Human Nature In Its Third Estate

Justification

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Doctrinal Studies

Lesson: 6-20

Genre: Speech

Track: 26

Dictation Name: RR131p27

Location/Venue:

Year: 1960’s - 1970’s

[Dr. Rushdoony] Our Scripture is Romans 3:24-31. Romans 3:24-31. Justification.

Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also: Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

St. Paul in this passage deals briefly with some of the central aspects of the doctrine of justification. The common expression, he’s trying to justify himself, points to the meaning of justification. A person is trying to put himself in the right. To say he is innocent, in the right, in fact. Now St. Paul says all of us for our sins are under the sentence of the law. Under the sentence of condemnation of death before God. But God in His grace has provided Jesus Christ as a propitiation for our sins. So that the death penalty is paid for and we are legally in the clear. We are justified. Even as a debt that we may owe, if someone who loves us pays that debt for us, is thereupon canceled. So our sin before God and our guilt is canceled through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

So that we that could not fulfill the requirements of God’s law, being sinners by nature, have these requirements fulfilled by Jesus Christ, without any necessity of deeds of law on our part. And by faith we lay hold of this righteousness. Does this make void the law? God forbid, yea, we establish the law, St. Paul declares. Because the integrity of the law and its demand for righteousness is upheld, Jesus Christ meets that demand for the death penalty, and creates in us a new nature whereby now we become the people of the law. Justification, as will appear from St. Paul’s statement, is not a psychological fact but a legal fact. It means that a person is declared just, in harmony with the law. It is a judicial act of God, in which He declares, on the basis of the righteousness of Jesus Christ, that all the claims of the law are satisfied with respect to the sinner. As a result, while it changes the legal status of the sinner, it has no reference to his inner life. That change is wrought by regeneration. Now while this is clearly a judicial act, not a process or a feeling in man, none the less, when we discuss the doctrine of man and the psychology of man, we must say very clearly that justification is very important for us to understand because it is a psychological need for every man. The common expression, he’s trying to justify himself, points to that need. Every person feels the need for justification. As a result all men everywhere in every culture in society past and present, have worked to make self atonement and self justification, to pay themselves the penalty of sin and guilt, and to present themselves righteous before men. As a matter of fact there are many, many curious customs all over the world that testify to this need for justification.

So of them are really quite exotic and strange, but they witness to this desperate sense of need. Now in England in Wales there was a very common custom from pagan times, that lingered into the 18th century, that of the sin eater. Now who was the sin eater? Quite a very remarkable practice, but a very important one that had lingered for so many, many centuries, especially in the rural areas, even after Christianity had more or less blanketed the land. John Aubrey in the sixteen hundreds describes one such practice, and I quote, “In the county of Harrisford{?} was an old custom at funerals to hire poor people, who were to take upon them all the sins of the party deceased. One of them I remember lived in a cottage on {?} highway. He was a long, lean, ugly lamentable poor rascal. The matter was that when the corpse was brought out of the house and laid on a bier, a loaf of bread was brought and delivered to the sin eater over the corpse, as also a {?} bowl of {?}, full of beer, which he was to drink up, and six pence in money, in consideration whereof he took upon him all the sins of the defunct and freed him or her from walking after they dead. This custom alludes, me thinks, something to the scapegoat in the old law. The cheapness of the price charged for the assumption of another man’s sin is most surprising. For on the date before Hell was abolished by the privy counsel, its terrors were very real, as is shown by Queen Elizabeth’s dreadful death bed vision of herself ringed by flames. In North Wales the sin eaters are also frequently made use of. But there, instead of a bowl of beer, they have a bowl of milk.” Unquote. Now we have another account dating from a letter by {?} February the 1st, 1715. And he says, within the memory of our fathers in {?} and those villages adjoining to Wales, when a person died there was a notice given to an old sire, for so they called him, who presently repaired to the place where the deceased lay. And stood before the door of the house, when some of the family came out and furnished him with a cricket{?}, on which he sat down facing the door. Then they gave him a groat(a coin), which he put in his pocket, a crust of bread which he ate, and a full bowl of ale, which he drank off at a draught. After this he got up from the cricket and pronounced the composed gesture, the ease and rest of the soul departed, for which he would pawn his own soul.” Unquote.

