Christian Doctrine of Salvation

But try as hard as one will, he cannot remove the guilt and penalty of his own sins. Any and all righteousness that has its point of origin in man, either in his works or in his character, is not acceptable with God. Note the last four words of Isaiah It is very plain that salvation cannot come to man through his righteousness nor through the sum of all his self-righteous deeds. This is the meaning of the plural righteousnesses. By nature man is polluted and defiled, meaning that the pollution extends to all his deeds. Our best efforts are marred by our sinful condition.

The New Testament contains a narrative which is a classic illustration of the point under discussion, namely, that a person may know he needs to be saved and may seek salvation but never receive it because he sought it in the wrong way. I am thinking of the incident of the rich young ruler which is recorded in the synoptics.

From Matthew we learn that he was young Matthew Here then is a man who, in the eyes of the world, had everything going for him, or as some might say, he had it made. Do not commit adultery; Do not kill; Do not steal; Do not bear false witness; Defraud not; Honor thy father and mother" Mark There were two tables of the Decalogue. Our Lord made no reference at all to the first four" G. His reply to Jesus was an immediate and straightforward statement of honest truth. I do not believe that he was proud or hypocritical.

As far as the letter of the Law was concerned not its spirit , he was sincere and honest. He had not willfully and knowingly broken the six commandments Jesus mentioned. Never did any story stress so clearly the basic and essential Christian truth that religion, riches and respectability are insufficient to save any man. What do I still lack? In what way do I still fall short? Where did the rich young ruler fall short? Look again at those six commandments mentioned by our Lord and you will see that they are all negative commandments, with one exception, and that one commandment is related to the home and family relationships.

He lacked the righteousness of God which comes by faith. The young man was satisfied to abide by an external observance of the Law while putting self before God. His earthly riches meant more to him than God. And the second is this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is no other commandment greater than these" Mark In order to prove the sincerity of his desire for eternal salvation, he was asked to abandon his idol, which was his wealth, and follow Christ. He wanted salvation, but not enough to give away his money to get it.

The reaction of the disciples was that to be saved at all is well-nigh impossible. But wealth is not always the evidence of excellence of character and of favor with God. The Devil and many of his followers are not poor. Salvation is impossible with men but possible with God. What good works, law observance, wealth and rank cannot effect God in grace has made possible. God Himself does all the saving from start to finish. Salvation is the sovereign work of God through which He rescues and delivers fully the believing sinner from the guilt and penalty of sin.

And He has only one way of saving men. All hope of man being saved through his own efforts came to an end at Calvary when Divine love completed the work of redemption through the death of Jesus Christ. And the wonder of it is that salvation becomes the present possession of every believer the moment he receives Christ. A word addressed to the Christians at Ephesus will help us at this point: I have italicized the two words grace and saved , for in that word grace , one sees the warm, spontaneous generosity that prompted God to save sinners when they had no claim or merit and without anything to offer in return.

Because of the faithfulness of God His gift of salvation cannot be abrogated. God is not a man that He should change; consequently, those whom he has saved must rest in His grace. The people whom He has saved must forever remain His people. Faith is not the ground or procuring cause of salvation, but it is the means or instrument whereby the sinner avails himself of the salvation which God offers him.

The rich young ruler came to Jesus seeking salvation but he went away unsaved. Let us now examine the narrative which talks of another rich man who sought Jesus and who received instantly, through his faith in Christ, the present possession of salvation.

I am thinking of Zacchaeus in Luke When he knew that Jesus was to come through Jericho, he sought to see Him. Zacchaeus was wealthy but he was not happy, so he was determined that nothing would prevent him from coming in contact with the Saviour. His desire to see Christ did not spring from mere curiosity, but rather from his awareness that he was lost.

That very day the believing sinner was in possession of salvation. He did not have to wait until death to know whether or not he was saved; he knew salvation was his possession that day because Jesus told him it was so. If God offers graciously and freely a glorious salvation, He also makes it clear and certain to the recipient. The saved man should be able to say that he knows he is saved because the Lord wants him to know it. The point of this verse is not that the reader may believe and receive eternal life, but that having believed, he may know that he is in possession of eternal life, that he may possess here and now the present certainty of the life he has received in Christ.

This Epistle is to assure the saved man that he has salvation. My friend, do you know with absolute knowledge, beyond the peradventure of a doubt, that you are saved? If you have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, then you have it now Acts It is not that you hope you have, or suppose you have, or think you have it, or feel you have it, but that you know you have it.

