The Great Doctrines of the Bible Part 24

We are "born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, _but of G.o.d"_ (John 1:13). It was of His own will he begat us (Jas. 1:18): Our regeneration is a creative act on the part of G.o.d, not a reforming process on the part of man. It is not brought about by natural descent, for all we get from that is "flesh." It is not by natural choice, for the human will is impotent. Nor is it by self-effort, or any human generative principle.

Nor is it by the blood of any ceremonial sacrifices. It is not by pedigree or natural generation. It is altogether and absolutely the work of G.o.d. Practically speaking, we have no more to do with our second birth, than we had to do with our first birth.

The Holy Spirit is the Divine Agent in our regeneration. For this reason it is called the "renewing of the Holy Ghost" (t.i.t. 3:5).

We are "born of the Spirit" (John 3:5).

2. AND YET THERE IS A HUMAN SIDE TO THE WORK.

John 1:12 and 13 bring together these two thoughts--the divine and the human in regeneration: Those who _received_ Him (i. e., Christ)....were born _of G.o.d._ The two great problems connected with regeneration are the efficiency of G.o.d and the activity of man.

a) Man Is Regenerated by Means of the Acceptance of the Message of the Gospel.

G.o.d begat us by "the word of truth" (James 1:18). We are "born again," says Peter (1 Ep. 1:23), "of incorruptible seed, by the word of G.o.d." We are "begotten through the gospel" (1 Cor. 4:15).

These scriptures teach us that regeneration takes place in the heart of man when he reads or hears the Word of G.o.d, or the Gospel message, or both, and, because of the Spirit working in the Word as well as in the heart of man, the man opens his heart and receives that message as the Word of life to his soul. The truth is illuminated, as is also the mind, by the Spirit; the man yields to the truth, and is born again. Of course, even here, we must remember that it is the Lord who must open our hearts just as He opened the heart of Lydia (Acts 16:14). But the Word must be believed and received by man. 1 Pet. 1:25.

b) Man Is Regenerated by the Personal Acceptance of Jesus Christ.

This is the clear teaching of John 1:12, 13 and Gal. 3:26. We become "children of G.o.d by faith in Jesus Christ." When a man, believing in the claims of Jesus Christ receives Him to be all that He claimed to be--that man is born again.

Man therefore is not wholly pa.s.sive at the time of his regeneration.

He is pa.s.sive only as to the change of his ruling disposition.

With regard to the exercise of this disposition he is active. A dead man cannot a.s.sist in his own resurrection, it is true; but he may, and can, like Lazarus, obey Christ's command, and "Come forth!"

Psa. 90:16, 17 ill.u.s.trates both the divine and human part: "Let _thy_ work appear unto thy servants," and then "the work of _our_ hands establish thou it." G.o.d's work appears first, then man's. So Phil. 2:12,13.

D. JUSTIFICATION.

I. ITS MEANING.

1. RELATIVELY.

2. SCRIPTURALLY.

3. PARDON--RIGHTEOUSNESS.

II. ITS METHOD.

1. NOT BY LAW.

2. BY G.o.d'S FREE GRACE.

3. THE BLOOD OF CHRIST.

4. FAITH.

D. JUSTIFICATION.

I. THE MEANING OF JUSTIFICATION.

1. RELATIVELY.

It is a change in a man's relation or standing before G.o.d. It has to do with relations that have been disturbed by sin, and these relations are personal. It is a change from guilt and condemnation to acquittal and acceptance. Regeneration has to do with the change of the believer's nature; Justification, with the change of his standing before G.o.d. Regeneration is subjective; Justification is objective. The former has to do with man's state; the latter, with his standing.

2. ACCORDING TO THE LANGUAGE AND USAGE OF THE SCRIPTURES.

According to Deut. 25:1 it means to declare, or to cause to appear innocent or righteous; Rom. 4:2-8: to reckon righteous; Psa. 32:2: not to impute iniquity. One thing at least is clear from these verses, and that is, that to justify does not mean to _make_ one righteous. Neither the Hebrew nor Greek words will bear such meaning. To justify means to set forth as righteous; to declare righteous in a legal sense; to put a person in a right relation.

It does not deal, at least not directly, with character or conduct; it is a question of relationship. Of course both character and conduct will be conditioned and controlled by this relationship.

No real righteousness on the part of the person justified is to be a.s.serted, but that person is declared to be righteous and is treated as such. Strictly speaking then, Justification is the judicial act of G.o.d whereby those who put faith in Christ are declared righteous in His eyes, and free from guilt and punishment.

