Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
Being justified freely means guilty transgressors of God's law are fully pardoned and declared just as a free gift of grace, with no merit or works of their own to procure it, through the redemption purchased by Christ with His own blood and life. Justification is the crediting of Christ's righteousness to every repenting, believing sinner, with human guilt charged to Christ's account and sin forgiven, covered, and not imputed. It is received by faith alone laying hold wholly upon the merits of a crucified and risen Saviour, not by prayers, fasting, penance, good works, human authority, or money, and faith itself does not save but depends entirely on Christ who paid the price. Christ as Substitute and Surety took the sinner's place and guilt, was made sin and a curse, suffered undeserved punishment to satisfy justice and vindicate the law, and now applies His blood as Advocate and High Priest. This grace does not make the law void but establishes it, and the faith that receives it works by love and purifies the soul, bringing obedience, power to overcome, and a righteous character.
Words and Legal Setting
Being justified freely means being justified wholly of grace as a free gift, for grace is unmerited favor and the believer has no merit of his own and no claim to offer. No works that fallen man can do can procure justification or merit eternal life, and nothing can be effected in standing before God through creature merit, not even by a rich man's offering of money and possessions, whose thought that he has merited favor and placed God under special obligation to him is false and spoils the offering. Should faith and works purchase the gift of salvation, then the Creator would be under obligation to the creature and salvation would be partly of debt that may be earned as wages, which is the same position as doing penance for sins. Once it is settled that the merits of fallen man in good works can never procure eternal life, justification by faith as wholly of grace received as a sinner by receiving and believing in Jesus is placed beyond controversy.
Grace in this justification is given freely and without stint, for in giving Christ all the treasures of heaven were given. Resources are without limit and every provision is made so that no one need falter, fail, or be discouraged. Therefore there is no excuse for unbelief or for feeble, dwarfed spirituality, but there is abundant assurance for growing in grace, spiritual knowledge, and intelligence and pressing forward to the mark of the high calling.
Redemption means purchase by a price, for Christ has purchased people by paying redemption with His own blood and His most precious life. This redemption and its treasure become theirs by the free gift of God when they lay hold upon it. Those who accept the ransom thus paid are placed through grace free from bondage to sin and from every entanglement, receiving mastery and deliverance from slavery.
The verse pictures sinners committed for trial who must answer the charge of transgressing God's law, with Jesus Christ as Substitute and only hope who redeemed the fallen race from the curse of the law by being made sin and a curse for mankind. Nothing but the grace of Christ is sufficient to free the transgressor from bondage, and by that grace all who are obedient to the commandments are made free, with pardon procured through His merits upon repentance. Each person is therefore called to know whether he is justified or condemned by the holy precepts rather than to argue over definitions of Christ as righteousness or to explain the relation of the laws.
The verse applies to all as guilty transgressors of God's law, for every human being has become a transgressor through Adam's disobedience and is enslaved to sin. Fallen men are cut off from communion with God and plunged in hopeless misery under condemnation, without any change in God's law to meet man's necessity, since the law is as sacred as God Himself and the foundation of His government in heaven and earth, so that even an angel's life could not pay the debt. The law exposes sin but cannot make people able to resist Satan, and justification requires perfect obedience possible only through faith in Christ, by whose atonement people are reconciled to God and enabled to obey acceptably. Christ's death does not save people while they continue in sin, but all perish unless they repent, turn from disobedience, and by faith claim the merits of His blood, with probation granted for repentance and a life of effort to keep the law unto a home in Eden restored and life and immortality.
Nature of Justifying Gift
Justification is the imputation of the righteousness of Christ received through justifying faith, given freely by grace through the redemption in Christ, with His righteousness credited to every repenting, believing sinner and not by works of their own. The guilt of human sin is charged to Christ's account, who is Himself man's righteousness and only source of strength, and whose sacrifice removes human guilt while God remains just in justifying the believer. Salvation in this way is God's gift through Jesus Christ alone, who is the only way to life and admission to the kingdom. This gift in no case does away with the law or detract from its dignity but places the law where the correct light shines upon it and glorifies it, so the law is complete and full only as presented in the light shining from the crucified and risen Saviour, which can only be spiritually discerned and when beheld kindles ardent faith, hope, and joy that Christ is his righteousness, a joy belonging only to those who love and keep the words of Jesus, which are the words of God.
Justification is a full and complete pardon, one and the same thing as forgiveness and remission of penalty, and the opposite of condemnation. When the sinner accepts Christ by faith the sinner is pardoned, bringing peace with God and remission of past sins through faith in His blood as God declares His righteousness, so that iniquities are forgiven, sins covered, and sin not imputed. Pardon means justification and is given when men and women receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit and confess their sins, which requires being penitent and humbled and stripped of self-righteousness to see spiritual poverty, since without this humbling men are blinded regarding righteousness and sanctification through the truth. Faith itself does not save or remove guilt, but justification rests on Christ's merits because He paid the price for redemption, and comes through faith in His blood with no merit or claim of their own.
