This, righteousness, for acceptance with God. however, does not invalidate the apostle's argument. It only shows that such persons have a different view of what is necessary for justification, from that entertained by the apostle. They suppose that the demands of the law are so low, that although they are sinners and need to be forgiven, they can still do what the law demands. Whereas, Paul proceeds on the assumption that the law requires perfect obedience, and therefore every confession of sin, or appeal for mercy, involves a renunciation of justification by the law. Again, the apostle represents the Old Testament as teaching that justification is not by works, by showing that they inculcate a different method of obtaining acceptance with God. This they do by the doctrine which they teach concerning the Messiah as a Redeemer from sin. Hence Paul says that the method of justification without works, (not founded upon works) was testified by the law and the prophets, that is, by the whole of the Old Testament. The two methods of acceptance with God, the one by works the other by a propitiation for sin, are incompatible. And as the ancient Scriptures teach the latter method, they repudiate the former. But they moreover, in express terms, assert, That the just shall live by faith. And the law knows nothing of faith; its language is, The man tha doeth them shall live by them.* The law knows nothing of any thing but obedience as the ground of acceptance. If the Scriptures say we are accepted through faith, they thereby say that we are not accepted on the ground of obedience. Again, the examples of justification given in the Old Testament, show that it was not by works. The apostle appeals particularly to the case of Abraham, and asks, Whether he attained justification by works? and answers, No, for if he were justified by works he had whereof to glory, but he had no ground of glorying before God, and, therefore, he was not justified by works. And the Scriptures expressly assert, Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him for righteousness. His acceptance, therefore, was by faith and not by works. In all these various ways, does the apostle make the authority of the Old Testament sustain his doctrine that justification is not by works. This authority is as decisive for us as it was for the ancient Jewish Christians. We also believe the Old Testament to be the word of God, and its truths come to us explained and enforced by Christ and his apostles. We have the great advantage of an infallible interpretation of these early oracles of truth, and the argumentative manner in which their * Gal. iii. 11, 12. authority is cited and applied prevents all obscurity as to the real intentions of the sacred writers. That by the deeds of the law no flesh shall be justified before God, is taught so clearly and so frequently in the New Testament, it is so often asserted, so formally proved, so variously assumed, that no one can doubt that such is indeed the doctrine of the word of God. The only point on which the serious inquirer can even raise a question, is what kind of works do the Scriptures mean to exclude as the foundation for acceptance with God. Does the apostle mean works in the widest sense, or does he merely intend ceremonial observances, or works of mere formality performed without any real love to God? Those who attend to the nature of his assertions and to the course of his argument, will find that there is no room for doubt on this subject. The primary principle on which his argument rests precludes all ground for mistaking his meaning. He assumes that the law demands perfect obedience, and as no man can render that obedience, he infers that no man can be justified by the law. He does not argue that because the law is spiritual it cannot be satisfied by mere ceremonies or by works flowing from an impure motive. He no where says, that though we cannot be justified by external rites, or by works having the mere form of goodness, we are justified by our sincere though imperfect obe dience. On the contrary he constantly teaches, that since we are sinners and since the law condemns all sin, it condemns us, and justification by the law is, therefore, impossible. This argument he applies to the Jews and the Gentiles without distinction, to the whole world, whether they knew any thing of the Jewish Scriptures or not. It was the moral law, the law which he pronounced holy, just and good, which says, Thou shalt not covet; it is this law, however revealed, whether in the writings of Moses, or in the human heart, of which he constantly asserts that it cannot give life, or teach the way of acceptance with God. As most of those to whom he wrote had enjoyed a divine revelation, and as that revelation included the law of Moses and all its rites, he of course included that law in his statement and often specially refers to it; but never in its limited sense as a code of religious ceremonies, but always in its widest scope as including the highest rule of moral duty made known to men. And hence he never contrasts one class of works with another, but constantly works and faith, excluding all classes of the former, works of righteousness as well as those of mere formality. Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he hath saved us.* * Titus iii. 5. Who hath saved us not according to our works.* We are saved by faith, not by works.† Nay, men are said to be justified without works; to be in themselves ungodly when justified; and it is not until they are justified that they perform any really good works. It is only when united to Christ that we bring forth fruit unto God. Hence we are said to be his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. All the inward excellence of the Christian and the fruits of the spirit are the consequences and not the causes of his reconciliation and acceptance with God. They are the robe of beauty, the white garment, with which Christ arrays those who come to him poor and blind and naked. It is then the plain doctrine of the word of God that our justification is not founded upon our own obedience to the law. Nothing done by us or wrought in us can for a moment stand the test of a rule of righteousness which pronounces a curse upon all those, who continue not in all things written in the book of the law to do them. SECTION II. The demands of the Law are satisfied by what Christ has done. We have thus seen that the Scriptures teach first that all men are naturally under the law as pre * 2 Tim. i. 9. † Eph. ii. 9. |