3. JUSTIFICATION CONSISTS OF TWO ELEMENTS.

a) The Forgiveness of Sin, and the Removal of Its Guilt and Punishment.

It is difficult for us to understand G.o.d's feeling towards sin.

To us forgiveness seems easy, largely because we are indifferent towards sin. But to a holy G.o.d it is different. Even men sometimes find it hard to forgive when wronged. Nevertheless G.o.d gladly forgives.

Micah 7:18,19--"Who is a G.o.d like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and pa.s.seth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy .

. . . he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea." See also Psa. 130:4. What a wondrous forgiveness!

Forgiveness may be considered as the cessation of the moral anger and resentment of G.o.d against sin; or as a release from the guilt of sin which oppresses the conscience; or, again, as a remission of the punishment of sin, which is eternal death.

In Justification, then, all our sins are forgiven, and the guilt and punishment thereof removed (Acts 13:38, 39; Rom. 8:1). G.o.d sees the believer as without sin and guilt in Christ (Num. 23:21; Rom.

8:33, 34).

b) The Imputation of Christ's Righteousness, and Restoration to G.o.d's Favor.

The forgiven sinner is not like the discharged prisoner who has served out his term and is discharged from further punishment, but with no rights of citizenship. No, justification means much more than acquittal. The repentant sinner receives back in his pardon, the full rights of citizenship. The Society of Friends called themselves Friends, not because they were friends one to another but because, being justified, they counted themselves friends of G.o.d as was Abraham (2 Chron. 20:7, James 2:23). There is also the imputation of the righteousness of Jesus Christ to the sinner. His righteousness is "unto all and upon all them that believe" (Rom.

3:22). See Rom. 5:17-21; 1 Cor. 1:30. For ill.u.s.tration, see Philemon 18.

II. THE METHOD OF JUSTIFICATION.

1. NEGATIVELY: NOT BY WORKS OF THE LAW.

Rom. 3:20--"Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for by the law is the knowledge of sin." "Therefore" implies that a judicial trial has taken place and a judgment p.r.o.nounced. At the bar of G.o.d no man can be counted righteous in His sight because of his obedience to law. The burden of the Epistle to the Romans is to set forth this great truth. As a means of establishing right relations with G.o.d the law is totally insufficient. There is no salvation _by_ character. What men need is salvation _from_ character.

The reason why the law cannot justify is here stated: "For by the law is the knowledge of sin." The law can open the sinner's eyes to his sin, but it cannot remove it. Indeed, it was never intended to remove it, but to intensify it. The law simply defines sin, and makes it sinful, yea, exceedingly sinful, but it does not emanc.i.p.ate from it. Gal. 3:10 gives us a further reason why justification cannot take place by obedience to the law. The law demands perfect and continual obedience: "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them."

No man can render a perfect and perpetual obedience, therefore justification by obedience to the law is impossible. The only thing the law can do is to stop the mouth of every man, and declare him guilty before G.o.d (Rom. 3:19, 20).

Gal. 2:16, and 3:10, Rom. 3:28, are very explicit in their denial of justification by law. It is a question of Moses or Christ, works or faith, law or promise, doing or believing, wages or a free gift.

2. POSITIVELY: BY G.o.d'S PEEE GRACE--THE ORIGIN OR SOURCE OF JUSTIFICATION.

Rom. 3:24--"Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." "Freely" denotes that it is granted without anything done on our part to merit or deserve it.

From the contents of the epistle up to this point it must be clearly evident that if men, sinful and sinning, are to be justified at all, it must be "by his free grace."

3. BY THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST--THE GROUND OF JUSTIFICATION.

Rom. 3:24--"Being justified . . . . through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." 5:9--"Much more then, being now justified by his blood." 2 Cor. 5:21 (R. V.)--"Him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of G.o.d in him." The bloodshedding of Christ is here connected with justification. It is impossible to get rid of this double idea from this pa.s.sage. The sacrifices of the Old Testament were more than a meaningless butchery--"Without shedding of blood is no remission"

of sin (Heb. 9:22). The great sacrifice of the New Testament, the death of Jesus Christ, was something more than the death of a martyr--men are "justified by his blood" (Rom. 5:9).

4. BY BELIEVING IN JESUS CHRIST--THE CONDITION OF JUSTIFICATION.