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STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

—INTERNATIONAL S.S. LESSONS—

SUGGESTIVE THOUGHTS DESIGNED TO ASSIST THOSE OF OUR READERS WHO ATTEND BIBLE CLASSES WHERE THESE LESSONS ARE USED; THAT THEY MAY BE ENABLED TO LEAD OTHERS INTO THE FULNESS OF THE GOSPEL. PUBLISHED IN ADVANCE, AT THE REQUEST OF FOREIGN READERS

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JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH

IV. QUAR., LESSON III., OCT. 15, ROM. 5:1-11

Golden Text—”While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”—Rom. 5:8

Thus far this epistle has established (1) the necessity of justification to salvation from sin and death; (2) that the terms of this salvation are alike for both Jews and Gentiles; (3) that faith in the precious blood of Christ as the payment of our ransom, implying a humble, grateful reliance upon the same for salvation, is the one divinely appointed condition of justification and salvation; and (4) in Abraham’s case, he has illustrated the nature and promptings of such a true and saving faith. In this lesson the Apostle refers to the blessed influence of faith upon the character, and to its bearings upon the future prospects of those exercising it.

Verse 1 shows that the immediate effect of faith is a blessed realization of peace with God; not through personal worthiness of his favor, but through our Lord Jesus Christ,” by whom we have received the atonement, his righteousness being imputed to us by faith. In thus accepting him whom God has appointed for our salvation, as our redeemer and Lord, we thereby acknowledge our own imperfections and sins and the necessity of redemption by the payment of a ransom, a substitute, an equivalent price, for that which was lost through sin.

This first step of faith restores the believer to all the privileges and blessings originally bestowed upon the human son of God, Adam, and afterward forfeited by him, though their full realization does not belong to the present age, viz.—everlasting life, uninterrupted peace and communion with God, and all the blessings of his fatherly providence. But, until the appointed time of Christ’s reign, the experiences of the believer are the joys of faith and hope, and of present peace and communion with God in consequence of that faith and hope. In other words he holds a check for full restitution, to be honored and cashed in the due time of God’s appointment.

VERSE 2 has reference to a second privileged step of faith, an access by faith into a still higher grace, or position of favor, wherein also we stand by faith and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Elsewhere we have been shown that this higher grace is the privilege of being “transformed” to a higher nature, of being made “partakers of the divine nature,” “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ, if so be that we suffer with him,” and of being made like him and seeing him “as he is”—”the express image of the Father’s person.” (Rom. 12:2; 2 Pet. 1:4; Rom. 8:17; 1 John 3:2; Heb. 1:3.) This is the “high calling” (Phil. 3:14) of those who, being justified by faith, have enough faith to go still further and accept and appreciate this great privilege of our high calling and enough of the spirit of Christ to follow in his footsteps of self-sacrifice faithfully, even unto death. The access into this higher grace cannot be obtained except from the standpoint of the previous grace of justification.

This is clearly manifest from the exhortation of the Apostle in Rom. 12:1. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, … that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” Those addressed are “brethren” of the household of faith, justified believers, before they are invited to accept this higher grace. Otherwise, being still under condemnation to death, they would have nothing to offer in sacrifice to God, and certainly nothing which would be holy and acceptable. Of this we have assurance also in the typical sacrifices of the Mosaic law. The sacrifices of the day of atonement which foreshadowed the “better sacrifices” (Heb. 9:23) of Christ Jesus and his body, the Church, must be without blemish (Lev. 1:3; 3:1-6; 4:3,23,28; 22:21-25), and so must the “better sacrifices” be. Christ Jesus, our Head, “the High Priest of our profession,” was “holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners;” “he knew no sin;” and in him, therefore, the Father was well pleased. (Heb. 7:26; 1 John 3:5; Matt. 3:17.) We, however, have no such actual perfection; but, clothed in his

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imputed righteousness by faith in his blood shed for the remission of sins—justified—we also are acceptable to God in the Beloved. (Eph. 1:6.) And thus, being called, we are eligible to the higher grace of sonship on the plane of the divine nature, and to joint-heirship with Christ Jesus of the Father’s love and bounty; and to us belong the “exceeding great and precious promises” of God.—2 Pet. 1:4.

VERSES 3,4. In this confident and glorious hope we rejoice, even in the midst of tribulations, knowing that they constitute the discipline necessary to fit us for our future exalted station. If rightly exercised by these, by a spirit of humility and submission, they will work in us the beautiful grace of patience. And patience in submitting to trial will lead to large and valuable experience—experience of God’s love and wisdom and grace and comfort. And this experience will brighten hope and strengthen our confidence in God.

VERSE 5. “And hope maketh not ashamed, because,” etc. Those inspired by this hope experience no sense of shame under the discipline and trials they must endure. The world, and merely nominal Christians, may despise and reject and persecute them, as they did their Lord; but, having the love of God shed abroad in their hearts, they glory in tribulations and rejoice to be counted worthy to suffer for his name’s sake. And in the glorious message they bear there is nothing to be ashamed of; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. It tells of an election now of a “peculiar people,” for an exalted position of service, and of the abounding free grace to all the families of the earth when, in due time” (1 Tim. 2:6), the elect “little flock,” the “royal priesthood,” the “peculiar people,” have been exalted to reign with Christ in his Kingdom.

VERSES 6-8 return to the subject of justification to point out the great love of God in providing for the redemption of sinners at such cost to himself. Rarely, indeed, would human love sacrifice life for another, even for a righteous person; but God commended his love to us, in that while we were yet sinners, he gave his only begotten Son to die for us—a gift which fond parents of an only and dutiful child can perhaps most fully appreciate.

The Apostle also points out our helpless condition—that we were without any strength to help ourselves, and that our salvation is therefore the free gift of God, through Christ, and hence a manifestation of his great love. He further indicates that the time of the payment of our ransom price was definitely prearranged—”In due time, Christ died for the ungodly.” This is a marked reference to the fact that time is a special feature in God’s great plan of the ages. There was a particular appointed time for the payment of our ransom, as well

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as for every other feature of the wondrous plan. Those who wish to consider this important time element, will do well to study MILLENNIAL DAWN, VOL. II., The Time is at Hand.

VERSES 9,10 teach us to build upon this manifestation of God’s love in the gift of his Son, and our justification through faith in his blood, the reasonable, as well as Scriptural, hope of final complete salvation through him. When we were enemies, God, by the death of his Son, manifested his sympathy for us by paying our penalty for us; and “much more, being reconciled [being justified and recognized as sons of God], we shall be saved from wrath [Restored to the proper condition of sons—liberated from sin and death, the manifestation of God’s wrath] through him.”

Thus, as long as we continue to trust in the merit of our Redeemer, gratefully accepting the free gift of God’s love, we have the fullest reasonable and Scriptural assurance of salvation.

VERSE 11 points out a further cause for rejoicing in the fact that we who believe have now received the atonement—that we are now reckoned of God as perfect through Christ, and as worthy to be called his sons, and to receive the favors of sons. Having this reckoned standing now, we are in position to receive the additional favor of our high calling to be the bride and joint-heir of his dear Son. May all the consecrated duly appreciate their high calling, and strive to make their calling and election sure. “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even your faith.”—1 John 5:4.

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— October 1, 1893 —