Through Christ's imputed righteousness God declares believers just and treats them as just, His blood being the propitiation received through faith and the atoning sacrifice on which faith rests, showing God's righteousness in forgiving past sins and allowing Him to be both just and the justifier of those who believe. A guilty, lost sinner is thus justified as a free gift, with Christ's righteousness accepted by faith fully acquitting the sinner from the law's condemnation, and no righteousness apart from Christ can save. Pardoned and clothed with the garments of Christ's righteousness, the believer passes from the position of a rebel, a child of sin and Satan, to the position of a loyal subject and adopted child, not because of inherent goodness but because Christ receives him as His child, and stands faultless before God in favor with strong hope of eternal life. His sins are borne by his Substitute and Surety, who has taken his place and suffered for his sins, reprieved him from the condemnation of death, taken his guilt, imputed His own righteousness to him, clothed him with the beautiful garments of Christ's righteousness, and given him eternal life, His sacrifice fully satisfying the demands of justice for the sake of Jesus who has become the propitiation for sins. The sinner may err but is not cast off without mercy, his only hope remaining repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, with every believing soul to conform his will entirely to God's will, keep in repentance and contrition, exercise faith in the atoning merits of the Redeemer, and advance from strength to strength, from glory to glory.
Being justified freely is the believer's emancipation papers to be presented in the face of Satan. Those who accept the ransom Jesus paid with His most precious life are placed through the grace of Christ free from bondage to sin and from every entanglement of Satan, receiving mastery over self and over Satan and deliverance from the slavery of sin, since nothing but the grace of Christ is sufficient to free the transgressor from bondage, and by that grace all who are obedient to God's commandments are made free. The love and righteousness of Christ are given to people even though they are wholly unworthy and wholly undeserving, with no human righteousness able to recommend anyone to God. Pardon comes freely by grace because Jesus died a shameful death caused by human sins, and forgiveness through His sufferings, death, and pardoning blood is received only by first feeling to be a sinner and realizing how sinful sin is, by sincerely repenting before God and feeling that without Christ there is only perishing, and by casting the self in wretchedness wholly upon the mercy of Christ while yielding up own will and own way and pleading for Jesus to control will and actions. Man has nothing of his own to bring to God, for all he has is tainted and corrupted, polluted with sin, and utterly repulsive to a pure and holy God, and only through the righteous character of Jesus Christ can man come nigh to God, to whom the righteousness of Christ is presented as a free gift if he will accept it.
Christ's Redeeming Provision
Jesus Christ is the world's Redeemer and the sinner's Substitute, Surety, and only hope, who took the sinner's place, took his guilt, suffered for his sins, reprieved him from the condemnation of death, and took the sentence of death upon Himself. Through His sacrifice human guilt is removed and His righteousness is credited to believing sinners, which is how forgiveness is given while God remains just and justifies the believer. His obedience to God's law makes a way for lost humanity to escape death and be restored to life, giving His life as a ransom.
He redeemed the fallen race from the curse of the law by being made sin and a curse for mankind. The law could not be altered to meet man's necessity, being sacred as God Himself, and even an angel's life could not pay the debt. Because man transgressed God's law, the only begotten Son of God gave His life and suffered punishment He did not deserve so that the guilty who deserved it might go free.
His blood is the propitiation received through faith and the atoning sacrifice on which faith rests. That sacrifice appeases God's wrath, cleanses from sin, bears the curse, and fully satisfies the demands of justice. In doing so it vindicates the honor of God's law and uplifts fallen man degraded by sin, while declaring God's righteousness in forgiving past sins so that He is both just and the justifier of him who believes in Jesus.
The cross harmonizes the love and justice of God and is the sinner's only means of salvation and only hope. It opens a door of hope so that man need not be under the absolute control of Satan, with probation granted for repentance. No sinner need perish if he exercises faith in the efficacy of the cross, which is the answer to everyone who asks what he must do to be saved.
Christ crucified for sins, risen from the dead, and ascended to be Advocate and Intercessor before God now applies this redemption in the sanctuary. As interceding High Priest He pleads the efficacy of His blood for those now on probation, making an atoning sacrifice for prisoners of hope who repent, believe, and return to allegiance to God. He is the mediator in the heavenly sanctuary on whom the Old Testament sacrifices centered, the means by which transgressors of God's law find peace and pardon.
His propitiation shows God's love in that God loved and sent His Son to be the propitiation for sins. That propitiation is not for believers only but for the sins of the whole world, so no sinner need perish.
Reception by Faith Alone
Being justified freely is God's free gift of grace through Christ, not a reward earned by prayers, fasting, charity, self-denial, ceremonies, penance, good works, rigorous efforts to become holy, outward morality, or any other human merit. Salvation cannot be earned by works, humiliation, or penance, and grace cannot be bought, for the sinner is saved through repentance toward God and faith in Christ, and looking to the crucified Redeemer brings peace and joy. Human effort cannot free people from sin's condemnation or break its power, and the only hope of salvation is the atonement made through the blood of the crucified Redeemer. No one can make a single virtue by working to the very best of ability.
Pardon and release from sin's penalty are not granted by the pope or any other human authority and cannot be bought with money. This free gift stands opposed to offering pardon for money, where every sin has its price and license for crime is granted to fill the church treasury and make sin a source of revenue. Any scheme to sell pardon by playing upon superstition is a fraud that destroys the souls who trust it, while the gospel itself is the most valuable treasure of the church because it brings this free grace. God set forth this truth when He was preparing to break the shackles of ignorance and superstition, raising up men in different lands to present it while Satan worked with greatest power to enshroud men in darkness and bind their fetters more firmly, so that reformers condemned sin and pointed to Christ as deliverer from sin.
