Luke 15:22-24—“Bring forth quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: and bring the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat, and make merry: for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found”; John 3:16—“gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should ... have eternal life”; Rom. 5:1, 2—“Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; through whom also we have had our access by faith into this grace wherein we stand; and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God”—“this grace” being a permanent state of divine favor; 1 Cor. 1:30—“But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption: that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord”; 2 Cor. 5:21—“that we might become the righteousness of God in him.”
Gal. 3:6—“Even as Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness”; Eph. 2:7—“the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus”; 3:12—“in whom we have boldness and access in confidence through our faith in him”; Phil. 3:8, 9—“I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord ... the righteousness which is from God by faith”; Col. 1:22—“reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and without blemish and unreprovable before him”; Tit. 3:4, 7—“the kindness of God our Savior ... that, being justified by his grace, we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life”; Rev. 19:8—“And it was given unto her that she should array herself in fine linen, bright and pure: for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.”
Justification is setting one right before law. But law requires not merely freedom from offence negatively, but all manner of obedience and likeness to God positively. Since justification is in Christ and by virtue of the believer's union with Christ, it puts the believer on the same footing before the law that Christ is on, namely, not only acquittal but favor. 1 Tim. 3:16—Christ was himself “justified in the spirit,” and the believer partakes of his justification and of the whole of it, i. e., not only acquittal but favor. Acts 13:39—“in him every one that believeth is justified” i. e., in Christ; 1 Cor. 6:11—“justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ”; Gal. 4:5—“that we might receive the adoption of sons”—a part of justification; Rom. 5:11—“through whom we have now received the reconciliation”—in justification; 2 Cor. 5:21—“that we might become the righteousness of God in him”; Phil. 3:9—“the righteousness which is from God by faith”; John 1:12—“to them gave he the right to become children of God”—emphasis on “gave”—intimation that the “becoming children” is not subsequent to the justification, but is a part of it.
Ellicott on Tit. 3:7—“δικαιοθέντες, ‘justified,’ in the usual and more strict theological sense; not however as implying only a mere outward non-imputation of sin, but as involving a ‘mutationem status,’ an acceptance into new privileges, and an enjoyment of the benefits thereof (Waterland, Justif, vol. vi, p. 5); in the words of the same writer: [pg 857] ‘Justification cannot be conceived without some work of the Spirit in conferring a title to salvation.’ ” The prisoner who has simply served out his term escapes without further punishment and that is all. But the pardoned man receives back in his pardon the full rights of citizenship, can again vote, serve on juries, testify in court, and exercise all his individual liberties, as the discharged convict cannot. The Society of Friends is so called, not because they are friends to one another, but because they regard themselves as friends of God. So, in the Middle Ages, Master Eckart, John Tauler, Henry Suso, called themselves the friends of God, after the pattern of Abraham; 2 Chron. 20:7—“Abraham thy friend”; James 2:23—“Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness; and he was called the friend of God”, i. e., one not merely acquitted from the charge of sin, but also admitted into favor and intimacy with God.
(b) This restoration to favor, viewed in its aspect as the renewal of a broken friendship, is denominated reconciliation; viewed in its aspect as a renewal of the soul's true relation to God as a father, it is denominated adoption.
John 1:12—“But as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name”; Rom. 5:11—“and not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation”; Gal. 4:4, 5—“born under the law, that he might redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons”; Eph. 1:5—“having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto himself”; cf. Rom. 8:23—“even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for our adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body”—that is, this adoption is completed, so far as the body is concerned, at the resurrection.
Luther called Psalms 32, 51, 130, 143, “the Pauline Psalms,” because these declare forgiveness to be granted to the believer without law and without works. Ps. 130:3, 4—“If thou, Jehovah, shouldst mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, That thou mayest be feared” is followed by verses 7, 8—“O Israel, hope in Jehovah; For with Jehovah there is lovingkindness, And with him is plenteous redemption. And he will redeem Israel From all his iniquities.” Whitefield was rebuked for declaring in a discourse that Christ would receive even the devil's castaways; but that very day, while at dinner at Lady Huntington's, he was called out to meet two women who were sinners, and to whose broken hearts and blasted lives that remark gave hope and healing.
(c) In an earthly pardon there are no special helps bestowed upon the pardoned. There are no penalties, but there are also no rewards; law cannot claim anything of the discharged, but then they also can claim nothing of the law. But what, though greatly needed, is left unprovided by human government, God does provide. In justification, there is not only acquittal, but approval; not only pardon, but promotion. Remission is never separated from restoration.
After serving a term in the penitentiary, the convict goes out with a stigma upon him and with no friends. His past conviction and disgrace follow him. He cannot obtain employment. He cannot vote. Want often leads him to commit crime again; and then the old conviction is brought up as proof of bad character, and increases his punishment. Need of Friendly Inns and Refuges for discharged criminals. But the justified sinner is differently treated. He is not only delivered from God's wrath and eternal death, but he is admitted to God's favor and eternal life. The discovery of this is partly the cause of the convert's joy. Expecting pardon, at most, he is met with unmeasured favor. The prodigal finds the father's house and heart open to him, and more done for him than if he had never wandered. This overwhelms and subdues him. The two elements, acquittal and restoration to favor, are never separated. Like the expulsion of darkness and restoration of light, they always go together. No one can have, even if he would have, an incomplete justification. Christ's justification is ours; and, as Jesus' own seamless tunic could not be divided, so the robe of righteousness which he provides cannot be cut in two.
Failure to apprehend this positive aspect of justification as restoration to favor is the reason why so many Christians have little joy and little enthusiasm in their religious lives. The preaching of the magnanimity and generosity of God makes the gospel “the power of God unto salvation” (Rom. 1:16). Edwin M. Stanton had ridden roughshod over Abraham Lincoln in the conduct of a case at law in which they had been joint counsel. [pg 858]Stanton had become vindictive and even violent when Lincoln was made President. But Lincoln invited Stanton to be Secretary of War, and he sent the invitation by Harding, who knew of all this former trouble. When Stanton heard it, he said with streaming eyes: “Do you tell me, Harding, that Mr. Lincoln sent this message to me? Tell him that such magnanimity will make me work with him as man was never served before!”