XXXIV. JUSTIFICATION
A
Christ
is represented in the gospel as maintaining three types of relationships with
men:
1 Governmental
relationships.
2 Spiritual
relationships.
3 Relationships
that unite both of these.
We
shall now consider Christ as our justification.
B
What
is not gospel justification?
I
cannot think of any question in theology that has been surrounded with a more
harmful and theological mysticism than the question of justification.
1 Justification
pronounces one just. God can do
this in words or by deed.
Justification must be an act of a government; and it is important to a
right understanding of gospel justification to ask whether it is an act of the
judicial, the executive, or the legislative branch of government. Does gospel justification consist in a
strictly judicial proceeding, or does it consist in setting aside the execution
of an incurred penalty? Therefore,
is it either an executive or a legislative act? We will see that settling this question
is very important in theology; and as we examine this subject, we must also
consider many important and highly practical theological questions.
We cannot view gospel
justification as a judicial proceeding.
Dr. Chalmers and those of his school claim that it is. This is a tremendous error. The word ‘forensic’ comes from the word
‘forum’ which means ‘a court’. A
forensic proceeding belongs to the judicial branch of government, whose business
it is to find out the facts and declare the sentence of the law. The only power this branch has is to
pronounce judgment, according to the true spirit and meaning of the law. Courts never pardon, or set aside
executing the penalties. This
responsibility belongs to either the executive or the legislative branch of
government. This power often rests
in the head of the executive branch, which usually is a branch of the
legislative power of government.
But, the judicial branch of government should never exercise the power to
pardon. The ground of any judicial
justification must be universal obedience to the law. If just one crime or breach of the law
is alleged and proved, the court must condemn the guilty party. The court cannot justify, or pronounce
the convicted party just.
Gospel justification
is the justification of sinners.
Therefore, it is naturally impossible to claim that the justification of
a sinner (one who has violated the law) is judicial justification. The only way one would obtain a legal or
forensic justification would be if it was determined that the justified person
is guiltless, or, in other words, that he has never violated the law, that he
has done only what he had a legal right to do. Now, it is certainly silly to claim
anyone can pronounce a sinner just in the eyes of law. It is stupid to say that the deeds of
the law or even the law itself can justify the sinner. The law condemns him. However, he must be just in the eyes of
the law before the law can justify him judicially or forensically. As far as sinners are concerned, this is
certainly impossible. The Bible is
as clear as it can possibly be on this point. “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” (Romans 3:20)
2 Now
Dr. Chalmers and those who agree with his theology don’t really believe that
sinners are justified by their own obedience to the law, but, according to them,
sinners are justified by the perfect and imputed obedience of Jesus Christ. They maintain that, the obedience to the
law that Christ rendered when He was on earth, was credited to all elect
sinners, and imputed to them. Now,
the law sees them as having rendered perfect obedience in Christ, or sees them
as having perfectly obeyed by proxy, and therefore God pronounces them just,
based on the condition of their faith in Christ. They insist that this is a forensic or
judicial justification. However, we
will deal with this later.
C
What
is gospel justification?
Gospel justification does not consist in the law pronouncing the sinner
just, but in him being governmentally treated as if he were just. The law pronounces the sinner
guilty. He has received the
sentence of eternal death. But,
gospel justification is a governmental decree of pardon or amnesty. It stops and sets aside executing the
incurred penalty of the law by pardoning and restoring to favor those who have
sinned, and rewarding them as if they had been righteous. To prove this
position, please let me say:
1 The
Old Testament clearly teaches this.
The entire system of sacrifices taught the doctrine of pardon on the
conditions of atonement, repentance, and faith. Under the Old Testament dispensation,
the Bible always represented justification as a merciful acceptance of the
penitents, and never a forensic or judicial acquittal or justification of
them. The mercy‑seat covered the
law in the Ark of the Covenant.
Paul tells us what justification was in the sense in which the Old
Testament saints understood it.
“Just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God
imputes righteousness apart from works: ‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds
are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man to whom the Lord
shall not impute sin’” (Romans 4:6‑8)
Paul’s quote from David shows both what David and what Paul understood by
justification, which is the pardon and acceptance of the penitent sinner.
2 The
New Testament fully justifies and establishes this view of the subject, as we
will see later.
3 Sinners
cannot possibly be just in any other sense. Under certain conditions, God may pardon
sinners and treat them as just.
However, it is impossible and absurd for God, or anyone, to judicially
pronounce sinners just.
D
Conditions
of justification.
A condition, as
opposed to the ground, of justification is anything without which God cannot
justify sinners. However, none of
these conditions is the fundamental reason for their justification. As we will see, there are many
conditions, but there is only one ground for the justification of sinners.
