These Sections teach the following propositions : 1st. All those and only those whom God has eifectually called he also freely justifies.

2d. This justification is a purely judicial act of God

as Judge, whereby he pardons all the sins of a believer,

and accounts, accepts and treats him as a person righteous

in the eye of the divine law.

21 * 245

3d. That this justifying act proceeds upon the imputation or crediting to the believer by God of the righteousness of his great Eepresentative and Surety, Jesus Christ.

4th. That the essential and sole condition upon which this righteousness of Christ is imputed to the believer is, that he exercises faith in or on Christ as his righteousness.

5th. That this faith is itself a gracious gift of God.

6th. That no other grace, neither love nor hope nor obedience, sustains the same relation to justification that faith does as its essential condition or instrument; yet this faith is never alone in the justified person, but is always, when genuine, accompanied with all other Christian graces, all of which have their root in faith.

1st. That God justifies all those and only those whom he has effectually called or regenerated by his grace is proved — (1.) From the express declarations of Scripture : "Whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified." (2.) From the fact that effectual callinfy and justification are both necessary in order ^^ snlvatinnj nnd are both essential steps in the exenntion by God of his own immntal^^je and infallibly efficacious decree of election. (3.) From the fact that only those who truly believe are justified, and only those who are regenerate can truly believe.

2d. As to its nature, this justification is a purely judicial act of God as Judge, whereby he pardons all the sins of a believer, and accounts, accepts and treats him as a person righteous in the eye of the divine law. This includes two subordinate propositions :

(1.) Justification is a judicial act of God, whereby hp

declares us to be conformed to the demands of the law as the condition of our life ; iji" n^t ^n ^'^'^ ^^ granlnnc power, making us holj or conformed to the Inw as a standard of moral character. JThe Romanists use the term justification in a vague and general sense, as including at once the forgiveness of sins and the infusion of grace. Socinians, and those who teach the moral-influence theory of the atonement, regard justification as meaning the same as sanctification ; that is, the making a man personally holy. The true sense of justification stated above is, when taken in its connection with faith, the grand central principle of the Reformation, brought out and triumphantly vindicated by Luther. That it is true is proved (a) from the universal meaning of the English word to justify, and of the equivalent Greek word used in the New Testament. They both are alike always used to express an act declaring a man to be square with the demands of law, never to express an act making him holy. Gal. ii. 16; iii. 11.

(6.) In Scripture, justification is always set forth as the opposite of condemnation. The opposite of ^' to sanctify" is "to pollute," but the opposite of "to justify" is "to condemn." Rom. viii. 30-34; John iii. 18.

(c.) The true sense of the phrase "to justify" is clearly proved by the terms used in Scripture as equivalent to it. For example : " To impute rightpousnpss withnnf. works;" '*To forgive iniquities;" "To cover sins/' Rom. iv. 6-8. "Not to impute transg^e^^ion un^ them." 2 Cor. v. 19. "Not to bring into condemnaj^ tion." John v. 24.

{d.) In many passages it would produce the most obvious nonsense to substitute sanctification (the making

holy) for juijtification (the declarhig legally just); as, for instance: ^' For by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be sanctified f' or, *' Christ is become of no effect ur>to you, whosoever of you arc sanctified by the law ; ye are fallen from grace." Gal. ii. 16 ; v. 4.

(e.) Justification and sanctification are set forth in

Scripture as distinct graces, inseparable, alike necessary,

yet distinct in their nature, grounds and ends. 1 Cor.

vi. 11.

^^ (2.) Justification is not mere pardon ; it includes

I pardon of sin, and in addition the declaration that all

J the claims of law are satisfied with respect to the person

X justified, and that consequently he has a right to all the

/ immunities and rewards which in the covenant of life

/ are suspended upon perfect conformity to the demands

V^of law.

Pardon (a) relaxes the claims of law, or waives their exaction in a given case. (6.) It is an act of a sovereign in the exercise of pure prerogative, (c.) It is free, resting upon considerations of mercy or of public policy, (d) It simply remits the penalty of sin; it secures neither honours nor rewards.

On the other hand, justification (a) is the act of a judge, not a sovereign. (6.) It rests purely upon the state of the law and of the facts, and is impossible where there is not a perfect righteousness, (c.) It pronounces the law not relaxed, but fulfilled in its strictest sense, (d) It declares the person justified to be justly entitled to all the honours and advantages suspended upon perfect conformity to all the demands of law.

