John Bunyan On Justification -- By: Joel R. Beeke
Journal: Puritan Reformed Journal
Volume: PRJ 05:2 (Jul 2013)
Article: John Bunyan On Justification
Author: Joel R. Beeke
PRJ 5:2 (July 2013) p. 107
John Bunyan On Justification
John Bunyan (1628-1688), author of The Pilgrim’s Progress, is one of the best-known Puritans. While much of his work is eclipsed by The Pilgrim’s Progress, the famous “tinker” from Bedford possessed remarkable theological prowess. His ability to “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 1:3) is aptly demonstrated in such works as Questions about the Nature and Perpetuity of the Seventh-Day Sabbath and his Exposition of the First Ten Chapters of Genesis.1 He had no university degree, yet he clearly grasped the central tenets of the Christian faith and masterfully applied them to his readers. Bunyan was also “very distinctly and consistently a teacher,”2 whose schoolbook was the Bible. As J. H. Gosden says, “Other authority he seldom adduces…. His appeal constantly is: ‘What saith the Scripture?’”3Bunyan’s ability to wed orthodoxy and orthopraxy made him dangerous to his critics, beloved to his friends, and invaluable to future generations.
Of particular interest to us here is Bunyan’s concern for vindicating the doctrine of justification. Bunyan readily acknowledges that the term justification is used in various ways in the Scriptures; he is primarily concerned with the justification by which “a man stand[s]
PRJ 5:2 (July 2013) p. 108
clear, quit, free, or in a saved condition before [God] in the approbation of his holy law.”4 Justification is the act whereby a person may stand before God’s law and be declared “not guilty” or, positively, be declared righteous.
Though Bunyan is not unique in his defense of the Protestant doctrine of justification by faith alone, he shows greater clarity and pastoral concern in expounding this doctrine than most of his contemporaries. For this reason alone, Bunyan’s doctrine of justification is a worthwhile study. Let us look at how:
- Bunyan’s own spiritual experience helped shape his views on justification,
- Bunyan’s writings respond to his historical-polemical situation,
- Bunyan’s doctrine of justification answers a variety of important questions, and
- Bunyan’s pastoral concern to apply the comforts flowing from justification.
Bunyan’s Personal Experience
Though Bunyan experienced sporadic convictions of sin in his youth that helped restrain rebellion, he confessed that he was “fille...
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