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Justification By Faith—Our Only Hope, March 1
If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous: and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but
also for the sins of the whole world.
1 John 2:1, 2
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As the penitent sinner, contrite before God, discerns Christ’s atonement in
his behalf, and accepts this atonement as his only hope in this life and the future
life, his sins are pardoned. This is justification by faith. Every believing soul is
to conform his will entirely to God’s will, and keep in a state of repentance and
contrition, exercising faith in the atoning merits of the Redeemer and advancing
from strength to strength, from glory to glory.
Pardon and justification are one and the same thing. Through faith, the believer
passes from the position of a rebel, a child of sin and Satan, to the position of a
loyal subject of Christ Jesus, not because of an inherent goodness, but because
Christ receives him as His child by adoption. The sinner receives the forgiveness
of his sins, because these sins are borne by his Substitute and Surety. The Lord
speaks to His heavenly Father, saying: “This is My child. I reprieve him from
the condemnation of death, giving him My life insurance policy—eternal life—
because I have taken his place and have suffered for his sins. He is even My
beloved son.” Thus man, pardoned, and clothed with the beautiful garments of
Christ’s righteousness, stands faultless before God.
The sinner may err, but he is not cast off without mercy. His only hope,
however, is repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the
Father’s prerogative to forgive our transgressions and sins, because Christ has taken
upon Himself our guilt and reprieved us, imputing to us His own righteousness.
His sacrifice satisfies fully the demands of justice.
Justification is the opposite of condemnation. God’s boundless mercy is
exercised toward those who are wholly undeserving. He forgives transgressions
and sins for the sake of Jesus, who has become the propitiation for our sins.
Through faith in Christ, the guilty transgressor is brought into favor with God and
into the strong hope of life eternal.—
The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 6, pp.
1070, 1071
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The sinner is justified through the merits of Jesus, and this is God’s acknowl-
edgment of the perfection of the ransom paid for man. That Christ was obedient
even unto the death of the cross is a pledge of the repenting sinner’s acceptance
with the Father.—
The Signs of the Times, July 4, 1892
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