The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1908, Page 4

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Testament. He takes up the question, How was
Abraham justified? Instead of saying that Abra-
ham was justified by faith, he says that Abraham’s
faith was counted, reckoned, imputed, to him, for
righteousness. In bringing in David as a witness,
he uses the expression “imputeth righteousness” for
“justifieth.” Therefore, if we ask when we are jus-
tified before God, it is the same as asking when God
places righteousness to our account. If God, in His
book or in His mind, credits us with righteousness,
He justifies us. So, then, the word “justify” cannot
mean to drive sin out of our hearts and to fill them
with righteousness, but to pronounce us just.

If you thus understand this word} you see with
what an important question we are dealing when
treating of the Scriptural doctrine of justification.
When the Bible speaks of our being justified, it is
speaking of the question, When will God, instead of
condemning us, acquit us and declare us righteous ?
Do you not also see that the answer to this question
also answers the question, What must I do to be
saved? Surely, if we are not condemned, we shall
be saved from the wrath to.come; if we are pro-
nounced righteous, the promises God has given the
righteous belong to us—vwe shall enter heaven.
Hence, we ought to pay particularly good attention
when we read passages in the Bible or in sermons
which speak of being justified, for then we are

being taught how to obtain everlasting salvation.

Being concerned that you should fully under-
stand what we are speaking of in this doctrine, we
say that our justification before God consists in the
forgiveness of all our sins. We do not say that the
word “justify” means to forgive; but that God jus-
tifies us by forgiving us. If we are justified, we
have been forgiven; if we have received forgive-
ness, we are justified. ‘This also proves us correct
in our understanding of the word “justify.” Or
will anyone be foolish enough to say that “to for-
give” means to take sin out of the heart and put
righteousness in its place? That our justification
and forgiveness amount to the same thing we learn
from Rom. 4, 6—8, the passage we quoted above.
St. Paul proves .the doctrine of justification by
David. David speaks of forgiveness, but though
he does not use the expressions “justifying,” “im-
puting righteousness,” yet St. Paul uses David’s
words speaking of forgiveness as treating of justifi-
cation before God. Hence, St. Paul certainly teaches
that if you have forgiveness, you are justified.

__ Our justification is sometimes defined as con-

sisting of the forgiveness of sins and the imputa-

tion of righteousness. We are not to think, how-
ever, that justification consists of two parts: of the
forgiveness of our sins and of the imputation of
righteousness to us. Both expressions denote the
same act. We are not to look upon forgiveness as
doing away with the sins of commission, and upon
the imputation of righteousness as doing away with
the sins of omission. When David says, “Blessed are
they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins
are covered,” no one has the right to say that half
of the sins are not forgiven. When David says,
“Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not
impute sin,” no one has a right to think that some
sins are charged to that man? A man either has
forgiveness, or he has not forgiveness. If he has
forgiveness, all of his sins are forgiven. There is
no such, thing as partial forgiveness. If some per-
sons think they have forgiveness for part of their
sins and must still work to get forgiveness for the
other sins, they are talking of something not taught
in Scripture, and really do not know what forgive-
ness is, as we shall prove later on. When we have
forgiveness, we have ‘forgiveness for all our sins of
commission and of omission. God forgives those
sins which we committed by doing what He has
forbidden, and He also forgives those sins which
we committed by not doing what He has com-
manded. In forgiving us, God looks upon us as
though we had not done the sinful things we have
committed, and as though we had done the good
we failed to do. In imputing righteousness to us,
God looks upon us as though we had kept the Law,
both in respect to what the Law commands and
what it forbids. Both terms, “forgiveness” and
“imputation of righteousness,” denote one and the
same act, which act we also‘call “justification.”
Scripture often calls the very same thing by
different names. It uses different expressions for
one and the same act. ‘That ought to help us to
a better understanding of that thing or act. If

we study each expression and thus, so to say, look .

at the thing from different points of view, we get
a more complete picture of it in our mind. “Jus-
tification” and “imputation of righteousness” both
draw our attention to the fact that we are by God
declared just, considered righteous. “Forgiveness”
draws our attention to the fact that God acquits us,
though we are sinners and deserve to be condemned ;
in other words, that God justifies us without works.
This last. statement is the point we shall take up
next, asking, What moyes God to justify man?
(To be continued.) ° J. Pu. 8.

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