peccatis, morte vel condemnatione, justi denique ac haeredes vitas aeternae. Proprie ergo loquendo, Deus solus nos justificat, et dun- taxat propter Christum justificat, non imputans nobis peccata, sed imputans ejus nobis justitiam.,, 1
These are the most generally received and authoritative stand- ards of the Reformed Churches, with which all other Reformed symbols agree. The Lutheran confessions teach precisely the same doctrine on this subject.2 " Unanimi consensu, docemus et
confitemur quod homo peccator coram Deo justificetur, hoc
est, absolvatur ab omnibus suis peccatis et a judicio justissimae condemnationis, et adoptetur in numerum filiorum Dei »atque haeres aeternae vitae scribatur, sine ullis nostris meritis, aut dignitate, et absque ullis praecedentibus, praesentibus, aut sequentibus nostris operibus. ex mera gratia, tantummodo propter unicum meritum, perfectissimam obedientiam, passionem acerbissimam, mortem et resurrectionem Domini nostri, Jesu Christi, cujus obedientia nobis ad justitiam imputatur." 3
Again, " Credimus, docemus, et confitemur, hoc ipsum nostram esse coram Deo justitiam, quod Dominus nobis peccata remittit, ex mera gratia, absque ullo respectu prsecedentium, praesentium, aut consequentium nostrorum operum, dignitatis, aut meriti. Ille enim donat atque imputat nobis justitiam obedientiae Christi ; propter earn justitiam a Deo in gratiam recipimur et justi reputamur." 4 " Justificari significat hie non ex impio justum effici, sed usu forensi justum pronuntiari." And " Justi- ficare hoc loco (Rom. v. 1.) forensi consuetudine significat reum absolvere et pronuntiare justum, sed propter alienam justi- tiam, videhcet Christi, quae aliena justitia communicatur nobis per fidem." 5 So also " Vocabulum justificationis in hoc negotio significat justum pronuntiare, a peccatis et aeternis peccatorum suppliciis absolvere, propter justitiam Christi, quae a Deo fidei imputatur." 6
Hase,7 concisely states the Lutheran doctrine on this subject in these words : " Justificatio est actus forensis, quo Deus, sola gra- tia ductus, peccatori, propter Christi meritum fide apprehensum, justitiam Christi imputat, peccata remittit, eumque sibi reconcil- iat."
1 See Niemeyer, Collectio Confessionum, Leipzig, 1840.
2 The main passages are Augsburg Confession, part i., article iv. ; the Apology for that Confession, article iii. ; and the Form of Concord, article iii.
8 Form of Concord, in. 9.
4 Ibid. Epitome, hi. 4.
6 Apology for the Augsburg Confession, Art. m. 131, 184.
• Form of Concord in. 17. See Hase, Libri Symbolici, 3d edit., Leipzig, 1836.
' Hutterus Redivivus, § 109, 6th edit. Leipzig, 1845 p. 274.
116 PART HI. Ch. XVII. — JUSTIFICATION.
The " Form of Concord " says, " Hie articulus, de justitia fidei, prsecipuus est (ut Apologia loquitur) in tota doctrina Christiana, sine quo conscientiae perturbatae nullam veram et firmam consola- tionem habere, aut divitias gratiae Christi recte agnoscere possunt. Id D. Lutherus suo etiam testimonio confirmavit, cum inquit : Si unicus his articulus sincerus permanserit, etiam Christiana Eccle- sia sincera, concors et sine omnibus sectis permanet : sin vero cor- rumpitur, impossibile est, ut uni errori aut fanatico spiritui recte obviam iri possit." * The Lutheran theologians, therefore, speak of it as the " aKpoVoAw totius Christianae religionis, ac nexus, quo omnia! corporis doctrinae Christianae membra continentur, quoque rupto solvuntur." 2
President Edwards.
This statement of the doctrine of justification has retained symbolical authority in the Lutheran and Reformed churches, to the present day. President Edwards, who is regarded as having initiated certain departures from some points of the Reformed faith, was firm in his adherence to this view of justification, which he held to be of vital importance. In his discourse on " Justifi- cation by Faith alone," he thus defines justification : " A person is said to be justified when he is approved of God as free from the guilt of sin and its deserved punishment ; and as having that righteousness belonging to him that entitles to the reward of life. That we should take the word in such a sense and un- ierstand it as the judge's accepting a person as having both a negative and positive righteousness belonging to him, and looking on him therefore as not only quit or free from any obligation to punishment, but also as just and righteous, and so entitled to a positive reward, is not only most agreeable to the etymology and natural import of the word, which signifies to make righteous, or to pass one for righteous in judgment, but also manifestly agree- able to the force of the word as used in Scripture." He then shows how it is, or why faith alone justifies. It is not on ac- count of any virtue or goodness in faith, but as it unites us to Christ, and involves the acceptance of Him as our righteousness. Thus it is we are justified "by faith alone, without any manner of virtue or goodness of our own."
The ground of justification is the righteousness of Christ im- puted to the believer. " By that righteousness being imputed to us," says Edwards, " is meant no other than this, that that right- 1 UI- 6- 2 Quenstedt