# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1908_S12 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) 12 The Lutheran Pioneer. a eee —. is His kingdom of glory, there His will is done per- fectly, there we shall truly thank Him for the bread He daily gave us here; there we shall need no for- giveness and no guarding against temptation; for there we shall be delivered from every evil. . From the dark depths of this vale of tears we shall then have ascended to the hilltops of glory, where no evil can befall us, and where we shall live in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness in most in- timate communion with God and all the blessed. From evil, Lord, deliver us! The times and days are perilous; Redeem us from eternal death; And when we yield our dying breath, Console us, grant us calm release, And take our souls to Thee in peace. F. J. L. ——>-2-——____ Justification Before God. (A paper read before Immanuel Lutheran Conference, and published by its request.) . IL. God justifies us without works, for His own sake. 1. Having seen what the term “justification before God” signifies, we ask, What moves God to declare man just? In answering this question we say, Our works do not prevail upon God to justify us. There is no work you can do that might cause God to pro- nounce you righteous. Though you bestow all your goods to feed the poor; though you give your body to be burned; though you cry aloud and shed tears from morning till night and from night till morn- ing; though you wail and gnash your teeth like the damned in hell, — by no work of yours can you pro- cure God’s verdict of acquittal. It is altogether im- possible for fallen man to bring about a reversal of the sentence of condemnation: even if we could cease to do evil, we could neither work overtime in obeying the Law, nor could we ever do more than is required in God’s Law, which demands constant obedience of all the members of the body and of all the powers of the soul; the pangs of remorse and all other sufferings of a transgressor, viewed as the reward of iniquity, are but payment in part, a the wages of sin be eternal. When the question of standing in the judgment is presented, man naturally answers, Do right, then you will be declared righteous. The Law says the same: “The man that doeth them shall live in them,” Gal. 3, 12. We cannot, however, expect to escape damnation in this way; for “there is no man that sinneth not,” 1 Kings 8, 46. If we are not altogether blind as to man’s lack of righteousness, we must still ask, How shall we be delivered from the wrath to come? How shall we be justified? We have already taken note of the fact, that Roman Catholies claim “justify” to mean to “infuse right- cousness,” and so we know their answer. Many others, however, who do not thus explain this word yet present the matter in this manner: God is will- ing to help man by granting him spiritual powers to lead a godly life; if man uses the powers God gives, he becomes more and more just until he is finally declared to be perfectly just by God. We do not dream of denying that God by His Spirit en- ables Christians to walk in His ways, but we deny that this is the justification taught in Scripture. Many will admit the need of forgiveness, but they deem it necessary to earn remission of sins. We declare it impossible to obtain forgiveness by works, by any work that man may do. But will not prayer move God to forgive sin? Whoever looks upon prayer as a work he performs to move God to for- give does not know what Christian prayer-is, — the voice of faith addressed to God, — nor does he know what forgiveness is. That God justifies us without works Scripture teaches time and again and in a variety of expres- sions. Let us take the word “forgiveness.” It is to be feared that thousands of people who call them- selves Christians do not know what forgiveness means. They claim to pray for forgiveness when they really do not desire forgiveness, but want God to justify them on account of their works. What is forgiveness of sin? We have already noticed that St. Paul, in Rom. 4, 6—8, brings in David as a wit- ness for his doctrine of justification. We have also drawn attention to the fact, that, according to this passage, our justification and forgiveness amounts to the same thing. But now mark especially which point in the doctrine David’s words on forgiveness should prove. “ven as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works.” It is to prove that we are justified without works that St. Paul adduces David’s words: “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven.” According to St. Paul, David teaches justification without works, and yet there are even preachers in our time who think the people of the Old Testament did not know our doctrine of justi- fication. If God forgives us, He justifies us without works.