The truth of this proposition is proved (a) from the •auiform and obvious meaning of the words "to justify."

No one ever confounds the justification of a person with his pardon, (b.) As we saw under Chapter viii., § 5, " The Lord Jesus, by his perfect obedience and sacrifice of himself, . . . hath fully satisfied the justice of the Father, and purchased not only reconciliation, but an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of heavon for all those whom the Father hath given unto him." Justification, therefore, rests upon this " full satisfaction of divine justice." It is a judicial declaration that the law is satisfied — not a sovereign waiving of the penalty.

(c.) The Scriptures declare that our justification proceeds upon the ground of a perfect righteousness. Christ ^' is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." Rom, x. 3-6 ;' 1 Cor, i. 30. The essence of pardon is that a man is forgiven without righteousness. The essence of justification is that a man is pronounced to be possessed of righteousness, which satisfies the law. We are ^' made t^^f^ |-|jpi|Vifof»noness of God in him." 2 Cor. v. 21. Justification is paraphrased as "not imputing sin;" as "imputing righteousness without works." Rom. iv. 6-8.

(d.) The effects of justification are much more than those of pardon. The justified have " peace with God," "assurance of salvation," Rom. v. 1-10; "inheritance among them tliat are sanctified," Acts xxvi. 18.

3d. Justification proceeds upon the imputation or crediting to the believer by God of the righteousness of his great Representative and Surety, Jesus Christ. Ij. Cat., Q. 70 : " Justification is an act of God's free grace unto sinners, wherein he pardoneth all their sin, accepteth and accounteth their persons righteous in his sight ; not for anything wrought in them or done by them, but

only for the perfect obedience and full satisfaction of Christ, hy God imputed to thenij and received by faith alone." Compare also Ij. Cat., Q. 77, and S. Cat., Q.83.

Arminiaus hold that for Christ's sake the demands of the law are graciously lowered, and faith and evangelical obedience accepted in the place of perfect obedience as the ground of justification. Our Standards and all the Reformed and Lutheran Confessions teach that the true ground of justification is the perfect righteQ.asjieas (active and passive) of Christy imputed to the beljever

m^ rftPPivAri hy faifli alnnP R Df^f,^ Q. 33. ThJS ^S

proved-r-

(1.) Because the Scriptures insist everywhere that we are not justified by works. This is affirmed of works in general — of all kinds of works, natural or gracious, without distinction. Rom. iv. 4 ; xi. 6.

(2.) Because the Scriptures declare that good works, of whatever kind, instead of being the ground of justification, are possible only as its consequences : ** For sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law, but under grace;" "But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held ; that we should serve in newness of the Spirit, and not in oldness of the letter." Rom. vi. 14; vii. 6.

(3.) Because the Scriptures declare that the obedience and suffering — i. e., perfect righteousness or fulfilment of the law — by Christ, our Representative, is the true ground of justification : " Therefore, as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one

man's disobedience mai.y were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." Rom. V. 18, 19 ; X. 4 ; 1 Cor. i. 30 ; 2 Cor. v. 21 ; Phil. iii. 9.

(4.) Because the Scriptures affirm that this righteousness is imputed to the believer in the act of justification, nrhp. ph'^^^P ^^ i"^pil^^ «'" ^^ rig^l^tponqnog^- in ifa scriptural usage signi%s simply t.asftt to nnp's account, to lay to onP^^ ph^rgP, nr nrfidit ns thp ground of jnf| jcial process^. Our sins are said to have been laid upon Christ (Isa. liii. 6, 12 ; Gal. iii. 13; Heb. ix. 28 ; 1 Pet. ii. 24), because their guilt was so charged to his account that they were justly punished in him. In like manner Christ's righteousness is imputed or its rewardableness is so credited to the believer that all the covenanted honours and rewards of a perfect righteousness henceforth rightly belong to him. Rom. iv. 4-8; 2 Cor. v. 19-21. For the usage of the Hebrew and Greek equivalents of "imputation," see Gen. xxxi. 15; Lev. vii. 18; Num. xviii. 27-30 ; Mark xv. 28 ; Luke xxii. 37 ; Rom. ii. 26; iv. 3-9; 2 Cor. v. 19.

This doctrine of our Standards is that of the whole Protestant body of the Reformed and Lutheran Churches.

