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Trom Taith Unto Faith ’—Triday Nights With Romans
By Reb. Len G. "Broughton
Perhaps a word of explanation just here is nec
essary. These Friday night lectures by Dr. Brough
ton to his large, popular Bible class- at the Taber
nacle were so rich and strong, that the stenograph
er’s notes have been worked out and carefully
revised by Dr. Broughton for The Golden Age.
There are sixteen of them and The Golden Age
will be glad to furnish back numbers to new sub
scribers. It is confidently expected that they will
be eagerly received as they contain the best
work of Dr. Broughton’s life and will greatly aid
the busy Bible student. Editor.
LECTURE VII.
God’s Probiston Tor Salbation.
Rom. 3:21; 5:11.
I. THE NATURE OF IT.
(a) Os God, v. 21.
(b) Apart from the law.
(e) Witnessed by the law and the prophets.
We have dealt with God’s attitude to sin, tak
ing up the hopeless condition of the race; that
everything that could be tried for the redemption
of the race had been tried, and man had failed at
every point, so that there was none good, no no£
one. Tonight we take up the other side of the pic
ture, the side of salvation, and we find in verse 21
the nature of this salvation, and it is so clearly
stated that it hardly needs to be expounded at all.
“But now apart from the law a righteousness of
God hath been manifested, being witnessed by the
law and the prophets; even the righteousness of
God through faith in Jesus Christ unto all them
that believe.”
You see in looking at the nature of this sal
vation, that it is, first, “of God.” Please bear in
mind the necessity for that kind of salvation. The
necessity for it grows out of the fact that then, as
tQday, man is fond of working out for himself a
theory of salvation, a theory which suits his own
mind.
There are those who are holding today to salva
tion by character. They hold that man is saved
through obedience to the law; by being good, and
kind, and considerate, and honest, and just in his
relation to his fellow man; hence, they are preach
ing a Christless salvation. They use Christ only as
a type, as a pattern to fashion their lives by.
Then, there is another school of teachers, teaching
salvation by the church; that all that one has to
do to be saved is to come into the church and sub
scribe to its rules and regulations, and to go through
with its ordinances.
There are those who teach salvation by con
science; that all one has to do is to so live as not
to wound his conscience. They don’t see that con
science failed in the Garden of Eden, just as all
else failed.
Then, there are those who are teaching salvation
through the worship of various idols and images;
heathen, we call them. And so we might go on,
naming various schools of teachers who teach sal
vation.
If you will take the pains to look into it, you will
find that the biggest word in any language, among
any people on this earth, is the word salvation.
It may be approached from different standpoints;
it may be approached with different meanings and
different understandings with different people, but
after all, the one great thought of the world is sal
vation. How to get men saved. Saved from what we
call sin; saved from bad living and made more
righteous and holy in life and conduct, in thought
and deportment.
All this is the one great thought of the world
In some sections of the world they are trying to
solve the great salvation problem by education, and
in other sections they are trying it by legal pro
cesses. In one way or another, humanity every
where is giving itself to the thing that we call sal
vation; it has always been so, and the race of men
has always been at work upon it
The Golden Age for September 12, 1907,
The Apostle Paul, in writing this epistle, calls
attention to the fact that he, as the ambassador of
God, is holding up to them a salvation that is of
God; God is its author, not man; and that is the
salvation we need today, and that is the salvation
we are here to teach, and that is the salvation that
the church has got to stand for. The time has come
when the cry of the church must be “Back t.>
God.” See what God has said about this, and if
God has said, then that is enough.
Then you will see in the second place that it is
“apart from the law.” You are not to understand
that this is intended to abrogate law. He never
could abrogate law. He came to fulfill the law;
the salvation of God is apart from the law only
in this sense, that it takes hold of man at the point
where law failed to touch him.
In other words, the salvation of God is not a
salvation that can be obtained by one through obe
dience to certain legal requirements, but the law
of God is to be to the man who is saved by the sal
vation of God the outcome of his salvation.
I want us to thoroughly understand what the
Apostle Paul means here, because if there is one
weak point in our church system, it is this point.
There is the biggest mistaken conception in the
minds of the world with respect to what salvation is
that is imaginable. It is strange to me after all
the teaching for all the past ages of the church,
that there should be such a vast amount of ignor
ance about this.
The Apostle Paul says, “This salvation that is ot
God is not a salvation? that can be obtained by
obeying the requirements of the Jaw, lest you
should have something to boast of; but it is a sa 1 -
vation apart from the law; it is a salvation abso
lutely independent of the law. It is not some
thing that you can work out, or work yourself up
to, but something that you accept by faith, and then
the law is the outworking of the salvation princi
ple that has been emulated within by faith.”
