JUSTIFICATION by M. C. W.

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jun 10, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 22.

JUSTIFICATION.

By M. C. W.

“Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Rom. 3:20, 24.

JUSTIFICATION is declaring or making just or righteous, and always has reference to the past. The above texts show us where we cannot and where we can obtain justification. We cannot be justified by the deeds of the law, and yet the apostle says in Rom. 2:13, “The doers of the law shall be justified.” Is there contradiction in the apostle's statements?—Not at all.

The law which condemns sin must necessarily be a just law. It is the very opposite of the sin which it condemns. Sin is its transgression. 1 John 4:5. Says Paul, “Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law.” Rom. 7:7. God's law, therefore, condemns all sin and embraces all righteousness. Isa. 51:5, 6. There can be no sin that is not its transgression; and no righteousness can overlap its exceeding breadth.

It therefore follows that the doer of a just law will be just, or righteous; and when his probation is ended, the judge will declare him justified. He has kept the law, therefore the law does not condemn him. So it will be with the angels who have never fallen. Those spiritual beings have been doers of the law, and will be declared justified by the Judge of all.

But not so with man. “The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God.” Rom. 8:7. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law [within the law, or subject to the law]; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.” Rom. 3:23, 19. “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified;” because the law condemns all flesh. It knows no pardon. It reveals to man that he is a sinner, but it presents no remedy for his sin. Man cannot go back and live his life over again, his past deeds are done forever. And it would not help matters if he could; for as the carnal mind is enmity against God and his law, he would be a transgressor the same as he was on his first trial.

Neither can man justify his sins of the past by future obedience. If he who had sinned for twenty-five years should begin his twenty-sixth year a perfect life to continue to the end of his existence, his past life of sin would remain against him. His present perfect life would only meet the present requirements of a perfect law. He could perform no deeds of supererogation, he could not do superabounding duty, for the present demands of the law require all the heart, might, mind, and strength.

Mr. A could not say to his merchant, whom he was owing fifty dollars, “I will trade with you all the years to come and pay for all I get; never mind the fifty-dollar debt.” The merchant would

say, “I must have what is due me. What you pay for present purchases will not meet past obligations.” Take another illustration: B has stolen horses, passed counterfeit money, and broken the law generally. He is apprehended, tried, and convicted of crime. But he says to the court, “I will keep the law in the future, if you will say nothing about the crimes of the past.” But the judge would reply, “The law demands that you shall be punished for your past crimes; it has condemned you, and the future demands obedience from you whether you are a criminal or not.” And the judge would say truly. By the deeds of the law neither criminal nor sinner can be justified. The law condemns his past course, it offers no means of pardon, and the sinner not only can do no superabounding works, but his nature unfits him from ever keeping the law in the future.

But is there no means by which the sinner may be justified? Has God condemned him to destroy him? Has the “law entered, that the offense might abound” (Rom. 5:20), in order that man might be driven to despair?

God forbid; but he has thus revealed to man—all men—his sins that he might have mercy upon him. Locked up in the prison of sin, he finds but one door from that terrible pit, and that is the door opened by Divine Wisdom, the Lord Jesus Christ. “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

We can see a reason why God has thus dealt with man. If it were possible for man to justify himself, it would be to him a cause of boasting. It would thus increase his selfishness, and would lead him to glorify self rather than God. But God has concluded all under sin, that he might have mercy upon all. Gal. 3:22; Rom. 9:32. No works that man may do, no sacrifice that he may make, will ever justify one single sin. God in his mercy to man, in order to more fully strip from man his selfishness, has made that justification dependent on his own rich, unmerited favor alone. “Being justified freely by his grace [favor] through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

And what conditions are required of man in order that he may be a recipient of this grace?—Simply faith. He who realizes his own sinful, lost, helpless condition, and comes to God by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, will be justified. “Therefore,” says the apostle, “we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.” Rom. 3:28. “Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay; but by the law of faith.” Verse 27. And how much does this justification mean?—It means that “the righteousness of God” is counted for the past life of the justified sinner; that this righteousness which is by faith in Christ Jesus our Lord is imputed to us for all past sins. “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.” Rom. 3:25. It means that Christ, the blessed Son of God, the righteousness of God (for he was God’s law incarnate), was made sin for us, “that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” 2 Cor. 5:21. See Isa. 5:3. Justification means that all the iniquities of the past are forgiven, that all the sins are covered by the perfect righteousness of God. It means that God counts us not sinners, that he looks upon us as though we had never sinned. Rom. 4:5-8.

And all this, fellow-sinner, the Lord offers thee “freely by his grace.” He invites you to come. Are you weary of the load? Do you wish to cease your warfare with God? Do you wish to remove the black record and start a new one? Jesus stands anxiously waiting to cover it all over with his own perfectness, wash it all away in his own precious blood. Will you not believe? Accept, and accept now; lay down the weapons of warfare, and be at peace with God. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Rom. 5:1. Precious boon! Blessed is he who spurns it not away.