Calvin says in his Institutes, B. 3, chap, xi., § 2 : "A man will be justified by faith when, exolndpd ffom Jiip rip:htcousness of works, hf;^ by faith 1a.ys hold ^^ th^ ^ig^9^"^^ Q^ Christ, and^ clothed in it, apppars in the sight of God, not as a sinner, but as righteous."

The Heidelberg Cat., Q. 60: "How art thou justified in the sight of God? Only by a true faith in Jesus Christ ; so that, though my conscience accuse me that I have grossly transgressed all the commandments of God, and kept none of them, and am still inclined

to all evil, notwithstanding, God, without any merit of mine, but only of mere grace, grants and imputes to me, the perfect satisfaction, righteousness and holiness of .Christ.'' ....

Lutheran Form, of Concord: "That righteousness which before God is of mere grace imputed to faith, or to the believer, is the obedience, suffering and resurrection of Christ, by which he for our sakes satisfied the

law and expiated our sins On which account his

obedience .... is imputed to us; so that God, on account of that whole obedience, .... remits our sins, reputes us as good and just, and gives us eternal salvation."

4th. That the essential and sole condition upon which this gracious imputation of the righteousness of Christ to the believer proceeds is that he exercise faith in or on Christ as his righteousness or ground of acceptance and justification. Faith is here called the "condition" of justification, because it is an essential requisite, and necessary instrument whereby the soul, always treated as a free agent, appropriates the righteousness of Christ, which is the legal ground of justification.

That faith in or on Christ, and no other grace, is always represented in Scripture as the necessary instrument or means of justification, is proved. Gal. ii. 16; Kom. iv. 9 ; Acts xvi. 31.

That faith is the instrument whereby the soul apprehends the true ground of justification in the righteousness of Christ, and is not itself, as Arrainians pretend, that ground, is proved —

(1.) Because, as above shown, the vicarious obedience ftnd suffering of Christ is that ground.

JUSTIFICATIOIS'. 253

(2.) Because faith is " a work," and Paul asserts that justification on the ground of works is impossible.

(3.) Because faith in or on Christ evidently rests upon that which is without itself, and from its very nature is incapable of laying the foundation for a legal justification.

(4.) Because the Scriptures constantly affirm that we are justified " through'' or ^^ mpmnsi gf fajfh^ hut n^^pr

on account nf or /nr thji nakp. (^ faith Rnm v. 1; Gal.

ii. 16.

5th. This faith itself is not our own, but a gracious gift of God. Eph. ii. 7, 8 ; Acts x. 44.

6th. While it is faith alone, unassociated with any other grace, which is the sole instrument of justification, yet it is never alone in the justified person, but when genuine is always accompanied with all other Christian graces. To our doctrine of justification the famous passage in James ii. 14 is often objected. But Paul and James are speaking of different things. Paul teaches that faith alone justifies. He is arguing against Pharisees and legalists. James teaches that a faith which is alone — that is, a dead faith — will not justify. He is arguing against nominal Christians who would hold the truth in unrighteousness. Paul uses the word "justify" in the sense of God's justification of the sinner, to which faith and not works is prerequisite. James uses the word to justify in the sense of prove true, or real, in which sense faith is justified or proved genuine by works. Consequently orthodox theologians have always acknowledged that while faith alone justifies, a faith which is alone, or unassociated with other graces and fruitless in good works, will not justify.

j54 cokfessiox of faith.

" Works/' says Luther, " are not taken into consideration when the question respects justification. But true faith will no more fail to produce them than the sun can cease to give light."

I The doctrine of justification by faith holds a most imI portant place in the Christian system. It was justly termed by Luther, articuliis stantis xel cadentis ecclesice — the test of a standing or of a falling Church. In the Church of Rome this doctrine was most grossly corrupted ; and it was eminently through the preaching of the scriptural doctrine of justification that the reformation from Popery was effected. Even in the Protestant Churches, however, pernicious errors in regard to this subject have been widely disseminated, and at difi^erent periods have produced much acrimonious controversy. In our Confession, the scriptural doctrine of justification is accurately discriminated from the various forms of error ; and, in the progress of our exposition, we shall point out the errors to which the statements of the Confession are opposed.

