We come now to the second question, and the all-important question,
How are men justified? In general there are two opposing views of
justification: one that men are justified by their own works, i.e.,
on the ground of something which they do themselves. This view may be
variously expressed. The good works that men speak of as a ground of
their justification may be their good moral conduct, or their keeping
the Golden Rule, or something of that sort. Or they may be works of
religion, such as doing penance, saying prayers, joining the church,
going to church, being baptised, or partaking of the Lord's Supper, or
the performance of some other religious duties. But these all amount
to the same thing: it is something that we ourselves do that brings
justification, some works of our own, some works that we do, are taken
as the ground of our justification. The other view of justification is
that we are justified, not by our own works in any sense, but entirely
by the work of another, i.e., by the atoning death of Jesus Christ on
the cross of Calvary, that our own works have nothing to do with our
justification, but that we are justified entirely by Christ's finished
and complete work of atonement, by His death for us on the Cross,
and that all that we have to do with our justification is merely to
appropriate it to ourselves by simply trusting in Him who made the
atonement. Which is the correct view? We shall go directly to the Bible
for the answer to this all-important question.
1. The first part of the answer we will find in Rom. 3:20,
+"Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified
in his sight: for through the law cometh the knowledge of sin."+ It
is here very plainly stated that we are not justified by keeping the
law of God, either the Mosaic law or any other law, and that the law is
given, not to bring us justification, but to bring us a knowledge of
sin, i.e., to bring us to the realisation of our need of justification
by grace. It is plainly stated here that _no man is justified by works
of the law_. The same great truth is found in Gal. 2:16: +"Knowing
that a man is not justified by the works of the law, save through faith
in Jesus Christ, even we believed on 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 shall no flesh be justified."+ Justification
by any works of our own is an impossibility. It is an impossibility
because to be justified by works of the law, or by anything we can
do, we must perfectly keep the law of God. The law demands perfect
obedience as a ground of justification. It says, +"Cursed is every
one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of
the law to do them."+ (Gal. 3:10.). But not one of us has perfectly
kept the law of God, and the moment we break the law of God at any
point, justification by works becomes an absolute impossibility. So
as far as the law of God is concerned, every one of us is "under the
curse," and if we are justified at all we must find some other way of
justification than by keeping the law of God. God did not give man the
law with the expectation or intention that he would keep it and be
justified thereby. He gave them the law to produce conviction of sin,
to stop men's mouths, and to lead them to Christ. Or, as Paul puts
it in Rom. 3:19, 20, +"Now ye know that what things soever the law
saith, it speaketh to them that are under the law; that every mouth
may be stopped, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of
God: because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his
sight: for through the law cometh the knowledge of sin."+ As plain
as these words of God are, strangely enough there are many to-day who
are preaching the law as a way of salvation. But when they so preach
they are preaching another way of salvation than that laid down in
God's own word.
2. The second part of the answer to the question as to how we are
justified we find in Rom. 3:24. +"Being justified freely by his
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."+ The word
translated "freely" in this passage means, _as a free gift_, and the
verse tells us that men are justified _as a free gift_ by God's grace
(i.e., God's unmerited favour) through (i.e., on the ground of) the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus. In other words, justification is
not on the ground of any desert there is in us, not on the ground of
anything that we have done, we are not justified by our own doing nor
by our own character. _Justification is a free gift that God bestows
absolutely without pay._ The channel through which this free gift is
bestowed is the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. We shall see later
that this means through the purchase price that Christ paid for our
redemption, i.e., the shedding of His blood on the cross of Calvary.
