Romanism is the religion of human nature. Catholic theology is based on classical Greek logic-the best logic that humanity can muster. If our own understanding of the gospel is the product of human reasoning, it is sure to contain elements that are essentially Catholic. If the eyes of our understanding have not been anointed with the heavenly eyesalve, then we should not be surprised to find that our thinking is reflected in the best Catholic authors.

Catholicism Affirms "By Grace Alone"

The New Testament writers are emphatic that salvation is by grace alone (Rom. 3:24, 28; 4:5; 11:6; Gal. 2:16-21; Eph. 2:8-10; Titus 3:5-8). The first open challenge in the Church to salvation by grace was by Pelagius (about A.D. 400). He proposed that man was able to live a holy life by the natural powers given him of God, and thus obtain salvation.

Augustine vigorously opposed. Pelagianism and spelled out the orthodox view of man's depravity and need of divine grace.

In a series of councils, the Catholic Church sided with Augustine. And it is important to notice that Augustine was a great champion of the doctrine of salvation by grace alone. Within the Church, others arose to oppose Augustinian theology by proposing views which became known as semi-Pelagianism. The councils of the Church even condemned semi-Pelagianism. Catholic authors cite these facts of history in an effort to demonstrate how the Church has always stood by the New Testament teaching of salvation by grace.

It comes as a surprise to many Protestants to see how freely Catholic authors quote the Bible on salvation by grace. It appears that the Roman authors can live quite comfortably with these passages of Scripture. We quote from a representative Catholic book, The Theology of Grace, by Jean Daujat (London: Burns & Gates, 1959):

". . . St. Paul tells us that we are 'justified freely by his grace',' and that we are 'saved according to the election of (grace, and if by grace it is not now by works: otherwise grace is no more grace'.' To the Corinthians, he writes: 'By the grace of God I am what I am', and speaks to the Ephesians of 'Christ, by whose grace you are saved . . . for by grace you are saved . . . and that not of yourselves, for it is the gift of God'.' He reminds Timothy that God has called me by his holy calling, not according to our own works, but according .o his own purpose and grace'. And again: 'To every one of is given grace, according to the measure of the giving of Christ'.'' The same Apostle writes to Titus: 'That being justified by his grace, we may be heirs according to the hope of life everlasting'. and again to the Ephesians that God has predestinated us unto the praise of the glory of his grace, in which he hath graced us in his beloved Son'.'

"We have already quoted St. Paul's words to the Romans: The charity of God is poured forth in our hearts by the Holy spirit whom we have received. Charity is the life of Christ present in us by the Holy Spirit. It is Jesus who, dwelling in us through the gift of the Holy Spirit, loves God perfectly in us through the Holy Spirit by whom we are animated and moved. So St. Teresa of Lisieux could write: 'When I am charitable, it is only our Lord acting in me.' Of ourselves, we are incapable of a single movement of love, unless it comes to us by the grace of Christ abiding in us by the Holy Spirit."

"Of ourselves, we have not, and cannot have, merit, virtue or holiness. It is Jesus Christ, living in us, substituting his life of grace for our natural, sinful life, who is our merit and our sanctity. We are capable of meritorious and holy living only in the measure in which we have renounced the sinful, natural life inherited from Adam, our desires and impulses that are purely sensuous, as also our own opinions and self-will, in order to live henceforth the 'Christ-life' that must permeate everything in us."

In his book, The Life of Grace, P. Gregory Stevens says:

"St. Paul has summarized the plight of man without Christ and without grace in a single sentence: 'For when we were in the flesh the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in our members so that they brought forth fruit unto death.' (Rom. 7.5) Man without Christ is doomed to death because he is subject to and unable to control the sinful movements of the flesh, a principle of rebellion against God. In causing man to become more conscious of sin, the Law heightened his responsibility; but it gave no power to fulfill its own prescriptions. Even those Jews who, like the Pharisees, took pride in their own ability to live out the Law are defeated by the Law, for grace comes only through Christ. Only through grace is man liberated from that bondage to Satan which leads to death. In his gracious mercy the Father has sent his Son to free man, to unite man with the living Trinity, to lead man to the plenitude of his destiny in the grace of Christ. (Ephesians 2 may be studied as a summary of this whole doctrine in Paul's own words and expression.)"
" 'For there is no distinction, as all have sinned and have need of the glory of God. They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. . . . ' (Rom. 3.22-24)