I. Justification is a judicial act of God, and is not a change of nature, but a change of the sinner's state in relation to the law. The Church of Rome confounds justification with sanctification, and represents justification as a physical act, consisting in the infusion of righteousness into the souls of men, making them internally and personally just. But though justification and sanctification be inseparably connected, yet they are totally distinct, and the blending of them together perverts both the law and the gospel. Justification, according to the use of the word in Scripture, must be understood forensically ; it is a law term, derived from human courts of judicature, and signifies, not the making of a person righteous, but the holding and declaring him to be righteous in law. The forensic sense of the word is manifest from its being frequently ojiposed to condemnation. — Deut. xxv. 1 ; Prov. xvii. 15; Rom. v. 16, viii. 33, 34. Condemnation lies not in infusing wickedness into a criminal, or in making him guilty, but in judicially pronouncing sentence upon him according 0 his transgression of the law; so justification does not lie

126 CONFESSION OF FAITH. [^CHAP. XI.

iu infusing righteousness into a person, but in declaring hiin to be righteous on legal grounds; and, like the sentence of a judge, it is completed at once.

Socinians, and some others, represent justification as consisting only in the pardon of sin. In opposition to this, our Confession declares that God justifies those whom he eifectually calls, not only " by pardoning their sins," but also "by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous." The pardon of sin is unquestionably one important part of justification. It consists in the removal of guilt, or the absolution of the sinner from the obligation to punishment which he lay under by virtue of the sentence of the violated law. The pardon which God bestows is full and complete. It includes all sins, be they ever so numerous, and extends to all their aggravations, be they ever so enormous. Thus saith the Lord, " I will pardon all their iniquities whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me." — Jer. xxxiii. 8. All the sins of the believer are at once pardoned in his justification ; his past sins are formally forgiven, and his future sins will not be imputed, so that he cannot come into condemnation. — Ps. xxxii. 1, 2; John v. 24. But the pardon of sin alone would only restore the believer to such a state of probation as that from which Adam fell ; he would be under no legal charge of guilt, but still he would have no legal title to eternal life. But when God justifies a sinner, he does not merely absolve him from guilt, or from a liableness to eternal death; he also pronounces him righteous, and, as such, entitled to eternal life. Hence, it is called " the justification of life;" and they who " receive the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." — Rom. V. 17, 18.

II. No man can be justified before God, in whole or in part, on the ground of a personal righteousness of any kind. Romanists, Socinians, and Pelagians, maintain that we are justified either by a personal inherent righteousness, or by our own works.* In opposition to this, our Confession teaches that persons are not justified " for anything wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ's sake alone." That we cannot be justified by an inherent righteousness, is manifest, — 1. Because we can only be justified on the ground of a perfect righteousness, and our inherent righteousness is imper-

* The Church of Rome pleads for a double justification. The first, consisting in the remission of sin and the renovation of the inward man, is said to be by faith, in a sense, however, which does not exclude merit and predisposing qualifications ; the sp.cond, whereby we are adjudged to everlasting Mfo, is said to be by inherent righteousness and by works, performed by the aid of that grace wliich was infused in the first. Concil. Trident., sess. v'x.^de justification'^.

feet ; for the Scripture saitli, " There is no man that sinneth not." — 1 Kings viii. 46. 2, Because the righteousness by which we are justified is not our own. — Phil, iii. 9. 3. Because the sentence of justification must, in the order of nature, though not of time, precede the implantation of inherent hoHness. 4. Because, if we were justified by an inherent righteousness, it could not be said that God "justifieth the ungodly." — Rom. iv. 5.

That we cannot be justified by our own works is no less manifest, — 1. Because our personal obedience falls far short of the requirements of the law. The law demands obedience in all respects perfect; but " in many things we offend all." — James iii. 2, 2. Because our obedience, tkough it were commensurate to the high demands of the law, could not satisfy for our past transgressions. The law requires not only the fulfilment of its precejil^but also the endurance of its penalty: " Without shedding of blood there is no remission." — Heb. ix. 22. 3. Because we are justified freely by grace, and grace and works are diametrically opposed.— Rom. iii. 24, xi. 6. 4. Because justification by works not only makes void the grace of God, but also renders the death of Christ useless, and of no effect. — Gal. ii. 21.*' 5. Because we are justified in such a way as excludes all boasting. — Rom. iii. 27. 6. Because justification by works is in direct contradiction to the uniform testimony of Scripture. The Apostle Paul fully discusses the subject of justification in his Epistles to the Romans and to the Galatians; and in both of these Epistles he explicitly declares, that " by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in the sight of God." — Rom. iii. 20; Gal. ii. 16. In answer to this argument, it has been often urged, that the works which the apostle excludes from the ground of the sinner's justification before God, are only works of the ceremonial, not of the moral, law. This " witty shift," Calvin says, the " wrangling disputants" of his time borrowed from Origen and some of tlie old writers; and he declares it is " very foolish and absurd," and calls upon his readers to " maintain this for a certain truth, that the whole law is spoken of, when the power of justifying is taken away from the laAv."f " The reference," says Mr Haldane, " is to every law that God has given to man, whether expressed in words or imprinted in the heart. It is that law which the Gentiles have transgressed, which they have naturally inscribed in their hearts. It is that law which the Jews have violated, when they committed theft, adulteries,

