The Pulpit Commentary — Galatians — Section 133

(Tlom. iii. 19). The charge is abundantly proved, and the sentence has gone forth: " Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the Law to do them " (eh. iii. 10), II. THE NATURE OF JUSTIFIOATION. "Knowing that a man is not justified by the ~·orks of the Law, but by the faith of Christ." Its meaning is to declare a person to bo Just. It does not mean either to p11rdou or to make just. It is a stl'ictly judicial act. Newman admits that it signifies, not"to make righteous," but" to pronounce righteous;" yet he says it includes the "making ~ighteous" under its meaning. That is, the sense of the term is counting righteous, but the sense of the thin,g is" making righteous." This is to make nonsense of language. To say that it means "making righteous" is to rnake justification and sanctification the same thing. This Romish divines .actually do; yet they regard sanctification, that is, infused or inherent righteousness, as the ground of justification. That is, sanctification is at once a part of justification and the, ground of it. Can a thing be at once part of a thing, and at the same time the ground' of a thing? The meaning of the term "justification" is fixed by its opposite, "coo,-. demna.tion," which is, not to make wicked, but to pronounce. guilty. "He that justifict.h the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both a.re abomination to the Lord" (Prov. xvii. 15). "If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that the judge may judge them; then they shall justify the riahteous~' and condemn the wicked "(Dent. xxv. 1). "The Juugmem was by one to ~ondem- nation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification of life" (Rom. v. 16). '£he term is thus forensic. Justification includes more than pardon, because: 1. The very terms imply a difference. 'l'o pardon is to waive the execution of the penal sanction of the Law. 'l'o justify is to declare that the demands of the Law are satisfied, not ,,aivcd. Pardon is a sovereign act; justification, a judicial act. 2. Pardon is remission of penalty, in the absence of a satisfaction. It is not an act of justice. But justification proceeds on the ground of a satisfaction. One is the remission of punish•. ment; the other is a declaration that there is no ground for the infliction of punishment. 3. The apostle speaks of " the blessedness of the man to whom the Lord imputeth right- eousness without worb" (Rom. iv. 6). To impute righteousness is to justify. To pardon a man is not to ascribe righteousness to him. 4, The terms of Scripture ;require this distinction. It would be unmeaning to say," No flesh sµall be pardoned by the works of the Law." Justification includes both pardon and acceptance with God, It ice! udes a title to eternal life, and therefore is called" justification oflife," and on account of it men a.re made heirs according to the hope of eternal life (Titus iii. 7). This is the "true grace of God in which we stand." God does more than pardon; he "imputeth righteousness without works." Christ is made "the righteousness of God" to us. We are " accepted in the Beloved." Yet the pardon and the acceptance are never sepa- rated. All who are pardoned are justified, and a.JI who are justified are pardoned. III. THE GROUND OF JUSTIFICATION. ,, A man is not justified by the works of the Law, but by the faith of Christ." 1. It is rwt by the works of tlie Law.. (1) Of what Law 1 It is not the mere ceremonial law, though that was here prominently in question. (a) It is the whole Law-the Law in the sense in which the apostle's readers would understand it, that Law whose violation brings in the whole world guilty before God (P.om. iii. 19). (b) The apostle never contrasts the works of the ceremonial with the works of the moral law, as if to imply that we cannot be justified by the first class; but ma.y b_v the second. '£he opposition is always between works in general and faith. (c) He excludes as inadequate to our justification thpse very "works of righteousness" (Titus iii. 5), that is, according to Romish theology, works done after regeneration, which may be regarded as possessing the highest order of excellence. He even excludes the works of a good man like Abraham, the father of the faithful (Rom. iv. 2). (d) 'l'he objection of Rom. vi. 1, that if works are not the ground of ou~ justification, we may live in sin, supposes that good works of every sort are excluded from the ground of our justification. (2) The works, then, of the whol~ La'!1' of God are excluded. Because Scripture repeatedly asserts the fact. We are not Justified "by our own rio-hteousness, which is of the Law" (Phil. iii. 9). (a) The Law demands ~rfect obedie;ce, and no obedience at one time can atone for disobedience at another (eh. iii. 10, 21 ; v. 3). (b) If we are justified by works, Christ is dead in vain. There was no need for his death (eh. ii. 21; v. 4). (c) Our salvation would not in that case be of grace, Oil, II, 1-21.] . 'l'l:IE EPIS'fLE TO THE GALATIANS.