4. * Least of all does justification imply, that God is _deceived_ in those whom he _justifies_; that he thinks them to be what in fact they are not, that he accounts them to be otherwise than they are. It does by no means imply, that God judges concerning us, contrary to the real nature of things: that he esteems us better than we really are, or believes us righteous, when we are unrighteous. Surely no. The judgment of the all-wise God, is always according to truth. Neither can it ever consist with his unerring wisdom, to think that I am innocent, to judge that I am righteous or holy, because another is so. He can no more in this manner confound me with Christ, than with _David_ or _Abraham_. Let any man to whom God hath given understanding, weigh this without prejudice; and he cannot but perceive, that such a notion of justification, is neither reconcileable to reason, nor scripture.
5. The plain scriptural notion of justification is pardon, the forgiveness of sins. It is that act of God the Father, whereby for the sake of the propitiation made by the blood of his Son, he _sheweth forth his righteousness_ (or mercy) _by the remission of the sins that are past_. This is the easy, natural account of it given by St. _Paul_, throughout this whole epistle. So he explains it himself, more particularly in this, and in the following chapter. Thus in the next verses but one to the text, _Blessed are they_, saith he, _whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered: blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin_. To him that is justified or forgiven, God _will not impute sin_ to his condemnation. He will not condemn him on that account, either in this world or in that which is to come. His sins, all his past sins, in thought, word and deed, _are covered_, are blotted out: shall not be remembered or mentioned against him, any more than if they had not been. God will not inflict on that sinner what he deserved to suffer, because the Son of his love hath suffered for him. And from the time we are _accepted through the Beloved, reconciled to God through his blood_, he loves and blesses and watches over us for good, even as if we had never sinned.
Indeed the apostle in one place seems to extend the meaning of the word much farther; where he says, _Not the hearers of the law, but the doers of the law shall be justified_. Here he appears to refer our justification, to the sentence of the great day. And so our Lord himself unquestionably doth, when he says, _By thy words thou shalt be justified_: proving thereby, that _for every idle word men shall speak, they shall give an account in the day of judgment_. But perhaps we can hardly produce another instance, of St. _Paul’s_ using the word in that distant sense. In the general tenor of his writings, it is evident he doth not. And least of all in the text before us, which undeniably speaks, not of those who have already _finished their course_, but of those who are now just _setting out_, just _beginning to run the race which is set before him_.
III. 1. But this is the third thing which was to be considered, namely, who are they that are justified? And the apostle tells us expresly, _the ungodly_: He, that is, God, _justifieth the ungodly_: the ungodly of every kind and degree, and none but the ungodly. As _they that are righteous need no repentance_, so they need no forgiveness. It is only sinners that have any occasion for pardon: it is sin alone which admits of being forgiven. Forgiveness therefore has an immediate reference to sin, and (in this respect) to nothing else. It is our _unrighteousness_ to which the pardoning God is _merciful_: it is our _iniquity_ which he _remembereth no more_.
2. This seems not to be at all considered by those who so vehemently contend, that a man must be sanctified, that is, holy, before he can be justified: especially by such of them as affirm, that universal holiness or obedience must precede justification (unless they mean, that justification at the last day, which is wholly out of the present question) so far from it, that the very supposition, is not only flatly impossible (for where there is no love of God, there is no holiness; and there is no love of God, but from a sense of his loving us) but also grosly, intrinsically absurd, contradictory to itself. For it is not a _saint_ but a _sinner_ that is _forgiven_, and under the notion of a sinner. God _justifieth_ not the godly, but the _ungodly_; not those that are holy already, but the unholy. Upon what condition he doth this, will be considered quickly: but whatever it is, it cannot be holiness. To assert this, is to say, the Lamb of God takes away, only those sins which were taken away before.