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A perfect biblical example of extrinsic justification can be found in the Book of Job. He is a "perfect man" — in God's eyes (although implicitly denied by Paul's famous statement "none is righteous" — in God's eyes), yet Job himself admits throughout that he is sinful — in his eyes. Another example, of course, is King David. The concept of extrinsic or imputed righteousness is an Old Covenant concept that appears throughout the Old Testament. Through Christ, we know that God invites all to be virtuous, and rigtheous (perfect) as our Father in heaven is, by the power (infusion) of the Holy Spirit and our cooperation with Him.

Yes Christ says that [we must become righteous — exceeding the righteousness of the Pharisees], and no, as far as I know that does not go against the teachings of Luther and Calvin

Oh, I think you are in denial! It does very much so show that both Luther and Calvin were in grave error. That command puts the "becoming" on our shoulders and does not in any way suggest righteousness by imputation.

To Kosta and Joe, I hope you all don't mind my answering these together. I wanted to call in some back up, since I am no expert in the area of justification. I'd rather you have the correct view of the Reformed view, as opposed to just my view, in case they are different. :)

FK: "Yes Christ says that [we must become righteous — exceeding the righteousness of the Pharisees], and no, as far as I know that does not go against the teachings of Luther and Calvin."

Kosta: "Oh, I think you are in denial! It does very much so show that both Luther and Calvin were in grave error. That command puts the "becoming" on our shoulders and does not in any way suggest righteousness by imputation."

Well, I think Joe got me there and I unwittingly agreed to more than I bargained for. :) The actual verse says:

Matt. 5:20 : For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

At the time I did not understand the distinction between the status of righteousness and actually being righteous, as regards this verse. Lucky for me, it makes no difference in this case, as I'll explain below.

In this verse, all it says is "your righteousness". It does not distinguish between the status of righteousness and actually being righteous. But even if it is the latter, that command does not put "becoming" on anyone's shoulders, by itself. It describes a condition that must occur, it does not specify the manner in which it is achieved. Reformers believe that all of the elect will, in fact, become actually righteous. It's a matter of timing.

[JK in his 6242 responding to the same] FK, you are blowing me away here. Over the course of these discussions, you have remained consistent in that God does everything, we do nothing towards salvation. There is no cooperation, no transformation internally in man. Thus, we enter heaven, according to Luther and you, through the external righteousness of Christ, who covers over our own wickedness - since we can do nothing whatsoever of merit, even AFTER our regeneration.

NOW, you talk about imputed righteousness? That man has an ability placed within himself (after regeneration) to turn to God - to cooperate with the graces given? I am beginning to wonder if you are not becoming Methodist (which is an improvement - congratulations!)

I honestly do not know if there is any difference between extrinsic justification and imputed righteousness. I found very little on the former term. In my understanding of imputed righteousness, I do agree with it, but I have no knowledge of it involving any cooperation on the part of us. Can you point me to something that says that? As far as I know, man's cooperation has nothing to do with imputed righteousness.

My understanding of the two views on justification is that Apostolic Christians and Reformed Christians both believe that God DECLARES righteousness (in a forensic [legal] sense), and that God MAKES us righteous in an actual sense. Apostolics believe that both the declaration and the making happen at the same time, at Baptism. Reformers believe that the declaration happens at belief, when God imputes the righteousness of Christ on the believer. Then, God actually makes us righteous after physical death, for the elect.