You know it because God said it; you accept it by faith. The Christian life commences in faith and continues likewise in faith. The basis of assurance is faith in the Word of God. It is not merely a rational faith, or an emotional faith, but a knowing faith. We shall pursue further the idea of Assurance in an ensuing chapter. Receiving salvation is not a stopping-place, but a starting place. Where life begins it must mature, so where there is no process in operation, it is quite likely that there is not a present possession of salvation.

No man can be saved from what he is and still remain the same. To be a saved man means to be a changed man. The first purpose of the good news is not to comfort the sinner, or to cheer him, but to confront him, to convict him, to convert him by creating him afresh. The name Jesus is the same as Joshua, a contraction of Jehoshuah Numbers This was no mere national or political salvation, but salvation from sins, both the penalty and practice of their sins. The Gospel of salvation has ethical consequences and moral responsibilities. Doctrine and deportment are inextricably intertwined with the Christian gospel.

We are expected to live unto righteousness. Any omission of the Christian ethic from the Christian Gospel invitation is a misrepresentation of that Gospel. Philippians chapter 2, verses 9 through Now, you've looked at this when you talked about the doctrine of the kenosis. But you saw at the end of that passage that Christ came in incarnate form — let's just take a look — it's just over a couple of pages — to verses 9 through 11, on the heels of the discussion of the kenosis.

Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess — confess what? And then if you'd take a look at — this is worth our time as well — 1 Corinthians This is interesting in the way that it gives us the relation even between the Father and the Son in the purchase of our salvation, and in how this will unfold in the eschaton.

But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For, as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For, as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at His coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.

For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For God has put all things in subjection under His feet. All things in subjection under Christ's feet. But when it says all things are put in subjection, it is plain that He, that is the Father, is excepted who put all things in subjection under Him, that is, the Son. When all things are subjected to Him, the Son Himself will also be subjected to Him, the Father, who put all things in subjection under Him, the Son, that God may be all in all. So, in the cumulative scope of redemption that exists for the glorification of the Father, the Son is bringing in His train many brothers and that in the end time He's going to give those to the Father, that the Father Himself may be all in all.

So we have the goal of salvation, then, is the glory of God. And I think that's helpful and formative for us as we think about the particular elements in the doctrine of salvation that we're now going to discuss in the ordo salutis — the order of salvation. Pertinent to remember that in all of this the main thing in every aspect or facet of salvation is that God be glorified. So that will certainly shape our discussion.

It's kind of like when you talk about the ordo salutis — by the way, we're talking about a logical ordering in terms of the order of salvation. This is a — can you see that? Can you guys over here see that? We're talking about a logical ordering. OK, we're not trying to be overly speculative and get into the mind of God, but the point is this is not necessarily a temporal ordering — that the argument is that one comes before the other in a temporal sense — but this would be the logical order of God's decree.

And we'll talk about that later. We're going to get to the issue of lapsarian theology — infralapsarianism, supralapsarianism and the like. We're going to discuss that later on. But this is making an argument on the basis of the texts and the data that we have. What was the logical order, the decree, of salvation? And so that's what we're talking about. Something skipped my mind that I was going to mention. Let me say this: For the sake of time and the fact that it's a two-semester course and you've got to get other things done, we're going to zero in our attention on the salvation of individuals, that is, the salvation of sinners.

You'll just have to understand and compensate from your reading that the scope of salvation includes the creation itself and the redemption of creation and you'll just kind of have to pick that up from your reading. But we do want to say that. Let me give you a definition — a definition that everybody can agree with. And then we're going to spend some time debating the issue.

But here's a non-partisan definition of the doctrine of election: The determination of God before His creation of the world of those who would experience salvation. The determination of God before His creation of the world of those who would experience salvation from their sins through faith in Jesus.

I'll give that to you again. Anybody need that again? Now, I said this is a non-partisan definition. Arminians, Calvinists can agree on this definition. So what's the question? Where does it become a point of disagreement? Well, the point of disagreement or where it becomes a controversial issue is when you ask the question: What founds the determination?

Everybody agrees — Calvinists, Arminians alike — that definition is the determination of God before His creation of the world of who's going to experience salvation based on their faith in Jesus Christ.

The dividing question is: Now, on the Arminian option, what is it that founds the election of God? So they're going to talk about conditional election. We're going to get to that here in a minute.

