Justification
To be
justified is to be cleared from every charge that could be brought against us.
That this is the meaning is very apparent in the Apostle's words, recorded in
Acts 13: 39, "By Him all that believe are justified from all things, from
which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses." The law could most
effectually impeach us. It could lay sins to our charge and bring a righteous
condemnation upon us. Only by Christ can the believer be righteously cleared
from every charge in the impeachment, so that the sentence of condemnation is
lifted off him.
Condemnation
then is the state and position from which we pass when we are justified. It is
evidently the opposite to justification, just as guilt is the opposite to
forgiveness. Yet justification, as set before us in Scripture, implies more
than the negative blessing of our being completely and righteously extricated
from the condemnation under which we lay: it involves our standing before God
in Christ, in a righteousness which is positive and divine.
We must
again turn to the Epistle to the Romans. In Romans 3: 19 we find that,
"all the world" stands convicted as "guilty before God." In
verse 20 we find that the law can only convict: there is no justification for
us in it. In verse 21, begins the unfolding of God's way of justifying
the ungodly.
Inasmuch
as "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God," it is not
surprising that God should bring into manifestation His righteousness. Man
having manifested his sin in all its blackness it was to be expected that, by
way of contrast, God would manifest His righteousness in all its brightness;
condemning the sinner, and thus clearing Himself of the smallest suspicion that
He in any way condoned the sin. What is so wonderful is that now God's
righteousness has been manifested in such a way as to be "unto" or
"towards all, and upon all them that believe." Righteousness,
God's righteousness, is, as it were, stretching out its hands benignly towards
all men instead of frowning upon them; and as for those that believe, it
descends upon them as a robe, so that in the presence of God they stand
invested in it. And all this is done without righteousness in any way losing
its own proper character, or ceasing to be what it is.
Upon first
hearing this, our impulse might be to exclaim, "Impossible! Such a thing
as this is absolutely impossible!" We might be disposed to reason that,
while mercy might act in this fashion, but at the expense of righteousness,
righteousness itself could never do so.
Yet righteousness
does so act, since it has now been manifested in Christ, who has been set forth
by God as a "propitiation," or "mercy-seat," (verse 25).
When upon the cross His blood was shed, there was fulfilled the Antitype of the
blood-sprinkled mercy-seat of Tabernacle days. Redemption was wrought "in
Christ Jesus," (verse 24), and the greatest display of divine
righteousness, which the universe will ever witness, took place. By and by the
righteousness of God will be manifested in the judgment and everlasting
overthrow of the ungodly. That solemn hour will witness no mean display of
divine righteousness, yet not so profound and wonderful as in that yet more
solemn hour when God judged and put to grief His own spotless Son for us. The
cross of Christ will remain to all eternity the greatest manifestation of the
righteousness of God. It manifested equally His love of course, as Romans 5: 8
declares, but had it not manifested His righteousness it could not have
manifested His love.
The death
of Christ has displayed the righteousness of God in a twofold way. First, as
regards His dealings as to the sins of believers in the past dispensation
(verse 25); and second, as to the sins of believers in this present age (verse
26). Before Christ came God passed over the sins of His people, though as yet
no perfect satisfaction for them had been made to Him. In this present time He
is justifying the believer in Jesus. Have all these dealings on God's part been
conducted in strict righteousness? They have, and the death of Christ declares
it; showing that when God passed over sins during the bygone dispensation He
was absolutely justified in doing so, as also He is just in justifying the
believer to-day.
The death
of Christ was primarily the offering of Himself to God as a sacrifice of
infinite value and fragrance. Propitiation was thereby effected, and
satisfaction made, so that the claims of divine righteousness have been met and
vindicated in regard to the whole matter of man's sin.
Secondarily,
however, His offering was for us, i.e. for all true believers. Such are
entitled to view the Saviour as their Substitute, and to translate Romans 4: 25
out of the plural into the singular, and say, He "was delivered for my
offences, and was raised again for my justification." He was delivered to
death and judgment with our sins in view: He was raised again from the dead
with our justification in view.
Many there
are who in this matter cut the Gospel in half, and ignore the second part of it
to their own great loss. Full assurance cannot be enjoyed if the meaning of
Christ's resurrection be overlooked. The bearing of our sins and their penalty
was indeed accomplished in His death, but the declaration and proof of our
clearance is in His resurrection. Without this second part settled peace cannot
be known.
To
illustrate the point, let us suppose a man condemned to six months'
imprisonment for an offence, and another as a substitute permitted to take his
place. When the prison gates swing to, shutting the substitute within and
leaving the offender in liberty without, the latter might well exclaim of his
friend, "He has been delivered to prison for my offence," but further
than that he cannot go for the moment. It would be premature for him to add,
"and consequently it is impossible that I should ever see the inside of
that prison, as the penalty for what I have done."
What if
his good friend breathed his last at the end of two months, leaving four months
of the sentence unexpired? The Authorities would righteously lay their hands on
the original offender and demand that he himself should work out the remainder
of his term.
But, on
the other hand, if a week or so before the six months were up he should
suddenly come upon his kindly substitute walking in the street, and on
expressing his surprise, learn that, having by good behaviour earned a small
remission of the sentence, he was really discharged as a free man, he would
instantly be able to say, "Why, you are released from prison for my
justification!" He would argue in his own mind, and rightly, "If
he is discharged from prison as free from all further liability, completely
cleared in regard to my offence, then I am discharged, I am free, I am
cleared!"
