insights for Reading the Old Testament by Benjamin J. Noonan ..................................................................................... 159 Reviewed by Paul Twiss The History and Theology of Calvinism by Curt Daniel................................................................................................... 162 Reviewed by Peter Sammons Volume 32 Spring 2021 Number 1 Reprobation: From Augustine to the Synod of Dort The Historical Development of the Reformed Doctrine of Reprobation by Peter Sammons ............................................................................................. 167 Reviewed by Jerod A. Gilcher Linguistics and New Testament Greek: Key Issues in the Current Debate edited by David Alan Black and Benjamin L. Merkle ......................................... 169 Reviewed by William Varner Bearing God’s Name: Why Sinai Still Matters by Carmen Joy Imes .......................................................................................... 171 Reviewed by Michael A. Grisanti Passionate about the Passion Week: A Fresh Look at Jesus’ Last Days by William Varner ............................................................................................ 173 Reviewed by Michael A. Grisanti A Christian’s Guide to Evidence for the Bible:101 Proofs from History and Archaeology by J. Daniel Hays .............................................................................................. 175 Reviewed by Michael A. Grisanti Unearthing the Bible: 101 Archaeological Discoveries that Bring the Bible to Life by Titus Kennedy .............................................................................................. 176 Reviewed by Michael A. Grisanti Demons: What the Bible Really Says about the Powers of Darkness by Michael S. Heiser ......................................................................................... 177 Reviewed by James R. Mook TMSJ 32/1 (Spring 2021) 1–4 EDITORIAL John MacArthur Chancellor of The Master’s University and Seminary Pastor of Grace Community Church * * * * * Calvin famously referred to the doctrine of justification by faith as the principal hinge on which true religion hangs.1 Luther called it the article by which the church stands or falls.2 They did not overstate the case. The principle of sola fide (faith as the sole instrument of justification) is the heart and soul of biblical soteriology. It is an essential tenet of gospel truth, stressed repeatedly in Scripture from Genesis 15:63 to Revelation 17:14.4 Justification by faith is the main precept the apostle Paul systematically explains in the first eight chapters of Romans. It is the primary doctrine he defends in his epistle to the Galatians, the singular truth that defines historical evangelicalism, the material principle of the Protestant Reformation, and the very anchor of biblical orthodoxy. The doctrine of justification distinguishes biblical Christianity from every other religion. Just as justification by faith is the centerpiece of soteriology and the very marrow of the gospel, the principle of imputed righteousness is the necessary center and soul of the doctrine of justification. Put simply, this indispensable article of faith means that righteousness is imputed (or credited to the account of) all who lay hold of Christ by faith. This is done by a forensic reckoning—meaning a legal transaction, like a courtroom verdict. It entails a transfer of credit. The apostle Paul repeatedly uses the Greek expression logizomai to speak of the righteousness imputed to believers. In the New American Standard Bible, this verb is most often translated as “credited,” but it is also occasionally rendered “reckoned,” “take[n] into account,” “regarded,” “suppose[d],” and other near synonyms. It evokes the idea of an accounting— specifically a transfer from one ledger to another, or the relocation of an asset from one agent’s account to another’s. 1 John Calvin, Calvin: Institutes of the Christian Religion, ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001), 1:726. 2. In his work Iustitia Dei: Vol. II: From 1500 to the present day (Cambridge: University Press, 1986). 1:7, Alistair McGrath quotes from “the writings of Luther himself e.g., WA 40/3.352.3: ‘quia isto articulo stante stat Ecclesia, ruente ruit Ecclesia.’” Translation: “If this article stands, the church stands; if this article collapses, the church collapses.” 3 Abraham “believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.” 4 “Those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful.” 1 2 | Editorial Of course, when a believer is justified, that person’s sins are fully forgiven, and the slate is wiped clean of every offense—past, present, and future. “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1). “Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (5:1). But justification is much more than that. Believers also receive full credit for a perfect righteousness that they have done nothing to earn; it is provided for them. They are declared righteous not for any merit of their own, but because of a spotless righteousness that they receive. It is an alien righteousness, in that it comes from a source outside of them. In Old Testament terms, they are “clothed ... with garments of salvation”; “wrapped ... with a robe of righteousness” (Isa 61:10). Or in the words of the apostle Paul, “God credits righteousness [to them] apart from works” (Rom 4:6). It is a perfect righteousness, “the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe” (3:22, NKJV). Where does this righteousness come from? Scripture is clear that it is the righteousness of the incarnate Christ, “who became to us ... righteousness” (1 Cor 1:30). One of His messianic titles is “The LORD our righteousness” (Jer 23:6). Believers are brought into a right standing with God “by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:1). The Savior’s perfect, lifelong obedience as one “born under the Law” (Gal 4:4) was as vital to His substitutionary sacrifice as the shedding of His blood. It was necessary