from John MacArthur on the doctrine of justification by faith, the principle of sola fide, and the imputation of Christ's righteousness:Several years ago I made some inaccurate statements that have unfortunately confused people about where I stand on the doctrine of justification by faith. While teaching a series on this crucial issue, I made the point that God does not justify anyone whom He does not also sanctify. That is true. Unfortunately, however, I also implied that God's sanctifying work in us may in part provide the ground on which He declares us righteous. That is not true. I also suggested that God's righteousness is infused into believers in a way that makes their justification something more than a forensic declaration. That is emphatically not true.This error was confined to a single series preached several years ago. It was not a part of any argument I ever made in The Gospel According to Jesus or any of my other writings on the lordship issue. In fact, one of my central points in that debate has involved a systematic defense of sola fide, the doctrine of justification by faith, and the imputation of Christ's righteousness. See "Just By Faith" in Faith Works: The Gospel According to the Apostles [Dallas: Word, 1993], 87-104. See also below for a bibliography of books where I have dealt with the doctrine of justification.But some of my misstatements were published in a study guide and in the first edition of my Romans commentary. When I realized my error, I withdrew the study guide from publication. It is no longer available. Furthermore, I immediately corrected the Romans commentary. Only a few relatively minor word-changes were necessary to correct the problem. About 90 seconds of material was also edited from the tape series in order to correct the problem on the tapes.For the record, I have never believed that we can be justified because of anything good in us (Phil. 3:9). Scripture clearly teaches that God accepts us and declares us righteous only because of Christ's perfect righteousness, which is imputed to us by faith alone (Rom. 4:1-6). God's ongoing work of making us righteous is properly labeled sanctification—and should be carefully distinguished from justification. I hereby retract any earlier statements I ever made to the contrary.
I think this is a bit odd, but it seems to me that in recent times John MacArthur is re-establishing his commitment to the tradtional Reformed theology. I don't agree with how he seperates faith from any work of grace in the life. True faith is always accompanied with repentance and evidence of a changed life.I don't know why he is going down this dogmatic path in this period of his life.This short clip is very relevant to this issue and worth a watch. Only 6 minutes long.Denomination Gone Astray by Steve Gallagher (clip): http://youtu.be/6Ud4Mqh7c2M
_________________Dave