I recently asked Steve Hays his thoughts on Eternal Justification because a friend of mine was denying the doctrine of Sola Fide because of it. Here were his thoughts about it:
There’s a qualified sense in which eternal justification is true, but a bald statement of eternal justification is simplistic. It’s true that God doesn’t change his mind regarding the elect.
And if God is timeless, then it’s true that from God’s side of the transaction, justification is timeless.
However, God doesn’t timelessly will to justify the elect in abstraction from other conditions. Rather, God wills to justify the elect in conjunction with other conditions.
To take a parallel, God timelessly wills election, but he doesn’t will to save the elect apart from other graces.
God timelessly wills to justify elect *believers*. He timelessly wills justification in concert with other conditions, viz. faith, regeneration.
Salvation is a package. God doesn’t will one element of salvation to obtain independent of the others. Rather, it’s like a Swiss watch, where all the parts move in tandem.
Although God’s will to justify the elect is outside of time, his will is effected in time. God timelessly willed the crucifixion, but his will is realized in time.
https://triablogue.blogspot.com/2018/02/fear-not-ecclesiastes.html
Further reads:
Is Faith a condition for justification?
TheCouncil:
The Council 