3. This leads us to the third part of the answer to the question, how
men are justified. We find this third part of the answer in Rom. 5:9,
+"Much more then, being now justified by his blood, shall we be
saved from the wrath of God through Him."+ Here we are told in so
many words that we are justified, or counted righteous "by," or more
literally, "in," _Christ's blood_, i.e., on the ground of Christ's
propitiatory death. We were all under the curse of the broken law of
God, for we had all broken it, but by dying in our stead on the cross
of Calvary our Lord Jesus +"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the
law, having become a curse for us; for it is written, cursed is every
one that hangeth on a tree."+ (Gal. 3:13.) Or, as Peter puts it in
1 Pet. 2:24, +"Who his own self bare our sins in his own body upon
the tree."+ Or as Paul puts it again in 2 Cor. 5:21, +"Him who
knew no sin he (God) made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become
the righteousness of God in Him."+ We shall have occasion to come
back to this passage later. All that I wish you to notice in it at this
time is that it is on the ground of Jesus Christ becoming a substitute
for us, on the ground of His taking the place we deserved; on the
cross, that we are reckoned righteous. THE ONE AND ONLY GROUND OF
JUSTIFICATION IS THE SHED BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST. Of course, this
doctrine is entirely different from the teaching of Christian Science,
and entirely different from the teaching of much that is called New
Theology, and entirely different from the teaching of New Thought and
Theosophy, and entirely different from the teaching of Unitarianism,
but it is the teaching of the Word of God. We find this same teaching
clearly given by the prophet Isaiah seven hundred years before our Lord
was born, in Isaiah 53:6, where he says, +"All we like sheep have
gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord hath
laid+ (literally, made to strike) +on him+ (i.e., on the Lord
Jesus) +the iniquity of us all."+ Get this point clearly settled
in your mind, that the _sole but all-sufficient ground upon which men
are justified before God is the shed blood of Jesus Christ, offered by
Jesus Christ as an atonement for our sins_ and _accepted by God the
Father as an all-sufficient atonement_.
4. The fourth part of the answer to the question how men are justified
we find in Rom. 3:26, +"For the showing, I say, of his+ (i.e.,
God's) +righteousness at this present season: that he+ (i.e.,
God) +might himself be just, and the justifier of him that hath
faith in Jesus."+ Here we are taught that _men are justified on the
condition of faith in Jesus_. If possible, Rom. 4:5 makes this even
more plain, +"But to him that worketh not but believeth on him that
justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness."+
Here the Holy Spirit, speaking through the Apostle Paul, tells us that
to those who believe in Jesus their faith is counted for righteousness.
In other words, _faith makes ours the shed blood which is the ground
of justification, and we are justified when we believe_. All men
are _potentially_ justified by the death of Christ on the cross, but
believers are _actually_ justified by appropriating to themselves what
there is of justifying value in the shed blood of Christ by simple
faith in Him. In other words, the shed blood of Christ is the sole and
all-sufficient ground of justification: simple faith in Jesus Christ
who shed the blood is the sole condition of justification. _God asks
nothing else of the sinner than that he should believe on His Son,
Jesus Christ, and when he does thus believe he is justified._ When we
believe we are justified, whether we have any works to offer or not;
or, as Paul puts it in Rom. 3:28, +"We reckon therefore that a man is
justified by faith apart from works of the law."+ Or, as it is put
in the verse already quoted, Rom. 4:5, +"But to him that worketh not,
but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned
for righteousness."+ A man is justified entirely apart from works
of the law, i.e., he is justified on condition that he believes on
Jesus Christ, even though he has no works to offer as the ground upon
which to claim justification. When we cease to work for justification
and simply "_believe_ on Him who _justifieth the ungodly_," that faith
is reckoned to us for righteousness, and therefore we are counted
righteous. The question then is not, have you any works to offer, but
do you believe on Him who justifies the ungodly. Works have nothing to
do with justification except to hinder it when we trust in them. The
blood of Jesus Christ secures it, faith in Jesus Christ appropriates
it. We are justified _not by our_ works, _but by His work_. We are
justified upon the simple and single ground of His shed blood and upon
the simple and single condition of our faith in Him Who shed the blood.
