The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1908, Page 12

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

⤓ Download .txt · copy text

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.