and the highest happiness. It is the very end for which man was made; he is to be conformed to
God who is absolutely holy and righteous. To be god-like is the highest conception of human
perfection and bliss.
But there are two kinds of righteousness, or rather two ways of seeking it: one of the law,
and sought by works of the law; but this is imaginary, at best very defective, and cannot stand
before God; and the righteousness of Christ, or the righteousness of faith, which is freely
communicated to the believer and accepted by God. Justification is the act of God by which he puts
the repenting sinner in possession of the righteousness of Christ. It is the reverse of condemnation;
it implies the remission of sins and the imputation of Christ’s righteousness. It is based upon the
atoning sacrifice of Christ and conditioned by faith, as the subjective organ of apprehending and
appropriating Christ with all his benefits. We are therefore justified by grace alone through faith
alone; yet faith remains not alone, but is ever fruitful of good works.
The result of justification is peace (εἰρήνη) with God, and the state of adoption (υἱοθεσία)
and this implies also the heirship (κληρονομία) of eternal life. "The Spirit itself beareth witness
with our spirit that we are children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs
with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified with him."^802 The root
of Paul’s theory of justification is found in the teaching of Christ: he requires from his disciples a
far better righteousness than the legal righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, as a condition of
entering the kingdom of heaven, namely, the righteousness of God; he holds up this righteousness
of God as the first object to be sought; and teaches that it can only be obtained by faith, which he
everywhere presents as the one and only condition of salvation on the part of man.^803
(4.) Sanctification (ἁγιασμός).^804 The divine act of justification is inseparable from the
conversion and renewal of the sinner. It affects the will and conduct as well as the feeling. Although
gratuitous, it is not unconditional. It is of necessity the beginning of sanctification, the birth into a
new life which is to grow unto full manhood. We are not justified outside of Christ, but only in
Christ by a living faith, which unites us with him in his death unto sin and resurrection unto holiness.
Faith is operative in love and must produce good works as the inevitable proof of its existence.
Without love, the greatest of Christian graces, even the strongest faith would be but "sounding
brass or clanging cymbal."^805
Sanctification is not a single act, like justification, but a process. It is a continuous growth
of the whole inner man in holiness from the moment of conversion and justification to the
reappearance of Jesus Christ in glory.^806 On the part of God it is insured, for he is faithful and will
perfect the good work which he began; on the part of man it involves constant watchfulness, lest
he stumble and fall. In one view it depends all on the grace of God, in another view it depends all(^802) Rom. 5:1; 8:15-17; Gal. 4:5-7. If we read in Rom. 5:1 (with the oldest authorities) the hortative subjunctive ἔχωμεν "let us
have" (instead of the indicative ἔχομεν "we have "), peace is represented as a blessing which we should grasp and fully enjoy—an
exhortation well suited for Judaizing and gloomy Christians who groan under legal bondage. On justification see the notes below.
(^803) Matt. 5:20; 6:33; 9:22, 29; 17:20; Mark 11:22; 16:16; Luke 5:50; 18:10-14; John 3:16, 17; 6:47, etc.
(^804) Comp. Rom. 6:19, 22; 1 Cor. 1:30; 1 Thess. 4:3, 4, 7; 2 Thess. 2:13.
(^805) 1 Cor. 18:1, 2. Luther’s famous description of faith (in his Preface to Romans), as "a lively, busy, mighty thing that waits
not for work, but is ever working, and is as inseparable from love as light is from heat," is in the very spirit of Paul, and a sufficient
reply to the slander brought against the doctrine of justification by faith as being antinomian in its tendency.
(^806) 1 Thess. 5:23: "The God of peace sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without
blame at the coming (παρουσία)of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who will also do it." Comp. Romans 6
–8, which treat most fully of sanctification, also Rom. 12 –15, and all the ethical or hortatory portions of his other epistles.
A.D. 1-100.