The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1908, Page 26

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26 The Lutheran Pioneer.

Jesus lives and his the keys of hell and of death.
Blessed Easter tidings! His victory is our victory.
All that trust in Him enjoy the blessings of that
yictory and have nothing to fear. In His resur-
rection they sce their own justification and the par-
don of all their sins; for it is written: “He was
delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for
our justification.” In His resurrection they sce
their deliverance from death and the grave; for

- the risen Savior says: “Because I live, ye shall

live also.” In His resurrection. they see their re-
demption from everlasting damnation; for it is
written: “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ
that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is
even at the right hand of God, who also maketh

intercession for us.”

Jesus lives for evermore and has the keys of hell
and of death. “Thanks be to God who giveth us
the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!”

“Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Finished is the battle now:

The crown is on the Victor’s brow!
Thence with sadness!

Sing with gladness,

Hallelujah!”

——EE———— ss

Justification Before God.

(A paper read before Immanuel Lutheran Conference, and
published by its request.)

II. .
God justifics us without works, for His own sake.
. 3.

Gop JDSTIFIES Us FOR His own SAKE. .Thus
we read Is. 43, 24—26: “Thou hast bought me no
sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me
with the fat of thy sacrifices: but thou hast made
me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with
thine iniquities. I, even I, am he that blotteth out
thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not
remember thy sins. Put me in remembrance: let
us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest
be justified”? Here God, as it were, calls Israel
into court and bids the people declare why they
should not be condemned, upon what grounds He
should justify them. ‘They must confess that they
have not served Him as they should have done, but,
instead, have grieved Him with their manifold sins.
Looking at them as they were, God found no reason
to declare them just, yet He justifies them. Why?
“For mine own sake,” He says. And Israel should
know and mark this well.

To express this truth, that God justifies us for
His own sake and that there is nothing in us to
win a verdict of acquittal, Scripture declares justi-
fication to be by grace, Rom. 3, 24. Grace which
justifies us is unmerited favor, that is, wholly un-
deserved on our part. To deny this means to deny
all that we have so far said in proof of justification
without works. “And if by grace, then is it no more
of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But
if it be of works, then is it no more grace: other-
wise work is no more work,” Rom. 11, 6. Here the
apostle places “by grace” and “of works” in direct
opposition to each other, like yes and no. It is either
the one or the other. We must change the meaning
of either the word “grace” or the word “work,” if
we wish to include our-works when the Bible says
“by grace.” If we can be justified by doing some-
thing for it, — regardless of whether you think of
works done in our own strength or by the power of
the Holy Spirit, — then it cannot be said that God
justifies us by grace. But since the Bible teaches
justification by grace, all works of man — no matter
how wrought nor what name you give them — must
be excluded. If we work for it, it is not by grace,
as we read Rom. 4, 4: “Now to him that worketh
is the reward not reckoned of .grace, but of debt.”
In the next verse St. Paul asserts that God justifies
“the ungodly,” thus expressing very plainly that
God does not look for good works in man in justifi-
cation.

Justification is pronounced a gift in Rom. 5,
16. 17. Some person might think of an exchange
of gifts, but that is excluded here, because St. Paul
speaks of a free gift, that is, a gift of grace, as he
also says Rom. 3, 24: “Being justified freely” —
that is, receiving it as a gift— “by His grace.”
We may speak of an exchange, an exchange of guilt
for righteousness, but then all the credit belongs,
as every one will admit, to God. We can claim no
credit at all in justification, as we read Rom. 3, 27:
“Where is boasting then? It is excluded.”

To deny that God justifies us without works,
for His own sake, means not only to go contrary to -
such Scriptural proofs as we have brought, but also
to deny the teaching of Scripture concerning
Christ’s redemption of sinners, of which we shall
treat next. It furthermore means to deny that we
are to preach that Gospel which we are commanded’
to proclaim, and also to deny ‘that we are justified
by faith —of which we shall speak in the fourth
part. In concluding this part, let me say that it is
disastrous for a Christian to forget that he is justi-