* See the excellent Sermons of Robert Traill on this text. t Calvin's Instit., book iii., ch. 11, sect. 19.

128 CONFESSION OF FAITH. []CHAP. XI.

and sacrileges, which convicted them of impiety, of evil speaking, of calumny, of murder, of injustice. In one word, it is that law which shuts the mouth of the whole world, as had been said in the preceding verse, and brings in all men guilty before God." *

Others have contended that the works which the apostle excludes from any share in our justification are merely works not ijcrformed in faith. This allegation is equally groundless; for the apostle excludes works in general — works of every sort, without distinction or exception (Eph. ii. 9, 10); and the most eminent saints disclaim all dependence upon their own works, and deprecate being dealt with according to their best performances. — Ps. cxliii. 2; Phil. iii. 8, 9.

Arminians maintain that faith itself, or the act of believing, is accepted as our justifying righteousness. In opposition to this our Confession teaches, that God does not justify us " by imirating faith itself, the act of believing, as our righteousness." And in confirmation of this, we observe, that faith, as an act performed by us, is as much a work of obedience to the law as any other ; and, therefore, to be justified by the act of faith, would be to be justified by a work. But this is contrary to the express declarations of Scripture, which exclude all sorts of works from the affair of justification.— Gal. ii. 16. Besides, faith is plainly distinguished from that righteousness by which we are justified. We read of " the righteousness of God which is hy faith of Jesus Christ," and of " the righteousness which is of God hy faith." — Rom. iii. 22; Phil. iii. 9. No language could more clearly show that righteousness and faith are two difi^erent things. " Nothing," says Mr Haldane, " can be a greater coi-ruption of the truth than to represent faith itself as accepted instead of righteousness, or to be the righteousness that saves the sinner. Faith is not righteousness. Righteousness is the fulfilling of the law." f

Neonomians allege, that though we cannot fulfil that perfect obedience which the law of works demanded, yet God has been graciously pleased, for Christ's sake, to give us a oiew laic ; according to which, sincere obedience, or faith, repentance, and sincere obedience, are accepted as our justifying righteousness. It may be here remarked, that the Scripture nowhere gives the slightest intimation that a new and milder law has been substituted in place of the law of works originally given to man. Christ came " not to destroy the law,

* Haldane on the Romans, vol. i., p. 261. On this point see also Owen on Justification, ch. 14; Jonathan Edwards' Sermons, pp. 33-52; Rawlinon Justification, p, 39 ; and Chalmers on the Romans, pp. 193-199,

t Haldane on the Romans, vol. i., p. 350.

but to fulfil it." The gospel was never designed to teach sinners that God will now accept of a sincere instead of a perfect obedience, but to direct them to Jesus Christ as " the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.'* The idea of a new law, adapted to the present condition of human nature, reflects the greatest dishonour both upon the law and the Lawgiver; for it assumes that the Lawgiver is mutable, and that the law first given to man demanded too much.

III. The righteousness of Jesus Christ is the sole ground of a sinner's justification before God. It is not his essential righteousness as God that we intend,* for that is incommunicable; but his mediatory or surety- righteousness, which, according to our Confession, consists of his " obedience and satisfaction." That sinners are justified only on this ground might be demonstrated by a multiplicity of proofs. None can be justified without a perfect righteousness; for the demands of the law cannot be set aside or relaxed. The judgment of God, in pronouncing the sinner righteous, would not be according to truth, unless the sentence were founded upon a righteousness adequate to the requirements of the law. In the Old Testament, the Messiah is mentioned under this endearing name, " The Lord our Righteousness" (Jer. xxiii. 6) ; and it is predicted that he should " bring in everlasting righteousness."— Dan ix. 21. In the New Testament, Christ is said to be " made unto us righteousness;" and we are said to be "made the righteousness of God in him." — 1 Cor. i. 30; 2 Cor. V. 21. It is declared that "by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous," and that " by the righteousness of one, the free gift comes upon all men unto justification of life." — Rom. v. 18, 19.

