We must bear in mind that we are not on the subject here of righteousness before men. On that subject we must turn to James. There we should find the question of justification from an entirely different point of view. A man is not justified before his fellow men by faith, but by works, proving the genuineness of his faith. (See Jas. 2:18-26.)
It may now be fairly asked, If the whole human race has been found guilty before God—Jews and Gentiles—on what principle could any have been justified? Clearly, on the principle of law, that which condemns the guilty, none could have been justified, and two of the most remarkable cases are cited in proof. No less persons than Abraham, the very father of the Jews; and David, the sweet singer of Israel. The one was justified four hundred and thirty years before the law was given; the other, about five hundred years after, and that when he had merited its curse by fearful transgression.
As to Abraham, if any one could be justified by works, surely he could; and if he were before men, as in James, he had to glory, “but not before God.” It is still the solemn question of man before God. Well, what saith the scripture about this man, before the law was given to anyone, even to him? “ Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness.” This is the scripture answer and principle how a man can be justified without the deeds of the law. Abraham believed God, and it (his faith) was reckoned as, not for, righteousness. Very much depends on the true meaning of the word, translated “imputed,” “reckoned,” and “counted” in this chapter, the same word in the original. It means reckoned as such, or esteemed so; it is not the word which is used to mean simply imputed, or set to the account of a person; that word is only found twice in the New Testament, in Rom. 5:13: “But sin is not imputed when there is no law.” It is not placed to the account of a person as transgression of law, when no law has been given which could thus be transgressed. It is more fully and correctly translated in Philem. 1:18 “If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee aught, put that to my account” impute it to me. Let us illustrate the two words. We say, Such a person has paid into a bank £500 to the account of another; it is set to his account. In the other case, a nobleman marries a poor woman. Is she reckoned poor after that? She has not a penny of her own right, but she is reckoned as rich as her husband, judicially accounted so, or reckoned so. Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned as righteousness. This may also be seen confirmed in Abel. “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his giftss &c. In both cases the principle of faith is the same. Abel believed God, and brought the sacrifice. Abraham believed God. Both were reckoned as righteous.
And this is not on the principle of works, not on the ground of what Abraham or Abel was to God, but God reckoned faith to them as righteous ness. “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness.”
I met an aged man the other day, with hair as white as snow, and said to him, “You have made a profession of Christ, more or less, for many years, and yet you do not know that you have eternal life, you are not sure you are justified, and if you should die, you have not the certainty that you would depart, and be with Christ.” The poor aged countenance fell; he said, “It is all true.” “Let me, then, tell you the reason of this. You have never yet seen God’s starting-point. You have been striving all these years, more or less, to be godly, believing that God justifies the godly. You have never yet believed that God justified the ungodly; there is the starting-point. Godliness will come after. “But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.”
“I never saw that before,” said the aged man.
We ask you, reader, solemnly, Have you ever really seen this, and believed God that justifieth the ungodly? You may have striven long to take the place of a godly man before God by ordinances of men, and so-called good works, trying hard to falsify this scripture. Yes, it often takes a long life of failure to bring a soul to this true starting-place of grace. Certainly it must be on a different principle from law that God can justify the ungodly. To him that worketh not, but believeth.
Now let us have David’s inspired explanation of this matter. “Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God reckoneth righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not reckon sin;” or, “to whom the Lord shall not at all reckon sin.” It is not that they are reckoned righteous because they have never sinned, for all have sinned; but whose sins have been covered, whose iniquities have been forgiven. It is not, however, that their past sins only have been covered by the atoning death of Christ, but there is this further statement of infinite grace, and that in perfect righteousness: “The Lord shall not at all reckon sin.” This is indeed marvelous, but in perfect harmony with all scripture.
Such is the efficacy of that one sacrifice, the value of the blood of Jesus, that it cleanseth from all sin. There needs no more sacrifice for sins—there is none; and God remembereth their sins, who are once purged, no more. (Heb. 10; 1 John 1:7.)
Thus, as to the reckoning of guilt, or sins, to the justified, they are reckoned righteous, as righteous as though they never had, and never did, sin. As to his standing before God, sin is not at all reckoned to the justified man; he is thus truly and continuously blessed. Will such love and righteousness as this, such eternal salvation, make the enjoyer of the blessing careless, and say, Let us, then, continue in sin that grace may abound? We shall see, as to that, further on. But is not this the very truth revealed here? It was utterly impossible for God to have justified the ungodly in this way, on the principle of law; but the propitiation, through the blood of God’s eternal Son, explains the righteousness of God in thus not reckoning sins unto him that believeth.
