Justification: Its Radical Nature and Place in Reformed Doctrine and Life

In his debate with the Jesuit, James Tyrie, John Knox claimed that the controversy of the Reformers with the Roman Church was the same as that of St. Paul with the Judaisers of Galatia, in which the Gospel of Grace was at stake, ‘for it concerneth the chief head of justification’, as Knox expressed it. On the other hand, when we examine the writings of Knox we do not find that ‘justification’, as a term at any rate, plays a prominent part, while the expression ‘justification by faith’ is hardly ever found—for when he did speak of justification he preferred to be more concrete and to use an expression like ‘justification through the blood of Christ’.