IV. Sinners obtain an interest in the righteousness of Christ, for their justification, by God imputing it to them, and their receiving it by faith. The doctrine of the imputation of Christ's righteousness is rejected, not only by Romanists and Socinians, but by several authors of widely different sentiments.f Let it be observed, that we plead for the imputation of the righteousness of Christ itself, and not merely of its effects. " To say that the righteousness of Christ, that is, his obedience and sufferings, are imputed to us only as to their effects, is to say, that we have the benefit of them, and no more; but imputation itself is denied. So say tiie Socinians; but they know well enough, and ingenuously grant,

* This was the opinion ofOsiander, a learned man, who appeared in Germany in the beginning of the Keformatidn, and who gave Luther and Melancthon much annoyance with his notions.— See Mosheitn, cent, xvi., sect. 3, p. 2, ch. i.,c. 3.5.

t Among tiie authors here referred to, Dr Dwight and Professor Stuart may be mentioned.

I

130 CONFESSION OF FAITH. QcHAP. XI.

that tliey overthrow all true, real imputation thereby."* The effects of Christ's righteousness are communicated to us upon the ground of the imputation of his righteousness itself; but they are really imparted, and not imputed to us. Many, we apprehend, oppose the doctrine of in.putation, owing to their misconception of its proper nature. It does not signify the infusion of holy dispositions, or the actual ti'ansference of the righteousness of Christ to believers, so that it becomes inherently and subjectively theirs — that is impossible, in the nature of things ; but the meaning is, that God reckons the righteousness of Christ to their account, and, in consideration of it, treats them as if they were righteous. God does not reckon that they performed it themselves, for that would be a judgment not according to truth; but he accounts it to them for their justification. " There are certain technical terms in theology," says Dr Chalmers, " which are used so currently, that they fail to impress their own meaning on the thinking principle. The term ' impute ' is one of them. It may hold forth a revelation of its plain sense to you, when it is barely mentioned that the term impute in the 6th verse (Rom. iv.), is the same in the original with what is employed in that verse of Philemon where Paul says, ' If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on mine account.' To impute righteousness to a man without works, is simply to put righteousness down to his account, though he has not performed the works of righteousness."f

The doctrine of the imputation of Christ's righteousness is clearly taught in Scripture. We are represented as being constituted righteous by the obedience of Christ, as we are constituted sinners by the disobedience of Adam; and this can only be by imputation. — Rom. v. 19. We are also said to be made the righteousness of God in Christ, as he was made sin for us ; and this, likewise, could only be by imputation.— 2 Cor. V. 21. We are expressly told that God imputeth righteousness without works. — Rom. iv\ 6. This imputation proceeds upon the grounds of the believer's federal union with Christ from eternity, and of his Tital union with him in time. Christ, as the surety of his si)i ritual seed, engaged from everlasting to fulfil this rigliteousness for them; he fulfilled it in their nature, and in their room ; and when they become vitally united to him by tlie S[)irit and by faith, (jod graciously accounts his righteousness to them for their justification.

V. Faith is the alone instrument of the sinner's justifica-

* Owen on Justification, ch. 7. , \ Chalmers' Lccture6 OB the Romans, vol. i., p. 208.