Justification, in a
legal sense, is based on universal, perfect, and uninterrupted obedience to the
law. Those who believe that the
justification of penitent sinners is a judicial justification deny this. They cling to the legal maxim that what
a man does by another he does by himself, and therefore the law regards Christ’s
obedience as ours, on the ground that He obeyed for us. To this I reply
1 This
legal maxim only applies in cases where one acts in behalf of another by his own
appointment, which was not true with the obedience of Christ; and:
2 The
doctrine of an imputed righteousness, or that Christ’s obedience to the law was
accepted as our obedience, is based on the false and nonsensical assumption that
Christ Himself did not owe any obedience to the law, and therefore His obedience
was over and above what He was expected to do. Therefore, He could substitute His
obedience for our own disobedience because He did not need to obey for
Himself.
I must say that
justification depends on the moral law; and so those, who believe this common
theory, must mean that Christ owed no obedience to the moral law, and therefore
His obedience to the law was over and above what was required, ordered, and
expected of Him. God then credits
this to our account as the ground of our justification on condition of our faith
in Him. However, this is not
true. The spirit of the moral law
requires all moral agents to love God with all their hearts and to be everything
He created. Wasn’t Christ also
required to do this? Of
course! Christ was under an
infinite obligation to love His Father as well His neighbor. The law required Christ to love His
father with all His heart, soul, mind, and body. Was it possible for Christ to love His
heavenly Father and those around him more than the law requires God and all
beings to be? No. Just like us, Christ was required to
consecrate His whole heart, soul, mind, and body to the highest good of the
universe. It was naturally
impossible for Him, just as it is impossible for us, to love more than the moral
law requires us to love. This must
be just as true of God as it is of any other being. Would Christ have sinned if He had not
been perfectly benevolent? The
Bible clearly suggests that it was possible for Christ to sin. (Heb 2:17-18: “Therefore, in all things
He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful
High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of
the people. For in that He Himself
has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.”) (Heb 4:15: “For we do not have a High
Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted
as we are, yet without sin.”) (Matt
4:1: “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by
the devil.”) (Luke 4:1-2 “Then
Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led
by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil.
And in those days He ate nothing,
and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.” Phil 2:5-8: “Let this mind be in you
which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider
it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the
form of a servant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in
appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of
death, even the death of the cross.”)
These passages suggest that He owed obedience to the law, just like any
other being. In fact, any being
that does not have to obey moral law must be totally incapable of virtue, for
what is virtue but obedience to the moral law?
But if Christ owed
personal obedience to the moral law, then His obedience could do no more than to
justify Him. He can never impute
His obedience to us. Christ was
required to love God with all His heart, soul, mind, and strength, and His
neighbor as Himself. He did no more
than that. He could do no
more. It was naturally impossible,
then, for Christ to obey on our behalf.
There
are, however, valid grounds and valid conditions of justification.
a
The
suffering or atonement of Christ is a condition of our justification. The atonement of Christ is a condition
of the pardon and acceptance of penitent sinners. It has been common to confuse a
condition with the ground of justification, to deliberately represent the
atonement and work of Christ as the ground rather than a condition of our
justification. I find it important
to distinguish between the ground and the conditions of justification and to
consider the atonement and work of Christ not as the ground, but only as a
condition of gospel justification.
The word ground, means the moving, the procuring cause. In this case, the ground is that in
which the whole plan of redemption originated as its source, and which was the
fundamental reason or ground for everything that God did in His great plan of
salvation. This was the infinite
unselfish love and merciful disposition of the whole Godhead, the Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit. This love is what
produced the atonement. “For God so
loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him
should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) The atonement did not produce this
love. The Godhead desired to save
sinners, but they could not safely do so in the best interests of the universe
unless they could do something to satisfy public justice. The Godhead resorted to the atonement as
a means of reconciling forgiveness with the wholesome administration of
justice. A loving, merciful
disposition in the Godhead was the source, ground, and mainspring of the whole
movement, while the atonement was only a condition or means, or that without
which the love of God could not safely manifest itself in justifying and saving
sinners.
Failing to make this
distinction and believing that the atonement is the ground of the sinner’s
justification has been a stumbling block to many. Indeed, the whole question of the
nature, design, extent, and bearing of the atonement turns on this
distinction. Some represent the
atonement as coming from the wrath of the Father rather than from His love. This leaves the impression that Christ
was more merciful, and more the friend of sinners than the Father. Many have received this impression from
the pulpit and from books.
b
Others,
who see the atonement as the ground rather than a condition of justification,
believe that the atonement is the literal payment of the debt of sinners. They view the atonement as a commercial
transaction paid for by Christ suffering the same amount that the elect
deserved. Thus, they negate the
idea of a merciful disposition in the Father, and represent God as
demanding pay for discharging and saving sinners. Some of these believers insist, that
since Christ has died, the elect sinner has a right to demand his justification
on the ground of justice, that he may go before God, present the atonement and
work of Christ, and say to the Father, “Here is the price; I demand the
goods.” (Literal payment: a regard
for the atonement as a payment to God of Christ’s life on the cross as a direct
appeasement for God’s anger over man’s sinfulness. It is an exact amount of suffering such
as all sinners would otherwise suffer in hell.)
