Our Liberty In Christ by Philip Mauro

whether Jew or Gentile—“be justified.”

In order to gain a clear understanding of this passage it is necessary to bear in mind that the word “justifica­tion” means something more than the act of clearing a man of his past sins when he comes to Christ. That is, indeed, its primary and usual meaning. But it has also the broader meaning of the continuing work of God in the converted man during his life in the world. The words of chapter 2: 17—“if while we seek to be justified by Christ”—and those of chapter 5, verse 4—“whosoever of you arc being justified by the law”—together with the effect of the above quoted passage as a whole, show that it is in this sense of a continuing work of God that the word is here used. With this understanding the meaning of the passage is quite clear. There could be but one purpose for which a saint of God would resort to the abolished Jewish observances, and that would be to per­fect himself in holiness, to keep from defilement and con­tamination through avoiding contact with that which is unclean (in the case of not eating with Gentiles), or to sanctify oneself (in the case of submitting to circum­cision or of observing holy days and seasons). The saint who did such things would be taking the work of justifi­cation out of God’s hands into his own. and would be de­pending for his spiritual growth upon vain religious works of men, instead of upon the merits of Christ’s work and the operation of the Holy Spirit of God in the believer’s heart and life.

We learn then, through these words of Paul, that we are just as dependent upon the work of God, through Christ and the Holy Spirit, for our complete justification, or in other words for our “being made perfect” (3: 3), as we were dependent upon His work for our regeneration.

Whether, therefore, it be the giving of the life in Christ, or the living of that life, it is by the power of God alone that the desired result is attained.

We are just as help­less, so far as our own efforts avail, for the work of per­fecting ourselves in Christ, as we were for the work of quickening ourselves when we were dead in trespasses and sins. This is a great truth to lay hold of; but it is to its practical bearing and value that we wish to call special attention. We hope also to show in a subsequent chapter how this truth is illustrated and enforced in the allegory of Galatians 4:22-31.

What then is our part in the carrying on to per­fection (or completion) of that work which God began in us when He gave us the new birth, sending forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, whereby we cry “Abba, Father”?—or (as it is put in Romans 5:5) when He “shed abroad His love in our hearts by the Holy Ghost Who is given to us”? The answer is found in the twice repeated words of verse 16 (quoted above): “Not by the works