EXTRACT - HOW ARE WE SAVED?
I should like to go a little into the question, How are we saved? In the first eight chapters of Romans we get the gospel fully brought out. It is just the answer to the question, How can a man be just with God? This is the great question of the whole epistle …
In Romans we get sinners, and they want justification … There are two parts of justification – "from sins" and "of life"; the first, the clearing me of my old state; and the second, the putting me into a new place before God. These two parts are treated of distinctly in chapters 1 to 8 of this epistle, dividing them into two parts, the first part ending at chapter 5:11. In chapter 1 we see the ground that called for justification -- "there is revealed wrath of God from heaven upon all impiety." It is … wrath against the sinner; and "all have sinned, and come short" – of what we ought to be? of the law? … the word says, "come short of the glory of God", Rom.3:23 The whole dealings of Christianity are on the ground of that. You must either walk in the light, or have nothing to do with God … you are to “walk in the light, as he is in the light”, 1 John 1:7.
… there is another thing needed that fits you for glory, and that is Christ's work in grace. The first thing we get about the gospel is, that it is "concerning his Son … Jesus Christ", not about ourselves first … He is become “to all them that obey him, author of eternal salvation”, Heb.5:9.
… "Through faith in his blood", Rom.3:25 Propitiation meets God as a righteous, holy Judge. When a person has offended or wronged another, he requires a propitiation. God provides the propitiation, and sets Christ forth as such … God's righteousness is now not only revealed, but also imputed, to the believer … justification
or righteousness does not go farther than forgiveness here (chap.4:3-5). There is a great deal more in justification, but we are not come to that yet. The accounting righteous in this part of the epistle is the same as forgiveness. What is a propitiation for? Is it not for sin? God sitting as a Judge, and man brought before Him guilty? The death of Christ glorifies God Himself. It is of immense importance to see the way God takes to put away the sins of the old man; there can be no peace without it …
In chapter 3 we get faith in the blood of Christ. In chapter 4 it is faith in the God of resurrection – "believing on him who has raised from among the dead Jesus our Lord …", Rom.4:24. I find the sinner in his sins, Christ dying, and the sins not imputed to [the sinner]. Here is a man who has done this, that, and the other, and Christ died for him. God has raised up Christ, and I believe in Him, and am justified. It is ratified. Justification was not completed on the cross, the work by which we are justified was; but I do not get the assurance of it until I see Christ in resurrection; "but if Christ be not raised … ye are yet in your sins", 1 Cor.15:17. If my surety is not out of prison, I cannot say I am justified. Supposing me in prison for E.'s debt, my acquittance5 is his justification, not my paying the debt. There are the two things necessary, not only the mortgage paid, but also the deed signed. The work on the cross is that by which I am justified, He was raised again [for] our justifying. He was delivered, our offences being before His mind. He was raised, our justifying being before His mind.
Then chapter 5 begins, "having been justified on the principle of faith, we have peace …". Here we get the whole past, present, and future: justified as to the past; having peace with God, and standing in the favour of God, as to the present; and rejoicing in hope of the glory of God, as to the future. Peace, favour, glory; what more can you want? We may get all sorts of troubles here, but what a mercy God sees me righteous! He never withdraws His eyes from the righteous. I am a righteous man; now I can glory in tribulation, etc. I have the key to all this. I have learnt by all this process not only what I am, but what He is. I have the Holy Spirit in me, as a consequence of justification, shedding abroad the love of God in my heart. I can joy, too, in God Himself … not only that I know myself, but I know God too – God in His own absolute goodness. Peace is a fuller, deeper thing than joy; when I know that all is settled, and that I am reconciled, then I have peace. A person may have joy, and not yet know himself reconciled. The prodigal may have had a measure of joy in leaving the far country, but he has not peace till he has met the Father, and learns what is the Father's heart toward him. This is all individual. I have got my sins, my peace, my joy, etc. You have got yours.
Extracted from ‘How are we saved’
J N Darby Collected Writings Vol.21 pp.193-196
Edited and published monthly by John Brown and Paul Martin
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