Some of these
believers conclude that the nature of the atonement is limited to a select few
people. Others turn into
Universalists because they not only assume that the atonement was the ground of
justification in the sense of the literal payment of the debt of sinners, but
also that the scriptures say that the atonement was made for all men. Others believe that the atonement was an
appropriate governmental act, which reconciled the pardon of sin with a
wholesome administration of justice.
They believe that the atonement was sufficient for all mankind,
justifying the entire human race freely by grace through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus. All of these views
insist that the atonement is the ground of justification, rather than merely a
condition of justification.
c
Those
who believe that the atonement and the obedience of Christ is the ground of the
justification of sinners in the sense that it paid their debt, believe that all
the grace in the transaction is from the atonement and obedience of Christ, and
none of the grace comes from the act of justification. They see justification as a legal
act. I see the atonement of Christ
as the necessary condition of safely manifesting the love of God in the
justification and salvation of sinners.
A merciful disposition in the whole Godhead was the ground, and the
atonement a condition of justification.
Mercy would have saved without atonement if it had been possible to do
so.
That Christ’s
sufferings, and especially His death, was substitutionary, we saw when we
studied the subject of atonement.
Although Christ himself owed perfect obedience to the moral law, and
therefore He could not obey as our substitute, yet because He obeyed, He owed no
suffering to the law or to God’s Divine government. Therefore, Christ could suffer for
us. That is, He could, to satisfy
the government of God, substitute His own death for the infliction of the
penalty of the law on us. He could
not perform works that we were required to do, but He could endure the
sufferings instead of us, as long as He did not have to suffer for Himself. The doctrine of substitution as I have
just described, appears everywhere in the Bible. It is the leading idea, the prominent
thought, lying on the face of scripture.
Let these following few passages serve as examples of this doctrine:
1)
“For
the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar
to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for
the soul.” (Lev. 17:11)
2)
“But
He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the
chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we
have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the
iniquity of us all. He shall see
the travail of His soul, and be satisfied.
By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall
bear their iniquities.” (Isaiah
53:5, 6, 11)
3)
“Just
as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life
a ransom for many.” (Matt.
20:28)
4)
“For
this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission
of sins.” (Matt. 26:28)
5)
“And
as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life”
(John 3:14‑15)
6)
“I
am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will
live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give
for the life of the world.” (John
6:51)
7)
“Therefore
take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has
made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His
own blood.” (Acts 20:28)
8)
“Being
justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
whom God set forth to be a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to
demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over
the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His
righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith
in Jesus.” (Romans
3:24‑26)
9)
“For
when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the
ungodly. For scarcely for a
righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare
to die. But God demonstrates His
own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for
us. Much more then, having now been
justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. And not only that, but we also rejoice
in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the
reconciliation. For when we were
still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. Therefore, as through one man’s offense
judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one
Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of
life. For as by one man’s
disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be
made righteous.” (Romans 5:6‑9, 11,
18‑19)
10)
“For
even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.” (1 Cor. 5:7)
11)
“Christ
died for our sins according to the scriptures.” (1 Cor. 15:3)
12)
“Christ
has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it
is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’'), that the blessing of
Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the
promise of the Spirit through faith.”
(Gal. 3:13‑14)
13)
“But
now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been made near by the blood
of Christ” (Eph. 2:13)
14)
“Not
with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most
Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and
the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of
the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal
Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead
works to serve the living God? And
according to the law, almost all things are purged with blood, and without
shedding of blood, there is no remission.
Therefore, it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens
should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better
sacrifices than these. For Christ
has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true,
but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; not that He
should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every
year with blood of another. He then
would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once
at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
Himself. And as it is appointed for
men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear
the sins of many.” (Heb. 9:12‑14,
22‑28)
15)
“Knowing
that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from
your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the
precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” (1 Peter 1:18‑19)
16)
“Who
Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins,
might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed.” (1 Peter 2:24)
17)
“But
if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one
another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7)
18)
“In this the love of God was manifested
toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we
might live through Him. In this is
love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the
propitiation for our sins.” (1 John
4:9‑10)
Many passages like
these establish the fact that the atonement of Christ is a condition of our
pardon and acceptance with God.
d
Repentance
is also a necessary condition of our justification. The government of God cannot pardon sin
without repentance. This is a
doctrine of both natural and revealed religion. Until the sinner breaks off from his
sins by repenting or turning to God, God cannot justify him in any sense. The Bible everywhere assumes, implies,
and teaches this. No reader of the
Bible can truly question this.
e
Faith
in Christ is another condition of justification. There are many misconceptions concerning
faith. Many talk about
justification by faith, as if they think that, by some arbitrary appointment of
God, faith is the only condition of justification. These people speak about justification
by faith; as if it was by faith, and not by Christ through faith, that the
penitent sinner is justified; as if faith, and not Christ, was their
justification. They seem to see
faith not as a natural, but as some mystical condition of justification; as
bringing us into a covenant and a mystical relationship with Christ, the result
of which His righteousness or personal obedience is imputed to us. However, never forget that the faith
that is the condition of our justification is the faith that works by love. Christ sanctifies our soul through our
faith. A sanctifying faith unites
the believer to Christ as His justification; but remember that no faith receives
Christ as a justification that does not receive Him as a sanctification to reign
within our heart. Repentance, as
well as faith, is a condition of justification. We will see that perseverance in
obedience to the end of our life is also a condition of our justification. The scriptures often speak of faith as
if it was the only condition of our salvation, because, from its very nature,
faith implies repentance and every virtue.
