I. To justify is the public act of a judge, declaring a person innocent, not liable to punishment. “It is God that justifieth” the ungodly. Justification, in its strict sense, and remission of sins, are two very different things. Job could forgive his friends; but he could not justify them. But in the gracious economy of the gospel, these are always immediately connected; nor these alone, but other and superior mercies—mercies infinite and unspeakable. Those whom God justifieth are not only forgiven, but also purified and renewed—not only delivered from condemnation, but also entitled to eternal life—not only redeemed from the curse of the law, but also blessed with the spirit and the privilege of adoption—not only liberated from bondage and imprisonment, but also constituted heirs “to an inheritance that fadeth not away.” They are “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.” They are kings and priests, and shall reign for ever and ever. God having given his Son as our surety, and published “the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus,” and taken his seat upon the throne of grace in the character of a merciful judge, he proclaims the believer free from condemnation, and “accepted in the Beloved.”
In a human court, a man may be either justified or forgiven. Sometimes the jury find the prisoner innocent, and he is acquitted; sometimes they find him guilty, and he is forgiven. The former is an act of justice; the latter, an act of mercy. No earthly court can go farther; no earthly court can justify the guilty. But God is able, through the wonderful economy of substitution and atonement revealed in the gospel, in the same court, from the same throne, by the same law, and in the same sentence, to proclaim full pardon and free justification to the sinner. By virtue of the obedience and suffering of Christ on his behalf, he is at once forgiven and justified. Faith unites us to Christ, and gives us an interest in him, as our Mediator, who “bore our sins in his own body on the tree.” “Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man to whom God imputeth righteousness without works:—Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.”
The righteousness by which the sinner is justified infinitely transcends all other righteousness in earth or heaven. It is the righteousness of the Second Adam—an invaluable pearl, to which all the members of Christ’s mystical body are equally entitled. It is the pure gold of the gospel, which cannot be mixed with the works of the law, or derive any increase of value from human merit. It lies upon the very surface of evangelical truth, like oil upon the water. It is the righteousness finished upon the cross—a complete wedding garment furnished by the Son of God, which the sinner has only to put on to be prepared for the marriage supper of the Lamb.
How cold and cheerless is the doctrine of the mere moralist, leaving the poor sinner wallowing in the mire, and weltering in his blood, with nothing but his own works to depend upon for salvation! But the doctrine of justification through the satisfying righteousness of Jesus Christ warms the heart, and quickens the soul of the believer into a new and heavenly life. Here is our deliverance from the curse of the law. Here the relation between us and Adam is annihilated, and another relation is established between us and Christ. Here is the sea into which our sins are cast to rise no more. “There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit;” and they may boldly say—“O Lord, I will praise thee; for though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me!”
II. The ground of our justification now claims a more particular attention.
This is a subject of the greatest importance; for if we build upon the sand, the whole superstructure inevitably falls, and great must be the fall thereof. The Jews, being ignorant of God’s righteousness—the righteousness of faith—went about to establish their own, which was by the works of the law. Let us examine these two foundations—the righteousness which is of the law, and that which is of faith.
What sort of righteousness does the law demand, as the ground of our acceptance with God? It must originate in the heart. It must be commensurate with life, and not a broken link in the chain, for he that offendeth in one point is guilty of all. It must be so comprehensive as to include all your duties to God, your neighbor and yourself. It must engage all the powers of your mind, without the least imperfection, in thought, word, or deed. The coin must be pure gold, of full weight and measure, and bearing the right and lawful stamp. “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them.”
“But what saith the righteousness which is of faith?” “Believe In the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” “He that believeth shall never be confounded.” “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” “He hath magnified the law, and made it honorable.” “He hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.” This is the doctrine which answers all our questions, removes all our guilty fears, and opens to us a path of hope in the valley of the shadow of death. The justifying righteousness of Christ is as deep as the misery of man, as high as the requirements of God, as broad as the commandment, and as long as eternity. It is sufficient for all them that believe, and able to save unto the uttermost. It is a deluge which covers the mountains of transgression, and bears the believer securely in the ark. It comes to the sinner, shut up under the judgment of God, and reads to him the article of his manumission. I hear it addressing the guilty in the following language:—
“I saw the Son of God coming forth from the bosom of the Father, and uniting himself to the nature of man. I saw the mighty God manifested in the Son of Mary, and lying in a manger. I beheld some of his blood shed, as an earnest to the law, when he was eight days old. I stood in the garden of Gethsemane, when he drank the cup of trembling mingled and presented by his Father’s justice. I was with him on Calvary, when he blotted out the handwriting of Eden and Sinai, and nailed it to his cross—when he finished the redemption of man, and spoiled the powers of darkness, and sealed with his own blood the covenant of peace, I beheld him descending to the lower parts of the earth, and lying under the sinner’s sentence in the grave. I beheld him rising in the same human nature, with the keys of death and hell in his hand, and the crown of the mediatorial kingdom upon his head. I beheld him ascending to the right-hand of the Father, leading thy captivity captive, and entering into heaven itself, there to appear in the presence of God for thee. And now I see him in the midst of the throne, as a lamb newly slain; and the merit of his sacrifice, as a sweet-smelling savor, fills the heaven of heavens. On thy behalf he has honored the law, satisfied the claims of justice, and opened a new and living way, whereby God can be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.”
Thus the question is answered—“How should man be just with God?” Sinners are “justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the law.” This is the key-stone of the gospel, and the strength of the arch of salvation. The only way to obtain acceptance with God is by grace; “and if by grace, then it is no more of works.” In the justification of the sinner, Divine grace and human works can no more be mixed together than oil and water, for they belong to different covenants. Christ came into the world, not to repair the old covenant, but to be the mediator of a new covenant, established upon better promises—not to mend the leaky and sinking vessel of the law, but to build and launch a new ark of salvation, and rescue the shipwrecked and the drowning. The law could not save. The law is holy, but we are unclean. The law is spiritual, but we are carnal. The law is righteous, but we are guilty. The law is good, but every imagination of the thoughts of the heart of man is evil, and only evil, and that continually. The law will not consent to a compromise with the sinner, will not relax its claims upon him, nor in any way accommodate itself to his fallen condition. Its power to condemn is commensurate with its authority to command.