Last month we considered God justifying the ungodly, when He forgives all their sin and accepts them as righteous, because of what Christ did in their place. Let us now return to the subject, particularly as it is brought before us in some verses in Romans 8. There we have a chain of God’s dealings with sinners, running from His election of them, by way of their effectual calling and justification, to their final glorification (vv 29,30). Then Paul asks, “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect?” (v 33), a question to which he gives five answers.
The Apostle’s first answer is: “It is God that justifieth“. It is God, who has supreme authority, that passes the sentence of acquittal and acceptance on the sinner, and does so in a way perfectly consistent with His absolute righteousness. No one can justify himself before God, nor can anyone justify someone else – as the Psalmist emphasises: “None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him: for the redemption of their soul is precious” (Ps 49:7,8). The price of forgiveness is altogether beyond what any human being can pay. Yet there is salvation for sinners, one that God Himself has provided, for which a high price had to be paid: the blood of Christ. So this salvation is altogether effective to rescue sinners from eternal condemnation, and no one who believes can have any charge laid against him that God will even consider. It is God, the all-knowing One, who has justified the sinner – who, in other words, has accepted the sinner as perfectly righteous – for the sake of Christ, when he or she believed.
The second answer is: “It is Christ that died“. Only a divine Person could pay the wages of sin, which is death. And Christ, the Son of God, took our nature that He might do all that was necessary for the salvation of sinners, including enduring death as the wages of sin, “for God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (Jn 3:16). Christ suffered death on behalf of all who will ever believe on Him, for “if one died for all, then were all dead” (2 Cor 5:14) – more literally, then all died – and the “all” are all for whom Christ died, the elect of God, those whom the Father gave to Christ to be redeemed. Christ’s death was equivalent to them suffering death, the wages of sin. So they may say, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us” (Gal 3:13). Thus they cannot be condemned, for the One who died was able to save from every sin that could ever be charged against those who trust in Him – and He did so.
The third answer is that Christ rose from the dead: “It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again“. His resurrection is evidence that the Father accepted Christ’s work, for it was perfect; He had finished the work which the Father had given Him to do. Thus death could not hold Him any longer, for it had “no more dominion over Him” (Rom 6:9). Christ, says Paul, “was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification” (Rom 4:25), which, as David Brown explains, means, “for the sake of our justification; that is, in order to our being justified”. He adds that “the resurrection of Christ was the divine assurance that He had ‘put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself'”. Thus those who truly believe in Christ, receiving the merits of His death, are indeed justified. They have experienced what David Brown calls an objective change – “a change from guilt and condemnation to acquittal and acceptance”1.
The fourth answer is that Christ is “at the right hand of God“, the place of supreme power, authority and honour. As the risen Saviour, Christ had already declared before His ascension: “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth” (Mt 28:18). Accordingly, after ascending to heaven to sit at the right hand of His Father, He has been exerting His power to draw to Himself all of God’s elect, through the gracious influence of the Holy Spirit, and this is what Christ will continue to do until they have all been brought into His kingdom. There every one of them will be kept safely until they are brought at last into heaven – and all by the power and grace of the One who sits on the throne. Not only will Christ as King secure their safety, but He will cause them to grow in grace, knowledge and holiness so that they will be fit to enjoy the blessedness of heaven.
The fifth and last answer is that Christ makes intercession for His chosen ones. His power to draw sinners to Himself and to prepare them for eternal glory is exercised in connection with His intercession. He intercedes by presenting the merits of His work of redemption before His Father. We have an example of this intercession in His high-priestly prayer recorded in John 17, where, for instance, He prays, “Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory” (v 24). And, on the basis of what He did in this world, He makes intercession, expressing His will that all the benefits which flow from that finished work be applied to all the elect. Accordingly, as these benefits, including freedom from condemnation, have indeed been secured, they will all be applied to believers. God as the righteous Judge can never accept the validity of any charge that will ever be laid against them.
Who then might attempt to “lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect”?
