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CHAPTER VI.

THE JUSTIFICATION OF THE ELECT OF GOD BY FAITH IN THE SACRIFICE OF HIS SON JESUS CHRIST.

I. THE elect of God are justified for life by faith in Jesus Christ.

II. A comparison between the law of Moses and the dispensation of grace.

III. Some of the brethren in Galatia apostatize from the faith.

I. The elect of God are justified for life by faith in Jesus Christ.

'But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God, which is by faith in Jesus Christ for all that believe: for there is no difference; for all have sinned, and are deprived of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace by means of the ransom that is in the Christ Jesus: whom God hath foreordained to be a propitiation, through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the pardon of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God (Comp. 1 Pet. iv. 3; 1 John, i. 7); to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness; that he might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.' (Rom. iii. 21-26.)

The good news, or the gospel, is the news that Jesus Christ has died to save sinners; and the covenant of grace is the promise of salvation for all who believe in his sacrifice for the pardon of their sins. 'For God so loved

the world, that he gave his only Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' (John, 3. 16.) Now although, in the mind of God, the elect, who are the objects of his mercy, were saved from death by the sacrifice of his Son Jesus Christ, they are not just to their inner consciousness, that is, subjectively, till he has revealed his Son in their hearts by faith as their Saviour. The sinner is, therefore, freed from the penalty of the law, which is the death of the soul, when he believes that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God, and that he died as a sacrifice for his sins, in order to save his soul from death. And God is just in justifying them who believe in Jesus, because he has accepted his mediatorial sacrifice as an atonement for their sins, according to his promise. (Gen. 3. 15. Isa. 53. 11. Rom. 3. 25; 15. 8.) And the righteousness which is by faith in the Christ is called the righteousness of God, because it is his gift to the elect; for the good news, that the Christ has died to save sinners, is the power of God for salvation for all who believe in him; because God has given power to his Son, by virtue of his sacrifice, to give everlasting life to as many as he has given him. (John, 17. 2. 1 John, 2. 12. Heb. 2. 13. Matt. 9. 6.) For to him give all the prophets testimony, that whosoever believeth in him shall receive pardon of sins through his name' (Acts, 10. 43), i. e. through him. When, therefore, the Almighty regenerates the sinner by his Spirit, he has everlasting life, and believes in Jesus; so that everlasting life is the instrumental cause of faith in the Son of God and it is also the effect of faith in him; for when we believe in him we are justified subjectively; that is, we have an internal conviction of being just in the sight of God; and we know that we have everlasting life, for Jesus hath said, 'He that believeth in me hath everlasting life.' (John, 6. 47.) We are not made children of God by faith in his Son, but it is by faith in him that we realise that we are his children (John, 1. 12, 13; 3. 38), and that we are justified, and, being

justified, we have peace with God, according to the testimony of the apostle Paul, who says, "Therefore, being justified by faith, let us have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have access into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in the hope of glory.' (Rom. 5. 1, 2. Comp. Acts, 10. 36; Col. 1. 27.) Wherefore Jesus said to the faithful Jews who were waiting for the kingdom of God, 'Come unto me, all ye who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' (Matt. 11. 29. Comp. Mark, 14. 41.) And Jesus is our rest also, for he spake peace to the nations (Gen. 49. 10. Zech. 9. 10. Isa. 9. 6, 7; 52. 7. Acts, 3. 26); for when God raised him from the dead, he came and announced the good news of peace to them who were afar off and to them that were near (Eph. 2. 17. Heb. 2. 3. Comp. Luke, 24. 36–53), that is, to the elect, the men of acceptance of all nations (Luke, 2. 14); for being glorified, he became the author of everlasting salvation to all who believe in him. (Heb. 5. 9.)

For it is by grace we are saved from death through faith in Jesus, and faith in him is not a work of the flesh, but a gift of God; so that our justification is by faith, and not by works; 'For we are his work, created in the Christ Jesus, for good works, which God hath appointed before that we should walk in them.' (Eph. 2. 8-10. Comp. John, 3. 16.) And in the epistle to Titus it is written, 'But when the kindness of God our Saviour towards men appeared; not by works of righteousness which we have done [are we justified], but according to his mercy by means of the bath of the new birth, and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour, that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs in hope of everlasting life' (chap. 3. 4-7); that is to say, God has justified us and made us heirs of glory by what is figured by our baptism, namely, the cleansing from sin by the blood of Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit, by

means of which we walk in newness of life as his children (Comp. John, 3. 5; 1 Pet. 3. 21), as the Lord testified, saying, 'He that heareth my words and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but is passed from death unto life' (John, 5. 24); for the law which condemned the sinner to die came by Moses, but grace and truth come by Jesus Christ, and of his fulness have we all received, namely, grace for grace (John, 1. 16, 17); for the believer in the sacrifice of the Son of God knows he is made free from the law which condemned his soul to die; and when he believes his word, he knows also that he has everlasting life, and that he is an heir of the glory which shall be revealed hereafter; for in Jesus Christ is life, and his life is the light of men (John, 1. 4), without which life no one can see the kingdom of God; for his life is the instrumental cause of faith in his sacrifice, as he told his disciples, saying, 'I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of my bread he shall live for ever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.' (John, 6. 51.) And he adds, 'Except ye eat of the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath everlasting life, and I will raise him again at the last day.' (John, 6. 53, 54.) Jesus calls his glorified life his flesh, which is the celestial manna that gives everlasting life to the saints (John, 10. 28. 1 Cor. 15. 45); and accordingly his glorified body, in which the life of the saints is preserved, is figured by the bread in the Lord's Supper (Matt. 26. 26); 'For the bread of God is he who cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world' (John, 6. 33. Comp. John, 1. 4; 17. 2. Acts, 3. 15); and except a man partake of his life by regeneration, and believe in the efficacy of his blood for the pardon of his sins, he has not everlasting life in him; for 'It is the Spirit [of God] that giveth life; the flesh profiteth nothing;' that is to say, it is God that giveth

life to the dead, the works of the law profiteth nothing; for by the works of the law no man can be justified in the sight of God, for by the law is the knowledge of sin, and it worketh wrath, that is, death. (Rom. 3. 20; 4. 15.) The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.' (John, 6. 63.) The things that Jesus spoke of, namely, the need of the sinner to partake of his flesh and blood, referred to the salvation of the soul, and they are the gift of God, and they give everlasting life to the believer. This was the answer to the Pharisees who sought justification by the works of the law, and who inquired of Jesus, saying, 'What shall we do that we may work the works of God?' who replied, "This is the work of God,'-or to be just in his sight, that ye believe in him whom he hath sent' (John, 6. 28, 29). And to the man who asked him, saying, What good thing shall I do to have everlasting life? he said, 'Follow me,' that is, believe in me, and thou shalt be just, and have everlasting life. (Matt. 19. 16-21.)

In the covenant of Mount Sinai Jehovah promised everlasting life to Israel in the land of Canaan, on condition that they should obey his law (Ex. 20. 12); but in the covenant of Mount Sion God promises everlasting life in the heavenly Canaan to all who believe in his Son as their Saviour; and while the former covenant was for one nation only, and was given by a mediator, Moses, through the ministration of angels (Gal. 3. 19, 20), the latter is for all nations, and the mediator thereof is Jesus Christ, and it is of grace and not of works. And hence Paul says, 'I am not ashamed of the good news' (that is, that the Christ has died to save sinners), ' for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek, for the righteousness of God is revealed therein [to be] by faith to faith' (that is, to him that believeth), according as it is written, 'The just shall live by faith.' (Rom. 1. 16, 17.)