Gospel Guidebook: Getting and Keeping It Right 
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Justification and the Historia Salutis (History of Redemption)
by Robert P. TerryUpdated February 25, 2025
(This article is a work-in-progress and is subject to revision.)
The justification of the elect must be understood as an immanent and transient act of God. As an immanent act in the mind of God, the elect were justified from eternity according to the purpose and grace of God given to them in Christ Jesus before the world began (literally before times eternity) (2 Tim. 1:9). Or, as another verse says, the elect were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). (Please note how these verses say the elect were in Christ before the foundation of the world, not destined "to be in Christ".) Also, of Christ it is said that He was the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8). Christ is the head and the elect are His body. Without Christ, there is no elect. And without the elect, there is no Christ. In this respect, God's immanent act was not simply an act "to justify the elect" but was an act that "justified the elect." In other words, justification was accomplished in the mind of God.
At the same time, the justification accomplished in the mind of God presupposed a transient act in time. If this were not so, Christ would not have needed to come into the world and actually die for the elect. So, what was accomplished in the mind of God still needed to be fulfilled in time. And so it was fulfilled at the cross and certified (as a way of acknowledgment) by His resurrection. It was this transient act in time at the cross that fulfilled the immanent act, and it was this all-sufficient work that "actually" and "objectively" justified the elect (John 19:30).
Just as Christ's transient work in time was necessary, the elect, according to the purpose of God, were predestined to experience in time the benefits of what Christ accomplished for them. These benefits include belief in the Gospel, subjective justification (declaration to the elect that they are justified), Spirit baptism into Christ's death and body, regeneration, present enjoyment of eternal life, sanctification, and glorification. That these things are benefits is clear from how they are described. For example, when the Apostle Paul speaks of the accomplishments of Christ's life and death, he simultaneously identifies the elect as being there "with Christ" (see Col. 2:12-14). It is extremely important to recognize that the elect were there "with Christ," rather than Christ's work subsequently being applied to the elect to finish the work of justification through some appropriating act. This means that what the elect experience in the world, they experience not as the cause of anything, but merely as the beneficiaries of what was already theirs. When the elect believe the Gospel, they are not appropriating anything, but rather come into a realization of what was already accomplished for them by Christ when they were "with Christ," i.e., spiritually in the loins of the First-born of the new creation. God's purpose is to conform the elect to the image of the First-born, so we see that the life of the elect, rather than playing a role in accomplishing their justification and salvation, is instead somewhat of a reenactment of the life and death of Christ (Phil. 3:9-11). In this sense, the elect do indeed participate in the death and resurrection life of Christ, but unlike proponents of participatory views of justification, this participation is not for the accomplishment of justification, but for enjoying the benefits and the honor of a justification fully accomplished for them, and it is for this reason that the Apostle Paul says that the elect have been blessed with all spiritual blessings (i.e., benefits) in heavenly places in Christ and speaks of the righteousness of God being "revealed" through faith in the Gospel, as opposed to righteousness being appropriated by faith or procured through faithful living.
As mentioned above, the life lived by the elect is necessary to accomplish God's purpose in the world, which includes conforming them to the image of the First-born, yet it would be going too far to say that it is strictly necessary. This should be obvious from the fact that what the elect experience in the world are benefits of justification and not causes of it. For example, if some or even all the benefits are withheld from the elect for reasons known only to the inscrutable counsel of God, this in no way impairs the glory that awaits them in the afterlife. Christ gets all the glory for His all-sufficient work. We must not lose sight of this. As a couple specific examples of benefits being withheld from the elect, we might consider the Old Testament saints who did not experience baptism by the Holy Spirit into the death and body of Christ. Yet, we are told that these saints will enjoy the same glory together with the post-Pentecost saints (Hebrews 11:40). Also, in light of Jesus' love for children and the covenant blessings that children born of believing parents enjoy, we often make exceptions for elect children who die in infancy and the incapacitated. Yet, infants and the incapacitated are incapable of enjoying the benefit of faith, for they don't have the mental faculty necessary to understand and assent to propositions. So, in addition to the reasons given in the previous paragraph, these examples should prove to us that the elects' experience in the world is only for their enjoyment of the benefits procured for them and for the glory of God manifested in them.