Abraham was a morally faithful man of the type of Cornelius. The special command and promise given him by God, and his ready obedience, both taken together, rendered possible a higher relation tlian was open to Gentiles under the condition! pre\iously aescribed.
In and through Abraham, God took the principles of heredity and sociality into the service of the higher spiritual development of the race, instead of leaving them to subserve, almost exclusively, its degradation. For the positive purpose referred to, that is, of developing the moral personality, two methods were pursued ; first, institutions were regulated or called into existence, and laws were enacted or sanctioned, by which the moral con- sciousness was quickened, or, as St. Paul puts it, the knowledge of sin was increased (Ro 3^) ; and, secondlij, along therewith sacrifices were sanctioned or ordere<l, by which a way of forgiveness was pro- vided. Still further, ^^^th a Wew to checking the too natural tendency to the conception of righteous- ness and sacrifice which eveutually dominated the mind of the vast majority of the iJewisli nation, — the protest against which, be it remarked, largely colours, not only St. Paul's two great Epp. to the Galatians and Romans, but also the Ep. to the Hebrews, — prophets were conmiissioned, on the one hand, gradually to develop the law and unfold ita true significance ; and, on the other, to denounce perfunctory sacrifices, offerings, and observances.
The Israelite who loyally recognized the ' law,' that is, the entire complex of duties arising out of his national relationship, as God's means of show- ing him how to be holy as He was holy (Lv 19), and who availed himself of the di\'inely provided means of atoning for his failures, exercised faitli, so far as it was then possible and required. Ipso facto, he thus behaved as one who belonged to the covenant, notAvithstanding the sins he might com- mit. As such his relation was a right one ; lie was justified to the de^ee then attainable. If he were ?ver condemned, it was not for sins, but for open disloyalty to the covenant, with its obligations and sacrifices, i.e. for defiant refusal to recognize right as right and grace as grace. But even true Israelites had to wait for the new covenant which God was to make with the house of Israel, when the law should be written in their hearts (He 8'°) ; though their attitude grew to be ever more completely that which we find in Simeon, who, when Jesus was presented to him in the temple, exclaimed, ' Now lettest Thou Thy servant depart, 0 Lord, according to Thy word, in peace ; for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation' (Lk 2"-*'). 3. ' Justification ' reached its culmination through Christ. The realization of the idea and the adoption of the term coincided. The Gentile had no proper sense even of forgiveness, much less of justification ; but then his sense of sin was not keen enough to cause him real despair because of the lack. The Israelite had a profounder sense of sin, and there- fore, unless he was to despair, needed an assurance of forgiveness as objective as the command which condemned him ; but he never got beyond sins, and therefore never realized justification, in the proper sense ; nor had he the term. It was reserved for Christianity to produce the consciotisness of «n, and to meet what would othenvise have generated despair, by opening the way to justification. The apostle who faced sinfulness most directly, was th« one to gain the profoundest insight into justifica- tion ; and it is worthy of note that wnilst St. Paul stretches a bridge from forgiveness to justi.
JUSTLE
JUTAH OR JUTTAH
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fieation by once interclmnjfin^; the terms (Ro 4'"'), he nowhere else substitutes the one term for the other, except in Col 2", where he uses, not d<pels, but Xttpio'd^to'oy.
First of all, the dinne artion for the rectification of man's relation to ilimsclf culminated in Christ. Throug',' Him, law, revealed alike iu life and suffer- ing;, aua snrrifice both by and to God, were pre- sented LQ their supremest form. Opportunity was thus given, nay more, potential ability was also generated, to r'S^pond witn a response in which lojinl assent to the right, trustful surrender to love, and, finally, — so far as those are concerned who liave not seen Christ with the tleshly eye, — ie/ic/ that rejilizes the invisible, are all blended, t'.e. a response which U what N'T understands by ' faith.'
Such a response under such conditions, — what is it but 'a beginning in spirit' (fVapJa/wKot rvdiuiTi, Gal 3»-' ; cf. 3" 4" 5"-, He 8»"), a ' receiving of sonship ' (Xva Trjv vloSiaiav awo\a^aiiti>, Gal 4'"°), and therefore the ability to look up to God as a son, 'crying, Abba, Father' (Gal 4'-'); in other words, what is it but, ipso facto, ' ju.stification,' that is, a rectified relation, a being put on a right footing, in a right relation ? The Christian believer is related rightly to God ; accordingly law ceases to be mere law, ami sacrifice ceases to be a means of purchasin" grace : and though he may fall into sin, he can still loiik up to God as one whose relation has once for all been made right in and through Christ.