So great is the pride of the natural heart that it is exceedingly
difficult to hold men to this doctrine of justification by faith alone
apart from works of law. We are constantly seeking to bring in our
works somewhere.
5. But we have not as yet completely answered the question of how men
are justified. There is another side to the truth and if our doctrine
of justification is to be complete and well-balanced, we must look at
that other side. You will find part of this other side in Rom. 10:8,
10, +"If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt
believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be
saved; for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with
the mouth confession is made unto salvation."+ God here tells us
that the faith that appropriates justification is a faith with the
heart, i.e., a faith that is not a mere notion, or opinion, but a faith
that leads to action along the line of that faith, and it is therefore
a faith that leads to open confession with the mouth, of Jesus as our
Lord. If some one has some kind of faith, or what he calls faith, that
does not lead him to an open confession of Christ, he has a faith that
does not justify; for it is not a faith with the heart. Our Lord Jesus
Christ Himself tells us that heart faith leads to open confession; for
He says in Matt. 12:34, +"Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth
speaketh."+ Faith in Jesus Christ in the heart leads inevitably
to a confession of Jesus as Lord with the mouth, and if you are not
confessing Jesus as your Lord with your mouth you have not justifying
faith and you are not justified.
6. The rest of the other side of the truth about being justified by
faith, you will find in Jas. 2:14, 18-24, R. V. +"What doth it
profit, my brethren, if a man say he hath faith but have not works?
Can that faith save him?"+ We see here that a faith that a man
merely says he has, but that does not lead to works along the line of
that which he claims to believe, cannot justify, but to go on, verses
18-24, +"Yea, a man will say, thou hast faith, and I have works,
show me thy faith apart from thy works, and I by my works will show
thee my faith. Thou believest that God is one; thou doest well: the
devils also believe and shudder. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that
faith apart from works is barren? Was not Abraham our father justified
by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son, upon the altar? Thou
seest that faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made
perfect+ (i.e., in the works to which Abraham's faith led, faith
had its perfect manifestation); +and the scripture was fulfilled
which saith, and Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him
for righteousness; and he was called the friend of God. Ye see that
by works a man is justified, and not only by faith."+ Some see in
these words a contradiction between the teaching of James and the
teaching of Paul, but there is no contradiction whatever. But James
here teaches us an important truth, namely, that _the faith that one
says he has, but which does not manifest itself in action along the
line of the faith professed, will not justify. The faith that justifies
is real faith that leads to action accordant with the truth we profess
to believe._ It is true that we are justified simply upon faith apart
from the works of the law, _but it must be a real faith_, otherwise it
does not justify. As some one has put it, "We are justified by faith
without works, but we are not justified by a faith that is without
works." The faith which God sees and upon which He justifies, leads
inevitably to works which men can see. God saw the faith of Abraham the
moment Abraham believed, and before there was any opportunity to work,
and counted that faith to Abraham for righteousness. But the faith that
God saw was a real faith and led Abraham to works that all could see,
and these works proved the reality of his faith. The proof to us of
the faith is the works, and we know that he that does not work has not
justifying faith.
We must not lose sight on the one side of the truth which Paul
emphasises against legalism, namely, that we are justified on the
single and simple condition of a real faith in Christ; but on the
other side we must not lose sight of the truth which James emphasises
against antinomianism, namely, that it is only a real faith that proves
its genuineness by works, that justifies. To the legalist who is
seeking to _do_ something to merit justification we must say, +"Stop
working and believe on Him that justifieth the ungodly"+ (Rom. 4:5).
To the antinomian, i.e., to the one who thinks he can live a lawless,
careless, unseparated, sinful life and still be justified, the one who
boasts that he has faith and is justified by it, but who does not show
his faith by his works, we must say, "What doth it profit, if a man
_say_ he have faith, but have not works? Can _that_ faith save him?"
(Jas. 2:14, R. V.) We are justified by faith alone, but we are not
justified by a faith that is alone, but a faith that is accompanied by
works.