(Perseverance: the saints continuation in happy submission to their most
holy faith until the end of their earthly lives for their souls to be finally
saved)
f So, faith is a
naturally necessary condition of our justification. Let the following passages of scripture
serve as examples of what scriptures say about this subject
1)
“And
He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature. He who believes and is
baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.’” (Mark 14:15‑16)
2)
“But
as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God,
even to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12)
3)
“For
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes
in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. He who believes in the Son has
everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but
the wrath of God abides on him.”
(John 3:16, 36)
4)
“Then
they said to Him, ‘What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?’ Jesus answered and said to them, ‘this
is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent. And this is the will of Him who sent Me,
that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life;
and I will raise him up at the last’” (John 6:28‑29, 40)
5)
“Therefore
I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I
am He, you will die in your sins.
You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want
to do. He was a murderer from the
beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in
him. He who is of God hears God's
words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.” (John 8:24, 44, 47)
6)
“Jesus
said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may
die, he shall live. And whoever
lives and believes in Me shall never die.
Do you believe this?’” (John
11:25-26)
7)
“To
Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him
will receive remission of sins.”
(Acts 10:43)
8)
“Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” (Acts 16:31)
9)
“But
to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his
faith is accounted for righteousness.”
(Romans 4:5)
10)
“For
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” (Romans 10:4)
11)
“Knowing
that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus
Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by
faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no
flesh shall be justified.” (Gal.
2:16)
12)
“But
without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must
believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek
Him.” (Heb. 2:6)
13)
“He
who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not
believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that
God has given of His Son. And this
is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His
Son. He who has the Son has life;
he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who
believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal
life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.” (1 John 5:10‑13)
g
Current
sanctification, in the sense of a current full consecration to God, is another
condition of justification. Many
theologians make justification a condition of sanctification, instead of making
sanctification a condition of justification. But this is the wrong view of
justification. They make this
mistake because of a misunderstanding of the nature of both justification and
sanctification. To sanctify is to
set apart, to consecrate for a particular use. To sanctify anything to God is to set
apart to His service, to consecrate it to Him. To sanctify one’s self is to voluntarily
set one’s self apart, or to consecrate one’s self to God. To be sanctified is to be set apart, to
be consecrated to God.
Sanctification is an act or state of being sanctified, or a situation
where you are set apart for the service of God. It is a state of consecration to
Him. This is obedience to the moral
law. Sanctification is our
duty. Repentance, faith, and
regeneration imply sanctification.
We often use the word ‘sanctification’ to express a permanent state
of obedience or consecration to God.
When we use the word sanctification in this sense, it is not a condition
of our current justification, or of our pardon and acceptance. However, it is a condition of our
continued and permanent acceptance with God. It certainly cannot be true to say that
God accepts and justifies sinners in their sins. The Bible everywhere represents
justified people as sanctified, and always conditions justification on
sanctification. In other words,
justification requires current obedience to God.
1)
“And
such were some of you. But you were
washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord
Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”
(1 Cor. 6:11) This is only
one example of the way the Bible speaks about justified people. Also,
2)
“There
is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not
walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” (Romans 8:1)
h
Only
those who walk after the Spirit are justified. Many believe the Bible says that true
saints need sanctification. They
believe that sanctification is something that comes after regeneration, and the
saints are to aim at attaining sanctification as some kind of goal. I disagree. Whenever the Bible mentions
sanctification, it is used to denote a state of being established in faith,
rooted and grounded in love, being so confirmed in the faith and obedience of
the gospel, that we walk in the way steadfastly, immovably, always abounding in
the work of the Lord. This is a
condition of permanent justification, but not a condition of current
justification. When we say that
sanctification is a condition of justification, we mean:
1)
That
present, full, and entire consecration of our heart and life to God and His
service is an unalterable condition of the current pardon of our past sin, and
of current acceptance with God.
2)
That
we remain justified only as long as our full‑hearted consecration
continues. If we fall from our
first love into a spirit of self‑pleasing, we fall back into bondage to sin and
to the law, we are condemned, and we must repent and do our “first work”. In other words, we must return to
Christ, and renew our faith and love, as a condition of our salvation. This is the clearest teaching of the
Bible, as we will soon see.
i Perseverance in
faith and obedience, or in consecration to God, is also an unalterable condition
of justification, or of pardon and acceptance with God. Perseverance in faith and obedience is a
condition, not of current, but of final acceptance and salvation. Those who believe that justification by
imputed righteousness is a judicial proceeding, take a view of final or ultimate
justification according to their view of the nature of the transaction. They believe that faith receives an
imputed righteousness, and a judicial justification. According to them, the first act of
faith introduces the sinner into this relationship, and obtains for him a
perpetual justification.
