JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Mar 10, 1887

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 13, No. 10.

JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH.

THERE is no question more momentous than "How can man be just with God?" "How can God accept, as though he had never sinned, one 'who was shapen in iniquity,' and who has been guilty of numberless transgressions against the law of God?"

What do we mean by the justification of man? Justification, in the language of the Bible, is the opposite of condemnation. It is a forensic or law term, and implies much more than the pardon of one against whom the sentence of law has been remitted. In human law, a man who has committed some crime may escape the punishment of guilt, but not the imputation of guilt. He is pardoned, but he is not justified. The judge looks upon him as a guilty man. He is not regarded in the community as innocent.

Suppose, however, an innocent man to be charged with crime, and it appears, on trial, that another person was the perpetrator of the wrong. In such case the man is acquitted; yea, he is justified in the eyes of the court, and of the world.

But we all have broken God's law, and the question is, How can we stand before his tribunal, and come away not only pardoned, but counted as though we had never sinned? It cannot be, as in the case we have supposed, because of our innocence, for by God's holy law the sinner is condemned; and "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." We cannot be justified by the law, because we have broken the law. Nor can the provisions of the law be changed to meet our wants, for our Lord has said, "One jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled."

How, then, can God be just to himself, and at the same time not only pardon the sinner, but look upon him with favor as if he had never sinned?

This is the great problem which the gospel solves. In the gospel we have a revelation of the way which God has provided for the justification of sinners. In the gospel is the righteousness of God revealed. And we learn therein that a man is justified through faith in Jesus Christ, and not by the works of the law.

But upon this point God and man are at issue. Man continues to ask, What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? and when told to "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ," he rejects a way so simple, because it does not conform to his preconceived ideas upon the subject.

Now there are two aspects in which the great work of religion in the soul may be considered. There are two parts in salvation; both connected, and yet distinct. There is the righteousness of justification, and the righteousness of sanctification. There is the beginning and the progress in the Christian life. There is God's justifying work, by which we are accounted as righteous through faith in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; and there is God's sanctifying work, by which we are made righteous through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Justification denotes a change of state, or of relation: the sinner passes from condemnation to acquittal, from death unto life; he is restored to God's favor; the prodigal is received to his father's arms. Sanctification denotes a moral change; God works within us, he delivers us from the power of sin, and restores us to holiness. Justification is an instantaneous work without us; sanctification is a progressive work within us. Justification delivers the soul from the penalty of sin; sanctification, from the power, the dominion of sin. Justification by faith only, or the righteousness of Christ imputed or reckoned as the procuring cause of pardon, is one part of salvation; and sanctification, or the righteousness of Christ dwelling in us by his Spirit, is another, and not less important part of the great work. Sanctification is the only sure evidence of justification. Hence, the Bible condemns the notion of a saving faith which is not productive of a godly life.

Now, in answer to the inquiry, "How can man be just with God?" or, "What must I do to be saved?" I reply, that the very first step in religion which avails to salvation, is to accept of Christ's righteousness as a substitute for our need of righteousness, of everything which can atone for our guilt. Man by nature is condemned—lost—dead in trespasses and sins. But God, in the gift of his Son Jesus Christ, "hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." 2 Cor 5:21. Our need Christ stands ready to supply; our guilt he offers to wash away; our debt, to pay; our salvation, to secure.

And the simple condition upon which he offers to do this is, that we believe in him as our Saviour; that we go to him in all our guilt, and in all distrustfulness of ourselves, or of any human arm to save; that we look to him as the dying Israelite looked to the brazen serpent, and live; that we go, adopting as our own the language,

"Just as I am—without one plea, But that thy blood was shed for me, And that thou bidst me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I come."

But man, even when awakened to a sense of guilt and want, hesitates in going to the Saviour, and in surrendering himself and his all to him. "I am too great a sinner," he says, "to be accepted. I will reform my conduct. I will break off my evil habits. I will follow after holiness." Or, in other words, he seeks to be justified by the law of works, and not through faith in Christ, by which alone we can be justified and live.

Hence the importance of distinguishing between the cause of justification and its effects. The cause of justification, or the ground upon which we are justified, is Christ's righteousness received by faith. He is "the end of the law for righteousness, to everyone that believeth." "We do not become righteous by doing works of righteousness; but when we are righteous we do righteous works." Or, in other words, when we accept of Jesus as our Saviour, he is made to us our righteousness. And he is made our righteousness, because we believe in him, and not because of any outward reformation or outward observance of religious duties.

Here is the beginning in the Christian life. "By him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses." Acts 13:39.

When the jailer at Philippi asked, "What must I do to be saved?" the apostles did not say to him, "You must reform your conduct. You must try to make yourself better. You must get rid of the sentence of condemnation by your conformity to the externals of religion;" but their plain and emphatic answer was, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." They directed him, as the first step, to the Saviour, to the Lamb of God, who taketh away sin. They said to him, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Look to him and live." He did believe, and he was justified. He looked, and he was healed.

And so with us. Christ is now exalted to give repentance and remission of sins; and in order to our justification, we must look to him, and confide in him as our Saviour. We must go to Christ before we can be Christians. We must go to him in humble and earnest and believing prayer, as poor, and blind, and naked, and as we bow before him we must take him and him only as our Saviour. We must commit our interests for time and for eternity to him, resolving by his grace ever to walk in the path of his commandments.

Such is the wondrous plan which God has revealed to us, by which he can justify the ungodly.—American Tract Society's Tract, No. 647.