There are no conditions for coming to Christ, for God draws the sinner by Christ lifted up on the cross of Calvary, with Christ drawing every sinner not yet past hope to Himself. Salvation is received by living faith laying hold wholly and entirely upon the merits of the blood of a crucified and risen Saviour as the only cleansing from sins and transgressions. The convicted sinner sees that the law has been transgressed and that he is a sinner and that Christ died because the law was transgressed, and looks to the righteousness of Christ as the only thing that can cleanse, taking hold of it by living faith while having none of his own. Faith itself does not save or remove guilt, but justification rests on Christ's merits because He paid the price for redemption, and comes through faith in His blood. It is received by depending entirely on Him rather than on works of merit, and no thread of legality or boasting has any value in salvation.
Salvation is simple: the sinner must come to the Saviour just as he is without first blotting out his own sins or making himself suitably repentant. He is to look to the crucified Redeemer instead of looking at his sinful life, where no hope is found, believing His word and claiming His saving grace. This belief in the sacrifice made in his behalf is the only remedy, and gives everlasting life without condemnation; it is received by accepting a Thus saith the Lord and trusting it fully, with more faith in the word of God than in fasting or any other act that can be performed. Pardon is received only by first feeling to be a sinner and realizing how sinful sin is, by recognizing sin and sincerely repenting toward God with contrite heart and feeling that without Christ there is only perishing. It requires confessing sins and casting the self in wretchedness wholly upon Christ's mercy, yielding up own will and own way and pleading for Jesus to control will and actions, which requires being penitent and humbled and stripped of self-righteousness to see spiritual poverty.
Christ's sacrifice is the foundation of Christian hope, so people cannot be saved by relying on their own merits or by treating the atonement as unnecessary. A sinner who admits being sinful and unworthy can rely on Christ's atonement and precious blood for cleansing and salvation, trusting Christ in helplessness, which brings peace and assurance. Redemption and acceptance with God come by God's grace through Christ, not through human merit.
Law, Obedience and New Life
Being justified freely does not set aside God's law but establishes it, for sinners are saved through grace and atonement while the law is upheld and its Lawgiver honored, and the very necessity of Christ's great sacrifice to redeem from the penalty of transgression proves the law unchanging, sacred as God Himself, complete and full only as presented in the light shining from the crucified and risen Saviour at Calvary. God set forth Christ to be the propitiation through faith in His blood to declare His righteousness for remission of past sins, so that He is both just and the justifier of him who believes in Jesus, full of grace and truth. This placing of the law where the correct light shines upon it and glorifies it can only be spiritually discerned, and when beheld it kindles ardent faith, hope, and joy that Christ is righteousness, a joy belonging only to those who love and keep the words of Jesus, which are the words of God.
God's perfect law exposes and condemns transgression but provides no escape from it, and it cannot by itself make transgressors able to resist Satan, for every human being through Adam's disobedience has become a transgressor enslaved to sin and cannot earn pardon or acceptance by personal strength, righteousness, or efforts for salvation. Justification requires perfect obedience to the law, and that obedience is possible only through faith in Christ, by relying wholly on the merits of the promised Saviour rather than on self. By accepting Christ's atonement people are reconciled to God and enabled to obey acceptably.
The sin-pardoning Saviour must therefore be kept before the mind in His true position, coming to die to magnify the law of God and make it honorable and yet to justify the sinner who depends wholly upon the merits of the blood of a crucified and risen Saviour. Obedience and a holy life follow justification as its fruit, not its basis, for Christ's atoning blood is the ground of justification through faith, not a reward earned by prayers, fasting, charity, or self-denial. God's grace in Christ is the Christian's hope, and the Holy Spirit renews the heart to produce a life shaped by Christ's example.
Faith itself is God's gift: it assents to God's Word and binds the heart to serve Him, works by love and purifies the soul, so that being justified does not leave a person free to work unrighteousness. Where faith is, good works appear, for faith buds and blossoms and bears a harvest of precious fruit. Christ stands as the great depositary of justifying righteousness and sanctifying grace, and those vitally connected with Him reveal His beauty of character, made one with Him.
It is the righteousness of Christ alone that justifies and clothes the sinner, and being thus clothed imparts power and strength so that with Christ working with him and by him the believer does not want to sin and cannot sin, but works the works of righteousness and is elevated to resist Satan. The convicted sinner sees that the law has been transgressed and that Christ died because the law was broken, and by living faith lays hold wholly and entirely upon the merits of the blood of a crucified and risen Saviour as the only cleansing from sins and transgressions, since even working to the very best of ability cannot make a single virtue. Though he may make mistakes and errors, he will hate the sins that caused the suffering of the Son of God in his behalf because he was a transgressor of the law of God.
Those who take hold of Christ by faith receive power to overcome through His merits, for nothing but the grace of Christ is sufficient to free the transgressor from bondage, and by that grace all who are obedient to God's commandments are made free. To know Him is to keep His commandments, and through His grace people can obey acceptably, turn from disobedience by repentance, claim by faith the merits of Christ's blood rather than continue in sin, and gain a home in Eden restored. Christ acts as humanity's substitute and surety through the Son of God's self-sacrifice, condescension, and love in the plan of redemption.
Grace makes a righteous character possible, bearing the fruits of peace, courage, joy, and harmony, expressed in a life of goodness, faith, meekness, patience, and self-sacrifice through Christ's blood cleansing the heart from sin. This is seen in visiting the sick, caring for the poor, not neglecting the fatherless and widows, clothing the naked, feeding the destitute, loving the children of God, and walking in meekness and truth. This truth must be practiced rather than treated as theory, and those who proclaim it are to carry the pure character of Christ.
