Thoughts about judgment and faith

At BNTC in Durham, John Barclay said:

• 'There is no judgment without mercy, and there is no mercy without judgment'

and:

• '"I will have mercy on whom I have mercy" [Rom. 9.15] doesn't mean, for Paul, "I'll wait for them to repent" but "I'll change them."'

He also offered the following definition of faith:

• Faith is the recognition that there is no way anything in the human condition can generate justification. In this way, it is a negative criterion, and it's consequence is that justification through faith is entirely of God
  

This alleviates the problem of faith becoming a work:

• Faith is not a human virtue, Rather it is a recognition of the total lack of human virtue.
• Abraham is justified by faith not because he has faith, but because of what he has faith in; namely, the undeserved mercy of God.