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And they're going to argue that God's prior determination or determination of God of who's going to experience salvation is based on foreseen faith, that is, prior to creation, God looks down the corridors of time, as it were, sees who's going to respond in faith, and then ratifies that decision — decides He's going to accept everyone whom He foresees as having faith. On the Calvinist model, God's determination of who will experience salvation through faith in Jesus Christ is not based on foreseen faith. In fact, it's not based on any kind of merit-based choice. It is based completely on God's free and sovereign decision — on the Calvinist reading of election.

Now, that's not to say necessarily that God doesn't have reasons for why He elects and chooses whom He chooses. That is to say that it's not based on anything meritorious about an individual and it's not something that is the subject of our awareness.

In other words, we don't know what God's reasons might be for electing some and passing over others on the Calvinist model. So, on the one hand, you've got it based on foreseen faith; on the other hand, it's God's free and sovereign decision. Now, we're going to look at some texts and before we get into the debate. We're going to line out the Arminian position. We're going to line out the Calvinist position in a second. Before we get into that, I basically want to read or comment a little bit on some of these texts, so that we allow the Scriptures to speak for themselves.

And then we can have our debate and talk about the various positions. But just to let the Scriptures speak, we're going to start with a couple of passages. We'll look at a number of them actually and let the texts have their way with us. When we get into this, I suspect that in a room this size, there are going to be some differing opinions.

I don't expect everybody in here is going to agree with me on this or any other issue necessarily. As a kind of prologue to what we're going to say, all I want to suggest is that, when you have this discussion, you ought to disallow the characterisation of another position. If you're an Arminian, it doesn't do you any good, it doesn't serve your purpose, to caricature the Calvinist position and then defeat it. And the flip side of that coin is if you're a Calvinist, it doesn't serve your purposes to caricature the Arminian position and then defeat that.

Because you haven't won the argument if it comes down to the defeating of a straw man. You have to consider each position's very best arguments and see which one most faithfully reflects Scripture. So, we're going to let the Scriptures speak to us first and we're going to start in Deuteronomy chapter 7. We'll read verses 6 through For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His treasured possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set His love on you and chose you, for you the fewest of all peoples. But it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that He swore to your fathers that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.

Know therefore that the Lord your God is good, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations and repays to their face those who hate Him by destroying them. He will not be slack with the one who hates Him.

He will repay him to his face. You shall therefore be careful to do the commandment and the statutes and the rules that I command you today. So, in this text, just briefly, we have the mention that the election of the nation of Israel is not based on anything meritorious about the nation.

In other words, in a counter-intuitive fashion, God didn't choose the nation because they were the most prosperous or the largest and most likely to defeat their enemies, but because God loved them, it says. So you have the free, sovereign determination of God. Acts chapter 2, verse 37 to Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart. They said to Peter and the rest of the apostles: For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to Himself.

And we'll coalesce the doctrine of calling and election as we move through the discussion. But that's what's in view here. Just turn over a couple of pages. Acts chapter 13, verses 46 to And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly saying: Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. They've rejected the gospel. And he's turning to the Gentiles now. And as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. We'll read the text we talked about earlier, beginning in Romans chapter 8, verse For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brothers.

And those whom He predestined, He also called. And those whom He called, He also justified. And those whom He justified, He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. So we have the chain from foreknowledge to predestination, call, justified, glorified. Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? That's going to be an important text in our debate and we'll talk about this a little bit later.

Romans chapter 9, just, you know, look over probably one page, verses 10 to And not only so but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing, either good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of His call, she was told the older will serve the younger. As it is written: Interestingly, overturning in verse 12 the custom, the human custom, of the time, that is, the law of primogeniture which said that the oldest male, the oldest son, received the inheritance.

And here, that's flip-flopped. Right, the oldest son doesn't receive the inheritance. So, Romans chapters 11 — flip over another page — verses 5 through 7. So too at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works. Otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened. Turn over to Ephesians chapter 1. We've already looked at this, but I just point out a couple more specifics. In Ephesians chapter 1. If you're marking texts, just to have in your notes, Ephesians chapter 1, verses 3 to 5, and then in particular verse Verse 3 to 5, and here again we have Paul. He's giving us a litany of why it is that God is to be praised. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

In love, He predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will. Now, in verse In Him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will. It's interesting, verse 3 as I mentioned, Paul, he's laying the groundwork for the reasons to praise God. Verses 4 and 5, the very first reason that he gives out of this list of five or six is what? So, all that to say, that whatever you decide on this issue — wherever you decide to come down in your attempt to be as faithful to the Scriptures as you can possibly be — the one option that nobody has is to decide that the doctrine is unimportant.

