Blackheath, August, 1875.
My Beloved Friends,
Having given the reasons which led me to reject the common teaching on the subject of' justification by faith, I will now ask, What is the Scriptural view of this doctrine? And I think we shall see that, when disencumbered of human reasonings, it is as beautiful as it is simple; that it brings into prominence the cross of Christ; that it displays more fully the infinite worth of the sufferings and death of Christ; and, consequently, the perfect character of that salvation which the believer possesses in and through the death and resurrection of his great Substitute.
1. In the first place, the blood of Christ is set forth in the Scriptures as the meritorious ground, or procuring cause, of our justification. That is, the foundation on which God is able righteously to justify those who believe is the precious blood, the death of Christ. We thus read — “Justified by His blood” (Rom. 5:99Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. (Romans 5:9)); and it may be pointed out that the word “by” does not express the full force of the original. The words are ἐν τῶ αἵματι αὐτοῦ, that is, literally “in His blood,” meaning “in the power” or “in the virtue of His blood.” The same truth is taught in a previous chapter, “Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God has set forth to be a propitiation (mercy-seat) through faith, in His blood” (Rom. 3:24-2524Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; (Romans 3:24‑25); compare Rom. 4:24-2524But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; 25Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. (Romans 4:24‑25); Eph. 1:77In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; (Ephesians 1:7); Gal. 2:1616Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. (Galatians 2:16); 1 Peter 3:1818For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: (1 Peter 3:18)).
We have then to inquire how the blood of Christ becomes the ground of our justification? The blood speaks of a life poured out (for the life is in the blood; and it is the blood that maketh atonement for the soul — Lev. 17:1111For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. (Leviticus 17:11)), and consequently of death; and our question therefore is, How does the death of Christ become the meritorious ground of justification? The answer is simple. It becomes this, because of what it accomplished. The Lord Jesus “bare our sins in His own body on the tree” (1 Peter 24); He “once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:1818For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: (1 Peter 3:18)); “He was made sin for us” (2 Cor. 5:2121For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)); He was “the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:2929The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. (John 1:29)); it is He “whom God hath set forth a propitiation (mercy-seat) through faith in His blood” (Rom. 3:2525Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; (Romans 3:25)). Combining these passages, and others of a like nature which are scattered throughout the epistles, we discover at once the character of the Savior's death. We learn that not only did He bear substitutionally our sins on the cross, but that also in that awful hour He stood before God under the whole weight of man's sinful condition and responsibility; that He came into the scene where the first Adam failed, and took up all the consequences of that failure, and made a full payment] everlasting settlement, in His death on the cross, of the whole question, both of our sins and sin, that is, man's sinful condition. Hence we read that “when He had by Himself purged our sins” He “sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Heb. 3); and also, that “once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself”; and that He “was once offered to bear the sins of many” (Heb. 9:26-2826For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: 28So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. (Hebrews 9:26‑28)).
We thus gather that the Lord Jesus in His death met and answered all the claims of God's holiness, and met these claims so perfectly that God is completely satisfied; nay more, that He not only has fully borne and expiated the consequences of man's sin and failure, but that also He has vindicated the honor of God, fully glorified Him about that which had brought ruin and desolation on the earth. For it is not only that Jesus has made atonement; but He has Clone more; He has, by His death, glorified God in all the attributes of His character. Thus, speaking of His death, He Himself says, “Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God be glorified in Him, God shall also glorify Him in Himself, and shall straightway glorify Him” (John 13:31-3231Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. 32If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him. (John 13:31‑32)); and again, “I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do” (John 17:44I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. (John 17:4)). The wrath of God was visited upon Christ on the cross, because He was there as the substitute for sinners; for He there bore our sins, and was “made sin” (2 Cor. 5:2121For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)). Hence it was that all God's waves and billows went over His head in that awful hour; yea, the waters entered into His soul; and it was under the pressure of the wrath which He endured, when it pleased the Lord to bruise Him, to put Him to grief, to make His soul an offering for sin (Isa. 53:1010Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. (Isaiah 53:10)), that He cried, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:4646And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Matthew 27:46)). But (blessed be His name) He drained that fearful cup to its very dregs, exhausted all the judgment of God against sin, and thereby made a full, sufficient, and everlasting atonement, and vindicated, because He had met and sustained, all the claims of God's holiness, and glorified Him completely and forever.
