THE JUSTICE OF GOD by Joseph Harvey Waggoner

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 10, 1875

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 45, No. 24.

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THE JUSTICE OF GOD

By Joseph Harvey Waggoner

THE LAW OF GOD.—NO. 13.

BY ELD. J. H. WAGGONER.

Closely and necessarily connected with the subjects of justification and judgment is that of

THE JUSTICE OF GOD.

Though it has been considered to some extent we cannot forbear a further brief consideration of it in this connection.

Paul says that Jesus Christ was set forth for the remission of sin, that God might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.

1. The apostles had opened this argument with the declaration that the doers of the law shall be justified. This shows the nature of the law; that it contains the elements necessary to justify a moral agent, and it is therefore moral, complete, and perfect, in every respect.

2. He says that men shall be judged by the law, in the great day, the day subsequent to the “day of salvation,” the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ. Paul before declared before the wise men of Athens that God “hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.” Acts 17:31. And when he judges the world by his Son, who is now an advocate, he will judge them by the law.

3. He affirmed that they who keep the righteousness of the law are accepted with God, whether Jew or Gentile, while they who break the law dishonor God. Rom. 2:23–27.

4. He said that if the oracles of God which were committed to the Jews were made of no effect, God could not judge the world. Of course not, since sin is the transgression of the law, and the law is the measure of righteousness, and the rule of justification. Without it, sin could not be imputed; no one could be condemned or found guilty. How reasonable is it that men must be judged by the law, and that God could not judge the world if he suffered his law to fall.

5. He has expressly stated that all the world are presented guilty before God by the witness of the law, for all have sinned, and that the knowledge of sin is by the law.

6. Having found the whole world guilty by the light of the law, he shows that they can only be released from condemnation, and have “the righteousness of God” conferred upon them, by faith in Christ. But this righteousness is also witnessed by the law, because the law is perfect and holy, and requires righteousness of all men.

7. He shows that we are freed from condemnation and from sin “that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

Now we inquire, What would be the effect on the government of God if he should abolish such a law as his; and this in the face of a wicked rebellion waged against it? Certainly such a course on his part would give no evidence to the world that he was a just God. Justice on the part of a governor and a judge requires that he maintain the law, especially if the law itself is just. The judge who does not vindicate the law when it is transgressed is an unjust judge. The governor who will destroy a just law, or suffer it to be trampled upon without an effort to rescue it from violation, is an unjust governor. The advocate who will justify his client in the violation of a just law is the enemy of justice and of government.

Atonement, as Andrew Fuller well said, “has respect to justice, and justice to the law, or the revealed will of the sovereign, which has been violated; and the very design of the atonement is to repair the honor of the law.” This is true of the atonement of Christ, for it was his work to “magnify the law, and make it honorable,” to rescue it from the reproach which rebellion had cast upon it.

God could have rescued man from condemnation by simply abolishing the law which condemned him. But this, of course, would have been in disregard of justice, for the law was all the time perfect, just, and holy. The law is right, and man is wrong. There is a conflict between them. The law in strict justice demands the life of the sinner; for the wages of sin is death. How, then, can man be rescued from death, and God’s government be preserved, and his throne be free from reproach? But one way is possible. His dear Son, the mighty and the holy One, suffers death—the penalty of the law—to vindicate its claims, to show the strength of its obligations, and the impossibility of setting it aside to save any one from death. Through him we obtain pardon, and are restored to our allegiance to his Father. God accepts his sacrifice as a vindication of his own authority. Justice is honored, the law is maintained, and God may now be just and the justifier of all who accept Jesus as their sacrifice to the broken law. And this argument is closed with the most emphatic denial of the abolition of the law, and affirmation of its perpetuity: “Do we, then, make void the law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law.”

We rejoice that the law is not made void, because it is good. And not only this, but we rejoice that God will maintain and vindicate his justice. We rejoice that his justice is infinite, and that he will never suffer it to be dishonored. For in this we have an assurance of the stability of his word. If God would suffer a holy law to be trampled

down, and never rescue it from reproach; if he would abolish a perfect, spiritual law to serve the cause of guilty, death-deserving rebels, we could have no assurance of the stability of his government, we could place no dependence on any principle, however sacred. “He is the Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are judgment; a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.” Deut. 32:4.