Written by Jesse Furey

In point three of his Prefatory address to King Francis, John Calvin defends the “newness” of the Protestant doctrine of justification by faith by saying that it isn’t really new at all. After he skewers his accusers with a barb that he is not surprised that it is new to them, “since to them both Christ himself and his gospel are new,” he moves on to show that justification by faith alone is really as ancient as the word of God: “Jesus Christ died for our sins and rose again for our justification” (Rom 4:25).

He goes on to say, “that it has lain long unknown and buried is the fault of man’s impiety. Now when it is restored to us by God’s goodness, its claim to antiquity ought to be admitted at least by right of recovery.” Right of recovery, or postliminii iure, is a Latin legal term for the recovery of property that has been in safekeeping behind the threshold. In other words, the doctrine of justification by faith is not new at all, but has been in safekeeping, waiting to be found by those with eyes to see and ears to hear.

Those of us who are Protestant believe this is exactly what happened. Justification by faith alone was not a novel invention, but a theological retrieval of doctrine that had been held in safekeeping by God. The Reformers took great pains to establish this by an appeal to the Scriptures and the writings of the church fathers, thus demonstrating the historical orthodoxy of justification by faith.

Reading Calvin’s defense against the backdrop of the current debates regarding the gospel (is the gospel the announcement that our sins can be forgiven or that Jesus is King?), has me wondering if there is some theological retrieval happening in our day. Has the news of Jesus as King and the call to radical allegiance been held in safekeeping, postliminii iure, for those with eyes to see and ears to hear? That was the sense I had while reading both “King Jesus Gospel” and “Gospel Allegiance” in recent months—a sense that the importance of allegiance to the true King is not a slide away (and down) from truth and the word of God, but a retrieval project taking us further up and further in.

Could it be that the unrest in our nation (and beyond) with regards to racial injustice will lead to the retrieval of justice in the announcement of good news? Perhaps as the reformation retrieved the good news that Christ makes us personally just (through his righteousness received by faith alone), our historical moment will lead to the retrieval of more good news—good news that allegiance to Christ the King brings about a corporate, multi-ethnic, just society envisioned throughout the story of Scripture and promised in the song of Revelation 5:9-10: “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priest to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”