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And it was said: It cannot be God’s, since the faith referred to is not God’s faith; neither can it
be man’s, for justification is not a deed of man, but of God. We should bear in mind, however,
(a) that according to the plain teaching of the Bible we are justified by faith, dia pisteos, and
that this dia can only be understood in an instrumental sense, Rom. 3:28; Gal. 3:8; (b) that the
Bible explicitly says that God justifies the sinner by faith, and therefore represents faith as
God’s instrument, Rom. 3:30; and (c) that faith is also represented as the instrument of man, as
the means by which he receives justification, Gal. 2:16. Faith can be regarded as the instrument
of God in a twofold sense. It is a gift of God wrought in the sinner unto justification. Moreover,
by working faith in the sinner, God carries the declaration of pardon into his heart or
conscience. But faith is also an instrument of man by which he appropriates Christ and all His
precious gifts, Rom. 4:5; Gal. 2:16. This is also the representation of the matter which we find in
the Belgic Confession,[Art. XXII.] and in the Heidelberg Catechism.[Questions 60 and 61.] By
faith we embrace Christ and remain in contact with Him who is our righteousness. The name
“instrumental cause” is regularly used in Protestant Confessions. Yet some Reformed
theologians prefer to avoid it, in order to guard themselves against the danger of giving the
impression that justification is in any way dependent on faith as a work of man.
(2) Appropriating organ.
This name expresses the idea that by faith the sinner appropriates the
righteousness of Christ and establishes a conscious union between himself and Christ. The
merits of Christ constitute the dikaioma, the legal basis on which the formal declaration of God
in justification rests. By faith the sinner appropriates the righteousness of the Mediator already
imputed to him ideally in the pactum salutis; and on the basis of this he is now formally justified
before God. Faith justifies in so far as it takes possession of Christ. The name “appropriating
organ” includes the instrumental idea, and is therefore perfectly in harmony with the
statements found in our confessional standards. It has an advantage over the more common
name in that it excludes the idea that faith is in any sense the basis for justification. It can be
called an appropriating organ in a twofold sense: (a) It is the organ by which we lay hold on and
appropriate the merits of Christ, and accept these as the meritorious ground of our
justification. As such it logically precedes justification. (b) It is also the organ by which we
consciously apprehend our justification and obtain possession of subjective justification. In this
sense it logically follows justification. On the whole this name deserves preference, though it
should be borne in mind that, strictly speaking, faith is the organ by which we appropriate the
righteousness of Christ as the ground of our justification, rather than the organ by which we
appropriate justification itself.
(3) Conditio sine qua non.
This name, suggested by some Reformed theologians, did not meet
with great favor. It expresses the idea, which is perfectly true in itself, that man is not justified