They believe the following: 1) after this first act of faith it is
impossible for the sinner to fall into condemnation. Once God justifies him, God will always
justify him no matter what he does.
2) The sinner is never justified from past sins by grace on the condition
that he ceases to sin. 3) Christ’s
righteousness is the ground, and that his own present obedience is not even a
condition for his justification. As
a result, one’s own present or future obedience to the law of God is not an
essential element of his justification.
Now,
this gospel is certainly different gospel from the one I preach! It is not simply a difference on a few
theoretical points. These points
are fundamental to the gospel and to salvation. Let us therefore see which of these is
the true gospel.
j I object to this
view of justification because:
1)
Their
view, that faith alone, without obedience to moral law, is all that is necessary
for salvation, is wrong. They
believe that, upon our first exercise of faith, our soul enters into such a
relationship with Christ that the penalty of God’s Divine law is forever set
aside, not only concerning all past sins, but also concerning all future acts of
disobedience; so that sin no longer brings the soul under the condemning
sentence of the law of God. But, a
law without a penalty is no law.
Therefore, if God permanently sets aside or repeals the penalty, then he
must have repealed the law, for without a penalty law becomes only counsel, or
advice, and not law.
2)
It
is impossible that this view of justification is true, for the moral law did not
originate in God’s arbitrary will, and God cannot do away with either the law or
its penalty. In certain cases, for
good and sufficient reasons, He may do away with executing the penalty of the
law. But to set the law aside in
such a sense that sin will not incur any penalty, or that the soul that sins
shall not be condemned by it, He cannot.
It is naturally impossible!
The law is as unalterable and unrepealable as the nature of God. In the very nature of things, sin in any
being, in any world, and at any time, will and must incur the penalty of the
moral law. God may pardon as often
as the sinning soul repents and believes, but to prevent real condemnation where
there is sin, is not an option for any being.
3)
I
object to the view of justification by imputed righteousness because it is
inconsistent with forgiveness or pardon. If imputed righteousness justifies you,
why should God pardon you when the law already declares that you are perpetually
and perfectly righteous? It is
absurd and impossible for the law and the law‑giver (God) to judicially justify
any person on the ground of the perfect obedience of his substitute (Christ),
and at the same time pardon that same person who God now regards as
righteous. This must be true of all
sins committed after that first and justifying act of faith. If that sinner can’t fall into
condemnation after he believes, then God can’t forgive him any more. Forgiveness implies previous
condemnation, and consists in setting aside executing the penalty that
low-breaker deserves.
4)
If
the view of justification that I am opposing is true, then it is wrong for
anyone, who once believed, to ask for the pardon of sin. It is a downright insult to God and
Christ. It amounts to denying
perpetual justification by imputed righteousness, and denying that you know you
were once condemned. To pray for
pardon after the soul believes implies falling from grace.
5)
This
view of justification is at war with the whole Bible. The Bible everywhere represents
Christians as condemned when they sin.
It teaches them to repent, confess, pray for pardon, and freshly take
themselves to Christ as their only hope.
The Bible, in many ways, represents perseverance in faith and obedience
to the end, as conditions of our ultimate justification and final
salvation. Let the following
passages serve as examples of the way that the Bible deals with this
subject:
a)
“But
when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and
does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he
live? All the righteousness which
he has done shall not be remembered; because of the unfaithfulness of which he
is guilty and the sin which he has committed, because of them he shall
die.” (Ezek. 18:24)
b)
“When
I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, but he trusts in his own
righteousness and commits iniquity, none of his righteous works shall be
remembered; but because of the iniquity that he has committed, he shall
die.” (Ezek. 33:13)
c) “And
you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be
saved” (Matt. 10:22, Matt. 24:13)
d)
“But
I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to
others, I myself should become disqualified.” (1 Cor. 9:27)
e)
“Therefore
let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” (1 Cor. 10:12)
f)
“We
then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace
of God in vain.” (2 Cor. 6:1)
g)
“If
indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away
from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every
creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.” (Col. 1:23)
h)
“Therefore,
since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem
to have come short of it. Let us
therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall after the same
example of disobedience.” (Heb.
4:1, 11)
i)
“Therefore,
brethren, be even more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if
you do these things you will never stumble.” (2 Peter 1:10)
j)
“Do
not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some
of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten
days. Be faithful until death, and
I will give you the crown of life.
Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them
with the sword of My mouth. He, who
has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. And he who overcomes, and keeps My works
until the end, to him I will give power over the nations. He shall rule them with a rod of iron;
as the potter’s vessels shall be broken to pieces’ as I also have received from
My Father.” (Rev. 2:10; 16-17;
26-27)
Notice, I am not
questioning the fact that all true saints persevere in faith and obedience to
the end; but am showing that such perseverance is a condition of salvation, or
ultimate justification.