Some people imagine that because of this state
ment, they are at liberty to go right on and
violate the law as they please. But that is not
the teaching of the Apostle. It is not apart from
the law in that sense. There is net a single re
quirement of the ten commandments that the Apos
tle Paul does not intend to incorporate into the
Christian’s life. You cannot violate the Sabbath
because you have become a Christian; you cannot
kill because you have become a Christian; you can
not commit adultery because you have become a
Christian. There is not one single requirement that
is not binding upon the Christian, but the whole
decalogue does not lead one step toward becom
ing a Christian, for salvation is apart from the
law.
The law is binding on you only in the sense that
when you are saved you are mastered by Christ,
and everything that is right, Jesus Christ, as your
master, binds upon you to be done.
I am afraid of those people who are forever
speaking in a disrespectful manner concerning the
law. The Apostle Paul does not mean to make any
reflection at all upon the law. What he is trying
to do is to impress upon them in this new system
of religion that the law is not the means by which
they are to be saved; that the law is the outcome
of their having been saved; that when a man is
saved the law is his delight; it will not be a thing
forced upon him, it will be the natural order of
life.
In the next place, this salvation is “witnessed by
the law and the prophets.” Look for a moment at
the transfiguration. There we have exactly what
the Apostle is talking about in a very striking man
ner. There Jesus on the Mount of Transfigura
tion is visited by the law and the prophets in t'- •
persons of Moses and Elias; Moses representing the
law and Elias- representing the prophets; Christ
representing the Gospel, representing this salva
tion that is apart from the law.
What is the purpose of Moses and Elias there?
They have been dead centuries. They have left their
record —their inspired testimony. Why should they
come? There is a very significant reason. They
are there to give their testimony fresh from the*
throne concerning this salvation; this salvation of
God.
If you could have been there and asked Moses
what he was there for, you would have heard him
say, “I have come here to give my endorsement cf
this salvation.” If you could have asked Elias,
“What are you here for?” he would have said,
“1 am here that I may lend my testimony to this
new salvation; to this salvation which is apart from
the law.”
Moses and Elias that day faded into utter insig
nificance by the side of Jesus, for it was the disci
ples who said, under the inspiration of all this
glory, when Jesus stood in the presence of those
two heavenly visitors, “Oh, this is a good place
to be! Le: us build here three tabernacles: om
for Jesus, and one for Moses, and one for Elias,”
and I am not surprised that they let their enthu
siasm get the better of them. I should have done
the same thing. Oh, the glory of that scene! I
expect when I get to heaven I shall say more ex
travagant and more foolish things than that. I
expect when I get the first glimpse of the white
throne what I say will be so far in excess of the
extravagance of that as that it will fade away.
“Let us build here three tabernacles; one for
Thee, and one for Moses and one for Elias. Let
us stay here and worship.” Then there came a
voice from heaven, saying: “This is my beloved
Son, hear ye Him.” Moses and Elias have had
their day. The law had its day. The prophets had
their day; but these are all dead. We are living
in a new order. We are living at a time when men
are saved in a different way.
Then, take the next step.
11. THE APPLICATION OF IT. V. 22-23.
(a) By faith.
(b) In Jesus Christ.
(d) Unto all that believe.
Now, we have been speaking about the salvation
that is of God, and that is apart from the law, and
that is witnessed by the law and the prophets.
Now, the question comes, How is one to receive this
salvation of God? If not by the law, then how?
Now, the apostle answers this question very
beautifully in the 22nd and 23rd verses. He says
we are to receive it “by faith.” New, listen. There
is nothing new in this statement of the Apostle.
When he speaks of salvation by faith, unless he
goes further, which he does, he does not state any
thing that is at all new.
The fact is, no system of salvation is without
faith. Take, for instance, the man who believes
in salvation by character; that all that is required
of one is to live right. Is that without faith? By
no means. It is salvation by faith, but the faith in
this instance is in the man.
Take the man who believes in salvation by the
church. Is that a salvation without faith? By no
means. It is a salvation of faith, but the faith in
that instance is in the church, and in the ordi
nances of the church.
Take the man who believes in salvation by the
worship of idols. Is that salvation without faith?
By no means. I was speaking to a missionary from
China and said, “Are those ’heathen without
faith?” “Oh, no,” was the answer, “they hav«*
a very strong faith; very much stronger than many
Christians. They have such a strong faith * that
they can accept a very mystical lot of nonsense and
believe that there is salvation wrapped up in it.”
And so it is with respect to every system of sal
vation. There is no system that is without faith.
So, I say again, if the Apostle had gone no fur
ther than that, he would have stated nothing new,
but, thank God! he went further than that. He
says that this salvation is by faith “in Jesus
Christ.” That is the difference.
My brother, faith in Christ as an abstract thing