"Paul is writing to oppose those Jews and Christians who saw justification as something to be accomplished by a person through his own good works. In this aberration, man was seen as bringing about grace as a reward or even as a salary from God for good deeds done. Paul vigorously opposes this religion of human self-sufficiency, denying, as we have seen, man's power to perform the good works of the Law, and constantly affirming that justification is a work of God bestowed on faithful men as a free divine gift. The Apostle strongly opposes a religion based on 'boasting,' on self-sufficiency before God. Such a religion is injurious to the divine goodness and is based on an unreal view of the human condition."

"From its genesis at the beginning of man's life to its consummation at the end, the work of man's salvation is inseparably the gratuitous gift of God and the free cooperation of man."

Then there are the canons of the Council of Trent. In 1547 the Church convened to issue a proclamation on justification in order to counter the Re formation theology. In Canon 1 the Catholic council declared:

"If anyone says that man can be justified before God by his own works, whether done by his own natural powers or through the teaching of the law, without divine grace through Jesus Christ, let him be anathema."

Canon 3 appears to be very evangelical also:

"If anyone says that without the predisposing inspiration of the Holy Ghost, and without His help, man can believe, hope, love or be repentant as he ought, so that the grace of justification may be bestowed upon Him, let him be anathema.

In his "Doctrinal Catechism", Stephen Keenan makes this startling presentation:

Q. What is justification?
A. It is a grace which makes us friends of God.

Q. Can a sinner merit this justifying grace?
A. No, he cannot; because all the good works which the sinner performs whilst he is in a state of mortal sin, are dead works, which have no merit sufficient to justify.

Q. Is it an article of the Catholic faith, that the sinner, in mortal sin, cannot merit the grace of justification?
A. Yes; it is decreed in the seventh chap. of the sixth session of the Council of Trent, that neither faith, nor good works preceding justification, can merit the grace of justification.

Q. How then is the sinner justified?
A. He is justified gratuitously by the pure mercy of God, not on account of his own or any human merit, but purely through the merits of Jesus Christ; for Jesus Christ is our only mediator of redemption, who alone, by his passion and death, has reconciled us to his Father.

Q. Why then do Protestants charge us with believing, that the sinner can merit the remission of his sins?
A. Their ignorance of the Catholic doctrine is the cause of this, as well as many other false charges."

The Catholic Concept of Justification

Now let us look at Rome's doctrine of justification. In the words of its own apologists, the Roman doctrine of justification is "the heart of Catholic teaching."

Without question, the Church teaches that justification is by an act of God's grace. Stephen Keenan has a point when he says that Protestants often show their ignorance of Catholic doctrine. The Church does not teach, and never has officially taught, that justification is anything else than God's gracious act. Those who imagine that Catholic theologians teach a bald righteousness by marls own works, are not prepared to meet or recognize the doctrine of the mystery of iniquity.

In brief, Catholicism teaches that justification is God's renovating act within man. Without this new birth, or regenerating act of the Holy Spirit, the Church declares that sinners can never be justified.

The Council of Trent declared:

. . . if they [men] were not born again in Christ, they would never be justified, since in that new birth there is be stowed upon them, through the merit of His passion, the grace by which they are made just.. .."
The editors of the Roman Catholic Douay Version make these footnote comments on Romans 3 and 4:
"The justification of which St. Paul here speaks is the infusion of sanctifying grace which alone renders a person supernaturally pleasing in the sight of God."
"But justification, that is, an infusion of sanctifying grace, cannot be merited by us; it is an entirely gratuitous gift of God."

And P. Gregory Stevens writes the following in The Life of Grace:

"What is the reality of the justification accorded by God when man cooperates in faith? Is it merely like a statement of God declaring the sinner lust? Or is it a divine act by which the sinner is internally transformed and becomes a new reality before God? Catholic thought has always been that the justice bestowed on man is a gratuitous gift (Gal. 3.6ff), and a true justice which actually transforms man into a person pleasing to God."