2. Such was the character of the death of Christ; and hence His precious blood is of such infinite value before God that on this foundation He can meet and justify the ungodly; yea, be “just and the justifier of him which, believeth, in Jesus”; and consequently the “righteousness of” God is “upon all them that believe” (Rom. 3:22,2622Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: (Romans 3:22)
26To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. (Romans 3:26)). That is to say, “God is just, and justifies in virtue of Christ. He is just, because sin has been met in the cross; sin has been judged of God; it has been suffered and atoned for by Christ. More than that: the Lord Jesus has so magnified God, and so glorified His character, that ... instead of the obligation being, as it was, altogether on man's side, who was accumulating that which never could be paid for by him, God now has interposed, and, having been so magnified in the man Christ Jesus in His death, He is now positively just when He justifies the soul which believes in Jesus. It is consequently the righteousness of God; for God is now approving Himself righteous to the claims of Christ.” For Christ died for sinners; and those who believe stand before God in all the infinite value of that precious blood which He shed for them as their substitute. God therefore righteously pardons, accepts, justifies every believer: “that righteousness which flowed out to Christ, raised Him from the dead, and glorified Him at His right hand, meets also and embraces every one who believes in Jesus, and brings him where Christ is in the presence of God. It could not be otherwise; for since the blood has met all God's claims, and even glorified Him, every sinner, the moment he believes, stands invested with all its infinite value. It is, therefore, in response to the value of the blood, that God's righteousness — for it is due Christ — flows out rejoicingly, and invests the sinner with its own perfection, so that in Christ he is justified forever before God, Yea, he is accepted in the Beloved.
This interpretation will be confirmed if we look for a moment at the display of God's righteousness towards Christ Himself. In the prospect of leaving the world, He could say (anticipatively), “I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work thou gavest me to do.” And, taking His stand upon His completed work, He proceeds, “And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was” (John 17:4-54I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. 5And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. (John 17:4‑5)). That is, He now looked to the Father to glorify Him on account of what He had done on the earth; and God met this claim when He raised Christ from the dead, and glorified Him at His own right hand. That is, Christ having borne the judgment for sin and sins, and so borne it as to satisfy all God's claims, and to glorify God in all that He is, God's righteousness was now displayed in raising Christ from the dead and glorifying Him at His own right hand. In a word, it was due to Christ, on account of what He did as our substitute, that He should be glorified. And God has done it; for “if God be glorified in Him (Christ), God shall also glorify Him in Himself” (John 13:3232If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him. (John 13:32)); and God's righteousness was also seen in the glorifying of the Lord Jesus. Hence the Lord said that the Comforter would reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; “of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more” (John 16:1010Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; (John 16:10)). God's righteousness then, in this aspect, is Christ received up into glory at His right hand.
We shall now be in a position to understand another aspect of the truth. In the second epistle to the Corinthians, believers are said to be made the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Cor. 5:2121For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)). Here we have the additional thought of union with Christ as before God. That is, “God righteously receives us into His glory as He has received Christ; for He has received Him in, virtue of the work done for — us, therefore, in Him. We are made the righteousness of God in Him; for in blessing us in this heavenly and glorious way, in justifying us, He only gives its due effect to Christ's claims upon Him. Towards us it is pure grace, but it is equally the righteousness of God. He has been made sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”
Such is the true doctrine of justification. The foundation on which God acts is not the law-obedience of Christ, and the blood; but it is the precious blood of Christ alone. The righteousness of God is not the living obedience of Christ; but it is the response of God to the value of that precious blood — it being so precious in the eyes of God that it constitutes, in His grace, a claim upon Him to justify everyone who believes in Jesus. That righteousness was first displayed in the resurrection of Christ (for He was delivered for our offenses, and raised again for our justification), and in setting Him in glory at His own right hand; it is afresh displayed in the justification of every poor sinner who comes to Christ; and it will be furthermore displayed in glorifying every believer together with Christ. Hence too we can say that Christ is of God made unto us righteousness (1 Cor. 1:3030But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: (1 Corinthians 1:30)); and that He is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth (Rom. 10:44For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. (Romans 10:4)); for all that we have from God — our justification, our glorification — is in Christ, and in Christ alone.
3. We need hardly, in. this place, point out that the principle of justification is faith — faith in contrast. with, in opposition to, works. For there is no controversy with “evangelical” Christians on this head. But we may again call your attention to the fact that Abraham's justification is given as the pattern of this principle (Rom. 4; Gal. 3). There is indeed` one blessed difference; for the object proposed to Abraham for faith was a God of promise; whereas to us it is a God of accomplishment. “Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it (righteousness) was imputed to him; but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offenses, and raised again for our justification. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 4:23-25; 5:123Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; 24But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; 25Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. (Romans 4:23‑25)
1Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: (Romans 5:1)).
Trusting that you will examine this exposition of the way in which God justifies him who believes in Jesus by the light of Scripture, believe me, beloved friends,
Yours affectionately in Christ,
E. Dennett