ustifies or enables God to take a man, place him
amongst the righteous, and work upon and in him. But this elemental
{171} act of simply abandoning independence, trampling on pride and
taking God at His word, is an act or attitude of the whole man which
necessarily (granted that it be not withdrawn) becomes correspondence
of the whole being with God, a lifelong obedience, an allegiance and
homage of every faculty of will, and emotion, and intellect. 'Faith,'
then, as Calvin once said, 'is pregnant with good works, but it
justifies before they are brought forth.'

That the rudimentary justifying faith, on which St. Paul is here
insisting, is a developing thing, a living and germinating principle,
the basis of a life which grows--but always 'from faith to faith,' from
one stage of faith to another--will appear clearly enough as we go on.
But even here, in this chapter, it appears already that faith is
something quite inconsistent with remaining as we are. Faith looks to
a divine promise--a promise of astounding change--and believes that God
is able to realize it in us. Such was Abraham's faith. Such, we may
add, was the faith of those in the Gospels who came to be healed, and
to whom it was said, 'According to your faith be it unto you.' Our
faith then also must expect and desire some amazing transformation of
our human nature, {172} according to a divine promise--nothing less
than power out of impotence, life out of death.

And it is from this point of view that the Resurrection is apparently
regarded in this chapter, as holding the place it does in the 'scheme'
of our justification by faith. We are to believe that God is able to
bring life morally out of death. He makes that act of faith possible
or easier for us by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This evidence of
God's power in the case of Jesus, the person on whom our divine faith
is to rest, gives an adequate support and reasonable security to our
faith. 'He was designated as the Son of God with power, by the
resurrection from the dead,' and thus becomes the natural object for
such a faith in the power of God to carry out His promises as is
necessary for our justification. This is probably the meaning of the
particular words with which the fourth chapter closes--'Who died for
our sins (that is, in order that, in virtue of His atoning sacrifice,
our sins might be forgiven) and rose again for our justification' (i.e.
in order that our faith might have in