1. God in His justice?
No, for His justice has already been fully satisfied by the finished work of Christ. Their past sins were declared forgiven in their justification, by God Himself, and none of their sins since then can be imputed to them. “Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity”. God in justice cannot lay any sin to the charge of believers, as His Son has already satisfied divine justice in relation to all these sins.
2. The believer’s conscience?
It may accuse the believer on account of sins past and present. But the believer is then to take another look by faith to Christ as the One who died for sinners and rose again, the One who is ruling at the right hand of God for the good of His children and is making continual intercession for them. The Lord encourages them: “Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine” (Is 43:1). Believers are not to be afraid; they are to go on trusting in the Lord, who has justified them and will never reverse that declaration of acceptance. Their guilt has been removed in the court of heaven; why should it be admitted any longer into the court of conscience?
3. Satan?
He is a determined enemy of the Most High and will never give up his efforts to bring dishonour on the Lord and on His cause and people. One of Satan’s tactics is to encourage God’s children to doubt their standing as justified, bringing charges against them into their minds. And he would question the security which is theirs through the salvation Christ has provided; he would even drive them to total despair. But God’s children are to resist the devil; they are to remember that he was a liar from the beginning; he still is and always will be. They may and they must trust every word that God has spoken in Scripture; they must follow the example of the Saviour, who quoted Scripture back to the evil one, and they must reject whatever he says. In particular, believers are to trust Scripture teaching about justification and to receive, ever more firmly, the sure words of the Redeemer: “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out” (Jn 6:37).
4. The world?
The world consists of those who have no love for Christ, those who are led captive by the devil at his will. They may accuse believers of inconsistency and madness – giving up the pleasures of this life for what they reckon a joyless future. But let believers remember that they are on the narrow way and that the narrow way leads most certainly to everlasting life. They shall never perish, and all will be well when they enter eternity, because they have been justified. And it is those on the narrow way that Paul directs: “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice” (Phil 4:4).
Yet, supposing they lack assurance of salvation and cannot take much comfort from their justification, how should they react to the foolish ideas of the world, which are so calculated to disturb them? Let them again trust in Christ and not be afraid. And let them consider His words: “Who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?” (1 Pet 3:13). Their security should be evident to them, for they have been justified – a fact they should recognise because, for instance, they love the brethren and seek to live to the glory of God. Accordingly they are under the protection of the Good Shepherd, who has overcome the world.
William Romaine quotes a believer (whom he does not name) when close to death and blessed with a clear consciousness that he was justified. The man addressed his friends as follows: “My brethren, is not this very amazing to you? When I contemplate the holiness of God, I cannot but cry out that I myself am vile, most vile; and then when I consider the justice of God, could anyone imagine but that I should be struck with most dreadful apprehensions of approaching judgement and deserved wrath? Instead of that, I am under no fear of the latter and [I] much desire the former. I long to appear before this holy, just God. I have a righteousness to plead that is perfect. The holy Jesus is my security, and I cannot be disappointed.
“In Christ, the justice of God is as much my security as His mercy: here is a holiness that transcends that of all the angelic host. There is no charging my Redeemer with possible folly; I know I am pardoned for the sake of Jesus Christ, my only Lord and Mediator; I am sure of it. I am fully, freely pardoned, and soon shall be thoroughly sanctified and fitted for glory. O I want words to express my gratitude, to tell my joy. Adored be God, my Lord, my Saviour – this is the work of God alone. O unfathomable love, infinite condescension, unmerited, unbounded grace to a vile offender! I deserve hell; I enjoy heaven.”2
Here was a man who understood that his security lay not only in God’s mercy, but also in His justice, for Christ had paid the whole price for his salvation. Such people will never perish, but they are learning more and more that they will be kept to the end only because of God’s ongoing care.
God shows remarkable grace when He justifies any sinner, and that grace continues as He brings the sinner on his way towards everlasting life. What reason then for all God’s children to be thankful for all of His saving benefit and seek to live a consistent and godly life in this world!
1In a “remark” on Romans 4:25, in the Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary, Eerdmans reprint, 1982, vol 3.
2Romaine, The Life, Walk and Triumph of Faith, James Clarke reprint, 1970, p 388.