Justification by faith is the work of God in laying human glory in the dust and doing for man what is not in his power to do for himself, for no one can save himself or regenerate himself, and none but God can subdue the pride of the human heart. When men see their own nothingness and that in themselves they are worthless, they are prepared to be clothed with the righteousness of Christ. The whole gospel is learning from Christ His meekness and lowliness of heart, so that those justified praise and exalt God all the day long and by beholding are becoming changed into the same image.
It is the love of Christ that melts and subdues the soul, and those saved by grace offer the heart as a willing offering, keeping the heart in the love of God to keep the world out of the heart. No thread of legality or boasting has any value in salvation, for the righteousness of Christ must be accepted by all as a free gift, not bought, because all are undeserving. The gift builds up in most holy faith, for Christ is the Author and Finisher of faith, bringing steady growing in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ until reaching the full stature of spiritual growth in Christ Jesus.
History and Present Proclamation
God set forth this truth when preparing to break the shackles of ignorance and superstition, raising up men in different lands to present forgiveness and justification freely by grace through redemption in Christ, whose blood is the propitiation and who is the deliverer from sin. At that time Satan worked with greatest power to enshroud men in darkness and bind their fetters more firmly, while the reformers condemned sin and pointed to Christ as deliverer. This free gift stands opposed to offering pardon for money, where every sin has its price and license for crime is granted to fill the church treasury and make sin a source of revenue.
The atonement and justification freely by grace through redemption in Christ is one of the very pillars of the Christian faith and one of the great facts presented by inspired writers, standing with creation, the fall of man, and the perpetuity of the law of God. Yet it is practically rejected wholly or in part by a large share of the professedly Christian world, where infidelity prevails even in the church and the Bible is little valued as the guide of life. Its most important truths are caviled at, spiritualized, and explained away by those who pride themselves on wisdom and independence.
It belongs to the teaching on righteousness by faith in Christ that the churches need to be taught. This message of Christ crucified for sins, risen from the dead, and ascended to be Advocate and Intercessor before God carries the wisdom and power of God in the conversion of souls, bringing them back to loyalty to Christ. Closely connected with it is the office work of the Holy Spirit as the representative of Christ, sent forth with divine power and gifts for men.
The righteousness of Christ and the entire sacrifice made in behalf of man are great and glorious precious truths and the message for this time, to be responded to with all the heart, proclaimed under a burden given by God, and received with gratitude. Justification by faith is light to be accepted, not doubted or opposed, bringing peace with God and remission of past sins through faith in His blood as God declares His righteousness, so that iniquities are forgiven, sins covered, and sin not imputed. Jesus Christ is the Substitute and only hope, having redeemed the fallen race from the curse of the law by being made sin and a curse for mankind, and nothing but His grace is sufficient to free the transgressor from bondage, by which grace all who are obedient to God's commandments are made free.
Pardon of sin is justification by faith in Jesus Christ and access to God only through a Mediator because of man's lost condition, guilt, and sin. It involves knowing God and the only way to approach Him, having a genuine sense of what constitutes sin and what constitutes righteousness, and receiving pardon through Jesus Christ as the coming Messiah whom the sacrificial offerings represented. At Mount Sinai the people had little conception of these truths, having in great measure lost the knowledge of God and the only way to approach Him and nearly all genuine sense of sin and righteousness, so that pardon through Christ was dimly understood by all and had become entirely extinct in the minds of many.
The righteousness of Christ freely given to all who believe shows the love of God to men personally, bringing courage and hope to souls in ignorance and peace and full and abundant assurance of His love for each person. The guilt of human sin is charged to Christ's account and His own righteousness is imputed to man, with Christ Himself as man's righteousness and only source of strength, and this gift in no case does away with the law or detracts from its dignity but places the law where the correct light shines upon it and glorifies it, so the law is complete and full only as presented in the light shining from the crucified and risen Saviour. This can only be spiritually discerned, and when beheld it kindles ardent faith, hope, and joy that Christ is his righteousness, a joy belonging only to those who love and keep the words of Jesus, which are the words of God. Those who continue in the service of God return to whole-hearted obedience through the revival of God's appointed agencies, for the righteous continually follow righteousness because Christ formed within them is righteousness and truth, imbued with a pure, fervent love begotten by the love of God, with transgressions forgiven and sins pardoned so God looks upon them with pleasure.
The Saviour has power to justify believers by His righteousness, and their lives magnify that power. Those who lay hold of Christ by faith through the Saviour and His merits may form a character like His and receive the moral image of God, with the choices made during probation shaping that character and bearing on salvation. Salvation comes by depending on the merits of a crucified Saviour and trusting in His atonement, returning to whole-hearted obedience through God's appointed agencies with pure, fervent love.
Justification is given freely and without stint by grace, for in giving Christ God gave all the treasures of heaven, so resources are without limit and every provision is made so that no one need falter, fail, or be discouraged. There is therefore no excuse for unbelief or for feeble, dwarfed spirituality, but having abundant assurance believers must grow in grace, in spiritual knowledge, and in intelligence, and press forward to the mark of the prize of the high calling. Having received from Christ to impart consolation to others, they speak no word of hopelessness or doubt and become complete in Him as living witnesses magnifying His grace. Those who receive and act on this light give evidence of it in their teaching, for justification comes through faith and God's grace and Christ's righteousness must become ours, without which God's law cannot be kept, bearing the fruits of peace, courage, joy, and harmony when practiced rather than treated as theory by those who carry the pure character of Christ.
