Justification From All Things

Henry Allan Ironside

Sailing with Paul

Of the treasure committed to Paul, the blessedness of  which  God  would  have  all  who  sail  with  him  enjoy while upon their voyage, no truth is of more importance to the peace of the believer than that of justification. This is  preeminently  what  Paul  calls  “my  gospel,”  and  “my doctrine.” It will be observed by the thoughtful reader of the Word of God that while the question, “How can man be just (or, justified) with God?” was twice asked in the book of Job, and to Habakkuk it was revealed that “The just shall live by faith;” it remained for the apostle of the Gentiles to fully develop and widely proclaim the great doctrine of justification by faith. It is the cornerstone of “the mystery of the gospel” (Ephesians 6:19). No other apostle or apostolic writer  so  much  as  mentions  it,  save  that  Luke  as  the inspired historian tells us how Paul preached it. But Peter and John never get beyond forgiveness of sins—nor, in one sense, shall any of us; for our song in heaven shall be of divine forgiveness. Still there is an aspect of forgiveness far higher than that of mere pardon, and it is of this that Paul delighted to treat.

To unfold his special instruction on this soul-stirring theme would be to expound the first eight chapters of the epistle to the Romans, which has most appropriately been called “The epistle of the Forum, or the Law Court.” I simply desire, as briefly and clearly as possible, to outline the subject of justification as treated in Romans and defended in Galatians. When I think of forgiveness, as the word is ordinarily used, I think of a man proven to be guilty but pardoned through  the  clemency  of  another.  But  when  I  think  of
justification, I think of a man charged with guilt, but, upon being brought into court, cleared on every count. And this is exactly what scriptural justification means. It is “the sentence of the judge in favor of the prisoner.” And yet it is the ungodly who are justified by a holy God on the principle  of  absolute  righteousness.  How  can  such  an event be brought about?

In the first recorded sermon by the apostle Paul he tells us in what name it is done. He strikes the key note of the theme so fully developed in the Roman epistle: “Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this Man [Christ Jesus] is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:38,39). Moses’ law indeed could only condemn. Through the name of Jesus, God can proclaim justification for every believer. Why? For the simplest of all possible reasons. The Lord Jesus Himself had taken the place of the guilty, borne the judgment due to sin, and having fully glorified God in this respect had been raised from the dead and seated in highest glory as Man,
in token of God’s full satisfaction in His finished work. He “was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 4:25; 5:1). It is the very simplicity of it over which men stumble. That He, the Holy One, should have been made a sin offering that we might become the righteousness of God in Him, is something mere human reason would never have conceived. Yet this is the very core and essence of the
gospel.

If  sin  be  high  treason  against  the  Majesty  in  the heavens—and it is—Christ has died in the traitor’s stead. If sin be a capital crime against the moral government of God—and it is—Christ has borne the full punishment deserved by the offender. If sin be a debt which man could never meet—and it is—Christ has paid every last cent, and the debtor may now go free. Look at it in what aspect you may, and you will find the Word of God reveals that all that He had against the sinner was more than met in the Cross of Christ. Thus God can now be “Just, and the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Romans 3:26).  

Sin is not merely pardoned—it is atoned for. Guilt is not simply overlooked—it is gone forever from the eye of God in the cross of His Son. Iniquity is not only forgiven—it is purged by the blood of the Son of the Highest, and the transgressor is justified from all things.
It is after fully establishing all of this that the apostle triumphantly asks: “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. 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” (Romans 8:33,34). All the value of the finished work of Christ—ever before God—stands over against all that I was as a one-time sinful, guilty man. This is justification, and this is my standing in the presence of the infinitely Holy and Righteous One.

“There  is  therefore  now  no  condemnation  to  them which are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). And the reason is that He Himself took the condemnation, endured the wrath of God, and has made full satisfaction for all the believer’s sins. Faith rests on this and fears no more.