6)
Even
the consciousness of the saints contradicts this view of justification that I
oppose. I think I can safely say
that the saints are highly aware of condemnation when they fall into sin. This sense of condemnation may not
subject them to the same kind and degree of fear that they experienced before
regeneration, because of the confidence they have that God will pardon their
sin. Nevertheless, until they
repent, and, by a renewed act of faith receive pardon and fresh justification,
their remorse, shame, and awareness of condemnation generally exceeds the
remorse, shame, and sense of condemnation that the sinner experiences. But if is true that the first act of
faith brings the sinner into a state of perpetual justification so that he
cannot fall into condemnation after that, the experience of the saints
contradicts these facts.
7)
If
I understand those who wrote the Westminster Confession of Faith, they saw
justification as a state that results from the relationship of an adopted
child of God. One enters into this
state by faith alone. They believe
that current obedience does not condition one’s justification. They believe a person in this state can
sin daily, and even continuously, yet without condemnation by the law. Their sin only brings him under his
father’s displeasure, and subjects him to repenting as a condition of his
fatherly favor, but not as a condition of pardon or of ultimate salvation. They seem to think that the child of God
is no longer under a moral government in such a sense, that his sin was imputed
to Christ, and Christ’s righteousness was so literally imputed to him that, no
matter what he does after his first act of faith God treats him as completely
righteous. They then conclude that
God will certainly save all who once believed, yet their perseverance in holy
obedience to the end is not a condition of final justification. Instead, they believe that God
conditions their justification on the first act of faith alone. They then support their positions with a
few carefully selected scriptures.
They often rely on proof‑texts that are either misquoted or taken out of
context.
k
I have tried to understand the subject of
justification as the Bible teaches it, without going into lengthy, drawn out
speculations or to theological technicalities. If I have succeeded in understanding it,
the following is a short and true account of justification: The Godhead, in exercising God’s
adorable love and compassion, sought the salvation of sinners through and by
means of the mediatorial death and work of Christ. Because of the merciful disposition of
God, the death and work of Christ was provided as a means of securing the
universe against a misunderstanding of the character and purpose of God in
forgiving and saving sinners. The
work of justifying and saving sinners is committed to Christ, as Mediator
between the Godhead and man. For
sinners, Christ becomes their “wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and
redemption”. (1 Cor. 1:30) First of all, Christ, by His death for
sinners secures the subjects of God’s government against any misconception
of His character and plans. Then,
based on a repentance and faith that implies a renunciation of their rebellion
and a return to obedience to His laws, God freely pardons all past sin, and
restores the penitent and believing sinner to favor, as if he had not sinned, as
long as he remains penitent and believing.
However, he is subject to condemnation and eternal death unless he holds
the beginning of his confidence steadfast to the end. The doctrine that claims that God passed
Adam’s sin on to all mankind; that all the sins of the elect were transferred
onto Christ, and that Christ suffered for us the exact amount due for our
transgressions, and that all the sins of the elect are perpetually and eternally
forgiven no matter what they do after salvation; I consider such doctrines as
fabulous, and should belong in a novel, and not in theology.
l However, some
say, that the Bible speaks of the righteousness of faith.
1)
“What
shall we say then? That Gentiles,
who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the
righteousness of faith.” (Romans
9:30)
2)
“And
be found in Him, not having my own righteousness that is from the law, but which
is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.” (Phil.
3:9)
3)
These
and similar passages are used to support the doctrine of an imputed
righteousness. Here are two
more scriptures they quote: “The Lord our righteousness”. (I Cor 1:30): “Surely in the Lord I have righteousness
and strength.” (Isaiah
45:24)
4)
“The
Lord our righteousness,” can mean one of three things. 1) It can mean that we are justified,
that is, that our sins are atoned for and that we are pardoned and accepted
because of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2) It can mean that the Lord makes us righteous, that is, that He is our
righteousness, working in us to will and to do of His good pleasure. 3) It can mean both. In other words, Christ atones for our
sins, brings us to repentance and faith, works sanctification or righteousness
in us, and then pardons our past sins, and accepts us.
5)
The
righteousness of faith is the method of making sinners holy, and of securing
their justification or acceptance by faith, as opposed to mere works of law or
self-righteousness.
6)
‘Dikaiosune’,
which is normally translated as ‘righteousness’, is often translated as
‘justification’. This is how it
appears in I Cor. 1:30. “But of Him
you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God and justification and
sanctification and redemption.”
The meaning here is that God is the author and finisher of that plan
of redemption whereby we are justified by faith, as opposed to being justified
by our own works. “Christ our
justification” is Christ the author or procurer of our justification. However, this does not imply that He
procures our justification by imputing His obedience to
us.
7)
Those
who believe in the doctrine of a literal imputation of Christ’s obedience or
righteousness use passages like the following. “But to him who does not work but
believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for
righteousness, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom
God imputes righteousness apart from works: ‘Blessed are those whose lawless
deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man to whom the
Lord shall not impute sin.’”
