Justification by Faith.
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THE SPECIAL PROBLEM OF OUr JUSTIFICATION. Here in passing let us notice that of course the word Jus tification does not of itself imply that the justified person is a sinner. To see this as plainly as possible, recollect that God Himself is said to be justified, in Psalm 51:4, and Christ Himself, in 1 Tim. 3:16. In a human court of law, as we have seen above, it is the supreme duty of the judge to “jus tify the r ig h te o u s (Deut. 25:1), and the righteous only. In all such cases Justification bears its perfectly proper meaning, unperplexed, crossed by no mystery or problem. But then, the moment we come to the concrete, practical question, how shall we be justified, and before God, or, to bring it closer home, how shall I, I the sinner, be welcomed by my offended Lord as if I were satisfactory, then the thought of Justifica tion presents itself to us in a new and most solemn aspect. The word keeps its meaning unshaken. But how about its application. Here am I, guilty. To be justified is to be pro nounced not guilty, to be vindicated and accepted by Lawgiver and Law. Is it possible? Is it not impossible? nustification by Faith, in the actual case of our salvation, is thus a “short phrase.” It means, in full, the acceptance of guilty sinners, before God, by Faith. Great is the prob lem so indicated. And great is the wonder and the glory of the solution given us by the grace of GochJ But to this solu tion we must advance by some further steps. WHAT IS FAITH ?.. We may now fitly approach our second great term, Faith, and ask ourselves, What does it mean? As with Justifica tion, so with Faith, we may best approach the answer by first asking, What does Faith mean in common life and speech? Take such phrases as, to have faith in a policy, faith in a remedy, faith in a political leader, or a military leader, faith in a lawyer, faith in a physician. Here the word Faith is used in a way obviously parallel to that in which, for exam-
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