We may come to the conclusion that we disagree, but for Paul this is an important doctrine. It's the number one reason that he gives in Ephesians chapter 1 as to why God is to be praised — the doctrine of predestination. So, it's not an option to say that it's insignificant. And unfortunately this is what happens in a lot of our churches.

For the sake of peace an attempt — well-intentioned attempt not to bring division — it's just kind of passed over and talk about this. Well, it's one thing to beat somebody over the head with it like a club — right — and to be this you think oftentimes of Calvin as having this reputation. Unfortunately there are some Calvinists who give Calvinism a bad name.

Per Dr Moore uses the term cage-stage. There are these Calvinists that are in the cage-stage, which is, you wish because of the detriment that they do that you could lock them in a cage until they outgrow some of their, you know, over-zealousness in the sense that they're more evangelists for Calvinism than for Jesus. But anyway, it's one thing to beat somebody over the head with this like it's a club and shove it down their throats.

It's another thing to say it's unimportant. So, there's, I mean, there's got to be a happy medium in there somewhere in your churches between saying it's unimportant and between saying, you know, OK you're going to be a Calvinist or whatever. But the point here it's not optional for it to be unimportant. Because it's a big deal to Paul. And if it's a big deal to Paul, it's a big deal to us. If it's a big deal to Paul, and we disregard it, that says something less than glamorous about us and our churches.

Have those in your notes and take a look at them when you get a chance. As we mentioned, election — it's not superficial, it's not a trivial doctrine. It is in fact something that was praise-motivating for the apostle Paul. So, if you're in a position where you can't praise God for the doctrine of election, then that's something that you'll need to work through. That's something that you'll need to pray about.

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Lord, bring my affections in line with Your intentions. I don't know if you guys have ever heard this, but I've it on a number of occasions, Dr R. Sproul on tape talk about his kind of transformation on this issue. And I guess I'm giving away where I stand on the issue, but I'll go ahead and do that. He talks about his transformation on this issue become But, he didn't like the fact that it was the appropriate view.

So, what did he do? He talks about the fact that he'd stick a post-it note on his mirror where he would shave in the morning. And on the post-it note it would say something to the effect of: You're not allowed to believe whatever you want to believe. You have to believe what the Bible says is true. So even if you don't like it, you have to believe it. Well, that's good in that it shows his submission to Scriptural authority, right?

But in the end it's not enough. Because if you can't praise God on the basis of it, like Paul praises God for it, then even though you are consenting to it intellectually, you are not assenting to it affectionally. And it's a two-part stave. And oftentimes, that's sometimes how we progress through it — where we ought not to be satisfied until — and so here I'll back off until we have our little debate. I'll back off and let's just say: God wills to work faith in all His creatures, and will do so if they do not resist His Holy Spirit.

We are responsible, therefore, not so much for the lack of faith, but for resisting the Spirit who will create faith in our hearts if we will permit Him to do so. It was a looking unto the promises of God that brought such faith into the heart of Abraham Rom. Prayer also is an instrument in the development of faith. Luke is called the human Gospel because it makes so much of prayer, especially in connection with faith: Our faith grows by the use of the faith we already have. We, of course, recall that the saving power of faith resides not in itself, but in the Almighty Saviour on whom it rests; so that, properly speaking, it is not so much faith, as it is faith in Christ that saves.

The whole of our salvation -- past, present, and future, is dependent upon faith. Our acceptance of Christ John 1: Fact, faith, feeling -- this is God's order. Satan would reverse this order and put feeling before faith, and thus confuse the child of God.

3-Fold Salvation

We should march in accord with God's order: Fact leads, Faith with its eye on Fact, following, and Feeling with the eye on Faith bringing up the rear. All goes well as long as this order is observed. But the moment Faith turns his back on Fact, and looks at Feeling, the procession wabbles.

An Orthodox Christian View of the Doctrine of Salvation by Faith Alone

Steam is of main importance, not for sounding the whistle, but for moving the wheels; and if there is a lack of steam we shall not remedy it by attempting by our own effort to move the piston or blow the whistle, but by more water in the boiler, and more fire under it. Feed Faith with Facts, not with Feeling. Note the wonderful things done by the men of faith as recorded in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews.