"Catholic doctrine on these questions, formulated in opposition to Lutheranism, was presented in full at the Council of Trent, as it had been previously by Pope Leo X in the Bull 'Exsurge Domine' of June 15, 1520. The teaching of Trent centers on two points of fundamental importance for the understanding of the Catholic doctrine on grace. First of all, justification is a real and profound transformation of man, a genuine gift of sanctification to him. It can in no way be reduced to something purely external."

"In a clear, religiously profound statement the Council defines the inner nature and structure of justification. It does so in direct opposition to the extrinsecist position of Reformation theology. The heart of Catholic teaching is contained in this passage. First of all comes the assertion that "justification is not only the remission of sins, but sanctification and renovation of the interior man through the voluntary reception of grace and the gifts, whereby man becomes just instead of unjust, a friend instead of an enemy, that he may be an heir in the hope of life everlasting." The Council then details the causes of this inner transformation: its goal and purpose is Gods glory, it is brought about by God through the merits of our Redeemer, and communicated to man in faith and baptism. "

Summary and Conclusion

The Catholic doctrine of justification may be accurately summarized as follows:
1. Justification is the internal renovation and renewing of. a man, i.e., human sanctification.
2. Justification comes by an infusion of God's grace. Man is justified on the basis of what the Holy Spirit has done in him.
3. Justification means that man himself is made just-made pleasing to God in his own person.

In practical terms, Catholic justification may be expressed this way: "Here is a sinner, vile and wicked. God's grace acting within him changes him into a person pleasing to God. By this grace acting within him, he is justified before God."

A devout Catholic may say: "Righteousness by faith means that I cannot save myself, but by faith I can receive God's transforming grace. His grace can change my heart, and by His grace in my heart I can be acceptable in His sight."

Or to use the words of Jean Daujat (The theology of Grace):
"Sinful man cannot, of himself, be pleasing to God. For that, he must receive a gift from God which transforms him interiorly, cleanses him and sanctifies him by adorning him with qualities that render him pleasing to his Creator."

The foregoing is a faithful reflection of Romanism, not only presented after a careful research in Catholic literature, but also personally verified with theologians from that Church. If you honestly cannot see much wrong with the doctrine set forth in the preceding material, then, dear friend, it is because you have been a good Catholic without knowing it. We do not say this to offend. Romanism is merely the religion of human nature, and we are all human. Unless we are anointed with the Spirit of divine enlightenment, we are bound to be confused with the doctrine of the mystery of iniquity.

Reformation Concept of Justification by Faith

Rome and the Reformers both declared that a man is justified by God's work of grace. It is all important that we see the real contrast between the Roman and the Reformation faiths:

Rome
Justified by God's work of grace in man.

Reformation
Justified by God's work of grace in Christ

The real difference between Rome and the Reformation was in fundamental emphasis. Romanism is essentially subjective-it is man-centered, experience centered. The Reformation faith was objective-it was Christ-centered.

The focal point of Catholic theology is God's work of grace within human experience. That is why it is so devastating to Christian freedom. Man is a prisoner because his own experience has become the center of his concern. Catholic doctrine adds despair to grief by basing a man's standing with God on what grace does within him.

If a man's acceptance and right standing with God depend upon God's grace within his own heart, then he must ask himself, "How much grace must 1 have operative in me before I can stand justified before God? How prayerful, repentant, loving or obedient must grace make me before God can accept me?"

This was the problem that confronted that devout Augustinian monk, Martin Luther. While he based his right standing with God on God's work of grace in his heart, he could never be sure that he had enough of God's grace in his heart. In fact, the more he looked within his own experience to find a basis of his acceptance with God, the more he was tormented by the sight of his own sinfulness.

Then came the enlightenment of the gospel in the rediscovery of Paul's doctrine of justification. Says the apostle: ". . . being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." Rom. 3:24. The New English Bible translates the pasage: ". . . all are justified by God's free grace alone, through His act of liberation in the person of Christ Jesus." This shows us that rather than being justified by what God does within us, we are justified by what God did altogether outside of us. God accomplished His act of liberation for all men in Jesus Christ.

