II. CORINTHIANS 6. 151

nor holiness. Christ's bearing our sins did not make him morally a sinner, any more than the victim was morally defiled which bore the sins of the people ; nor does Christ's righteous- ness become subjectively ours, it is not the moral quality of our souls. This is what is not meant. What is meant is equally plain. Our sins were the judicial ground of the suf- ferings of Christ, so that they were a satisfaction of justice ; and his righteousness is the judicial ground of our acceptance Avith God, so that our pardon is an act of justice. It is a justification ; or, a declaration that justice is satisfied. We are set free by no mere act of sovereignty, but by the judicial decision of the infinitely just. As we, considered in ourselves, are just as undeserving and hell-deserving as ever, this justifi- cation is to us an act of infinite grace. The special considera- tion, therefore, by which the apostle enforces the exhortation, 'Be ye reconciled to God,' is that God can be just in the justi- fication of sinners. There is nothing in the perfection of his character, nothing in the immutability of his law, nothing in the interests of his moral government, that stands in the way of our pardon. A full, complete, infinitely meritorious satis- faction has been made for our sins, and therefore we may come to God with the assurance of being accepted. This is a ground of confidence which an enlightened conscience, bur- dened with a sense of sin, absolutely needs. It is not mere pardon, but justification alone, that gives us peace with God.