Well it would easy to go on and cite other such examples. But the significance is that all over the world, in every culture, the need was felt to get rid of sin and to stand justified as one faced, not only men, but whatever gods or god they believed in. Justification thus is a deep personal need as well as a judicial fact. Because man is created in God’s image, he is therefore geared to law. He wants the moral order of the universe righted. And he wants the moral order of his own soul resorted. Even in his sin man longs for moral order, so that he indulges in acts of self atonement, in order to justify himself. But as Isaiah said long ago in Isaiah 57:20 and 21, the wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest. Whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace saith my God to the wicked. All act of self atonement and self justification are only futile, and they only serve like the storm at sea, to cast up mire and dirt. Even as men sin they want justification. A European historian, {?}, in discussing the events leading up to Word War One, describes the guilt of all the nations involved. But he records that even as they began their mobilization, every nation began its self justification. Every last one of them began to issue statements of self justification and to fabricate documents to justify themselves. Self justification thus is a very, very deeply rooted psychological need of all men.

And men will continue to try to justify themselves if they have no justification through Jesus Christ. But when a man is justified by Jesus Christ, when he believes in Christ as his savior from sin, as his substitute who makes atonement for him, then man is freed from the self torture of trying to justify himself. He can face the fact, yes I am a sinner, I have sinned, but my sins are forgiven through Jesus Christ and I am a free man. All my sins, past present and future, are wiped out, forgiven, and I am given a new principle of life that enables me to overcome all things. The result then is a glorious inner peace and freedom. Self justification leads to a waste of time and energy. The person who is trying to make atonement for himself through sadistic and masochistic activities, and then to justify himself, is burning himself out with a continual inner torment. He is wasting his energies on self atonement and self justification. It is important therefore for a truly Christian theology to stress the release that comes through the justification that is ours through Jesus Christ. A faulty theology which requires a continually concentration of sin is like a leaky pipe, which delivers too little water to the tap. The pressure and the energy are gone through the leaks, but a man who knows that he is truly justified by faith, through the grace of God in Jesus Christ, that energy is delivered, and he is able to function and to work powerfully and successfully. The society of the justified therefore is a society of social energy and vitality. This is why the ages of faith are also the ages of tremendous vitality and social energy. Man then moves forward to reorder all things in terms of Gods law word.

Instead of being group directed or inner directed or past directed, man is then future oriented and God directed. Not only does self justification lead to a waste of energy, but it leads to a blindness to the real issues. In World War Two there was the same kind of self justification and blindness. One of the saddest examples of it is in A.P. Herbert. A British writer, a very able man, a very likable man, if any of you have every read any of his books. He wrote a series of poems which were published early in the war. And this very capable man in these poems called Hitler a dog, a hog, and Mussolini a dirty dog, and he went on to say, we are like virgins in a den of thugs. Now this certainly was stretching the truth more than a little, to call any of the nations involved in World War Two virginal. He went on to say, we are arranging that never again shall a world be in pain because one man was vain. Well there was more than one man responsible for the war. He said concerning the Soviet Union, old Auntie Russia we know your mind fraternally burns for all mankind. Which again was stretching the truth, especially coming from a man who knew better. And when the Soviet Union entered the war he celebrated the fact with a poem in which he said, brave Russia, off the fence at last, we take your hand and praise your name, and we will put away the past if all your friends will do the same. Now there you have the key to all self justification. We will put away the past. Can you do it? God can do it in Christ, but can any man put away the past? Is this not the reason why you have Word War Two as well as Word War One? Men try to put away the past, try to assume that things could be wiped out just by sitting around a table and saying it could be done. Men are still trying to do the same today, to put away the past. Just a week ago our president said that because it had so been resolved, now both war and inflation were things of the past.

And this is the way the unredeemed will always act. We will put away the past. We’ll pass a law or we’ll say it’s dead. And this is why they repeat the past endlessly. Only the atoning blood of Jesus Christ can put away the past. As Hebrews 9:26 says, he is the one who now once in the end of the world has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. By the end of the world, St. Paul meant in the consummation of time. At the entrance of the last season of God’s dispensation of grace, when the old world of Adam is sentenced to death together with the old man, and the new world of Christ is begun by His resurrection. Self justification blinds men and it binds them to the past they seek to put away. Whereas the justification of Jesus Christ opens the eyes of men to their sinful past, puts away that sinful past and frees them for a glorious future under God. It is God who says I will blot out their sins and transgressions and remember them no more. Only God can put away the past. And only God through Christ can give us a new creation wherein we have a glorious future. Justification is a hunger on the part of every man, to be justified, so that a man can be freed from the past and face the future freely and happily. But justification is only possible through Jesus Christ. In Him it is a glorious reality and a new life.

