Justified
By Faith - Works Become A Result.
Justification
by faith is not a final procedure; it does not take the place of the Judgment,
nor render the Judgment unnecessary. It looks
- 79 - J.
H. Waggoner
to
something beyond itself to be accomplished in the future. Of course this remark
would not apply where probation was cut off immediately or very soon after
justification took place. But it certainly does apply where life is prolonged
and probation is continued. Justification by faith, in the plan of the gospel,
may be defined in full as that change in man’s relations and condition by
virtue of which,
1. He is
counted just as regards his past life, though in his life he has not been just.
2. The
Government and its subjects are guarded against future depredations.
And,
3. God may
consistently accept his service as that of a loyal subject.
In regard
to the first point, there can be no question on the part of anybody. To the
second, all must concede that both the Government and its subjects ought to be
secured against injury, and, to effect this, it is necessary not only to do a
work for man, but, also, in him. While the act of laying the penalty upon a
substitute vindicates the majesty of the law, and is all that can be done in
respect to the past, a change of heart, a thorough amendment of life, can only
give that guarantee which is reasonably and justly demanded for the future. And
this we call conversion.
Justification
by faith embraces this. With anything less than this we cannot imagine that any
one would stand justified before God. But the third point will not be so
apparent to every one, for some may think it is consistent for God to accept
the service of any one, at any time it may be offered, without stopping to
consider conditions. But to this we cannot assent. Suppose a person who was
born in a foreign land comes to the United States and proposes to take part in
the execution of our laws. Of course his proposal is promptly rejected. But he
urges his case in the following manner:— “In my native land I carefully
examined the principles of your Government, and admired them; therefore I am
come to this country. I have read your laws; I think they are just. I am
anxious to bear apart in executing them. I have an education superior to that
of many who hold office in this country. I claim to have as good ability as
they, and to love your Government as well as they. Why, then, am I rejected
from holding an office?”
The
Atonement - 80
The answer
is readily given, thus:— “By birth you are a citizen of another Government
which is entirely different from this; and as such you are held under
obligation to seek its welfare and to further its interests. We cannot know but
you are even now acting under instructions from your sovereign. You must
publicly renounce allegiance to him, and declare your allegiance to this
Government. You must be naturalized. Then you will no longer be regarded as an
alien, but as an American citizen, and be entitled to all the privileges of one
born in this country.”
This all
can understand; its reasonableness all can see. Without such a safeguard as
this, enemies might come in and undermine our Government by abusing and
perverting its laws under pretense of executing them. And it is truly strange
that any who love justice and good government, and who know that evil is in the
world, and in the hearts of men, should stand in doubt as to the necessity of
the gospel, to bring us into acceptance with God, and to fit us by a
transformation of heart and life for a place in his service and at last in his
kingdom. In the above illustration, so striking in every feature, we have only
used the ideas given to us by the apostle Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians.
He had before said to the Romans that of all the world, Jew and Gentile, there
is none righteous, no, not one. Destruction and misery are in their ways. All
stand guilty before God. In harmony with this he speaks of himself and of his
brethren as being “by nature the children of wrath, even as others.” Eph. 2.
And of the brethren, Gentiles in the flesh, he says: “That at that time ye were
without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers
from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.
But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made right by the
blood of Christ.”
They who
were the children of wrath, aliens and strangers, have their condition entirely
changed through faith in Christ and by his blood. “Now, therefore,” continues
the apostle, “ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with
the saints, and of the household of God.” The
- 81 - J.
H. Waggoner
gospel of
Christ is the law of naturalization, by means of which aliens or foreigners are
inducted into the household of God, and are made citizens of the commonwealth
of Israel,—the Israel of God. In illustrations it is permitted us to represent
spiritual things by those which are natural; we have no other means of making
comparisons which our minds can appreciate. But we must always remember that
there is a depth to spiritual things which the natural cannot reach. A
foreigner, dwelling in his native land, may have a high regard for the
principles and the rulers of our Government without disparagement to his
loyalty to his own; because the two Governments maintain friendly relations
with each other. Each has its own territory, and each has paramount right and
jurisdiction in its own dominion. But the very nature of the Government of God
forbids that there shall, in it, be any parallel to this condition.
1. His
dominion, his right of jurisdiction, is universal. No contrary Government has
any right to exist.
2. His
law, the rule of his Government, is a moral law. It takes cognizance, not of
actions alone, but of motives and intentions.
3. As no
contrary rule has right to exist, there can of right be no neutrality in case
of usurpation or rebellion. When war is waged against a Government, every good
and loyal citizen is bound to support the Government. A refusal to do so is
equivalent to giving aid to the enemy.
Now
inasmuch as all have gone astray—all have departed from God—the world is in the
condition of a mighty rebellion against its rightful ruler. There is a general
disregard of his authority and of the rights of his subjects. And no one is on
neutral ground; says the Governor: “He that is not for me is against me.” And
so far has man fallen from his “first estate,” that it is declared that “the
carnal mind,” the natural, unchanged heart, “is enmity against God; for it is
not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” Rom. 8:7. Hence, all are
by nature the children of wrath, because all are aliens, or more properly, in a
state of rebellion against the Supreme Ruler of the universe. Can any doubt the
necessity of naturalization, or of the acceptance of the amnesty offered, that
we may be brought into
The
Atonement - 82
friendly
and loyal relations to the one Lawgiver? Can any deny the reasonableness of the
declaration, “Ye must be born again”? No one, we think, can now fail to see the
correctness of our proposition that God cannot consistently accept or approve
of the action of any one in his natural state, or in carnal mindedness. Such a
state being one of enmity against God, every action springing from the carnal
or natural heart is an act of rebellion, because it is done in utter disregard
of the authority of our rightful Sovereign. Every act has its spring in
self-will; it proceeds from a spirit, which, if it could have undisputed sway,
would dethrone Jehovah and substitute its own will for his. The acceptance of
man as the servant of God involves the duty in man to serve God.
Instead of
justification by faith releasing man from works, or from obedience to the
divine law, it brings him to work; it obligates him to work; it fits him to
work.
Some seem
to doubt whether the acknowledged principles of right and justice, which are
incorporated in human Governments, will be exacted in the divine Government;
whether the gospel does not supersede them to some extent. To this the
Scriptures give a sufficient answer: “Shall mortal man be more just than God?
Shall a man be more pure than his Maker?” God himself has planted this regard
for justice in our hearts, and shall not he regard it? There is truly a vast
difference between God and us in this respect, but it is all in favor of strict
justice on his part. His justice is infinite.
(To be
continued)
(Excerpt
from-) THE ATONEMENT PART SECOND:
THE
ATONEMENT AS REVEALED IN THE BIBLE
(1884)
BY ELDER J. H. WAGGONER
No comments:
Post a Comment