It can not be otherwise. For since all acts of men, even the very best of the most holy
among them, are always defiled with sin, either it would be impossible to compare any deed
of man with the doings of God, or one must necessarily consider such deeds of men apart
from the sinful motive, and apply to God only the third of the comparison.
And as Jesus could not mean that at last God must answer His elect, “lest they come
and break His head,” but without speaking of the motive, simply pointed to the fact that the
inopportune prayer is finally heard, so did we compare the wrong decision of the judge,
declaring the guilty innocent, to the infallible decision of God, justifying the ungodly, since,
in spite of the difference of motive, it coincides with a third of the comparison.
Moreover, human mistakes are out of the question with reference to the granting of
pardon and reinstatement. Hence this expression of royal sovereignty is indeed a direct type
of the sovereignty of the Lord our God.
375But this does not settle the question. Altho we concede that the unholy motive of mistake
can not be attributed to God, yet we must inquire: What is God’s motive, and how can the
justification of the ungodly be consistent with His divine nature?
We reply by pointing to the beautiful answer of the Catechism, question 60: “How art
thou righteous before God? Only by a true faith in Jesus Christ; so that, tho my conscience
accuse me, that I have grossly transgressed all the commandments of God, and kept none
of them, and am still inclined to all evil; notwithstanding, God, without any merit of mine,
but only of mere grace, grants and imputes to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness,
and holiness of Christ; even so as if I never had had, nor committed any sin: yea, as if I had
fully accomplished all that obedience which Christ hath accomplished for me; inasmuch as
I embrace such benefit with a believing heart.”
That the Lord God justifies the ungodly is not because He enjoys fiction, or delights by
a terrible paradox to callone righteous who in reality iswicked; but this fact runs parallel
with the other fact, that such an ungodly one is really righteous. And that this ungodly one,
who in himself is and remains wicked, at the same time is and continues righteous, finds its
reason and ground in the fact that God puts this poor and miserable and lost sinner into
partnership with an infinitely rich Mediator, whose treasures are inexhaustible. By this
partnership all his debts are discharged, and all those treasures flow down to him. So tho
he continues, in himself, poverty-stricken, he is at the same time immensely rich in his
Partner.
This is the reason why all depends upon faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; for that faith is
the bond of partnership. If there is nosuch faith, there can be no partnership with the wealthy
Jesus; and you are still in your sin. But if there is faith, then the partnership is established,
then it exists, and you engage in business no longer on your own account, but in partnership
with Him who blots out all your indebtedness, while He makes you the recipient of all His
treasure.
XXXIII. Certainty of Our Justification.