Viewed in
this light, the resurrection of Christ is seen to be the Divine declaration of
the complete clearance of the one who believes in Him. It is, we need hardly
say, much else besides.
Having
said this much, we must now observe that God Himself is not only the Source of
our justification but He who justifies us. "It is God that justifieth"
(Rom. 8: 33). From His lips came the sentence against us as sinners. Equally
from His lips comes forth the declaration of our clearance as believers in
Jesus. Our justification therefore is complete and authoritative. No one can
condemn us.
But on our
side faith is necessary; for only believers are justified. In this sense we
are, "justified by faith" (Rom. 5: 1). Only as yielding "the
obedience of faith" to our Lord Jesus do we come in under the benefits of
His work. He is "the Author of eternal salvation" only to "all
them that obey Him" (Heb. 5: 9). Faith is the link which connects us with
Him and the justifying merits of His blood.
One
further thought as to justification is presented to us in Romans 5: 18. In
nearly every other passage where justification is mentioned it stands in
relation to our sins — "of many offences unto justification," as
Romans 5: 16 puts it. In verse 18, however, another view of the matter appears,
and sin, the root, rather than sins, the fruit, is in question. The one
righteousness of the cross has its bearing "towards" all "unto
justification of life" (New Trans.).
To
understand this phrase, the whole passage — verse 12 to the end of the chapter
— must be considered. By nature all men stand related to Adam, as the head and
fountain of their race. By grace, and through Christ's death and resurrection,
all believers stand related to Him, as the Head and Fountain of that spiritual
race to which they now belong. As grafted into Christ, if we may so speak, they
participate in His life and nature; and as in the life of Christ they are
cleared judicially from all the consequences that formerly lay on them as in
the life of Adam. A very wonderful thing, this, and one that is too often
overlooked by us all.
Justification
then, as the Epistle to the Romans presents it, not only means a complete
clearance from all offences and the condemnation they deserve, but goes to the
length of a complete clearance from all the condemnation attaching to our
fallen Adamic nature, inasmuch as now, by God's act, we stand in Christ risen
from the dead. Blessed be God, for such a clearance as this!
You have
not alluded to the righteousness of Christ being imputed to us? Why?
Because
that idea is not found in Scripture. There is no difficulty in finding there
the righteousness of Christ. That was absolutely perfect, and hence, being
without blemish, He was qualified to be the "Lamb" of sacrifice on
our behalf. But we are justified by His blood and not by His perfect life. He
died far us, but in no place is it said that He kept the law for us. Had He
done so we should after all be standing in a merely legal righteousness
before God; and by that we mean, a righteousness which merely goes to the
length of keeping the law of Moses. Our righteousness before God would after
all be just that righteousness of the law, of which Moses speaks (see Rom. 10:
5); though worked out, not by ourselves, but by Christ on our behalf.
The
righteousness in which we stand is, "the righteousness of faith,"
described in verses 6 to 9 of that chapter; and that is connected, not with
Christ on earth keeping the law for us, but with God raising Him from the dead
after He had died for our sins.
But surely
righteousness is imputed, for we read in Romans 4 that, "God imputeth righteousness
without works," and again that, "it was imputed to him for
righteousness. What then do these expressions mean?
If that
chapter be carefully read it will be noticed that the words, counted,
imputed, reckoned, occur several times. They all three have the same force,
being translations of the same word, which is most nearly expressed by the word
reckoned. "Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for
righteousness." That is, Abraham was reckoned righteous or held
to be righteous by God, in virtue of his faith. The little word
"for" is apt to mislead, as it may suggest the idea of faith being a
kind of substitute for righteousness, something which may be transmuted into
righteousness. "Reckoned to him as righteousness," more nearly gives
the sense. If you have a New Translation (J. N. Darby) with full notes, turn up
this verse and consult the footnote as to the translation, which is very
illuminating.
The
argument of Romans 4, then, is that whether it be Abraham of old, or believers
in Christ today, there is only one way by which we may be reckoned righteous
before God, the great Judge of all; and that is, by faith without works. Without
works, mark you! Not even the perfect works of Christ, everyone of them
done in righteousness, come in here: another proof, if it were needed, that we
are not made righteous by a certain quantity of His law-keeping being imputed
to us. What does come in is His death and resurrection. This underlies the
whole of the chapter, and is plainly expressed at the end. Read verse 25 and
see.
That verse
has been taken to mean that just as Jesus died because we were sinners, so He
was raised again because we had been justified in His death. Is this a correct
view of it?
You have
but to read on into Romans 5 to find that it is not correct. Our chapter
divisions are sometimes not natural but artificial, breaking into the middle of
a paragraph. This is a case in point. He "was raised again for our
justification. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with
God."
The
interpretation you mention presents our justification as an accomplished fact
when Jesus died, and His resurrection to be the consequence of it. But this
entirely eliminates our faith from the question; and our faith cannot be
eliminated thus, in view of the first verse of chapter 5. His death was in view
of our sins, and is the basis of our justification; but that is another
matter.
His
resurrection was, in the first place, the declaration of the blessed fact, that
He who stooped under the weight of God's judgment against sin, is for ever
clear of it. In the second place, it was in view of the clearance of all who
believe in Him.
This we
have just been enforcing and illustrating. He was delivered to death with our
sins in view: He was raised again with our justification in view. But the
justification of each individual only becomes effective as and when they believe.
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