Johannes Maccovius (1588–1644) en de rechtvaardiging van eeuwigheid

Samenvatting

Since long, Johannes Maccovius (1588–1644) has been seen as a representative of the view of
justification from eternity. Nevertheless, this seems to be false. Careful reading reveals that he
repudiated this view. Maccovius stated that the justification of all the elect took place in the promise that God gave to Adam and Eve immediately after the Fall (Gen. 3:15). At the time that God gave the promise, imputation took place. Though at that moment the elect did not have an ens actu, they had an ens cognitum, which is sufficient to be the object of justification.
Probably the later misrepresentation of Maccovius’ view is due to the diminishing competence
found in scholastic theology since the eighteenth century, which led to the supposition that by the view ‘justification before faith’ Maccovius meant ‘justification from eternity’. This misrepresentation is traced in the writings of John Gill (1697–1771), Alexander Comrie (1706–1774), and Abraham Kuyper (1837–1920).