tion. That we are justified hy faith is so frequently and expressly declared in the Scriptures, that no one who professes to receive the Word of God as the rule of his faith can venture to deny it. There are very different opinions, however, in regard to the office of faith in the justification of a sinner. Some say that a sinner is justified by faith, as it is an act performed by him ; as if faith came in the room of perfect obedience, required by the law. This we have already disproved; and "it is well known," says Witsius, "that the Reformed Churches condemned Arminms and his followers for saying that faith comes to be considered, in the matter of justification, as a work or act of ours."* Some hare said, that faith is to be considered as the condition of our justification. Th& " condition " of anything usually signifies that which, being done, gives us a right and title to it, because it possesses either intrinsic or conventional merit. To call faith, in this sense, the condition of our justification, would introduce human merit, to the dishonour of divine grace, and would entirely subvert the gospel. Some worthy divines have called faith a condition, who were far from being of opinion that it is a condition properly so called, on the performance of which men should, according to the gracious covenant of God, have a right to justification as their reward. They merely intended, that without faith we cannot be justified— that faith must precede justification in the order of time or of nature. But as the term "condition" is very ambiguous, and calculated to mislead the ignorant, it should be avoided. Others have said that faith justifies, as it is informed and animated by charity. This is the language of the Romanists; and here we may fitly use the words of the heroic champion of the Reformation. Commenting on Gal. ii. 16, he says : " This is the true mean of becoming a Christian, even to be justified by faith in Jesus Christ, and not by the works of the law. Here we must stand, not upon the wicked gloss of the schoolmen, which say, that faith justifieth when charity and good works are joined withal. "With this pestilent gloss, the sophisters have darkened and corrupted this and other like sentences in Paul, wherein he manifestly attributeth justification to faith only in Christ. But when a man heareth that he ought to believe in Christ, and yet, notwithstanding, faith justifieth not except it be formed and furnished with charity, by and by he falleth from faith, and thus he thinketh : If faith without charity justifieth not, then is faith in vain and unprofitable, and charity alone justilieth ; for except faith be formed with charity it is nothing. * Witsius on the Economy of the Covenants, book viii., ch. 3, sec. 51.

132 CONFESSION OF FAITH. []CHAP. XT.

. . . "Wherefore we must avoid this gloss as a most deadly and devilish poison, and conclude with Paul, ' that we are iustified, not by faith furnished with charity, but by faith only and alone.' " *

In opposition to these various views of the relation which faith bears to justification, our Confession teaches that " faith, receiving and resting on Christ and his righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification." Some have misrepresented this expression, as if it meant that faith is the instrument wherewith God justifies. But it was never intended that faith is an instrument on the part of God, but on our part. Some have also inaccurately spoken of faith as the instrument by which we receite justification. Faith is more properly the instrument by which we receive Christ and his righteousness.f Our Confession clearly teaches, that faith is " the instrument of justification," only as it " receives and rests on Christ and his righteousness." This, according to Mr Traill, is " the plain old Protestant doctrine, That the place of faith is only that of a hand or instrument receiving the righteousness of Christ, for which only we are justified.":}: The language of modern evangelical divines entirely accords with this " old Protestant doctrine." " Faith," says Mr Haldane, " does not justify as an act of righteousness, but as the instrument by which we receive Christ and his righteousness." § " When we read that we are justified by faith," says Dr Chalmers, " one should understand that faith is simply the instrument by which we lay hold of this great privilege." || " As the hand is said to nourish," says Dr Colquhoun, " because it is the instrument of applying food to the body; so faith justifies, as the hand or instrument of applying the Redeemer's righteousness to the soul."^

It is to be carefully observed, that our Confession not merely describes faith as the instrument, but as the alone instrument of justification. This is directed against an error of tlie Romanists, who hold that hope, and love, and repentance, are included in faith as justifying, and concur with faith, stiictly so called, to justification. That we are justified by faith alove, is proved by such arguments as these: — We are justified by faith, in opposition to works (Rom. iv. 2, 3) — faith alone receives and applies the righteousness of Christ ; we are justified freely by grace,and therefore by faith alone —

* Luther's Commentary on the Galatians. " A book," saj-s Mr Traill, " that hath mure plain sound gospel, than many volumes of some other divines."

t See President Edwards* Sermons, p. 13. % Traill's Works, vol. i., p. 298.

§ Haldane en the Komans, vol. i , p. 33.3.

II Chalmers on the liomans, vol. i., p. :^22.

^ Colquhoun's Sermons, p. 147.

OF JUSTIFICATION.

13»

because this alone is consistent with its being by grace (Rom. iii, 24, iv. 16); Abraham obtained the blessing of justification by faith alone, and he was designed as a pattern of the way in which all others, in succeeding ages, were to be justified. — Gal. iii. 6-9.

The advocates of the doctrine of justification by faith alone were grossly calumniated, as if they had denied the necessity of good works. To guard against this injurious misrepresentation, our Confession teaches, that though " faith is the alone instrument of justification, yet it is not alone in the person justified." The faith that justifies is a living and active principle, which works by love, purifies the heart, and excites to universal obedience. It is accompanied with every Christian gi-ace, and productive of good works. " Works," says Luther, "are not taken into consideration when the question respects justification. But true faith will no more fail to produce them, than the sun can cease to give light." This suggests a distinction, which enables us to remove the apparent discrepancy between the Apostles Paul and James ; but we forbear entering on that subject.*