Being justified freely means guilty transgressors of God's law are fully pardoned and declared just as a free gift of grace, with no merit or works of their own to procure it, through the redemption purchased by Christ with His own blood and life. Justification is the crediting of Christ's righteousness to every repenting, believing sinner, with human guilt charged to Christ's account and sin forgiven, covered, and not imputed. It is received by faith alone laying hold wholly upon the merits of a crucified and risen Saviour, not by prayers, fasting, penance, good works, human authority, or money, and faith itself does not save but depends entirely on Christ who paid the price. Christ as Substitute and Surety took the sinner's place and guilt, was made sin and a curse, suffered undeserved punishment to satisfy justice and vindicate the law, and now applies His blood as Advocate and High Priest. This grace does not make the law void but establishes it, and the faith that receives it works by love and purifies the soul, bringing obedience, power to overcome, and a righteous character.
Words and Legal Setting
Being justified freely means being justified wholly of grace as a free gift, for grace is unmerited favor and the believer has no merit of his own and no claim to offer. No works that fallen man can do can procure justification or merit eternal life, and nothing can be effected in standing before God through creature merit, not even by a rich man's offering of money and possessions, whose thought that he has merited favor and placed God under special obligation to him is false and spoils the offering. Should faith and works purchase the gift of salvation, then the Creator would be under obligation to the creature and salvation would be partly of debt that may be earned as wages, which is the same position as doing penance for sins. Once it is settled that the merits of fallen man in good works can never procure eternal life, justification by faith as wholly of grace received as a sinner by receiving and believing in Jesus is placed beyond controversy.
Grace in this justification is given freely and without stint, for in giving Christ all the treasures of heaven were given. Resources are without limit and every provision is made so that no one need falter, fail, or be discouraged. Therefore there is no excuse for unbelief or for feeble, dwarfed spirituality, but there is abundant assurance for growing in grace, spiritual knowledge, and intelligence and pressing forward to the mark of the high calling.
Redemption means purchase by a price, for Christ has purchased people by paying redemption with His own blood and His most precious life. This redemption and its treasure become theirs by the free gift of God when they lay hold upon it. Those who accept the ransom thus paid are placed through grace free from bondage to sin and from every entanglement, receiving mastery and deliverance from slavery.
The verse pictures sinners committed for trial who must answer the charge of transgressing God's law, with Jesus Christ as Substitute and only hope who redeemed the fallen race from the curse of the law by being made sin and a curse for mankind. Nothing but the grace of Christ is sufficient to free the transgressor from bondage, and by that grace all who are obedient to the commandments are made free, with pardon procured through His merits upon repentance. Each person is therefore called to know whether he is justified or condemned by the holy precepts rather than to argue over definitions of Christ as righteousness or to explain the relation of the laws.
The verse applies to all as guilty transgressors of God's law, for every human being has become a transgressor through Adam's disobedience and is enslaved to sin. Fallen men are cut off from communion with God and plunged in hopeless misery under condemnation, without any change in God's law to meet man's necessity, since the law is as sacred as God Himself and the foundation of His government in heaven and earth, so that even an angel's life could not pay the debt. The law exposes sin but cannot make people able to resist Satan, and justification requires perfect obedience possible only through faith in Christ, by whose atonement people are reconciled to God and enabled to obey acceptably. Christ's death does not save people while they continue in sin, but all perish unless they repent, turn from disobedience, and by faith claim the merits of His blood, with probation granted for repentance and a life of effort to keep the law unto a home in Eden restored and life and immortality.
Nature of Justifying Gift
Justification is the imputation of the righteousness of Christ received through justifying faith, given freely by grace through the redemption in Christ, with His righteousness credited to every repenting, believing sinner and not by works of their own. The guilt of human sin is charged to Christ's account, who is Himself man's righteousness and only source of strength, and whose sacrifice removes human guilt while God remains just in justifying the believer. Salvation in this way is God's gift through Jesus Christ alone, who is the only way to life and admission to the kingdom. This gift in no case does away with the law or detract from its dignity but places the law where the correct light shines upon it and glorifies it, so the law is complete and full only as presented in the light shining from the crucified and risen Saviour, which can only be spiritually discerned and when beheld kindles ardent faith, hope, and joy that Christ is his righteousness, a joy belonging only to those who love and keep the words of Jesus, which are the words of God.
Justification is a full and complete pardon, one and the same thing as forgiveness and remission of penalty, and the opposite of condemnation. When the sinner accepts Christ by faith the sinner is pardoned, bringing peace with God and remission of past sins through faith in His blood as God declares His righteousness, so that iniquities are forgiven, sins covered, and sin not imputed. Pardon means justification and is given when men and women receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit and confess their sins, which requires being penitent and humbled and stripped of self-righteousness to see spiritual poverty, since without this humbling men are blinded regarding righteousness and sanctification through the truth. Faith itself does not save or remove guilt, but justification rests on Christ's merits because He paid the price for redemption, and comes through faith in His blood with no merit or claim of their own.