Jesus attributes a kind of omnipotence to faith. The disciple, by faith, will be able to do greater things than his Master. Here is a mighty Niagara of power for the believer. The great question for the Christian to answer is not "What can I do? It is of the utmost importance that we have a clear understanding of this vital doctrine. By Regeneration we are admitted into the kingdom of God.



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There is no other way of becoming a Christian but by being born from above. This doctrine, then, is the door of entrance into Christian discipleship. He who does not enter here, does not enter at all. Too often do we find other things substituted by man for God's appointed means of entrance into the kingdom of heaven. It will be well for us then to look, first of all, at some of these substitutes. It is claimed that John 3: These passages, however, are to be understood in a figurative sense, as meaning the cleansing power of the Word of God.

If baptism and regeneration were identical, why should the Apostle Paul seem to make so little of that rite 1 Cor. In the first passage Paul asserts that he had begotten them through the Gospel; and in 1: Could he thus speak of baptism if it had been the means through which they had been begotten again?

Simon Magus was baptized Acts 8 , but was he saved? Cornelius Acts 11 was saved even before he was baptized. Regeneration is not a natural forward step in man's development; it is a supernatural act of God; it is a spiritual crisis. It is not evolution, but involution -- the communication of a new life. It is a revolution -- a change of direction resulting from that life. Herein lies the danger in psychology, and in the statistics regarding the number of conversions during the period of adolescence.

The danger lies in the tendency to make regeneration a natural phenomenon, an advanced step in the development of a human life, instead of regarding it as a crisis. Such a psychological view of regeneration denies man's sin, his need of Christ, the necessity of an atonement, and the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit.

The Bible Doctrine of Salvation is Far-Reaching and Powerful

Regeneration is the impartation of a new and divine life; a new creation; the production of a new thing. It is not the old nature altered, reformed, or re-invigorated, but a new birth from above. This is the teaching of such passages as John 3: By nature man is dead in sin Eph. In regeneration we are made partakers of the divine nature 2 Pet. We have put on the new man, which after God is created in holiness and righteousness Eph. Christ now lives in the believer Gal. God's seed now abides in him 1 John 3: So that henceforth the believer is possessed of two natures Gal.

Thus regeneration is a crisis with a view to a process. A new governing power comes into the regenerate man's life by which he is enabled to become holy in experience: See also Acts The need is as far reaching as sin and the human race: No age, sex, position, condition exempts anyone from this necessity. Not to be born again is to be lost. There is no substitute for the new birth: The absolute necessity is clearly stated by our Lord: The mind is darkened so that we cannot apprehend spiritual truth; we need a renewing of the mind Rom.

The heart is deceitful, and does not welcome God; we need to be pure in heart to see God. There is no thought of God before the eyes of the natural man; we need a change in nature that we may be counted among those "who thought upon His name. God alone can do it. If without holiness no man shall see the Lord Heb. This change, which enables us to be holy, takes place when we are born again. Man is conscious that he does not have this holiness by nature; he is conscious, too, that he must have it in order to appear before God Ezra 9: The Scriptures corroborate this consciousness in man, and, still further, state the necessity of such a righteousness with which to appear before God.

In the new birth alone is the beginning of such a life to be found. To live the life of God we must have the nature of God. We are "born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" John 1: It was of His own will he begat us Jas. Our regeneration is a creative act on the part of God, not a reforming process on the part of man. It is not brought about by natural descent, for all we get from that is "flesh. Nor is it by self-effort, or any human generative principle. Nor is it by the blood of any ceremonial sacrifices.

It is not by pedigree or natural generation. It is altogether and absolutely the work of God. Practically speaking, we have no more to do with our second birth, than we had to do with our first birth. The Holy Spirit is the Divine Agent in our regeneration. For this reason it is called the "renewing of the Holy Ghost" Tit. We are "born of the Spirit" John 3: Those who received Him i. The two great problems connected with regeneration are the efficiency of God and the activity of man.

God begat us by "the word of truth" James 1: We are "born again," says Peter 1 Ep. These scriptures teach us that regeneration takes place in the heart of man when he reads or hears the Word of God, or the Gospel message, or both, and, because of the Spirit working in the Word as well as in the heart of man, the man opens his heart and receives that message as the Word of life to his soul. The truth is illuminated, as is also the mind, by the Spirit; the man yields to the truth, and is born again.