Here is the dividing of the way between Rome and the Reformation. Rome declares that a man is justified by God's work of grace in his heart. The Reformation declares that a man is justified by God's work of grace in Jesus Christ.

Christ-Our Everlasting Father

How did we become sinners before God? The answer to this question throws great light on the vital question, How do we become righteous before God?
Paul's doctrine is this: We did not become sinners before God by something that happened within us. We became sinners because of something that happened outside of us, in another Person altogether. "By one man's disobedience many were made sinners." Rom. 5:19. Adam was our first father. He stood as our federal head. The whole human family was constituted in him. When he fell, it was the same as if every man had fallen. This is Paul's argument in Romans 5:15-19: One man's offence brought death and condemnation upon many. Other translations read "the many," "the whole race."

The tragedy of the fall and condemnation of the whole human race in Adam, was the outworking of the law of fatherhood. Children share the lot of the father. The Canaanite children were destroyed along with their parents. Achan's family died because of the father's covetousness. Even in secular life, if a wealthy father loses his property in business reverses, the children are made poor in their father's poverty.

Satan rejoiced at the fall of Adam-rejoiced because he won the whole human race in him. Now if Satan could cause the condemnation of all men in one man, could not God do the same thing in one Man? Indeed, this was the gospel mystery that took the devil by surprise.

God reversed the fall of Adam by giving the human race another Father, as it is written, "For unto us a Child is. born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." Isa. 9:6. We do not generally think of Christ as being our Father, but this is exactly as Paul presents Him who became "the second Adam." God gave His only-begotten Son to be our everlasting Father.

Just as the whole race was comprehended in Adam, God comprehended all humanity in His Son. Jesus became the new Head, the Representative, the Father of the fallen race.

Christ's Victory Is Every Man's Victory

The law of fatherhood applies not only negatively for bad, but positively for good. Children are constituted clean by the believing parent (1 Cor. 7:14). Even in secular life, children participate in the happy fortune of the father. If he comes into possession of great wealth, the children rejoice, exclaiming, "We are rich!" If he buys a shiny new automobile, the children say, "We have a 'new car." And they say all this as if it is their perfect right (as indeed it is), even though it was entirely their father's work without their help, that procured it all.

When Jesus became our new Father, He undertook the responsibility of keeping the law of God perfectly for us. As our Head and Representative, He rendered to the law an obedience that in every way measured with its infinite claims. We must see that before God and the bar of eternal justice, Christ stood as if He were every man. All humanity was constituted in Him. Thus His obedience was every man's obedience. It was the same as if every man had personally kept the law of God with the same infinite perfection as Jesus Christ. So Paul says, "For as by one man's disobedience many [literally, the many, i.e., the whole race] were made [or constituted] sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many [the many] be made righteous." Rom. 5:19.

Thus it is forever settled that only the obedience rendered personally by Jesus Christ makes us righteous in the sight of God. Just as we were made sinners by an act of disobedience outside of us, so we are given right standing with God by an obedience outside of us-even by the personal doing of Jesus Christ.

Christ's obedience was more than His holy living. It included His obedience unto death, even the death of the cross (Phil. 2:8). When Christ consented to be come our Father, He assumed the debt accruing to all our delinquencies. For instance, if children damage your property, you seek justice by dealing with their father. You may rightfully ask him to pay for all the damage done by his children.

What love caused Christ to become our Father, and thus to assume the full extent of our debt! As Luther put it:

"Our most merciful Father, seeing us to be oppressed and overwhelmed with the curse of the law, and so to be holden under the same that we could never be delivered from it by our own power, sent His Son into the world and laid upon Him all the sins of all men, saying: Be thou Peter that denier; Paul that persecutor, blasphemer, and cruel oppressor, David that adulterer; that sinner which did eat the apple in Paradise; that thief that hanged upon the cross; and briefly, be thou the Person which hath committed the sins of all men; see therefore that thou pay and satisfy for them. Here now cometh the law and saith: I find Him a sinner, and that such an one as hath taken upon Him the sins of all men, and I see no sins but in Him. Therefore let Him die upon the cross. And so he setteth upon Him and killeth Him. By this means the whole world is purged and cleansed from all sins, and so delivered from death and all evils. Now sin and death being abolished by this one man, God would see nothing else in the whole world, especially if it did believe, but a mere cleansing and righteousness.' Commentary on Galatians, p. 272.

