Hafeman on Future and Present Justification

As I’ve considered Hafeman’s take on future and present justification (summarized in an earlier post), I’ve come to have some important reservations. First, as I noted at the time, Hafeman’s construction leaves me uncertain about the role of union with Christ. This problem is fixable, I think: Our union with Christ is not just a matter of status but a matter of power and has (to use a Gaffinesque turn of phrase) an existential dimension ?Ewe no longer live but Christ lives in us. Romans 6 is about union with Christ too. Union with Christ gives us the status of the eschatologically justified (since Jesus has been justified by His resurrection into eschatological life, and we share that status). But eschatological life is not yet worked out in us, so that the Christian life is a matter of growing up into the eschatological reality that we already possess. But the “growing up into” is not separable from the present status; but are grounded in our union with Christ. To put it another way: Both Christ’s justification and ours run from future to present; Christ is the just one because He has been raised to eschatological glory, having passed through the judgment, and we are just in the just one because we are already united to Him in His resurrection and will be FULLY conformed to Him at our resurrection. I don’t know if that’s clear or if there’s any progress being made.

Second, it’s not entirely clear how justification is by faith in Hafeman’s construction. If justification NOW is based on our future eschatological justification by works (grace-given works, of course), what happens between NOW and NOT YET? Hafeman would definitely want to say that there is a progressive aspect to the Christian life; this was one of his big complaints against traditional formulations of justification ?Ethey give license to nominal Christianity in the church. Good works in life are necessary to the whole deal. But then I wonder how justification remains justification by faith. At the final judgment, I will be judged on the basis of the God-given works that I have done. As I approach that final judgment, as I progress in holiness, does my justification gradually shade over into a justification by my good deeds? I suppose Hafeman would say that at every point we are entirely reliant on God’s working in us to produce those good works; thus, we trust God’s promise that He will complete what He began. And I suppose He would say that when we stand before God in worship or prayer we are confident of our standing because we trust God’s promise to cleanse and forgive us through Christ. Nonetheless, I have a vague sense that there is a shifting from faith to deeds as the Christian life progresses. But perhaps this is a question not so much to Hafeman, but to Paul: How can justification remain justification by faith from beginning to end if we are going to be judged by works?