It may, however, fairly be asked, Does that propitiation apply to the future as well as to past sins? That is exactly what scripture does teach, and, strange as it may seem, the knowledge of this very fact is made known to us that we may not sin. “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye’ sin not: and if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 2:1, 2.) And in another place, speaking of believers: “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree,” &c. (1 Pet. 2:24.) And again: “When he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” (Heb. 1:3.) Oh, wondrous grace—free grace! “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.” He will not, He cannot, in righteousness reckon them to us. We shall see this still more fully explained as we go on. Reader, do you really believe God? Yes, the question is this, as we read these pages of the riches of His grace, Do we believe God? Remember we are yet only on the entrance ground, the very beginning of the gospel of God. Does then this blessedness come upon those under law only, that is the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised? Well, it was an undeniable fact, which the Jews could not deny, that faith was reckoned as righteousness to Abraham when he was uncircumcised long before the law was driven. What an overwhelming argument then, that it must be all of grace and not of the law at all! And mark, he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had, being uncircumcised. That is, circumcision was a mark of his separation to God: he was the first person, the father of it; but mark, it had nothing to do with justifying him—he was reckoned righteous first, entirely apart from all works or circumcision. Is it not so with every believer? His separation to God and a holy life, are a sign that he has been reckoned righteous first, apart from law or works. But God calls him and justifies him whilst ungodly. That is, it is there where God begins with man. Has He so begun with you, or are you seeking to be justified by works when you become godly?
Now another principle of great importance is brought out. Promise clearly depended alone on God, and this was given to Abraham long before the law; therefore it could not be through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. The covenant of Sinai was in direct contrast with promise: there the blessing depended on man’s obedience, and he utterly failed to keep the covenant. Man could fail under covenant, and thus forfeit all claim on the ground of works; and lie did fail. But God could not fail, therefore the promise still standeth sure, to all who believe. “Therefore [again] it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed,” &c.
Thus Abraham believed the promise of God, because God could not fail. “He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God. And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. And therefore it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” He considered not his own body, &c. Now, such confidence as this in a covenant of works would have been confidence in himself, which would not have been faith, but presumption. His faith has unbounded confidence in God alone: in the promise of God. Therefore faith was reckoned as righteousness. He, even Abraham, was justified by faith, reckoned righteous before God. This was written after Abraham, even for us. For blessed as this was to Abraham to believe the promise of God, there is something still more blessed, “for us also, to whom it shall be reckoned, if we believe [or, believing] on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offenses, und was raised again for our justification.” Abraham believed the promise of God. We believe these two facts of God: the promise is fulfilled. We are thus reckoned righteous before God.
But it may be asked, Do not many still rest their souls salvation on the promises? What would you say if a wife rested on the former promise of her husband for evidence, that she was his wife? Would not this show that she was doubtful as to whether the marriage had really been accomplished or was valid; or, to say the least, that she did not understand it? Is it not something like this, when we try to rest on the promises? There must be some doubt or misunderstanding about these two accomplished facts before us. Doubtless there are many precious promises on which we do well to rest. But this is not now a promise! Righteousness is reckoned to us, believing on Him, that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. It is reckoned to us: that is not a promise. No, if we are believers the righteousness of God is upon us. We are reckoned righteous. Then the resurrection of our Lord is not now a matter of promise. God has raised Him from the dead. If not, there is no gospel, and we are yet in our sins. (See 1 Cor. 15:14-17.)
Let us then proceed very carefully here. Only let us note there is a change in the language. It is not now the propitiatory view of the death of Christ, as in chapter iii. 22-26. There, that death has first glorified God. The blood before Him, His righteousness is maintained, established on His throne, the mercy seat; and thus mercy toward all without infringing on the righteousness of God. But here (chap. 4:24, 25) Christ is the Substitute of His people, answering to the second o-oat of atonement. The sins of Israel were transferred to that goat—laid on it and borne away. Just so here. “Who was delivered for our offenses.” Was He delivered for the sins of the whole world as their Substitute, to bear them away? Then clearly they would have been borne away; for God has accepted the Substitute. This is certain, for He has raised Him from the dead. This would teach the fatal error of universal redemption. Hence the need of carefully noting that these words are distinctly limited to believers. “If we believe” or “believing.” Abraham believed God, and that was reckoned to him as righteousness. We believe God that “He hath raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification.” The next chapter will also show that this must be limited to believers. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” To apply these words then to all, is to destroy their effect to all, or to teach, what is false on the face of it, that all will be saved.