The apostle Paul declares, "For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if One died for all, then were all dead." 2 Cor. 5:14. By this precious statement, the apostle means to say that since Christ died, it is the same as if all men had suffered death for their sins.

Christ's victory is every man's victory if he will but believe and accept it. Christ has vanquished. This is the joyful news. Our everlasting Father has restored all that was lost in Adam.

Objective Justification

The gospel is the good news of what God has done for all men in Jesus Christ. He has accomplished our act of liberation in the Person of His Son. While we were ungodly, without strength, and enemies in our minds by wicked works, God wrought out our complete salvation in our great Head. He placed our sins upon Christ, punished them in Christ and put them away by Christ. So Paul declares, ". . . [He] was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification." Rom. 4:25. Some translations read that He was raised again "because of our justification." This means that the resurrection of Jesus from the dead was God's witness that He had forgiven all men in Jesus Christ. If there were one sin left for which atonement had not been made, if there were one transgression for which Christ had not made full satisfaction. He would still be a prisoner in Joseph's tomb. But the gospel proclaims, "Christ is risen! The tomb is empty! God has liberated you from all sin in Christ!" This is why the resurrection was the dynamic of the apostolic message.

Then in the fifth chapter of Romans, Paul continues, "Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of One the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." Rom. 5:18.

The resurrection is the witness that in Jesus Christ the entire human family has been justified. Liberation, forgiveness and redemption are accomplished realities in Jesus Christ. For if we can confess that we were made sinners by the disobedience of our first father, how "much more" (to use Paul's expression) should we now confess that God has made us righteous and accepted in the Beloved. When Jesus ascended to heaven, He ascended as our Representative. It was the same as if we had gone into heaven. Did God receive Him? He received Him with great joy. He glorified Him with glory impossible to describe. He seated Him on His right hand far above the angels. But we must see that all this was done for humanity. It was the same as if God had already done this for all of us. In Christ humanity is not only pardoned but promoted, not only justified but glorified.

This is the good news of the gospel. It is good news for poor, struggling sinners. They need no longer look within their own experience for anything on which to base their hope of acceptance with God. God has already reconciled the whole rebellious world to Himself in the death of Jesus Christ. As surely as Jesus has been given to every lost sinner, just so surely has pardon and justification passed upon all men by God's gracious Gift. Every sinner may respond to the gospel, saying, "in the Lord have I righteousness and strength." Isa. 45:24.

The declaration of what God has done in the uplifted Christ creates faith in the heart of a sinner. And it is by faith that every sinner may possess his Possession and know the peace and assurance in the certainty of right standing with God on the basis of what grace has already done for all men in Jesus Christ.

A Four-point Summary of Reformation Justification

We present hereunder a four-point contrast of the basic differences between the Roman and Reformation doctrines of justification:

Romanism
1. Justified by God's work of grace in a man.
2. Justified by faith which has become active by charity.
3. Justified by infused righteousness
4. Justification means making a man righteous in his own person.

Reformation
1. Justified by God's work of grace in Christ.
2. Justified by faith alone
3. Justified by imputed righteousness.
4. Justification means that a man is accounted righteous.

1. Justified by God's Work of Grace in Christ. Christian doctrine has two poles: (1) "in Christ"; (2) "Christ in you." Or we can express it this way:
1. Christ's work for us.
2. Christ's work in us.

In the matter of justification, we must never confuse these two aspects of redemption. By Number 1 we mean the doing and dying of Christ. Number
2 embraces the work which the Holy Spirit does in the believer's heart. The Reformers maintained the Pauline position that we are justified solely on account of Number 1-Christ's work for us.

2. Justified by Faith Alone. God's redemptive act for all men in the Person of Christ has already taken place at the cross. The empty tomb is the seal to Christ's perfect atonement for all sin. Humanity has already been justified in its great Head (objective justification). This means that in order to receive the blessing of justification (subjective justification), man has only to submit himself to God's verdict passed upon him in the Person of Christ. "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law." Rom. 3:28.