Of course, even here, we must remember that it is the Lord who must open our hearts just as He opened the heart of Lydia Acts But the Word must be believed and received by man. This is the clear teaching of John 1: We become "children of God by faith in Jesus Christ. Man therefore is not wholly passive at the time of his regeneration. He is passive only as to the change of his ruling disposition. With regard to the exercise of this disposition he is active. A dead man cannot assist in his own resurrection, it is true; but he may, and can, like Lazarus, obey Christ's command, and "Come forth!

It is a change in a man's relation or standing before God. It has to do with relations that have been disturbed by sin, and these relations are personal. It is a change from guilt and condemnation to acquittal and acceptance. Regeneration has to do with the change of the believer's nature; Justification, with the change of his standing before God. Regeneration is subjective; Justification is objective. The former has to do with man's state; the latter, with his standing. One thing at least is clear from these verses, and that is, that to justify does not mean to make one righteous.

Neither the Hebrew nor Greek words will bear such meaning. To justify means to set forth as righteous; to declare righteous in a legal sense; to put a person in a right relation. It does not deal, at least not directly, with character or conduct; it is a question of relationship. Of course both character and conduct will be conditioned and controlled by this relationship. No real righteousness on the part of the person justified is to be asserted, but that person is declared to be righteous and is treated as such.

Strictly speaking then, Justification is the judicial act of God whereby those who put faith in Christ are declared righteous in His eyes, and free from guilt and punishment. It is difficult for us to understand God's feeling towards sin. To us forgiveness seems easy, largely because we are indifferent towards sin. But to a holy God it is different. Even men sometimes find it hard to forgive when wronged. Nevertheless God gladly forgives. What a wondrous forgiveness! Forgiveness may be considered as the cessation of the moral anger and resentment of God against sin; or as a release from the guilt of sin which oppresses the conscience; or, again, as a remission of the punishment of sin, which is eternal death.

In Justification, then, all our sins are forgiven, and the guilt and punishment thereof removed Acts God sees the believer as without sin and guilt in Christ Num. The forgiven sinner is not like the discharged prisoner who has served out his term and is discharged from further punishment, but with no rights of citizenship. No, justification means much more than acquittal. The repentant sinner receives back in his pardon, the full rights of citizenship. The Society of Friends called themselves Friends, not because they were friends one to another but because, being justified, they counted themselves friends of God as was Abraham 2 Chron.

There is also the imputation of the righteousness of Jesus Christ to the sinner. His righteousness is "unto all and upon all them that believe" Rom. For illustration, see Philemon At the bar of God no man can be counted righteous in His sight because of his obedience to law. The burden of the Epistle to the Romans is to set forth this great truth. As a means of establishing right relations with God the law is totally insufficient. There is no salvation by character.

What men need is salvation from character. The reason why the law cannot justify is here stated: Indeed, it was never intended to remove it, but to intensify it. The law simply defines sin, and makes it sinful, yea, exceedingly sinful, but it does not emancipate from it. The law demands perfect and continual obedience: The only thing the law can do is to stop the mouth of every man, and declare him guilty before God Rom. It is a question of Moses or Christ, works or faith, law or promise, doing or believing, wages or a free gift.

From the contents of the epistle up to this point it must be clearly evident that if men, sinful and sinning, are to be justified at all, it must be "by his free grace. It is impossible to get rid of this double idea from this passage. The sacrifices of the Old Testament were more than a meaningless butchery -- "Without shedding of blood is no remission" of sin Heb. The great sacrifice of the New Testament, the death of Jesus Christ, was something more than the death of a martyr -- men are "justified by his blood" Rom.

When Paul in Romans 4: Thus it come to pass that "all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses" Acts The best of men need to be saved by faith in Jesus Christ, and the worst need only that. As there is no difference in the need, neither is there in the method of its application. On this common ground all saved sinners meet, and will stand forever.

The first step, then, in justification is to despair of works; the second, to believe on him that justifieth the ungodly. We are not to slight good works, for they have their place, but they follow, not precede justification. The workingman is not the justified man, but the justified man is the workingman. Works are not meritorious, but they meet with their reward in the life of the justified. The tree shows its life by its fruits, but it was alive before the fruit or even the leaves appeared. See under Faith, II. Summing up we may say that men are justified judicially by God.