"BEING JUSTIFIED''
by Elder E.J. Waggoner
“Therefore being justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:1. What
does this mean? What is it to be justified? Both professors and
non-professors often mistake its meaning.
Many of the former think that it is a sort of half-way house to perfect favor
with God, while the latter think that it
is a substitute for real righteousness. They think that the idea of
justification by faith is that If one will only
believe what the Bible says, he is to be counted as righteous when he is not. All this is a great mistake.
Justification has to do with the law. The term means making just. Now in
Romans 2:13 we are told who the just ones are: “For not the hearers of the law
are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.” The just
man, therefore, is the one who does the law. To be just means to be righteous.
Therefore since the just man is the one who does the law, it follows that to justify a man, that is, to make him just,
is to make him a doer of the law.
Being
justified by faith, then, is simply being made a doer of the law by faith. “By the deeds of the law there shall no
flesh be justified in His sight.” Romans 3:20. The
reason for this is given in the previous verses. It is because there is none
that doeth good. “They are all gone out of the way, they are together become
unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” Verse
12. Not only have all sinned, but “the carnal mind is enmity against
God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Romans
8:7. So there is a double reason why a man cannot be justified by the law. In
the first place, since he has sinned, it is impossible that any amount of
subsequent obedience could make up for that sin. The fact that a man does not
steal any thing today, does not in the least do away
with the fact that he stole something yesterday; nor does it lessen his guilt.
The law will condemn a man for a theft committed last year, even though he may
have refrained from stealing ever since. This is so obvious that it does not
need any further argument or illustration.
But further, the man has not only sinned,
so that he cannot be justified by any amount of after obedience, even if he
were to give it, but, as we have read, it is impossible for any man by nature
to be subject to the law of God. He cannot do what the law requires. Listen to
the words of the apostle Paul, as he describes the condition of the man who
wants to obey the law: “For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that which I do I allow not; for
that which I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. If then I do
that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is
no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that
is, in my flesh), dwellers no good thing, for to will is present with me; but
how to perform that which is good I find not.” Romans 7:14-18. It is therefore
clear enough why a man cannot be justified by the law. The fault is not in the
law, but in the man. The law is good, and that is the very reason why it will
not justify a wicked man.
But what the law cannot do, the grace of
God does. It justifies a man. What kind of men does it justify?—Sinners, of
course, for they are the only ones who stand in need of justification. So we
read, “Now to him that workers is the reward not
reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that workers not, but believeth on
Him that JUSTIFIETH THE UNGODLY, his faith is counted for righteousness.'”
Romans 4:4, 5. God justifies the ungodly. Is that not right?—Certainly
it is. It does not mean that He glosses
over a man's faults, so that he is counted righteous, although he is really
wicked... but it means that He makes that man a doer of the law. The moment
God declares an ungodly man righteous, that instant that man is a doer of the
law. Surely that is a good work, and a just work, as well as a merciful one.
How is the man justified, or made righteous?—“Being
justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”
Romans 3:24. Remember that to justify means to make one a doer of the law, and
then read the passage again: “Being make a doer of the law freely, through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” The redemption that is in Christ Jesus is
the worthiness or the purchasing power of Christ. He gives Himself to the
sinner; His righteousness is given to the one who has sinned, and who believes.
That does not mean that Christ's
righteousness which He did eighteen-hundred years ago is laid up for the
sinner, to be simply credited to his account, but it means that His present,
active righteousness is given to that man. Christ comes to live in that man
who believes, for He dwells in the heart by faith. So that man who was a sinner is transformed into a new man, having the
very righteousness of God.
It will be seen, therefore, that there can be no higher state than that of
justification. It does everything that God can do for a man short of making
him immortal, which is done only at the resurrection. But this does not mean
that, being justified, there is no more danger of the man falling into sin. No;
“the just shall live by faith.” Faith and submission to God must be exercised
continually, in order to retain the righteousness in order to remain a doer of
the law.
This enables one to see clearly the force
of these words, “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; yea,
we establish the law.” Romans 3:31. That is, instead of breaking the law, and
making it of no effect in our lives, we establish it in our hearts by faith.
This is so because faith brings Christ
into the heart, and the law of God is in the heart of Christ.
And thus “as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made
righteous.” This One who obeys is the Lord Jesus Christ, and His obedience is
done in the heart of everyone who believes. And as it is by His obedience alone
that men are made doers of the law, so to Him shall be the glory forever and
ever.
Signs of the Times,
“When we submit ourselves to Christ, the
heart is united with His heart, the will is merged with His will, the mind
becomes one with His mind, the thoughts are brought into captivity to Him; we
live His life. This is what it means to be clothed with the garment of His
righteousness.'”
Christ's
Object Lessons 312