p. 181 | Untitled article by M. E. S.

Publishing Committee · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 27, 1859

CONSECRATION. No. 6.—JUSTIFICATION.

By M. E. S.

Having yielded all in sacrifice to God, we find a precious promise in our behalf: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 Jno. i, 9. What kind of a confession is here meant, which, performed on our part, will secure this blessed promise? Can it be a superficial one, which does not spring from that sorrow and aversion for sin that would induce a forsaking as well as a confession of it? No, no, Jesus came to “save his people from their sins,” not in them. Hence, we are to forsake as well as confess our sins.

Does the passage admit an incomplete confession in any sense? Then the forgiveness and cleansing promised will be equally incomplete. But the promise covers all unrighteousness, consequently the conditions must cover just as much, and require an entire confession and forsaking of all sin.

Remember (as others have remarked) the sacrifices anciently brought to the altar must be without blemish. Will God accept an imperfect sacrifice from us? Are we better than our fathers “of whom the world was not worthy?” or has the Lord become a respecter of persons?

In the text above noticed we find two distinct propositions joined by the connective, and. God has made here, through the apostle, two promises; 1st, forgiveness; 2d, cleansing. To whom were these promises made? Did John write to believers, or to the world? From verse 6th, we would conclude that he wrote to those who were saying they had fellowship with God; also in the next chapter he speaks of the world in the third person, and says: “I write unto you little children because your sins are forgiven you. I write unto you fathers, because you have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one.” We see that the apostle was addressing a class of Christians; and consequently was not explaining to sinners the way to become such. We must look elsewhere to find instruction on this point. Listen to Peter in his first discourse after having been endued with power from on high to preach the gospel. This discourse affected his listeners; they believed it, of course, or it would not have moved them. They exercised faith, thus complying with the first condition of salvation. See Mark xvi, 15, 16. Hear now sinners from every nation under heaven crying to Peter and to the rest of the apostles, “men and brethren what shall we do.” They see condemnation written against them; how shall they escape? “Then Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, (what for?) for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” Was this the doctrine Peter was to receive power to preach? Let us see how far he followed the expressed directions of his master. Read Luke xxiv, 47. And that repentance and remission of sins (the very thing Peter preached, telling them how to secure the latter) should be preached in his name, among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. Did Peter deliver the above named sermon at Jerusalem? He did. Verse 49. “And behold I send the promise of my Father upon you, (Jno. xv, 26), but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.” The apostles had tarried as directed, the Comforter, or Holy Spirit, which was the promise of the Father, had rested on them; and do you not think they received with this gift power to preach just right? Did not Peter know perfectly now what men should do to be saved? and had he given them an ordinance as one condition of salvation which the Saviour never intended as such, could he still have retained the divine favor? But we find him years afterward especially called upon to go and teach the Gentiles the way of salvation; hence his preaching must be approved of God. I speak of this particularly because some object to one condition as essential which Peter prefixed to remission, i. e., baptism. Such refer to passages which speak of justification by faith. They seem to forget that a part of any thing is taken to represent the whole. Thus man when used as a representative of the human race, includes men, women, and children. If we be justified by faith alone, then where is the place for repentance. They admit this must precede forgiveness, but notice,—

the passages they cite do not speak of it. If they admit one step not found in these texts, why not consistently, as far as these texts are concerned, admit two that are outside of them. They tell us about being saved by works when we speak of baptism as prerequisite to forgiveness. Now a physical and a mental act are the same so far as they affect human merit. An act of my mind is as much my own as an act of my body, and I could as consistently receive reward or punishment for it. Now what is faith or repentance but acts of the mind? Faith belongs to me; it is an operation of my own mind. Now, dear brother, can you see the consistency in telling us that we rest our salvation on works while you claim as much for faith and repentance (human actions) as we do for faith, repentance, and baptism (human actions). You say the blood of Jesus saves us; we rest our salvation on nothing more nor less; but we all know that the whole human family are not to enjoy the purchase of that blood. Something on our part secures to us its application. You say that something is faith (faith certainly belongs to us; Jesus does not exercise it for us). You believe it to be faith and repentance. We believe we must exercise faith and repentance, and further, must pass through the emblem of that death which Jesus has suffered, before his blood, i. e., his death for our transgressions can be imputed to us. Dear reader, shall we not give a place to every portion of the Bible? Let us beware how we throw away any passages for the sake of our own opinions of others. What if the sacred writers have placed faith in a majority of cases as a representative of all the conditions of salvation? If they have in any other one instance given the other conditions, shall we reject the passage that names them? The Scriptures are a perfect representative of the divine will, and wherever it seems discordant let us ask that the wisdom from above may tune it in harmony for us.