(Romans 4:5‑8) But this
passage simply represents justification as only as consisting in forgiveness of
sin, or in pardon and acceptance.
“that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to
Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word
of reconciliation. For He made Him
who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God
in Him.” (2 Cor. 5:19, 21) Here, the apostle is only teaching his
much loved doctrine of justification by faith, in the sense that upon condition
of the death and mediatorial work of Christ, penitent believers in Christ are
forgiven and rewarded as if they were righteous.
E
Foundation
of the justification of penitent believers in Christ.
What is the ultimate ground or
reason of their justification?
1 Justification
is not based on Christ’s literally suffering the exact penalty of the law for
them, and in this sense literally purchasing their justification and eternal
salvation. The Westminster
Confession of Faith states: (chapter on Justification, section 3) “Christ by His
obedience and death, fully discharged the debt of all those that are thus
justified, and made a proper, real, and full satisfaction to His Father’s
justice in their behalf. Yet,
inasmuch as He was given by the Father for them, and His obedience and
satisfaction accepted in their place, and both freely, not for anything in them,
their justification is only of free grace, that both the exact justice and rich
grace of God might be glorified in the justification of sinners.” If those who wrote this confession had
made the distinction between the ground and the conditions of
justification, so it could include God’s gracious disposition that gave the
Son and accepted Christ’s obedience and satisfaction in their place, as the
ground, and the death and work of Christ as a condition, as “that without which”
the love of God could not wisely justify sinners, their statement would be much
better. As it stands, they
represent this transaction as a full payment of the debt of the justified. All the grace consists in giving His
Son, and consenting to the substitution.
But they deny that there is any grace in the act of justification
itself. This proceeds on the ground
of “exact justice”. According to
them, there is no grace in the act of pardon and accepting the sinner as
righteous. This is “exact justice”,
because Christ fully canceled the debt.
Christian, what do you think of this? God, in the act of giving His Son and in
consenting to His substitution, exercises all the grace He ever will
exercise. According to this
teaching, God now places your forgiveness and justification on the ground of
“exact justice”. All you now have
to do is simply believe and demand “exact justice from God”. One act of faith places your salvation
on the ground of “exact justice”!
Don’t say anything more about the grace of God in forgiveness! But stop! Wait a minute! Let’s see. What is exact justice, and what is a
real, full satisfaction of His Father’s justice? I suppose all orthodox Christians
believe that every sinner and every sin, because of justice, deserves eternal
death or endless suffering. Did the
writers of this confession also believe that Christ bore the literal penalty of
the law for each of the saints? Or
did they believe that, by virtue of His nature and relationships, His suffering,
although indefinitely less in amount than was deserved by sinners, was enough to
satisfy public justice for the execution of the literal penalty due to all
sinners? If they meant the latter,
I have no objection with it. But if
they meant the former, namely, that Christ suffered in His own person the full
amount strictly due to all the elect, I say,
a
That
it was naturally impossible.
b
Because
of Christ’s nature and relationship to the government of God, it was unnecessary
for Him to suffer the exact amount that all sinners
deserve.
c
That
if, as their substitute, Christ suffered for them the full amount they deserved,
then justice has no claim on them, since their debt is fully paid by what Christ
did, and the principal is, in justice, discharged. And, since you can’t deny that God made
the atonement for all the descendants of Adam, it must follow that God secures
the salvation of all men on the ground of “exact justice”. This is the conclusion Huntington and
his followers came to. This
doctrine of literal imputation is one of the strongholds of universalism, and as
long as they boldly hang on to this view of atonement and justification, you
cannot drive them from it.
d
If
Christ satisfied justice for them, if He literally and exactly obeyed for them,
why should Christ need to suffer for them as a condition of their
salvation? Surely, they would not
need both the imputation of His perfect obedience to them, which makes them
perfectly righteous by the law, and the imputation of His sufferings to them, as
if He had not obeyed for them. Is
God unrighteous? Does God require
from Christ first, the literal and full payment of the debt of sin through His
death on the cross, and second, perfect personal obedience for and in behalf of
the sinner? Does He first exact
full and perfect obedience from His beloved Son, and then the same amount of
suffering as if there had been no obedience?
e
What
Christian ever felt, or can feel in the presence of God, that he has a right to
demand that justification in the name of Christ is due to him on the ground of
“exact justice?” The writers of the
Confession studiously represent all the grace exercised in the justification of
sinners as confined to the two acts of giving His Son and accepting the
substitution. This done, Christ
fully pays the debt, fully and exactly satisfies His Father’s justice. You no longer need to consider the
pardon of sin as grace or favor.
According to the teaching of this Confession, to do this is to dishonor
Christ. You would reject His
righteousness and salvation. What
do you think about this? One act of
grace in giving His Son, and consenting to the substitution, and all
forgiveness, all accepting and trusting as righteous is not grace, but “exact
justice”. To pray for forgiveness,
as an act of grace, would be wrong.
