Justification by Faith According to the Old Testament: In the Footsteps of the Reformers

Martin Luther asserted that “if we lose the doctrine of justification, we lose simply everything.” Luther believed that justification is “the article with and by which the church stands, without which it falls.” In the preface to his Forty-Five Theses drawn up in 1537, Luther makes this impassioned plea: “The article of justification is the master and prince, the lord, the ruler, and the judge over all kinds of doctrines; it preserves and governs all Church doctrine and raises up our conscience before God. Without this article the world is utter death and darkness.” John Calvin considered the doctrine of justification to be “the main hinge upon which religion turns.” ... Ellen White wrote, in the wake of the 1888 General Conference session, “The light given me of God places this important subject [justification by faith] above any question in my mind.”... We must clearly understand the truth about justification by faith, in view of its central importance in our lives and in view of Satan’s special work to undermine and to confuse minds on this foundational biblical teaching