TJ The perfect revelation of that glory is in Jesus Christ, who is " the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of His person." In Him, the image of God, men were originally created ; in Him they live and move and have their being. That same Divine Word and Son is the life and light of men, " the light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world." So in this way we reach a true harmony between the declaration of St. Paul in the text, that a coming short of the glory of God is the universal human sin, and the witness of the Holy Spirit, who, as expressly foretold by our blessed Lord, ever since His descent
1 J. N. Bennie.
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on the Day of Pentecost, has been convincing the world of sin, because men believe not in Christ.1
3. Notice, then, that in this statement that " all have sinned," St. Paul is not charging every man with the commission of crime, or of open acts of wickedness such as the world condemns and the laws of men punish. But he declares that all, without exception, have missed the true aim of their being ; have fallen short of the mark which they ought to have hit; have failed wilfully in attaining the end of their life. They have not entered into and fulfilled the purpose of God ; they have not answered His gracious call ; they have not gone forth to meet Him, or yielded themselves to the patient drawing of His love.
^J It is a commonplace feeling, if not an actual belief, that if men have not done any great harm they cannot be exposed to any great condemnation. But what is great harm ? Is it not missing the very object you were made for ? A rifle is made to shoot straight; if it will not do so, however perfect the polish of its barrel, or the finish of its lock or stock, it is useless, and you throw it on one side or break it up. The more complete it seems to your eye in all its workmanship, the more vexed you are with it for its utter failure in the one work for which you had it made.2
"Lift up your hearts." "We lift them up." Ah me!
I cannot, Lord, lift up my heart to Thee ;
Stoop, lift it up, that where Thou art I too may be.
"Give Me thy heart." I would not say Thee nay,
But have no power to keep or give away
My heart: stoop, Lord, and take it to Thyself to-day.
Stoop, Lord, as once before, now once anew;
Stoop, Lord, and hearken, hearken, Lord, and do,
And take my will, and take my heart, and take me too.3
II.
The Manner of our Justification. " Being justified freely by His grace."
The statement brings us face to face with that word, Justi- fication, which played so great a part in Reformation history, and 1 J. N. Bennie. 3 F. Morse. 8 Christina G. Rossetti.
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which undoubtedly had so rich a content to minds like St. Paul's, but which has tended more and more to disappear out of our religious vocabulary. As for the word, that is a small affair ; but it would argue a serious loss in spiritual sensitiveness if we could endure to exist as children of God on any other terms than those implied in the old phrase — justification.
i. Justification.
1. Paul's doctrine of justification may be summed up in three propositions : (1) God reckons, or pronounces, or treats as righteous the ungodly who has no righteousness of his own to show (Eom. iv. 5). (2) It is his faith that is reckoned for righteousness ; faith in Christ is accepted instead of personal merit gained by good works (iv. 5). (3) This faith has Christ as its object (iii. 22), especially the propitiation which is in His blood (iii. 25); but as such it results in a union with Christ so close that Christ's experience of separation from sin and surrender to God is reproduced in the believer (vi. 1-11).
2. The use of the term "justification" in perpetual contrast with the term " condemnation," settles the question that justi- fication is a forensic or judicial term, carrying the notion which is in direct contrast with the notion of condemnation. " They shall justify the righteous and condemn the wicked " (Deut. xxv. 1). " He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the Lord " (Prov. xvii. 15). " It is God that justifieth ; who is he that condemneth ? " (Eom. viii. 33). The last is St. Paul, who also declares that " the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification" (Eom. v. 16). These terms are so clearly opposed that the meaning of the one may be determined by the other. Condemnation is a legal term expressive of a certain relation to law ; it confers no personal or subjective depraving influence on the character of the condemned person. It simply declares that the law, or contract, has been violated, and formally decrees the subjection of the law-breaker to the penalties of the law, but exerts no corrupting influence on his personal character. Justification, then, can only do the same thing in the opposite direction; it determines a legal standing