Through Christ's imputed righteousness God declares believers just and treats them as just, His blood being the propitiation received through faith and the atoning sacrifice on which faith rests, showing God's righteousness in forgiving past sins and allowing Him to be both just and the justifier of those who believe. A guilty, lost sinner is thus justified as a free gift, with Christ's righteousness accepted by faith fully acquitting the sinner from the law's condemnation, and no righteousness apart from Christ can save. Pardoned and clothed with the garments of Christ's righteousness, the believer passes from the position of a rebel, a child of sin and Satan, to the position of a loyal subject and adopted child, not because of inherent goodness but because Christ receives him as His child, and stands faultless before God in favor with strong hope of eternal life. His sins are borne by his Substitute and Surety, who has taken his place and suffered for his sins, reprieved him from the condemnation of death, taken his guilt, imputed His own righteousness to him, clothed him with the beautiful garments of Christ's righteousness, and given him eternal life, His sacrifice fully satisfying the demands of justice for the sake of Jesus who has become the propitiation for sins. The sinner may err but is not cast off without mercy, his only hope remaining repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, with every believing soul to conform his will entirely to God's will, keep in repentance and contrition, exercise faith in the atoning merits of the Redeemer, and advance from strength to strength, from glory to glory.
Being justified freely is the believer's emancipation papers to be presented in the face of Satan. Those who accept the ransom Jesus paid with His most precious life are placed through the grace of Christ free from bondage to sin and from every entanglement of Satan, receiving mastery over self and over Satan and deliverance from the slavery of sin, since nothing but the grace of Christ is sufficient to free the transgressor from bondage, and by that grace all who are obedient to God's commandments are made free. The love and righteousness of Christ are given to people even though they are wholly unworthy and wholly undeserving, with no human righteousness able to recommend anyone to God. Pardon comes freely by grace because Jesus died a shameful death caused by human sins, and forgiveness through His sufferings, death, and pardoning blood is received only by first feeling to be a sinner and realizing how sinful sin is, by sincerely repenting before God and feeling that without Christ there is only perishing, and by casting the self in wretchedness wholly upon the mercy of Christ while yielding up own will and own way and pleading for Jesus to control will and actions. Man has nothing of his own to bring to God, for all he has is tainted and corrupted, polluted with sin, and utterly repulsive to a pure and holy God, and only through the righteous character of Jesus Christ can man come nigh to God, to whom the righteousness of Christ is presented as a free gift if he will accept it.
Christ's Redeeming Provision
Jesus Christ is the world's Redeemer and the sinner's Substitute, Surety, and only hope, who took the sinner's place, took his guilt, suffered for his sins, reprieved him from the condemnation of death, and took the sentence of death upon Himself. Through His sacrifice human guilt is removed and His righteousness is credited to believing sinners, which is how forgiveness is given while God remains just and justifies the believer. His obedience to God's law makes a way for lost humanity to escape death and be restored to life, giving His life as a ransom.
He redeemed the fallen race from the curse of the law by being made sin and a curse for mankind. The law could not be altered to meet man's necessity, being sacred as God Himself, and even an angel's life could not pay the debt. Because man transgressed God's law, the only begotten Son of God gave His life and suffered punishment He did not deserve so that the guilty who deserved it might go free.
His blood is the propitiation received through faith and the atoning sacrifice on which faith rests. That sacrifice appeases God's wrath, cleanses from sin, bears the curse, and fully satisfies the demands of justice. In doing so it vindicates the honor of God's law and uplifts fallen man degraded by sin, while declaring God's righteousness in forgiving past sins so that He is both just and the justifier of him who believes in Jesus.
The cross harmonizes the love and justice of God and is the sinner's only means of salvation and only hope. It opens a door of hope so that man need not be under the absolute control of Satan, with probation granted for repentance. No sinner need perish if he exercises faith in the efficacy of the cross, which is the answer to everyone who asks what he must do to be saved.
Christ crucified for sins, risen from the dead, and ascended to be Advocate and Intercessor before God now applies this redemption in the sanctuary. As interceding High Priest He pleads the efficacy of His blood for those now on probation, making an atoning sacrifice for prisoners of hope who repent, believe, and return to allegiance to God. He is the mediator in the heavenly sanctuary on whom the Old Testament sacrifices centered, the means by which transgressors of God's law find peace and pardon.
His propitiation shows God's love in that God loved and sent His Son to be the propitiation for sins. That propitiation is not for believers only but for the sins of the whole world, so no sinner need perish.
Reception by Faith Alone
Being justified freely is God's free gift of grace through Christ, not a reward earned by prayers, fasting, charity, self-denial, ceremonies, penance, good works, rigorous efforts to become holy, outward morality, or any other human merit. Salvation cannot be earned by works, humiliation, or penance, and grace cannot be bought, for the sinner is saved through repentance toward God and faith in Christ, and looking to the crucified Redeemer brings peace and joy. Human effort cannot free people from sin's condemnation or break its power, and the only hope of salvation is the atonement made through the blood of the crucified Redeemer. No one can make a single virtue by working to the very best of ability.
Pardon and release from sin's penalty are not granted by the pope or any other human authority and cannot be bought with money. This free gift stands opposed to offering pardon for money, where every sin has its price and license for crime is granted to fill the church treasury and make sin a source of revenue. Any scheme to sell pardon by playing upon superstition is a fraud that destroys the souls who trust it, while the gospel itself is the most valuable treasure of the church because it brings this free grace. God set forth this truth when He was preparing to break the shackles of ignorance and superstition, raising up men in different lands to present it while Satan worked with greatest power to enshroud men in darkness and bind their fetters more firmly, so that reformers condemned sin and pointed to Christ as deliverer from sin.
