[2.] Secondly, As the first part of justification consists in the pardon of sin, so the second part of justification consists in the acceptation of the sinners person as perfectly righteous in God's sight, pronouncing him such, and dealing with him as such, and by bringing of him under the shadow of that divine favour which he had formerly lost by his transgressions : Cant. iv. 7, ' Thou art all fair, my love, and there is no spot in thee ;' that is, none in my account, nor no such spots as the wicked are full of, Deut. xxxii. 5. Look, as David saw nothing in lame Mephibosheth but what was lovely, because he saw in him the features of his friend Jonathan, 2 Sam. ix. 3, 4, 13, 14, so God, beholding his people in the face of his Son, sees nothing amiss in them. They are all ' glorious within and without,' Ps. xlv. 13. Look, as Absalom had no blemish from head to foot, so they are irreprehensible and ' without blemish before the throne of God,' Kev. xiv. 5. The pardoned sinner, in respect of divine acceptation, is ' without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing,' Eph. v. 26, 27. God accepts the pardoned sinner as com- plete in him who is the head of all principality and power. Col. ii. 10. Christ makes us comely through his beauty ; he gives us white raiment to stand before the Lord. Christ is all in all in regard of divine acceptance: Eph. i. 6, 'He hath made us accepted in the beloved;' e-xaplroyaev rifid<;, ' he hath made us favourites,' so Chrysostom and Theophylact render it ; ' God hath ingratiated us,' he hath made us gracious in the Son of his love. Through the blood of Christ we look of a sanguine complexion, ruddy and beautiful in God's eyes : Isa. Ixii. 4, ' Thou shalt no more be termed forsaken, but thou shalt be called Hephzibah ; for the Lord delighteth in thee.' i The accepta- tion of our persons with God takes in six things : (1.) God's honour- ing of us ; (2.) His delight in us ; (3.) His being well pleased with us ; (4.) His extending love and favour to us ; (5.) His high estimation of us ; (6.) His giving us free access to himself. It is the observation of Ambrose, that though Jacob was not by birth the first-born, yet, hiding himself under his brother's clothes, and having put on his coat, which smelled most fragrantly, he came into his father's presence, and got away the blessing from his elder brother. Gen. xxvii. 36 ; so it is very necessary, in order to our acceptation with God, that we lie hid under the precious robe of Christ, our elder brother ; that, having the sweet savour of his garments upon us, our sins may be covered with his per- fections, and our unrighteousness with the robes of his righteousness,
^ All persons out of Christ are cursed enemies, objects of God's wrath and justice, dis- pleasing, offending, and provoking creatures ; and therefore God cannot but loathe them and abhor them.
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2 Cor. ii. 15 ; that so we may offer up ourselves unto God 'a living and acceptable sacrifice,' Kom. xii. 1 ; ' not having our own right- eousness, which are but as filthy rags,' Isa. Ixiv. 6 ; but that which is ' through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith,' Phil. iii. 9.
Thus you see that justification, for the nature of it, lies in the gracious pardon of the sinner's transgressions, and in the acceptation of his person as righteous in God's sight. But,
2. Secondly, In order to the partaking of this grace, of thie forgive- ness of our sins and the acceptation of our persons, ive must he able to produce a perfect righteousness before the Lord, and to present it and tender it unto him ; and the reason is evident from the very nature of God, who is ' of purer eyes than to behold iniquity,' Hab. i. 13, that is, with patience or pleasure, or without punishing it.i There are four things that God cannot do : (1.) He cannot lie ; (2.) He cannot die ; (3.) He cannot deny himself ; (4.) He cannot behold iniquity with approbation and delight: Josh. xxiv. 19, 'And Joshua said unto the people. Ye cannot serve the Lord, for he is an holy God, he is a jealous God, he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins:' such is the holiness of God's nature that he cannot behold sin, that he cannot but punish sin wherever he finds it, Ps. v, 4-6. God is infinitely, immutably, and inexorably just, as well as he is incomprehensibly gracious. Now, in the justification of a sinner God doth act as a God of justice, as well as a God of compassion. God is infinite in all his attributes, in his justice as well as in his mercy : these two cannot in- terfere. As justice cannot intrench upon mercy, so neither may mercy encroach upon justice ; the glory of both must be maintained. Now, by the breach of the law the justice of God is wronged; so that although mercy be apt to pardon, yet justice requires satisfaction, and calls for vengeance on sinners. ' Every transgression must receive just recompense,' Heb. ii. 2, and God will not in any case absolve the guilty, Exod. xxxiv. 7 : till this be done, the hands of mercy are tied that she cannot act. And seeing satisfaction could not be made to an infinite Majesty, but by an equal person and price ; therefore the Son of God must become a curse for us, by taking our nature and pouring out his soul to the death ; and by this means justice and mercy are reconciled and kiss each other, and mercy now being set at liberty, hath her free course to save poor sinners. God will have his justice satisfied to the full, and therefore Christ must bear all the punishment due to our sins ; or else God cannot set us free, for he cannot go against his own just will. Observe the force of that phrase, ' Christ ought to suffer,' and ' thus it behoved Christ to suffer,' Luke xxiv. 26 ; Mat. xxvi. 54, 'Thus it must be.' Why must? but because it was, (1.) So decreed by God ; (2.) Foretold by the prophets. Every particular of Christ's sufferings were foretold by the prophets, even to their very spitting in his face. (3.) Prefigured in the daily morning and even- ing sacrifice ; this Lamb of God was sacrificed from the beginning ot the world. A necessity then there was of our Saviour's sufferings ; not a necessity of co-action, for he died freely and voluntarily, but of immutability and infallibility, for the former reasons mentioned, John
* Htb., ' And to look on iniquity thou canst not do it'
222 OF THE IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST.