Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works.
Imputed righteousness defended against its caricatures
It has been represented as--
I. A legal fiction. We protest against this if the expression be meant anything unreal or untrue.
1. We make this statement with a limitation because there are some “legal fictions” which are very far from being unreal. It is “a legal fiction” to say that “the king can do no wrong”; for unquestionably in his private and personal capacity he may even be guilty of crime; but in his public and official capacity, as the head of the State, he is held in the law of this country to be irresponsible, and the errors or crimes of the government are imputed to his constitutional advisers, who are regarded, by reason of their official position, as alone answerable for them. It is a “legal fiction” to say that “the king never dies”; for as an individual he cannot escape the doom of the meanest of his subjects; but royalty survives the person of the monarch. It is a “legal fiction” to say that the Commons of England are assembled in Parliament; for they are there only in the persons of their representatives; and yet the whole nation is bound by their acts, and subject to be governed, taxed, fined, and imprisoned, or even put to death, according to their laws. It is a “legal fiction,” and a far from seemly one, to speak of the omnipotence of Parliament; yet that irreverent expression contains the important truth that the supreme power, which must exist in every form of government, and from whose judgment there is no appeal, is vested in the legislative and executive authorities of the State. Is constitutional government, therefore, “a legal fiction,” in the sense of being unreal or unconnected with grave responsibilities? Or was adoption, according to the Romish Jurisprudence, which regarded one as the son of another in law who was not his son by birth, a “legal fiction,” or a privilege of no real worth when it constituted a new relation between those who were not related before, and conveyed a legal right of inheritance? Or is the rule that the wife is one in law with her husband an unreal thing, when it invests him with serious liabilities? These examples should dispel the prejudice which is excited against imputation when it is described as a “legal fiction,” since although “legal fictions” they express important truths.
2. Suppose that it were justly described as a “legal fiction” it might still represent an important truth, under the scheme of God’s moral government.
(1) If He has promulgated His law in a covenant form, as a law for the race at large, and imposed it on the first Adam as their representative, then that constitution must be productive of results in which they as well as he will be found to participate; and yet these consequences, so far from being mere “legal fictions,” are assuredly very solemn realities: the curse on the ground, the doom of death, the loss of God’s image, the forfeiture of His favour, and all the evils which have followed in the train of sin,--all these are brought upon us under the operation of that law, and every one of them is real.
(2) In like manner if God has promulgated a scheme of redeeming mercy, and this, too, in a covenant form, through the second Adam as the representative of His people, imposing upon Him the fulfilment of its conditions, and securing to them the benefits of His work on their behalf, then this constitution must be productive of results, in which they as well as He will be found to participate; and yet these results, so far from being “legal fictions,” are substantial blessings of the highest and most permanent kind: pardon, the restoration of God’s favour, renewal in His image, adoption, eternal life. Hence it is vain to talk of “legal fictions” whether under law or gospel; for while condemnation on the one hand and justification on the other are strictly forensic acts, and must necessarily have some relation to the justice of God, and while the representative character both of the first and second Adam, and the consequent imputation of their guilt and righteousness to those whom they represented, can only be ascribed to the sovereign will of God, yet the results are real and not fictitious.
II. A theory invented by man to account for these results. A similar prejudice exists against all the peculiar revelations of Scripture, as if they were matters of speculative interest, rather than of practical importance. Yet nothing is more remarkable in the doctrines of Christianity than this, that every one of them is simply the statement of a fact, and that they all relate either to substantive beings--God, angels, and men, or to real events, past, present, or future. What is the doctrine of God but the revelation of His existence, and of the perfections which belong to Him as the Creator and Governor of the world? What is the doctrine of the Trinity but the statement of a fact respecting the existence of distinct hypostases in His one undivided Godhead. What is the doctrine of the Incarnation but the statement of a fact respecting the union of the Divine and human natures in the Person of our Lord? And in like manner, what is the doctrine of Imputation, whether of sin or righteousness, but the statement of a fact respecting the relation in which we stand to the first or second Adam, and the consequences which result to us from the disobedience of the one, and the obedience of the other? No doubt, when these facts are revealed, and become the subjects of human thought, they may occasion speculation, and speculation may give birth to wild theories, when unrestrained by faith; but let the facts be believed on the testimony of the Revealer, let them be duly realised in their full Scriptural meaning, and in their application to our own souls--and we may safely discard every human theory, and adhere only to the truth as it has been taught by God. (R. Buchanan, D. D.)
The pleading of poverty in order to salvation
There is a legal process in which a person pleads before the court in what is called in forma pauperis, that is, he pleads as a poor man, he pleads his poverty; and there are certain privileges allowed to those who thus plead in forma pauperis which are not accorded to the wealthiest persons in the land. This is the only successful way in which to plead with God: we must come as paupers, having nothing of our own; giving up every pretence of right or claim of deserving. We must cry, “Lord, I am lost! I am lost! I am lost! but Thou hast lived and Thou hast died; Thy life, Thy sufferings, Thy griefs, Thy groans, Thy death, all these were for those who needed such a sin-atoning sacrifice, and on that sacrifice by blood I rest; I cast myself, lost and ruined, upon the work which Jesus Christ has done for me!” (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven.
Forgiveness
I. Its nature.
1. A non-imputation of the offence.
2. A covering of its guilt.
3. A remission of its punishment.
II. The act.
1. Divine.
2. Just.
3. Through faith in Christ.
III. Its blessedness. (J. Lyth, D. D.)
Aspects of forgiveness
Sin--
I. Forgiven, as a debt we are unable to pay.
II. Covered, as an object not to be looked upon by a holy God (Habakkuk 1:13).
III. Not imputed, as a crime deserving eternal death (Romans 6:23). (T. Robinson, D. D.)
Forgiveness of sin
True happiness consists not in beauty, honour, riches (the world’s trinity), but in the forgiveness of sin. The Hebrew word signifies to carry out of sight (Jeremiah 50:20). This blessing is the foundation for all other mercies.
I. It is an act of God’s free grace. The Greek word deciphers the original of pardon: it ariseth not from anything inherent in us, but is the pure result of free grace (Isaiah 43:25). When a creditor forgives a debtor, he does it freely. Paul cries out (1 Timothy 1:13), “I obtained mercy” (Gr., “I was be-mercied”). He who is pardoned is all bestowed with mercy. When God pardons a sinner, He does not pay a debt, but gives a legacy.
II. It is a remission of guilt and penalty. Guilt cries for justice, but in remission God indulges the sinner. He seems to say, Though thou hast fallen into the hands of justice and deservest to die, yet I will absolve thee, and whatever is charged upon thee shall be discharged.
III. It is through the blood of Christ. Free grace is the impulsive cause; Christ’s blood is the meritorious (Hebrews 9:22). Justice would be revenged either on the sinner or on the surety. Every pardon is the price of blood.
IV. It must be preceded by repentance. Therefore both are linked together (Luke 24:47). Not that repentance merits forgiveness: Christ’s blood must wash our tears; but repentance is a qualification though not a cause. He who is humbled for sin will the more value pardoning mercy.
V. God having forgiven sin will call it no more into remembrance (Jeremiah 31:34). The Lord will make an act of indemnity. He will not upbraid us with former unkindnesses, or sue us with a cancelled bond (Micah 7:19). Sin shall not be cast into the sea as a cork which riseth up again, but as lead which sinks to the bottom. (T. Watson.)
The blessedness of conscious forgiveness
There is no true felicity but what is enjoyed, and felicity cannot be enjoyed unless it is felt; and it cannot be felt unless a man know himself to be in possession of it; and a man cannot know himself to be in possession of it if he doubt whether he has it or not; and therefore this doubting of the remission of sins is contrary to true felicity, and is nothing else but a torment of the conscience. For a man cannot doubt whether his sins are pardoned or not, but the thought of his sin will strike a great fear in him; but the assurance of his pardon will fill him with joy unspeakable. (W. Perkin.)
Iniquities forgiven
Sometimes men complain of the doctrine of a regenerated life as if it were a requisition; it is not--it is a refuge. Oh, what would not a criminal who, at thirty-five years of age, found himself stung with disgrace, and overwhelmed with odium, give if, in the policy of human society, there should be any method by which he could begin back again, as if he had not begun at all, and with all his accumulated experience build his character anew! But in the economy of God in Christianity there is such a thing as a man at fifty and sixty years of age--hoary-headed in transgression, deeply defiled, struck through and through with the fast colours of depravity--having a chance to become a true child again. God sets a partition wall between him and past transgressions, and says, “I will remember them no more forever.” (H. W. Beecher.)
The blessedness of forgiveness
It is a blessed thing for a man to have all his sins forgiven, and thus to be rescued from the curse of a broken law, and the apprehension of future wrath--and that blessedness is yours. It is a blessed thing for an apostate, alienated creature to be reconciled to the great Creator, and, in the spirit of adoption, to look up to Him as his Father, to whose favour he has been graciously restored, and from whom he shall be estranged no more--and that blessedness is yours. It is a blessed thing to be delivered from the tyranny of unholy passions, and from the dominion of an ungodly world, and to come into the glorious liberty of the moral nature, wherewith Christ makes His people free--and that blessedness is yours. It is a blessed thing to look abroad upon the face of nature, and after gazing with a delighted eye on the beauties that adorn the earth, and on the magnificence that covers the heavens, to rejoice in them as the works of Him who has called you back to the walk, and the privileges of His children, and to say with the glow of filial affection, “My Father made them all”--and that blessedness is yours. It is a blessed thing, amidst the trials, and difficulties, and distresses with which humanity has to struggle in this weary world, to be upheld by Divine power, to be guided by infinite wisdom, to be cheered by heavenly consolations, and to gather righteousness and joy even from the scene of tribulation in which you dwell--and that blessedness is yours. It is a blessed thing to be able to contemplate death, without being subject to the bondage of fear, to anticipate the grave as a resting place from sin and sorrow, to lie down in its peaceful bosom, with a prospect of a resurrection to life and immortality--and that blessedness is yours. It is a blessed thing, when one looks forward to the judgment and to eternity which await us all, to realise in Him who is to pronounce our doom the Saviour to whom we have committed the keeping of our souls, and in whose blood we are already washed from our sins, and to cherish the hope founded on His own faithful promise, that the portion assigned us is everlasting life--and that blessedness is yours. And, if in this state of darkness and imperfection, where our views are too often clouded, and our faith too often grows feeble, and the heart too often forgets the Rock on which it has placed its confidence for eternity--if, in these circumstances, it is a blessed thing to have access to those ordinances which have been appointed for refreshing our decayed spirits, for casting a clearer light upon the path of our pilgrimage, for bringing us nearer to the fountain of grace and comfort, and for reviving and strengthening “the things that are ready to die”--that blessedness also is yours. (A. Thomson, D. D.)
And whose sin is covered.--
The covering of sin
There is a covering of sin which proves a curse (Proverbs 28:13), which consists in not confessing it, or denying it--Gehazi’s covering, which was by a lie; and by justifying ourselves in it. All these are evil coverings, and he that thus covereth his sin shall not prosper. But there is a blessed covering of sin, when God hides it out of sight by forgiving it. (R. Alleine.)
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.--
How does the non-imputation of sin involve and imply the imputation of righteousness?
Because--
I. There is no vacuum in the kingdom of God. As Dean Alford says, “There is no negative state of innocence--none intermediate between acceptance for righteousness and rejection for sin.”
II. The negative process of remission of sin and the positive process of imputation of righteousness are really one, and only capable of being separated in thought. To say that the bucket has been let down into the well when not dry is the same as to say that the bucket is full of water.
III. Both of these processes presuppose each other, like the rising of one scale presupposes the falling of the other, and vice versa. Righteousness could not be imputed unless sin be forgiven; while sin could only be forgiven in view of the righteousness provided and imputed. (C. Neil, M. A.)
The blessedness of justification
Pardon of sin is the general wish of gospel hearers; and it is also the general hope of all, live as they may. But bare wishes and hopes effect nothing; they do not prevail over sinners in general to seek for pardon in God’s appointed way; and yet they are generally blessed who are pardoned.
I. The man who is pardoned is blessed--
1. With respect to God in the person of the Father, as the moral Governor, and as the God of salvation. God has forgiven all his sins--past, present, and to come.
2. He is blessed by God, in the person of the Son, with perfect Christian liberty and freedom from all the demands of law and justice.
3. He is blessed by God the Holy Ghost, who effects that work in him by which he receives Christ, and the pardon of sin with Him; and the Spirit makes his body a temple to dwell in.
4. He is blessed with perfect deliverance from all danger by Satan, that cruel and bitter enemy who has destroyed so many.
5. He is blessed with perfect deliverance from the danger of sin, which has been the ruin of all who have perished, and will be the ruin of all who shall perish.
6. He is blessed with deliverance from the second death.
7. He is graciously blessed with grace in the heart. This is the leaven which will not cease. Every grace now takes root in the soul; and the believer learns to exercise each in its proper place.
8. Now he can lay hold of the promises in Christ as his own; and, while he can act every spiritual grace in measure and degree, he lives by faith in the Lord Jesus, and has an interest in “the great and precious promises, by which he is made partaker of the Divine nature,” and is blessed with the enjoyment of all the promises, which “all in Christ are yea, and in Him amen, unto the glory of God by us.”
9. He is blessed with the law of God “written in his heart,” and has a right to enjoy all the blessings of the covenant which is “ordered in all things and sure.” He is daily conforming more and more to the Divine image, and is daily more and more “made meet to be partaker of the inheritance of the saints in light.”
II. The means by which this blessedness is obtained on our part is faith.
1. To ascertain this principle we must consider the doctrine of regeneration, by which we understand a saving change effected in the believer by the gracious influences and operations of the Holy Spirit, for Christ’s sake.
2. When this saving change is effected, the believer is considered in Scripture as “a new creature”--a “new man”--“created in Christ Jesus unto good works”; and the confidence and reliance of this new man upon the Lord Jesus Christ is called faith. (James Kidd, D. D.)
Non-imputation of sin
Mr. Lyford, a Puritan divine, a few days previous to his death, being desired by his friends to give them some account of his hopes, replied, “I will let you know how it is with me, and on what ground I stand. Here is the great punishment of sin on the one hand; and here am I, a poor sinful creature, on the other; but this is my comfort, the covenant of grace, established upon so many sure promises, hath satisfied all. The act of oblivion passed in heaven is, ‘I will forgive their iniquities, and their sins will I remember no more, saith the Lord.’ This is the blessed privilege of all within the covenant, of whom I am one … I know my interest in Christ … Therefore my sins, being laid on Him, shall never be charged on me.”