There are no conditions for coming to Christ, for God draws the sinner by Christ lifted up on the cross of Calvary, with Christ drawing every sinner not yet past hope to Himself. Salvation is received by living faith laying hold wholly and entirely upon the merits of the blood of a crucified and risen Saviour as the only cleansing from sins and transgressions. The convicted sinner sees that the law has been transgressed and that he is a sinner and that Christ died because the law was transgressed, and looks to the righteousness of Christ as the only thing that can cleanse, taking hold of it by living faith while having none of his own. Faith itself does not save or remove guilt, but justification rests on Christ's merits because He paid the price for redemption, and comes through faith in His blood. It is received by depending entirely on Him rather than on works of merit, and no thread of legality or boasting has any value in salvation.
Salvation is simple: the sinner must come to the Saviour just as he is without first blotting out his own sins or making himself suitably repentant. He is to look to the crucified Redeemer instead of looking at his sinful life, where no hope is found, believing His word and claiming His saving grace. This belief in the sacrifice made in his behalf is the only remedy, and gives everlasting life without condemnation; it is received by accepting a Thus saith the Lord and trusting it fully, with more faith in the word of God than in fasting or any other act that can be performed. Pardon is received only by first feeling to be a sinner and realizing how sinful sin is, by recognizing sin and sincerely repenting toward God with contrite heart and feeling that without Christ there is only perishing. It requires confessing sins and casting the self in wretchedness wholly upon Christ's mercy, yielding up own will and own way and pleading for Jesus to control will and actions, which requires being penitent and humbled and stripped of self-righteousness to see spiritual poverty.
Christ's sacrifice is the foundation of Christian hope, so people cannot be saved by relying on their own merits or by treating the atonement as unnecessary. A sinner who admits being sinful and unworthy can rely on Christ's atonement and precious blood for cleansing and salvation, trusting Christ in helplessness, which brings peace and assurance. Redemption and acceptance with God come by God's grace through Christ, not through human merit.
Law, Obedience and New Life
Being justified freely does not set aside God's law but establishes it, for sinners are saved through grace and atonement while the law is upheld and its Lawgiver honored, and the very necessity of Christ's great sacrifice to redeem from the penalty of transgression proves the law unchanging, sacred as God Himself, complete and full only as presented in the light shining from the crucified and risen Saviour at Calvary. God set forth Christ to be the propitiation through faith in His blood to declare His righteousness for remission of past sins, so that He is both just and the justifier of him who believes in Jesus, full of grace and truth. This placing of the law where the correct light shines upon it and glorifies it can only be spiritually discerned, and when beheld it kindles ardent faith, hope, and joy that Christ is righteousness, a joy belonging only to those who love and keep the words of Jesus, which are the words of God.
God's perfect law exposes and condemns transgression but provides no escape from it, and it cannot by itself make transgressors able to resist Satan, for every human being through Adam's disobedience has become a transgressor enslaved to sin and cannot earn pardon or acceptance by personal strength, righteousness, or efforts for salvation. Justification requires perfect obedience to the law, and that obedience is possible only through faith in Christ, by relying wholly on the merits of the promised Saviour rather than on self. By accepting Christ's atonement people are reconciled to God and enabled to obey acceptably.
The sin-pardoning Saviour must therefore be kept before the mind in His true position, coming to die to magnify the law of God and make it honorable and yet to justify the sinner who depends wholly upon the merits of the blood of a crucified and risen Saviour. Obedience and a holy life follow justification as its fruit, not its basis, for Christ's atoning blood is the ground of justification through faith, not a reward earned by prayers, fasting, charity, or self-denial. God's grace in Christ is the Christian's hope, and the Holy Spirit renews the heart to produce a life shaped by Christ's example.
Faith itself is God's gift: it assents to God's Word and binds the heart to serve Him, works by love and purifies the soul, so that being justified does not leave a person free to work unrighteousness. Where faith is, good works appear, for faith buds and blossoms and bears a harvest of precious fruit. Christ stands as the great depositary of justifying righteousness and sanctifying grace, and those vitally connected with Him reveal His beauty of character, made one with Him.
It is the righteousness of Christ alone that justifies and clothes the sinner, and being thus clothed imparts power and strength so that with Christ working with him and by him the believer does not want to sin and cannot sin, but works the works of righteousness and is elevated to resist Satan. The convicted sinner sees that the law has been transgressed and that Christ died because the law was broken, and by living faith lays hold wholly and entirely upon the merits of the blood of a crucified and risen Saviour as the only cleansing from sins and transgressions, since even working to the very best of ability cannot make a single virtue. Though he may make mistakes and errors, he will hate the sins that caused the suffering of the Son of God in his behalf because he was a transgressor of the law of God.
Those who take hold of Christ by faith receive power to overcome through His merits, for nothing but the grace of Christ is sufficient to free the transgressor from bondage, and by that grace all who are obedient to God's commandments are made free. To know Him is to keep His commandments, and through His grace people can obey acceptably, turn from disobedience by repentance, claim by faith the merits of Christ's blood rather than continue in sin, and gain a home in Eden restored. Christ acts as humanity's substitute and surety through the Son of God's self-sacrifice, condescension, and love in the plan of redemption.
Grace makes a righteous character possible, bearing the fruits of peace, courage, joy, and harmony, expressed in a life of goodness, faith, meekness, patience, and self-sacrifice through Christ's blood cleansing the heart from sin. This is seen in visiting the sick, caring for the poor, not neglecting the fatherless and widows, clothing the naked, feeding the destitute, loving the children of God, and walking in meekness and truth. This truth must be practiced rather than treated as theory, and those who proclaim it are to carry the pure character of Christ.
