ed in an objective sense, in contradistinction to the
law, as synonymous with the gospel, the new dispensation of grace.
Therefore "justification by faith" does not usually mean salvation
through personal belief, either in the merits of the Redeemer or
in any thing else, but it means salvation by the plan revealed in
the gospel, the free remission of sins by the forbearance of God.
In those instances where "faith" is used in a subjective sense for
personal belief, it is never described as the effectual cause of
salvation, but as the condition of personal assurance of
salvation. Grace has outwardly come to all; but only the believers
inwardly know it. This Pauline use of terms in technical senses
lies broadly on the face of the Epistles to the Romans and the
Galatians. New Testament lexicons and commentaries, by the best
scholars of every denomination, acknowledge it and illustrate it.
Mark now these texts. "And by him all that believe are justified
from all things from which ye could not be justified by the law of
Moses." "To declare his righteousness, that he might be just and
the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus." "What things were
gain to me [under Judaism] I counted loss in comparison with
Christ, that I may be found in him, not having mine own
righteousness, which is of the law, but the righteousness which is
of God through faith in Christ." "By the deeds of the law no man
can be justified," "but ye are saved through faith." We submit
that these passages, and many others in the epistles, find a
perfect explanation in the following outline of faith, commenced
in the mind of Paul while he was a Pharisee, completed when he was
a Christian. The righteousness of the law, the method of salvation
by keeping the law, is impossible. The sin of the first man broke
that whole plan and doomed all souls helplessly to the under
world. If a man now should keep every tittle of the law without
reservation, it would not release him from the bondage below and
secure for him an ascent to heaven. But what the law could not do
is done for us in Christ. Sin having destroyed the righteousness
of the law, that is, the fatal penalty of Hades having rendered
salvation by the law impossible, the righteousness of God, that
is, a new method of salvation, has been brought to light. God has
sent his Son to die, descend into the under world, rise again, and
return to heaven, to proclaim to men the glorious tidings of
justification by fait