Peace of Conscience

“The amount of holiness possessed by the beliver does not give him peace.  Even perfect holiness would not remove guilt….subjective righteouness, or holiness, is so imperfect that it could never give the believer peace.  Let the holiest of men look within himself and say whether what he sees there satisfies his own conscience.  If not, how can it satisfy God?   He is greater than our hearts and knows all things.  No man, therefore, can have peace with God founded on what he is or on what he does.

-Charles Hodge, Ibid, P.204

The Ground of Our Justification

“If the Bible teaches that the ground of justification – the reason why God remits to us the penalty of the law and accepts us as righteous in his sight- is something out of ourselves, something done for us and not what we do or experience, then it of necessity follows that justification is not subjective.  It does not consist in the infusion of righteousness or in making the person justified personally holy.  If the “formal cause” of our justification be our goodness, then we are justified for what we are.  The Bible, however, teaches that no man living can be justified for what he is.  He is condemned for what he is and for what he does.  He is justified for what Christ has done for him.”

-Charles Hodge, Ibid, P.198

Sinless

“Every man, therefore, who expects justification by works must see to it, not that he is better than other men, or that he is very exact and does many things, or that he fasts twice in the week and gives tithes of all he possesses, but that he is sinless”.

-Charles Hodge, Ibid, P.153

The Impossibility of Works Righteousness

“If the law were satisfied by an imperfect obedience, or by a routine of external duties, or by any service which men are competent to render, then indeed justification would be by works.  But since the law demands perfect obedience, justification by works is, for sinners, absolutely impossible.”

-Charles Hodge, From Not What My Hands Have Done, P.152

To Obey the Truth

“”To obey the Truth” has often been considered as equivalent to faith.  I rather think it refers to that complete transformation of character which results from the Truth when it is allowed to exert its full influence over the mind.  To obey the Truth is just to think, and to feel, and to act, like a person who understands and believes the Truth.”

-John Brown, From his Galatians Commentary, P.106

Despising God’s Grace

“We despise grace when we observe the law with the expectation to be justified by it.  The law is good, holy and profitable; but it justifies not.  He, then, that keeps the law in order to be justified thereby, rejects grace, denys Christ, despises His sacrifice, and will not be saved by this inestimable price, but will satisfy for his own sins through the righteousness of the law…This man blasphemes and despises the grace of God”.

Luther, quoted by John Brown in his commentary on Galatians, P.98

Don’t Tamper With The Gospel

“It is a most hazardous thing to tamper with the gospel of Christ.  It must neither be abridged nor enlarged. It cannot admit of either without injury. An apparently very simple addition may completely “pervert” it.”

-John Brown, from his commentary on Galatians, P.44

The Greatest Error

“There is, perhaps, no more subtle or plausible error, on the subject of justification, than that which makes it rest on the indwelling presence, and the gracious work of the Holy Spirit in the heart…nothing can be more unscriptural in itself, or more pernicious to the souls of men, than the substitution of the gracious work of the Spirit in us, for the vicarious work of Christ for us, as the ground of our pardon and acceptance with God”.

James Buchanan, from his The Doctrine of Justification,P.401-402 (1961)

Romans 7

“Every Christian has in his own breast a commentary on the Apostle’s language. If there be  anything of which he is fully assured, it is that Paul has in this passage described his experience; and the more the believer advances in knowledge and holiness, the more does he loathe himself, as by nature a child of that corruption which still so closely cleaves to him.”

-Robert Haldane, From his Romans Commentary, P.302

The Covering of Christ’s Righteousness

“Consider further that the righteousness of Christ not only covers the sins of believers but their righteousness too, that is,  the imperfections of their graces, duties, and works and procures for them acceptance with God.  It does for them what the sweet frankincense in the law did for the sacrifices then, make them a sweet savor to Jehovah”.

-Obadiah Grew, from his The Lord Our Righteousness, P.95

A Cordial Reception

“Faith is not a conjecture, or a doubtful opinion, but a persuasion and a cordial reception of the truth of what God has declared”.

-Robert Haldane, Roman’s commentary, P.656

Asleep or Awake?

“A sleepy conscience may be satisfied with self-righteousness, but an awakened conscience cannot be…Tha saint’s own righteousnesses and graces do not have that sovereign power to pacify the disturbed conscience, as the righteousness of Christ has.”

-Obadiah Grew, from The Lord OUr Righteousness”, P.87 &91

Inconceivable Pleasure

“There is nothing in God can displease a soul that desires to please Him; when we are in darkness, He is a light to scatter it; when we are in want, He hath riches to relieve us; when we are in spiritual death, He is a Prince of life to deliver us; when we are defiled, He is holiness to purify us; it is in vain to fix our hearts anywhere but on Him, in the desire of Whom there is a delight, and in the enjoyment of Whom there is an inconceivable pleasure”.

-Stephen Charnock, Works, vol 2, P.346