King's Business - 1930-05

237

May 1930

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T h e

K i n g ’ s

B u s i n e s s

Provision

The Salvation of Scrip tu re—The B y B. B. S utcliffe , D.D. (Portland, Oregon) (All rights reserved)

Í N the Old Testament God declares that He “will by -no means clear the. guilty” (Ex . 3 4 :7 ), and that '“the soul that sinneth it shall die” (Ezek. 18 :20). In the New Testament He says that “the wages o f sin is death” (Rom. 6 :2 3 ), and that every transgression and disobedience receives its just recompense of reward (Heb. 2 :2 ). The full penalty of sin,-therefore, must be met to the uttermost farthing, and its righteous condemnation borne by the sinner. This raises the question—How can God give the Salvation of Scripture to sinners without Himself becoming unright­ eous and acting in partiality, or showing respect of per­ sons? How can God remain just and yet, justify' the guilty? The answer is found in the method He adopts to give the Salvation of Scripture to sinners: But now the righteousness of,God without the law is mani­ fested, . . . even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all . . . that believe: for there is no dif­ ference: for all have sinned, . . . being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesu s: . . . . that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesús (Rom. 3 :21-26). W ithout L aw The Salvation of Scripture is provided “without the law,” i.e. “apart from ” the law, by another way entirely. It is of necessity provided by. another way because of what the law is. The law is the revealer of sin, not the remover of it. The law is a mirror reflecting the sin of which man is unaware. “I had not known sin,” says the Apostle in Rom. 7, “except the law said, Thou shalt not. . . . ” He does not say, “I had not had sin,” but, I had not known it apart from the ministry of the law. The law is the instrument by which God makes manifest the sin in man and the need of cleansing. Again, the law is the judge of the crime of sin, and not the justifier of the criminal. Because of the righteous character of the law it can and does condemn, but it can never justify the guilty. Moreover, the law proves man to be a rebel before God, but it does not and cannot prevent the rebellion: that existed before the law came. In the second place, it is of necessity provided by another way because of what man is. The natural man, the child of Adam, stands before God as a sinner, a crim­ inal, and a rebel. Hence he can never be justified except by some way other than the law. He has proven himself unable to retain the innocency he had in Eden, unable to regain the innocency thus lost, and unable to attain to righteousness. He has already broken the law and be­ come guilty. I f he is ever to be justified before God it must be by some way other than the law. In the third place, it is of necessity provided by an­ other way because of what the righteousness is. It is not the righteousness one would possess by wholly and per­ fectly keeping the law—that would be one’s own right­ eousness. Neither is it the righteousness one would have by being enabled by the Holy Spirit, or any other power, to wholly keep the law—that too would be one’s own. But it is the righteousness of God, apart altogether from the law: God is righteous, law or no law.

Hence if the Salvation of Scripture is provided for man at all, it must be by some way that shuts out every sort of legalism; i.e., without the law, apart from the law, by another way. To F aith The Salvation of Scripture is provided to faith in Jesus Christ because man can do nothing to obtain it: as it is not by the law it is therefore outside the realm of all human endeavor. It is “not by works o f righteousness which we have done” (Tit. 3 :5 ) ; but it is provided “to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly” (Rom. 4 :5 ). And man cannot be anything to obtain it, because the righteousness in ,it is not man’s, but God’s. Hence all without exception may have it because “there is no d if­ ference, all have sinned.” All have become sinners and all stand on the same ground; but all may have this right­ eousness because it is “unto all who believe.” When it is said that there is no difference, it of course means in kind, not degree. There are varying degrees of sinfulness but just one class or kind of men, i.e., sinners. This class alone can obtain the Salvation of Scripture, but all who are of this class may have it. “Christ Jesu s came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim. 1 :15) : he could save no other class because none other need salvation. B y G race From what has already been said, it is plain that the Salvation of Scripture, if provided at all, must be pro­ vided by grace; must be given apart from the law; and is to be secured by faith alone. In this connection three words from the passage at the head of this article should have special emphasis. First, those who believe are justified. God speaks, here of the new creation, the one in Christ, which never has, or does, or can, be or do that which is contrary to His holy will. God reckons from the new birth, arid all who are born again are “accepted in the beloved” (Eph. 1 :6 ). We should note the wide difference between forgiveness and justification. To be justified means to be beyond the possibility of forgiveness. A noted Bible student once illustrated the difference by using the incident which occurred some years ago in the life of Captain Dreyfus of the French Army. He said that Captain Dreyfus was accused of a crime against the State, was arraigned, found guilty, and. exiled to Devil’s Island. While he was there his. friends and relatives brought influence to bear upon the government, which was finally induced to issue a full pardon to Captain Dreyfus; but this was refused by the exiled man. When asked the reason for his refusal, he said: “An innocent man cannot be pardoned or forgiven. Never having committed the deed of which I am accused, I could not be forgiven. I do not wish forgiveness, I wish justification.” Such is the wondrous efficacy of the work of Christ, as we shall presently see, that God can now righteously give not only forgiveness but justification to all who believe in Christ Jesus. Second, those who believe are justified freely. This “freely” comes from a Greek word meaning “without a

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