Let us pray. Almighty God our Heavenly Father, we give thanks unto Thee that we have been justified through the blood of Jesus Christ. That our past has been put away, not by any futile efforts on our part, but by Thy grace. We thank Thee that in Christ we are a new creation and the certainty of victory for this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Oh Lord our God how wonderful Thou art and we praise Thee. In Jesus name Amen.

Are there any questions now, first of all with respect to our lesson? Yes.

[Audience]…{?}…

[Dr. Rushdoony] Yes. There really is no difference there, what he simply means is, is there is no change in the way of salvation. That salvation, in the Old Testament era, was through the grace of God by faith, the atoning blood of the lamb prefiguring Christ, and it is the same today only the fullness is here, Christ.

[Audience] No. It is by and through. Both are used to indicate it is the fullness of the meaning. You find by faith and through faith repeatedly emphasized. It is by means of, and faith is the channel, to indicate that it is not exclusive, it is not our faith that saves us, but faith is the channel by which we apprehend what God has done through us.

Any other questions? Yes.

[Audience]…{?}…

[Dr. Rushdoony] Yes. You are so right. First there is the prevenient regenerating grace of God, which saves us, and then our faith which is born out of God’s prior act in our lives. So that it is faith that follows after grace.

Another question? Yes.

[Audience]…{?}…

[Dr. Rushdoony] Yes. The problem at that time was the Hebrew believers in the church were insisting that the way to be saved was first to become a Jew and then to become a Christian. Now Paul wrote Romans and Galatians and much more, against this opinion. Now Paul did not say do not be circumcised, but he did not say it was a requirement for salvation. Thus he did counsel one of his disciples to be circumcised, that it be not an offense against Jews. But it was not a requirement for salvation.

Yes.

[Audience]…{?}…

[Dr. Rushdoony] Yes. And during the week as well. Because the Temple was open every day. But he taught there on the Sabbath as well as other days. And I said Sabbath rather than Saturday, because the Jewish Sabbath was not Saturday.

[Audience]…{?}…

[Dr. Rushdoony] Yes. No. You see, the Hebrew calendar was made up of regular months. Then every six months the five extra days that resulted were tacked off. Two months at one time, three at another, so that there would be a series of Sabbath holidays, so you’d go six months, and you would have two extra days of Sabbaths at the end, and then six months and three extra days. Now the Sabbaths in the Jewish calendar or in the Hebrew calendar, were by the days of the month, not the days of the week. Just as your birthday is not on the say, the second Friday of February ever year, it is on a certain day of the month every year. And the day of the week changes. So that the Hebrew calendar began with a Sabbath on the first, the eighth, the fifteenth, and so on. And it would therefore, every six months, change the days of the weeks, so in the course of a few years the Sabbath would fall on all seven days. It was only after the fall of Israel and sometime after the fall of the Roman Empire that they changed the calendar to conform to the Christian calendar and decided on Saturday as their regular day of worship.

But it is actually, in origin, a changing day of the week, a constant day of the calendar.

Any other questions? Yes.

[Audience]…{?}…

[Dr. Rushdoony] I don’t know how they can reconcile it, but the Antinomians do feel that we are no longer under the law. And this is a heresy. It has always been so regarded throughout the history of the Church and it’s only in the last few generations that it has come to captured that segments of Evangelical Christianity. But it is definitely heretical. And it is a sorry fact that they don’t use Romans to much, because they don’t like some of the passages in it.

Are there any other questions?

Well I’d like to share something with you. I picked up a very interesting book this week which is titled ‘The Trouble is Social Security’ by Edward J. Van Allen. And it is a very precise kind of book, in that it deals with the mathematics of social security. And it very powerfully confirms a point I have made more than once, and that’s one reason why I like the book so much, that social security is a socialistic robbery of the people. You don’t get what you put into it. Now, he says that if a person in 19..let’s see, was it in ‘36 or ‘38 when Social Security went in, at any rate, at that time began to work at 18 and in 47 years, which will be a few years from now, retires, you’ll have paid in 75,000 dollars plus, into the Social Security system.

