JUSTIFICATION.

North Otago Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8252, 6 August 1895, Page 4

JUSTIFICATION.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, — I was requested to write something on u Justification." I suppose he will not often hear ib in his own church, although it is held as a doctrine It is no good to them if not preached. Besides ib would be difficult for them to find a place for justification. As',ib is displaced, first, by regeneratiug infants by whab they call Baptism : secondly, they confirm them. And if thej back slide (a* they are sure to have nothing to keep them from it), they have got " absolution and penance." Now, justification is not for backsliders nor regenerate people, but for sinners. "To him that worketh nob bub believeth on Him that jusfcifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." — Romans 4 — 5. " Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." — Romans s—l.5 — 1. Not by faith and something else, however important. This is not an isolated passage as " Whosoever sins ye remit," bub fully defined in the third, fourth, and fifth of Romans ; also preached by Paul, Acts xiii, 38 — 39, in a way thab dispels darkness and uncertainty. He says "Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sin, and by Him all that believe are justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses." There is no merit in faith, it is simply accepting the offer of pardon. Justification refers to the righteous ground on which God can forgive. Tbat is the blood of Christ. So Romans, v., 9, says: "Being justified by His blood," therefore the merit) is in the blood and nob in the faith. Ib only gives us the blessings obtained through the Death, Attonement, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. We also get sopship and joint worship with Christ, to an inheritance incorruptible, which the Holy Ghost is the seal and earnest, and also the witness. There is anobher side of the Gospel which reveals the wrath of God and the sinner's guilt, from the raoralisb philosopher to the lowest, " Guilty before God," which convicts, produces repenbance on those who receive this testimony ; and by the power of the Spirit through the word the dead sinner is quickpned. As there is only one natural birth, there is only one spiritual birth. Ihe person once cleansed by the power of regeneration never needs washing all over (telouinenos) only feet washing (niptein). — Fohn xiii., 10. So with justification, the same person God calls he justifies, 1 and whom He justifies He also glorifies. — Romans viii., 30. We who believe on the Son are nob only saved through God's mercy and grace, but through His righteousness also. It's " God whojusbifi.es," and "there is no condemnation.' 1 A Christian may re quire chastening, but shall nob be con" demned with bhe world. — Ist Cor., 11 — 33. The one offering for ever perfects them bhab are sanctified. — Hebrew x., 14. The same chapter tell as worshippers once purged having no more conscience of sins. As there is only one cleansing (excepb bhe feet) so there is only one offering. To lose justitication and get it again has no place in the Scripture. If we sin we

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