"By faith alone" (sola fide) became the slogan and war cry of the Reformation. And the Reformers meant that nothing else was required for justification save that a man believe in what God had done for him. In this context, they saw that faith was not an act which initiates a man's justification, but a becoming conscious of something already in existence.

The papists were willing to concede that a man could be justified by faith if that faith were clothed with love. But since love is the fulfilling of the law, the Reformers recognized that the papal view was a veiled attempt to support righteousness by the fulfillment of law. Hence Protestantism insisted on sole fide, for they saw that love would be the fruit in mans experience of sanctification. According to Romans 5:1-5, love is the fruit of justification.

3. Justified by Imputed Righteousness. The Reformers merely re-emphasized the clear teaching of Paul, especially as set forth in Romans 4. In this chap ter the words translated "accounted,," "reckoned" and "imputed" all come from the same Greek word.

"For what saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness." Verse 3.

"But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works. . . . Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say that faith was reck oned to Abraham for righteousness." Verses 5, 6, 9.

' . . . and [Abraham] being fully persuaded that, what He (God] had promised, He was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead." Verses 21-24.

The word "impute" means that the righteousness by which we are justified is outside of us. Instead of being poured into us, as the Catholics teach, it is credited, or accounted, to the believer in Jesus. The Concise Oxford Dictionary gives both the Protestant and Catholic definitions of justification as follows:

"justify . . . (Theol.) declare (person) free from penalty of sin on ground of Christ's righteousness or (Rom. Cath.) of the infusion of grace......

The Council of Trent pronounced a curse on anyone who would teach that justification comes "through the imputation of Christ's righteousness alone."
There is full assurance and freedom in the truth. Justification by a righteousness wholly outside of us means that we do not have to look within our own hearts to see a certain amount of infused righteousness. Rather, we go to Christ just as we are, realizing that in our Substitute there is righteousness enough to give us favor and right standing with God.

4. Justification-Accounted and Declared Righteous. In the Latin the word "justify" means "to make righteous." And the Roman Church contended that "justification" means making a man righteous in his own person. The Catholic reasons, "How can God pronounce a man to be righteous in His sight unless he is actually righteous?" He therefore thinks that a man must be born again and transformed before he can have right standing with God. In this system of thought, a man can have no real assurance of justification, for he can never be sure whether the Holy Spirit has made him righteous enough to be accepted of God.

In contrast, the Reformation theology says with Paul, "But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." Rom. 4:5. God justifies sinners, and sinners of all sorts, not on the condition of any preceding righteousness, but on the condition that they believe with their whole heart what God has done for them-namely, that He has already reconciled and accepted them in the Substitute.

The Reformers pointed out that the words "justify" and "justification" are legal and judicial words, closely related to the idea of trial and judgment (Deut. 25:1; 1 Kings 8:32; 1 Cor. 4:3, 4; Matt. 12:37; Rom. 3:4). The words imply a declaration and pronouncement from the divine court of the believer's right standing with God. "Justification" in itself does not mean a change in the man, but a declaration of how he appears in God's sight.

Divine "justification" does not mean to actually make a believer righteous as an empirical reality, but it means to account him as righteous. And God does this for the believing sinner before he has been sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Paul illustrates this from the experience of Abraham:

. . . (as it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before Him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were." Rom. 4:17.

God did not pronounce Abraham a father after Isaac was born, but while Sarah was still barren. By faith Abraham accepted that he was a father because it was so in the Word of God rather than by empirical reality. In the same way, we are to believe when the gospel tells us that we have been made righteous in Christ. If we stop to consider what we are, faith staggers as Abraham's faith would have staggered if he had considered his own dead body and the deadness of Sarah's womb. Therefore, in justification God "calleth those things which be not as though they were."

Thus the believer is secure only in the merciful reckoning of God. The Lord accounts him as having more moral worth than the angels who have never sinned. But the believer knows that in himself he is not as he appears before God in His exalted Substitute. Indeed, his nature is still sinful, and the nearer he comes to Christ, the more sinful he sees himself to be. This keeps him humble, utterly dependent upon his Substitute in whom he stands wholly righteous, wholly acceptable in the sight of God.

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