To the same purpose is the word used, Isa. v. 23, " Which justify the wicked for reward;'' and chap. 1. 8, 9, ''i?'''^>'^ ^iii^, — " He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord GoD will help me; who shall condemn me ?" where we have a full declara- tion of the proper sense of the word ; which is, to acquit and pronounce righteous on a trial. And the same sense is fully expressed in the former antithesis. 1 Kings viii. 81, 32, " If any man trespass against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear, and the oath come before thine altar in this house ; then hear thou in heaven, and do, and judge thy servants," V^l ^^'^yj^, " to condemn the wicked," to charge his wickedness on him, to bring his way on his head, P"'^V P'''^V'!'r'^, " and to justify the righteous." The same words are repeated,' 2 Chron. vi. 22, 23. Ps. Ixxxii. 3, ^?'^>i^ t^lV^J^ — " Do justice to the afilicted and poor;" that is, justify them in their cause against wrong and oppression. Exod. xxiii. 7, J'^'l P''1>'^"^''' — " I will not justify the wicked;" absolve, acquit, or pronounce him righteous. Job xxvii. 5, Q^riN p^-nv^-DN i n^^i^ri—" Be it far from me that I should justify you," or pronounce sentence on your side, iis if you were righteous. Isa. liii. 11, "By his knoAvledge my right- eous servant," P'''^V-, " shall justify many :" the reason whereof is added, " For he shall bear then- iniquities;" whereon they are absolved and justified.
Once it is used in Hithpael, wherein a reciprocal action is de- noted, that whereby a man justifieth himself Gen. xliv. 10", "And
128 ON JUSTIFICATION.
Judali said, What shall we say unto my lord? what shall we speak?" p^Dyrnp^^ "and how shall we justify ourselves? God hath found out our iniquity." They could plead nothing why they should be ab- solved from guilt.
Once the participle is used to denote the outward instrumental cause of the justification of others; in which place alone there is any doubt of its sense. Dan. xii. 3, Q'3">0 'i?.'1V»^— " And they that jus- tify many," namely, in the same sense that the preachers of the gospel are said " to save themselves and others," 1 Tim. iv. 16; for men may be no less the instrumental causes of the justification of others than of their sanctification.
Wherefore, although PT^ vaKoI signifies "justum esse," and some- times " juste agere," which may relate unto inherent righteousness, yet where any action towards another is denoted, this word signifies nothing but to esteem, declare, pronounce, and adjudge any one absolved, acquitted, cleared, justified: there is, therefore, no other kind of justification once mentioned in the Old Testament.
A/xa/dw is the word used to the same purpose in the New Testa- ment, and that alone. Neither is this word used in any good author whatever to signify the making of a man righteous by any applica- tions to produce internal righteousness in him; but either to absolve and acquit, to judge, esteem, and pronounce righteous; or, on the contrary, to condemn. So Suidas, ^i7.aio\Jv bvh driXoT, rh rs -/.oXd^nv, xai TO dixaiov vofiit^siv — " It hath two significations; to punish, and to account righteous." And he confirms this sense of the word by instances out of Herodotus, Appianus, and Josephus. And again, Aizaiuffai, a/Tiarixri, xarahixdcai, xoXccffa/, dixaiov vo/Misai, With an accu- sative case; that is, when it resyiects and affects a subject, a person, it is either to condemn and punish, or to esteem and declare right- eous : and of this latter sense he gives pregnant instances in the next words. Hesychius mentions only the first signification. Aixaiov/M^vov, xcXa^ofisvov, hixaiumi, xoXdaai. They never thought of any sense of this word but what {^forensic. And, in our language, to he justified was commonly used formerly for to be judged and sentenced ; as it is still among the Scots. One of the articles of peace between the ' two nations at the surrender of Leith, in the days of Edward VI., was, "That if any one committed a crime, he should be justified by the law, upon his trial." And, in general, bixmZs&ai is " jus in judicio auferre;" and dixaiumi is "justum censere, declarare pronun- tiare;" and how in the Scripture it is constantly opposed unto " con- demnare," we shall see immediately.
But we may more distinctly consider the use of this word in the New Testament, as we have done that of P^l"^^ in the Old. And that which we inquu'e concei'ning is, — whether this word be used in the
THE MEANING OF JUSTIFICATION. 129
New Testament in o, forensic sense, to denote an act oi jurisdiction ; or in a 'physical sense, to express an internal change or mutation, — the infusion of a habit of righteousness, and the denomination of the person to be justified thereon ; or whether it signifieth not pardon of sin. But this we may lay aside: for surely no man was ever yet so fond as to pretend that hixaioo) did signify to pardon sin, yet is it the only word applied to express our justification in the New Testament ; for if it be taken only in the former sense, then that which is pleaded for by those of the Roman church under the name of justification, whatever it be, however good, useful, and necessary, yet justification it is not, nor can be so called, seeing it is a tiling quite of another na- ture than what alone is signified by that word. Matt. xi. 19, ' 'Ebixaiwdri vj 2o^/a, — " Wisdom is justified of her children ; " not made just, but ap- proved and declared. Chap. xii. 37, 'Ez rSiv Xoyuv gov dtzaiudrisf — "By thy words thou shalt be justified ;" not made just by them, but judged according to them, as is manifested in the antithesis, xal 1% ruv >.6ym eov xaTadixasdriari, — " and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." Luke vii. 29, 'TLdixalcoaav rh 0S6V — " They justified God;" not, surely, by making him righteous in himself, but by owning, avowing, and de- claring his righteousness. Chap. x. 29, ' O 5s ^iXm dr/.aiouv iccvrov — "He, willing to justify himself;" to declare and maintain his own righteous- ness. To the same purpose, chap. xvi. 15, 'T/xs/g hrs oi Bizaicuvrsg lavTovg svdJ'Triov tojv avSpuTuv, — " Ye are they which justify yourselves before men;" they did not make themselves internally righteous, but approved of their own condition, as our Saviour declares in the place, chap, xviii. 14, the pul)lican went down ds^iTiatu/xhog (justi- fied) unto his house ; that is, acquitted, absolved, pardoned, upon the confession of his sin, and supplication for remission. Acts xiii. 38, 39, with Rom. ii. 13, 0/ iroirirai rou vv/j.ou dixaiudTjcrovra/' — "The doers of the law shall be justified." The place declares directly the nature of our justification before God, and puts the signification of the word out of question; for justification ensues as the whole effect of inherent righteousness according unto the law: and, therefore, it is not the making of us righteous, which is irrefragable. It is spoken of God, Rom. iii. 4, "O-tw? civ di/iaiuidfig h roTg Xoyoig (fov — " That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings;" where to ascribe any other sense to the word is blasphemy. In like manner the same word is used, and in the same signification, 1 Cor. iv. 4; 1 Tim. iii. 16; Rom. iii. 20, 26, 28, 80, iv. 2, 5, v. 1, 9, vi. 7, viii. 30; Gal. ii. 16, 17, iii. 11, 24, v. 4; Tit. iii. 7; James ii. 21, 24, 2.5 ; and in no one of these instances can it admit of any other signification, or denote tlie making of any man righteous by the infusion of a habit or principle of righteousness, or any internal mutation whatever.