Justification by faith is the work of God in laying human glory in the dust and doing for man what is not in his power to do for himself, for no one can save himself or regenerate himself, and none but God can subdue the pride of the human heart. When men see their own nothingness and that in themselves they are worthless, they are prepared to be clothed with the righteousness of Christ. The whole gospel is learning from Christ His meekness and lowliness of heart, so that those justified praise and exalt God all the day long and by beholding are becoming changed into the same image.
It is the love of Christ that melts and subdues the soul, and those saved by grace offer the heart as a willing offering, keeping the heart in the love of God to keep the world out of the heart. No thread of legality or boasting has any value in salvation, for the righteousness of Christ must be accepted by all as a free gift, not bought, because all are undeserving. The gift builds up in most holy faith, for Christ is the Author and Finisher of faith, bringing steady growing in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ until reaching the full stature of spiritual growth in Christ Jesus.
History and Present Proclamation
God set forth this truth when preparing to break the shackles of ignorance and superstition, raising up men in different lands to present forgiveness and justification freely by grace through redemption in Christ, whose blood is the propitiation and who is the deliverer from sin. At that time Satan worked with greatest power to enshroud men in darkness and bind their fetters more firmly, while the reformers condemned sin and pointed to Christ as deliverer. This free gift stands opposed to offering pardon for money, where every sin has its price and license for crime is granted to fill the church treasury and make sin a source of revenue.
The atonement and justification freely by grace through redemption in Christ is one of the very pillars of the Christian faith and one of the great facts presented by inspired writers, standing with creation, the fall of man, and the perpetuity of the law of God. Yet it is practically rejected wholly or in part by a large share of the professedly Christian world, where infidelity prevails even in the church and the Bible is little valued as the guide of life. Its most important truths are caviled at, spiritualized, and explained away by those who pride themselves on wisdom and independence.
It belongs to the teaching on righteousness by faith in Christ that the churches need to be taught. This message of Christ crucified for sins, risen from the dead, and ascended to be Advocate and Intercessor before God carries the wisdom and power of God in the conversion of souls, bringing them back to loyalty to Christ. Closely connected with it is the office work of the Holy Spirit as the representative of Christ, sent forth with divine power and gifts for men.
The righteousness of Christ and the entire sacrifice made in behalf of man are great and glorious precious truths and the message for this time, to be responded to with all the heart, proclaimed under a burden given by God, and received with gratitude. Justification by faith is light to be accepted, not doubted or opposed, bringing peace with God and remission of past sins through faith in His blood as God declares His righteousness, so that iniquities are forgiven, sins covered, and sin not imputed. Jesus Christ is the Substitute and only hope, having redeemed the fallen race from the curse of the law by being made sin and a curse for mankind, and nothing but His grace is sufficient to free the transgressor from bondage, by which grace all who are obedient to God's commandments are made free.
Pardon of sin is justification by faith in Jesus Christ and access to God only through a Mediator because of man's lost condition, guilt, and sin. It involves knowing God and the only way to approach Him, having a genuine sense of what constitutes sin and what constitutes righteousness, and receiving pardon through Jesus Christ as the coming Messiah whom the sacrificial offerings represented. At Mount Sinai the people had little conception of these truths, having in great measure lost the knowledge of God and the only way to approach Him and nearly all genuine sense of sin and righteousness, so that pardon through Christ was dimly understood by all and had become entirely extinct in the minds of many.
The righteousness of Christ freely given to all who believe shows the love of God to men personally, bringing courage and hope to souls in ignorance and peace and full and abundant assurance of His love for each person. The guilt of human sin is charged to Christ's account and His own righteousness is imputed to man, with Christ Himself as man's righteousness and only source of strength, and this gift in no case does away with the law or detracts from its dignity but places the law where the correct light shines upon it and glorifies it, so the law is complete and full only as presented in the light shining from the crucified and risen Saviour. This can only be spiritually discerned, and when beheld it kindles ardent faith, hope, and joy that Christ is his righteousness, a joy belonging only to those who love and keep the words of Jesus, which are the words of God. Those who continue in the service of God return to whole-hearted obedience through the revival of God's appointed agencies, for the righteous continually follow righteousness because Christ formed within them is righteousness and truth, imbued with a pure, fervent love begotten by the love of God, with transgressions forgiven and sins pardoned so God looks upon them with pleasure.
The Saviour has power to justify believers by His righteousness, and their lives magnify that power. Those who lay hold of Christ by faith through the Saviour and His merits may form a character like His and receive the moral image of God, with the choices made during probation shaping that character and bearing on salvation. Salvation comes by depending on the merits of a crucified Saviour and trusting in His atonement, returning to whole-hearted obedience through God's appointed agencies with pure, fervent love.
Justification is given freely and without stint by grace, for in giving Christ God gave all the treasures of heaven, so resources are without limit and every provision is made so that no one need falter, fail, or be discouraged. There is therefore no excuse for unbelief or for feeble, dwarfed spirituality, but having abundant assurance believers must grow in grace, in spiritual knowledge, and in intelligence, and press forward to the mark of the prize of the high calling. Having received from Christ to impart consolation to others, they speak no word of hopelessness or doubt and become complete in Him as living witnesses magnifying His grace. Those who receive and act on this light give evidence of it in their teaching, for justification comes through faith and God's grace and Christ's righteousness must become ours, without which God's law cannot be kept, bearing the fruits of peace, courage, joy, and harmony when practiced rather than treated as theory by those who carry the pure character of Christ.