Now, what does he get back? He says very plainly he can never hope to get his money back. For one thing, a man’s mortality is weighted against him. At age 20, for instance, his life expectancy is about 52 ½ years. He can therefore expect to receive Social Security benefits for 7 and ½ years after he reaches 65. If he has paid into the system the equivalent of 75,000 and draws out the top benefit of 218 dollars a month, or 2,616 dollars a year, in 7 and ½ years he will receive a mere 19, 620 of the 75,000 he has paid in. And even if he has a wife eligible to receive half his own benefits, it can clearly be seen that the family will never stand a chance of breaking even. Moreover, he says that although it is conceivable that because of medical advances, better nutrition, et cetera, people are living longer, {?} the aged population in contrast to the younger folk, it is also the fact that studies presently show that of one hundred persons who start contributing to Social Security at age 25, 36, over a third, will be dead at age 65. 54 will be dependent at least in part on relatives, friends or charity, 5 will be working for a living, and only 5 will be financially independent. So only 10 out of a hundred make it, working to 65. So, he says, the facts are very much against any value in Social Security. And he says, those who started in the past decade will pay in by the time they retire, over a hundred and twenty thousand. And they will get out very little more than those who are now drawing 218 a month. So his conclusion is, Social Security provides no security whatsoever, it’s about the poorest kind of insurance policy anyone can have, and it’s a tremendous source of income for the government. Which promptly spends every penny that comes in and then taxes you to pay those who are receiving Social Security. It is another form of socialistic robbery.

And he points out how if the same amount were required as a compulsory insurance with private companies, the receipts to those receiving the pensions would be far, far greater, because then the government would see to it that the people were not robbed. But who’s going to see to it the government doesn’t rob anyone? It’s well worth reading. ‘The Trouble With Social Security’ by Edward J. Van Allen.

Then we have a few announcements of considerable importance.

First of all, all of you, without exception, are invited to a luncheon following the close of our meeting here at the home of Bill and Janet Maxwell, at 11 for a lunch, just a few blocks from here. And you can follow Bill Maxwell or anyone of us going over there. Bill’s standing back there with the baby. You can follow his car back to the house. Or ask {?} and they can guide you there. There is no charge and the food is provided by the women of Chalcedon guild and we want you all there so we can get better acquainted.

Now everyone on the Chalcedon mailing list will receive reservation forms shortly, for two things. First the Armenian dinner, Saturday October the 16th, and if you plan to come, turn in your reservation very, very soon. Because there are very limited spaces for this and the next activity, and last time we had to turn people away for our January dinner.

Then the {?} Seminar, Saturday November the 13th, and again we had to turn people away last time, so if you’re interested please plan to be there. We do have a few copies of the registration form for the {?} Seminar at the back of the room. The dinner will be three dollars, the {?} Seminar fifteen dollars per person.

Then the Chalcedon prayer meeting will be Saturday September the 25th, this Saturday, 7:30 pm, at the Stevenson home, 8205 Arrington Avenue, Pekoe Rivera. And you can see Virginia Stevenson for directions, if you’ll raise your hand Virginia.

I think all of these events will be of very real interest and I trust you will plan to be there at all of them. Let me add that if you have any friends in Northern California who would be interested in hearing Doctor {?} he will be in San {?} on November the 12th, Friday. The day before he is here. Dr. {?} in the January seminar predicated that there would be a {?} that we would have non convertibility of the dollar and floating of the dollar. So he is quite good in prediction, he’s not infallible but he is a very able economist and it will be especially of interest in view of the fact that another crisis is building up on the monetary scene, to hear him in October. The timing of the seminar may be particularly good, because it is expected to be...what?

[Audience] {?}

[Dr. Rushdoony] October the 13th, yes. Saturday. Are there any questions about any of these announcements? Yes.

[Audience]…{?}…

[Dr. Rushdoony] The seminar is fifteen dollars, this includes the cost of the {?} Seminar and the dinner, and it will be at the steakhouse at Nottberry{?} Farm. Yes the dinner cost is included. Yes. The announcements are back there. At the guild dinner on the 16th I will be speaking on the religion of revolution on the march. That will be at the Glendale Masonic temple in Glendale. Now if you’re not on the mailing list to receive these announcements please let us know and we’ll see to it that you’re placed on the mailing list. As soon as we have the benediction in a moment please all of you plan to go to the Maxwell residence for our luncheon. We urgently invite you, we do want you there and we’re hoping to have a very happy and congenial visit with all of you.

Let us bow our heads now for the benediction. And now go in peace, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, bless you and keep you, guide and protect you, this day and always, Amen.