Christian! Can you believe
this? No! Because in your closet, smarting under
the sting of a recently committed sin, or broken down and bathed in tears, you
cannot find it in your heart to demand “exact justice” at the hand of God, on
the ground that Christ has fully and literally paid your debt. To represent the work and death of
Christ as the ground of justification in this sense is a snare and a
stumbling‑block. This view of an
imputed righteousness contradicts the natural convictions of every saint on
earth. For the truth of what I say
here today, I appeal to the consciences of saints everywhere.
2 Our
own works, or our own obedience to the law or to the gospel, is not the ground
or foundation of our justification.
Neither our faith, nor repentance, nor love, nor life, nor anything we do
or we bring about within us, is the ground of our justification. These are conditions of our
justification, in the sense of a “not without which”, but none of these are the
ground of our justification. God
justifies us on condition of our faith, but not for our faith. God justifies us on condition of our
repentance, love, obedience, perseverance to the end, but not for these
things. These are the conditions,
but not the reason, ground, or procuring cause of our justification. God cannot justify us without them. Neither can they justify us. We can’t omit any of these things on
pain of eternal damnation. Nor can
we put them in the place of Christ, on pain of eternal damnation. The gospel insists so much on faith as
the essential element of our justification, that some substitute faith in the
place of our glorious Savior.
3 Neither
is the atonement, nor anything in the mediatorial work of Christ, the foundation
of our justification, in the sense that it is the source, or the moving or
procuring cause. The ground of our
justification lies deep in the heart of God’s infinite love. We owe everything to God’s tremendous
love that performed the mediatorial work, and died that accursed death to supply
an indispensable condition of our justification and salvation. To stop in the act that supplied the
condition, instead of going on to find the depths of a fathomless compassion as
the source of everything God did for us through Christ is to fail. The work, death, resurrection, and
advocacy of Christ are indispensable conditions. They are all‑important, but none of
these are the fundamental reason of our justification.
4 Nor
is the work of the Holy Spirit in converting and sanctifying the soul, the
foundation of our justification.
This is only a condition or a means of bringing our justification about,
but it is not the fundamental reason.
5 But
the unselfish and infinite love of God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is the
true and only foundation of the justification and salvation of sinners. God is love, that is, His love is
infinitely unselfish. All He does,
says, allows, or omits, is for the same ultimate reason, namely, to promote the
highest good of the universe.
6 The
Bible represents Christ, the second person in the glorious Trinity, as taking
such a prominent part in the work of redemption, that the number of duties,
functions and relationships, which He maintains to God and man in this work of
redemption, are awesome. For
example, the Bible represents Christ in many ways. He is our King, Judge, Mediator,
Advocate, Redeemer, surety, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption,
Prophet, Priest, Lamb of God, bread of life, water of life, true God, eternal
life, our life, our all in all, the repairer of the breach, one who died for our
sins and rose for our justification, the resurrection and the life, bearing our
grief, carrying our sorrows, by whose stripes we are healed, the head of His
people, the bridegroom of His church, the shepherd of His flock, the door by
which we enter, the way to salvation, our salvation, the truth, was made sin for
us that we are made the righteousness of God in Him, in Him dwells all the fullness of the
Godhead, in Him all fullness dwells, all power in heaven and earth are said to
be given to Him, the true light that lights every man that comes into the world,
Christ in us the hope of glory, the true vine of which we are the branches, our
brother, Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the
prince of peace, the captain of our salvation, the captain of the Lord's
host. These are just some of
the official relationships of Christ to His people, and to the great work of our
justification. Indeed, Christ’s
duties, functions, relationships, and works, are among the most important topics
of Christian theology.
Christ is our
Justification in the sense that He executes and completes the whole plan of
redemption devised by the adorable Godhead. To Him the scriptures everywhere direct
the eyes of our faith and of our intelligence also. The Bible represents the Holy Spirit as
one who never glorifies Himself, but who speaks about Jesus. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit
takes the things of Christ and shows them to His people. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit
glorifies Christ Jesus. Christ
sends him. He is the Spirit of
Christ; and he is Christ Himself dwelling in the hearts of His people. I will talk more about Christ’s
relationships later.
In closing. The relationship of the old school view
of justification to their view of moral depravity is obvious. They strongly believe that man possesses
a sinful nature. Of course, a
return to personal, present holiness in the sense of conforming to the law
cannot be a condition of justification with them. Somehow, God must justify them while
they still possess some degree of sin.
The only way this could happen is through some kind of imputed
righteousness. Now, our mind
naturally revolts at a justification in sin. So, they devise a plan to draw the eye
of the law and of the lawgiver away from the sinner to his substitute, who has
perfectly obeyed the law. But in
order to make it possible for Christ to impute his obedience to them, you have
to assume that He owed no obedience for Himself. I can’t think of a greater theological
absurdity. Once you assume
constitutional depravity or sinfulness, physical regeneration, physical
sanctification, physical Divine influence, and imputed righteousness and
justification while you are personally committing sins naturally
follows.